22 April 2015 - It is lovely to have neighbours!

I feel a bit sad that today was the last morning in Bermatingen that Tim and I could go for our walk as tomorrow we will be out early and we leave the day after that.  The sensational beauty of the fields and meadows and distant snow capped alps will stay with us.  Spring time was a lovely time to be in southern Germany.  We could really stay longer but when we were planning and considering our restrictions with the Schengen Zone and how long we could be in Europe, one month was a reasonable length of time to be in a place.

Morning walk at the top of Bermatingen

Snow capped alps just visible!

Our bakery with large pretzel for a door handle!

School work peppered with a wander about the village was good.  Luke has worked reasonably well and the big kids are steadily progressing and trying to meet their deadlines.  I said good bye to the lovely farmer who gave us the Topaz apples from their orchard.  We feel like locals now!

Cherry Blossom in our garden here

We even did our citizen duty and disposed of all our glass bottles in the designated bins - brown, white or green glass.  The Germans take their recycling seriously.  The Indians just dump their rubbish on the roads and the cows pick over what is edible, the street dwellers take anything reusable and the piles diminish.  Here there are 3 different bins and also their glass bins.  In retrospect, I think we were supposed to take the labels off the bottles but I not sure.  Most of our bottles were from Apfelmus - pureed apple - which is a Dutch staple and our kids love it!

The fine art of glass recycling in Germany

In the afternoon we drove, with ease now, to Friedrichshafen for a big shop before we leave Germany.  Again we were dazzled by the selection of teas available but finally found "ordinary tea".

Choices of teas are a little overwhelming!

And if you want vodka, just buy it at the checkout next to the chocolate bars!

Dinner tonight, being Wednesday, was some chicken from Der Hahn vom Bodensee and as special request from the kids, for one of our last meals in Germany, we had Schwip Schwap.  They liked it but I am not a soft drink liker generally so it was particularly special IMHO!

The kids were keen to try Schwip Schwap - Yuk!

Luke is delighted to have a friend!

After dinner, Luke and our neighbour's daughter, Mara, played happily.  They play well and they could play for hours!  

Drinks with our neighbour and host - Photo by Mara!

Monika and her brother, Willi, whom we had met earlier, invited us for a drink.  It was lovely sitting outside with the scent of the cherry blossom tree and the darkening evening sky chatting to them.  It really is so lovely to have a neighbour!  One of the lovely things about airbnb is meeting the hosts which we have really enjoyed.  So much better than a faceless hotel!

Photo by Luke!