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| We ate breakfast in this building, at an entrance on the left side of structure. |
Walked back over the old stone arch, leading out of the village. Stopped at a chocolate shop. The clerk is the mother of the store owner. I think the mother is from Berlin and works with children there. Her English was broken, but she had wonderful chocolate, so who cares! The AC in the shop felt great. (Remember...no AC in your rooms nor pretty much anywhere else!) It's going to be hot here again.
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| The stone gate. Butcher shop/deli was on right on the other side. |
We were very thirsty, so we stopped at a deli/butcher shop right inside the stone gate. We sat outside, at a picnic table in the shade. The shop so reminded me of Shisler's Cheese House in Kidron, except this place was full of meat, meat, meat and more meat! The aroma was awesome! Matthias called and he is picking us up around 12:30 pm. We gathered our luggage and sat in the shade of the tunnel, leading from the outside of the castle to the courtyard. This was a great experience! I am so glad and grateful to Matthias for coordinating this for us!
Matthis picked us up at 12:45 p.m. and we drove to their new home, in the village of Nieddergrunau. The house is beautiful! Their view is spectacular! It was really great to see everyone again! Doro made two strawberry pies, which we ate after a tour of their home. Doro's English is still great. Matthias said Tessa was very nervous about whether or not she remembered English as well. The entire family is doing great. They immediately made sure we knew we were welcome and to make their home ours. My wish is to not cause too many disruptions in their lives.
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| As we sat in the tunnel leading into the castle, waiting on Matthias, I saw a photo op! |
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| Still a little strawberry pie left! Nice open design. The window shades were so cool. |
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| Another look at the window shades. They are metal, motorized and allow some air flow, while blocking the sun. |
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| Since the house is new, the yard was not completed. But the open fields behind were wonderful! |
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| The horse barn in the distance owns all the land you see. They would bring horses up to graze right behind the house in the mornings. |
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| With eight people here, this was a constant chore! |
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| Really neat kitchen cabinets and of course my favorite...the Jura Capresso espresso maker in the corner! |
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| The former builder in me loves the stainless steel back splash, behind the stove. The hood was really cool too. |
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| Brandon being goofy, while we have dinner the first night with the Bode family. |
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| Not to be out done, Tessa provides a wonderful portrait. Maybe we can provide this picture for her wedding some day! |
Later they took us to the church they were married in. The church was formed back in the 1100's! They told us their wedding pictures were taken in the courtyard of the castle we stayed in last night. How cool is that?! The grounds of the church are beautiful. There is a massive ravine, with stairs leading down. This was used by a neighboring village, when they had church services. These people climbed a mountain to go to church! (I have some interior shots of the church, but can't locate them right now. I'll add them later.)
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| The key to this sign is not being able to read German, it is the dates on the plaque! |
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| This is part of the path leading down to another village. |
After a beautiful walk in the woods and neighborhood, we dropped the wives off and went to buy bread, lighter fluid and some beer. Matthias wanted to buy Julie some raspberry and blackberry beer. When we returned, the wives had everything ready, except the grilling. We had pasta, with vegetable oil, spices and onions, served cold. There was also bread; salad; tomatoes & mozzarella cheese with basil & olive oil; and lots of meat. Bacon on a skewer; sausage and pork chops on the grill. We could have fed the neighborhood!
After dinner, we drove to a hotel/golf course/spa/beer garden, owned by the father of a friend of Matthias. Part of the spa is a trough, filled and fed by a spring. This is the coldest water (short of ice!) you've ever felt!!!! We waded through the trough three or four times. My legs were literally numb! The kids all went through at least fifty times! We ended our time here by going to the beer garden for drinks. The adults had apple wine, while the kids had banana, cherry and other juices. The apple wine is a favorite of this region of Germany. It is NOT sweet. This is not apple cider by any means. The taste is slightly bitter. It is very refreshing, on a hot night, such as this was. The beer garden is like nothing we have at home. Once again, we sat outside, with very few bugs. The setting was underneath large trees, which provide shade by day and atmosphere at night. There was a big circular platform around the base of the tree. The seating was at large picnic tables, with benches.
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| Standing in the spring fed trough. Note that not all present are actually braving the frigid waters! |
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| The parents are STILL talking! Let's sit on the platform around the tree in the beer garden and wait. |
It is funny how people change, yet they don't. Matthias and Dorothy seem to not have left the U.S. It doesn't seem like the past two years occurred. Josh is still ornery and quiet. Tessa is gorgeous and still her warm, outgoing self. Well, it's 1 a.m., so I need to get some sleep. Early day tomorrow. Dinner on the Rhine River!
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