Our neighbours left us goodies yesterday, lovely home made biscuits.
And of course we called into Rocks. It was surprisingly busy for the time of year.
It snowed all night. Difficult to get a nice picture.
The snow eventually stopped late this morning so we ventured out. It’s very cold.
Nothing much happening on the nursery slopes – just a few kids tobogganing.
Another good evening out in Heidelberg last night. We visited one of those dive bars where you pay a few euros cover charge and they mark the back of your hand with a rubber stamp – not seen that for many years.
Cocktails later in a bar called ZKB.
This morning we head south again, and this time the train crosses the border into Switzerland. There are no customs or immigration formalities at all.
The train waiting for us at Lauterbrunnen was equipped for the weather – it’s cold and snowing hard. It seems astonishing that we’re now 800 kilometres south of Soest where we started on Wednesday, and the weather is so much colder.
It’s great to be back. We left a pizza in the freezer when we left in October, so we’ll eat that and get off to Rocks through the snow.
Last night we hooked-up with Ozzie, Michael and Laurie. A good time was had by all.
This morning we had breakfast in a cafe on the square, and I met Saint Nicholas.
Market just opening up.
On the other side of the river is a nice walk called the Philosopher’s Way. Fantastic views across the Neckar and back to town.
Popped round to see Mark & Cordula and the kids yesterday afternoon. It’s Advent, and that’s when children get their presents in Germany. Here’s Geraldine and Jaclynn.
And here’s Val with the latest addition to the family, Daven.
We had a walk into town to visit the Christmas market. Geraldine loves the rides.
A few more shots of the market.
This morning it’s time to head south. We catch an inter city train from Soest, and the tracks join the Rhine at Cologne. From there we look out at fairy tale castles, and of course we pass the Lorelei. It’s a pretty epic journey.
A little over 440 kilometres later we arrived in Heidelberg around 4pm. Later on we’ll meet a couple of old friends and see what the evening brings.
We got the little commuter plane over to Dusseldorf yesterday morning.
The airport seems to have been built in anticipation of an immense (but currently absent) growth in passenger numbers. Here’s the baggage carousel area. Ours were the only bags.
We caught the monorail train to the railway station. A guy spotted Val using the ticket machine, and told us that the cheapest way to get to our destination was to buy a family day ticket. These tickets cover up to five people and one dog, and sure enough the price was quite a bit lower than the regular fare. Of course this helpful guy had a hidden agenda, as it meant he could travel along with us for free. We didn’t have a problem with this and it all worked out fine – we all ended up quite a few Euros to the good.
Our destination was a town called Soest. It’s in a part of Germany called Nordrhine-Westphalia. We checked into our hotel and had a lovely dinner accompanied by a few beers.
The hotel dates back to 1304. It’s a cosy old place – all low ceilings and narrow staircases.
After breakfast this morning we had a walk into town. Soest is an old walled city quite reminiscent of Chester. It’s a cold day so we linger over our coffee in an elegant patisserie. The cakes looked wonderful.
Soest has a Christmas market, and it starts today. We’ll be back here after dark for a proper look round once things get going.
It’s the end of the season. Of the hotels only the Bernerhof remains open and our choice of places for a drink later is limited to the Crystal bar and Sina’s. We met Beanie and Sandro and the kids and had a wander. Larena and Aliena had a go at the slack line.
Fun in the forest.
Friendly cat.
Tomorrow we’ll travel back to the UK. We’ll be back here at the beginning of December.
There was a frost on the ground when we woke up this morning, but the sun is out and it’s a nice autumn day. We get the train to Wilderswil and walk down the river to the lake.
Last time we were here the lake was busy with swimmers and lots of people enjoying watersports. Today we have it to ourselves.
The Sunstar is closing this weekend, so we’ll have a party tonight to finish off the beer.
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