Adventures in Deutschland: Day 49

Sunday my mom and stepdad arrived safe and sound, but not until 3:00 (as was expected). Todd, Therese and I headed out at 10:30 for church and decided to stay down in the city until their train came rather than making the half hour climb back to our place and half hour walk back down to the train station. This meant that we had a whole beautiful afternoon with nothing to do but waste time. How often do we have that happen? It has been very nice having so much down-time this summer. I have no house to clean, work to do (or people to talk to) so it's been very laidback and slow-paced. Todd and I have had a ton of time to spend together - another rarity. I will certainly miss this. Anyhow, Sunday afternoon we ate crepes at a little cafe followed by ice cream and a trip to the park to ride some swings. Therese and I showed Todd the "other" park with "the hot slide" as Reese calls it (it is metal and not in the shade so it does get quite hot). Walking along the path to the park that lies right beside the lake, we looked at the hills across and for the first time were able to see the Alps with a little snow on top. What a beautiful, clear day.

At 3:00 we were standing right on the train platform to greet my mom and Dave. Their train was a few minutes late which was no big deal to us, but it had worried them a little. They couldn't understand the German announcement on the train saying they were running late so they nearly got off the train at their scheduled time. If they had, they would have ended up in Singen instead of Radolfzell. I don't know how we would have found them. When their train did roll in, we were at the very front of the track to greet them. Therese clapped and laughed as the train whizzed by, saying, "Mamie says 'punkin,' Papa says 'Uh oh.'" She loves when my mom calls her Pumpkin. She's really into nicknames right now. She likes to call me "Mompy" and Todd "Caddy." If you ask her her name, she's just as likely to say "Bumble Bear" as Therese.

After hugs and hellos, we headed for a restaurant since my mom and Dave hadn't eaten lunch. We chose Il Postino mainly because it was open. On Sundays all stores and many restaurants are closed. We ate some spaghetti carbonara and split a pizza with ham, salami, and artichokes. We then headed back to the train station so we could find our way over to Ludwigshafen, the little lake town they are staying in. My mom and Dave both have rolling suitcases that they pull behind them. This would normally be a very easy way to travel, but Therese insisted on helping push or pull them at all times. She's such a good helper...

Ludwigshafen is a 10 minute train ride away from Radolfzell, which isn't too bad at all. The worst part is that the train only runs once an hour since the town is smaller. We found their hotel pretty easily (though the walk seemed to take forever in the sun). My mom was dismayed to find that they have no air conditioning, but I don't know of anywhere here that does. Ludwigshafen is a really nice little area right on Lake Constance. There are many sailboats and restaurants overlooking the water plus lots of greenspace and fountains. I think they're happy with it. Therese liked it a lot. She snuggled right in to my mom's bed with her new little "German bear" (as she calls it) that my mom gave her. She also had too much fun picking up rocks and throwing them in the water. After all of this excitement, Todd, Therese and I went home, ate a quick dinner, and fell asleep nice and early.