A Car for 3 Days

Barry's host(ess) has lent us her car for 3 days while she is away.  So what is the first thing we do: we go to the supermarket and stock up on supplies. It takes twice as long getting groceries as you have to translate labels and neither of us are any good at German.  We decided that "Sauer sahn" must be  sour cream so we will see when we open the container tonight.

The car is a manual so what with driving on the right hand side, very narrow streets with cars to duck around, gear shift on the right, and streets that go off at all sorts of angles, I am glad that it is Barry driving and not me. Tomorrow is a holiday here so as long as Barry gets his talk prepared for monday we should be able to get out and about.  We are booked into a country restaurant tomorrow night.

Every day I try and do a bit of German on my iPhone app, Duo Lingo, and thank goodness for Google Translate, although direct translations from German into English can take a bit of deciphering.

People seem to like building little cairns in the forest!

A Change of Linen

Theres nothing like eating the wrong food to keep you quiet at home for the day!

However, thats not why I changed the bed linen. Every second Tuesday we can take our bed linen to the laundry and get it replaced with clean bed linen.  I only had to take one duvet cover back because the end was completely ripped.

Our double bed is quite interesting (photo).  It has 2 separate mattresses and 2 separate duvet's and when they make the bed they simply fold the duvet in half. Good for not disturbing your partner but not so good for cuddling up.  Pillows are big and square but nice and soft.

Had a 20km bike ride by myself yesterday and only got properly off course once.  (the maps app on the iPhone are great!).  Its amazingly difficult to figure out where you are going when you don't recognise place names at all. I followed the Lahn river bike trail north and then came back over the hills.  Unfortunately couldn't find a bike trail to return on so had to share the road with cars, but drivers are incredibly considerate here.

Its a Wet Day

I guess the fine weather couldn't last.  This afternoon was quite cold,wet and miserable but I see  on the weather map its been snowing in the Alps.

Housework this morning and supermarket this afternoon.  Actually supermarket virtually every day as I have to buy the evening meal, put it in my pack and either walk or bus back up the hill.  Its actually quite hard cooking meals with no herbs and spices, and nothing in the pantry.  The potatoes here are really tasty and don't fall apart when you boil them.
There are so many different cheeses and salami's and sausages.  I need to improve my german to make sure I don't buy horse meat or goats cheese! Milk I buy at the little bakery around the corner.  Its UHT milk but at least I don't have to carry it very far.  I just have to limit the yummy sweet bread rolls/cakes that are also for sale. I have got quite addicted to a cup of strong coffee each day from the bakery.

Another path - another geocache

Frankfurt

Caught the train down to Frankfurt (1 hour), had a look around the house of Johann Goethe (photo), went 200m up a tower, had a lovely Italian dinner, stayed the night in a nice hotel, walked through the Old Town Square (completely rebuilt) and alongside the river, visited the Art Museum with a display of Monet, (along with hundreds of others)  wandered through the Botanic Gardens and only got on one wrong underground train.

 

Pizza Kit

After a morning sorting out bus timetables, I went for a bike ride along the river Lahn (photos) heading north (up river).  There was even a little artificial beach with big rocks, sand and umbrellas with people out enjoying the sunshine.

I bought a "Pizza Kit" at the supermarket along with a bottle of Italian wine (4 euros!).  The pizza kit was made up of a bottle of tomato sauce and a cardboard "log" which, when you opened it, out sprang the pizza dough, ready to be rolled out.  Tasty too!

Spiegelslustturm

Alias the Kaiser Wilhelm Tower built in 1890 to commemorate the Franco-German war.  Its a nice walk from our apartment through the Woods to this tower which has the most fabulous views of the Lahn Valley and Marburg. Had a glass of Wheat Beer while I sat and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

This morning I had coffee downtown with 2 fellow wives staying at the Guest House at a nice little coffee shop where the elderly owner grinds his own coffee.  I always go for the straight coffee as their cappuchino's and milk coffees are made with UHT milk.

Marburg Market

Visited the market in the central Market Place, but disappointingly not too much happening. One big vehicle with cheeses, two with meats and a fruit and vege stall. Picture is of a statue in the Market place.

The afternoon was spent completing the budget for our Lotteries application for LandSAR search dogs.

Velociped

Cycled down to "Velociped"and got my bike adjusted so hopefully I don't get quite such a sore butt next time round.  Its a very steep cycle back up the hill which should get me fit!

Our apartment (photo) is not quite up to the standard of some of those downtown (photo) but is quite comfortable if very tiny and spartan (there are 4 apartments in the block on the left).  The bonus is that house work doesn't take long at all!  We are about 20min walk from downtown and Barry has about a 25 min walk to work at the Max Planck Instit.

We got misplaced on the bus again last night after dinner out in the Old Town.  The bus finished for the night somewhere out north Marburg but luckily we found another bus to take us back into town.

Had another lovely walk in the woods next to our apartment to find another geocache (photo) this afternoon on a beautiful warm spring day!

Rabenstein

Found my first German geocache today - "Rabenstein" - in the Woods 500m from here (18,475km from home!).  A beautiful spot overlooking the Lahn Valley with fabulous views across to the old city and castle (photo).  Apparently the site of public executions with the last public execution in Hesse (this area of Germany) occurring by sword in 1864.

Spring has really sprung here and it is amazing the change in leaves on the deciduous trees in the week we have been here (photo's).

Behring

Emil Behring, who won the Nobel Prize for developing vaccines against tetanus and diphtheria, guided our footsteps today.  We followed the Behring route through Marburg where he lived and worked.  However all the information boards were in German but it was a nice walk through  the streets of Marburg, the forest (photo), past a memorial for Behring (photo) and the Behring laboratories.  All that walking deserved an ice-cream and a coffee (photo).

New Bikes

Tried out our new bikes today - did a 20km circuit from the bottom of the hill through the little towns of Niederweimar, Argenstein and Roth.  Very rural towns with tractors parked in the yards of the houses.  A couple of lovely little churches with the one in Roth a former fortified church (photo), still with the old wall around it.
The Lahntal cycle ride goes from Lahnquelle to Koblenz (a total of 250km) following the river Lahn and passes through Marburg and we followed some of this. Some lovely views of the castle above Marburg (photo).

Week One

We have now been in Marburg a week.  Its so different living in a place as opposed to visiting it.  Life slows down considerably with no internet in one's apartment and one channel (BBC) in English.
Today's mission was to get Barry a cycle helmet and get another lock for the 2 bikes we purchased yesterday.  I decided to try the shopping area at Wehrda - just out of the main city, but the bus I caught took me way out to the far side of Wehrda.  However, the return bus went via the shopping centre so I was able to get off and visit the big sport shop there.

I have discovered I can get WIFI in our apartment if I sit on the edge of our bed and put my computer on the heater just under the window.  A bit hard on my back but a bit friendlier than the stark common room upstairs.