Pretty, Clean, Orderly, Perfect

This is 40 dawned sunny and warm. Jens walks to a bakery each morning when he has guests to provide pretzel rolls and croissants for breakfast, along with yogurt, fruit, meat, and cheese. I like his "hotel" very much! The party was great fun, held in his parent's storybook backyard, and filled with friends, delicious food, and relaxing. Nathan and I both agreed that the day was one of the most relaxing we'd had in months - and there is some unfortunate photographic evidence of just how relaxed I was when I fell asleep while sitting up. That evidence will not be shown here. Nora was introduced to grass, and she is now ruined for any lawn we might ever provide to her (see above photo). Jens's parents must have enjoyed their time with Nora since they offered to keep her the following evening while we went out to dinner. TWO nights out for us! We LOVE Germany and Jens and his parents!

Jemke, the village where Jens's parents live - isn't it just so perfect. Everything
is exactly in its place. I did find one yard that had some WEEDS growing - the
horror. I'm pretty sure those neighbors are ostracized and talked about at length.

Wooden carving in the

Tangermünde Church; I

desperately want this pretty

lady to be in my house.

We spent the next day walking around lovely Tangermünde, a 750 year old town on the Elbe River. Stopping in at a coffee roaster for a cuppa while I fed the babe allowed us to meet Coffee Guy - he really enjoyed his work. He roasts his own beans, and when I ordered a coffee with milk and sugar, he gasped a drawn out, "Noooooo," with a look of horror. Then gave us a whole show about the different techniques he uses to prepare coffee - one way is that the coffee never touches anything but porcelain, in another, it's filtered through paper into a glass beaker, and so on. I love interacting with someone who is truly passionate about his work. I always leave their presence feeling so inspired.

City Hall

Pretty Tangermünde

For the evening, we met up with some of Jens's friends whom we have had the pleasure of meeting before, leaving Nora behind once again. Feeling more confident that she wouldn't terrorize her new "Oma and Opa," we fully enjoyed a rare time out - and even rode bicycles to the restaurant...an event we cannot do in Naples. Here in the sud, bicycling is only done on weekends in groups of 30 or so, and one absolutely must wear matching outfits with your fellow cyclists. No bicycling to errands or daily life, only touring.

We loved getting to see Jens again, reconnecting with another friend whom we were shocked to realize we had not seen in 10 years (and who spent three days totally loving on Nora - Nora was as happy visiting Germany as we were), and just stepping outside the chaos of the life in the Sud for a little bit of German orderliness.

Even the post boxes are perfect.

In addition to the timber frame buildings, Tangermünde
has beautiful, ornate door frames.

Where Were We...

So the "Where Are We?" photo from last week of us in front of the castle...

We cannot seem stay away from Germany. The friend mentioned previously in the Christmas Market blog recently had his 40^th birthday. We took a long weekend for the birthday bash, making it our last chance to get up there before our return to the US of A. What a great visit! Usually, I over-plan our trips by about one day, so that the day before our return, we're regretting that final day. We just get a little greedy and don't leave a place on the upswing. This most recent trip to our friend's house is the one time where on the final day, we were both moaning and groaning about how we wished we were staying just one more day.

Our friend, Jens, lives in Wolfsburg, home of the Autostadt (sort of a museum type of thing built around the VW plant). His parents live nearby, and past visits have always included a visit to his parents, usually for some type of meal (and always amazing!). This time around, we spent one day waiting on Lufthansa to deliver our car seat and stroller that they'd "lost." This was quite irritating since the items that should never be delayed are those for an infant. Please, keep my extra clothing and toiletries, but my baby's car seat is kind of a necessity...at least in Germany. In Germany, not putting your child in a car seat probably results in significant jail time or banishment. In Italy, I've yet to see a child put into a car seat. How can these two countries exist so close in distance to one another, yet so vastly far apart in culture.

Once all luggage was in hand, we had a nice Happy Hour while Jens's parents babysat Nora - our first time leaving her other than a short time when she was four weeks old and stayed home with my grandmother while we went out one morning. It seemed to go well, although I think I spent much of Happy Hour looking at my watch and quizzing Jens about whether or not his parents would actually call of us if they were having trouble. We had no qualms about Nora's well being, but were very concerned that his parents might be stuck with a screaming infant. We returned to a sleeping baby and content looking "Oma and Opa."

We left Nora in Germany to be raised by the wolves of Wolfsburg.