Today was the first day of Freiburg’s wine festival. Errol came home from the office all excited and rounded up the kids to meet Andrew for supper (and wine) on the Münsterplatz. The kids ate some flammkuchen but spent most of their time playing in this corner where a soccer goal and kiddie pools were set up.
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It’s tough being an American kid living in Germany on 4th of July, but I tried to make it as festive as possible. We found a hot dog bar!
After church on Sunday we took the tram to Günterstal. We hiked straight up into the forest toward lunch. My German teacher in September had recommended this restaurant, and I hadn’t gone yet. Errol checked it out a few weeks ago and liked it so much he planned to take his fellow philosophers there during his epistemology of ethics workshop. The kids weren’t that thrilled with the hike, but it was beautiful and the food at Waldrestaurant St. Valentin was delicious. Our life these days revolves around World Cup matches, and we made it home to watch Spain lose. Errol’s flight back from England was delayed, but he returned to see the evening game. Between soccer matches, we walked to Mariotti Eiscafe for an ice cream to honor what would have been our grandfather’s 97th birthday on Sunday, July 1. He loved ice cream. Ab and Ward spent their last morning in Freiburg alone at the Schauinsland. The rest of us had the cable car experience earlier in the year, and the kids had school anyway.
We met up with them after lunch and made a quick visit to the Münster before taking the tram to the Strandbad. Abby was fantastic, and we all had so much fun with her at the pool. We ate supper at home and celebrated Ab’s half birthday a day early. Abby and Ward left Freiburg early Tuesday morning. Conveniently, they took the same tram to the train station that the bigs took to school. We loved their visit! Our guests didn’t sleep as well their second night in Freiburg, and we had a late start on Saturday. We were able to show Abby our beautiful Wiehre market, and she watched Thom show off his German skills when he bought eggs and produce.
Each Saturday a chicken truck parks outside one of the nearby groceries. Along with chicken, he sells fresh hot fries. Thom and Ab rode bikes from the soccer pitch to the chicken man to grab lunch. Abby considers herself a fries expert and gave our chicken man’s pommes two enthusiastic thumbs up. We spent Saturday afternoon at the library and swam at Lorettobad. Ab and Ward’s first day in Freiburg was great. They slept well, and Ab was up to walk the twins to kindergarten with me. We took full advantage of our kid-free time and took a nice hike up in the forest by our house.
We didn’t have a destination in mind and wandered up and around enjoying the sights. We made it out of the forest for lunch at Kartoffelhaus before picking up the twins. The kids have been wanting to go miniature golfing for a long time. I kept putting it off. So much so that VInnie made me sign a promise note that they would get to go mini golfing in Freiburg. Abby makes every situation better so I decided to go for it when she was here. We made it though. After supper, Abby and Ward walked the kids to our Johanneskirche ice cream shop. The kids loved leading the way, and I sure love cleaning the kitchen in peace. One of the restaurants at the Stadttheater tram stop brought out a slushie machine in the spring. The kids always look at the churning ice longingly whenever we pass by. I tell them, we’ll buy one when Auntie is here. She loves that stuff.
Everyone’s dream came true this afternoon. Thom and Vinnie each made a loaf of bread when they were on their school trip. When they brought the loaves home on Wednesday, they both refused to have it. "We want to eat it with Auntie."
We cut into Thom's tonight, and it was a hit. Making signs is apparently a poor equivalent to being awake when very special guests from America arrive.
Germany is out of the World Cup. We had some stunned, sad sweethearts tonight.
Errol’s plane took off right before the news broke. The kids were very concerned that he was unaware of Germany’s fate. I reassured them that their father would get on his phone as soon as he possibly could when his plane landed. |
Anne Thomsen lordWritings on our year abroad. Archives
September 2018
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