Yesterday Reese and I explored two parks by the lake (after watching the ducks of course). The first park doesn't have a slide, so Therese was ready to leave after about 20 seconds in the swing. The other park (the one with the slide) is a wonderful little place that is quite a hike from the first one. Therese walked the whole way, refusing to get in her stroller. Literally the moment Therese and I made it to the bottom of the slide, a class full of rowdy little 1st graders (I think) descended like locusts upon the park. A word was spoken by their teacher and then they were off, running, screaming, climbing everything in sight, and hitting each other. Luckily, they discovered quite quickly that the metal slide was too hot to go down in shorts and Reese soon had the slide back to herself with minimal intrusions from the 1st graders.
We then joined Todd and Christian (our Italian friend) for lunch at il Postino where Therese ate almost all of Todd's lunch - pasta with creamy curry sauce and (of course) pork. We then ventured out to a German bookstore where Todd ordered some theology books that have not been translated into English. After all of this running around and all of the food, Therese lost it and cried most of the way home.
After a cool shower and a 3 hour nap, everything was back to normal again. We made brats for dinner and, while we were cooking, a neighbor from Japan came to use our oven. She is studying at the CDC for a few months before studying to be a baker here in Germany. She wants to open a bakery in Japan. I would have never thought of studying bakery in Germany, but it makes sense now that I'm here. Germans take their baked goods (bread especially) very seriously. There are bakeries EVERYWHERE here. At every grocery store we've been to, there is a section of pre-made bread to bake yourself, freshly baked bread, plus an actual bakery outside the cashiers lines. These bakeries are also spread all over the marketplaces and offer amazing streussels and cheese cakes and other treats to satisfy your sweet tooth. Anyhow, our Japanese neighbor used our oven to bake cookies that had no egg, no sugar, and no dairy in them. I know, that sounds disgusting, but she left us a plate full and they were amazing. They were flavored mostly with lavendar. We're hoping she needs to borrow our oven again soon. She'll be a great baker.
Today Therese and I ventured to the store twice (because I realized I had forgotten to get Coke Light as soon as we got back from our first trip and I am that addicted). Other than that we've had a quiet day. It is raining here in Radolfzell so there will be no more trips out today, which is good because we need our rest for our big day in France tomorrow!
Visiting the ducks (and swans)
Reese enjoying the slide
Part of the 1st grade infestation (isn't this a cool park? That's a boat they're climbing on!)
Therese showing off her new giraffe pajamas that Miss Katie and Miss Dulcinea helped pick out before we left for Germany
Sorry, this is random but I loved this picture from Konstanz. It is a woodcarving that is at the bottom of the ornately carved structure upon which the priest or bishop would have proclaimed the gospel in the cathedral. This is supposed to be Abraham who is balancing the rest of the structure (which portrays the 4 evangelists and and St. Jerome -in other words, Christianity) on his head. It looks like it hurts.
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