MONDAY 29th AUGUST 2011 (Village life)

Lots of washing was hung on the line (for everyone) and the chooks were fed. I love being here - feel right at home. Even got to pat all the neighbours dogs as they walked past.

Dogs here are really well looked after. They are regularly exercised which is made easier by the fact that they are allowed in all the shops, on public transport, even on aeroplanes (either on their owners knees or sitting alongside). Every dog we've seen is in tip top shape. It's a vast contrast to home where we can't even walk our dog through the shopping centre car-park...!!!

Breakfast was a long-drawn out affair because there was far too much chatter - all of which was very entertaining. Before we knew it, it was after midday! In the back of our minds we'd already decided to not ride anywhere today so the atmosphere was very relaxed.

Early afternoon Paul, myself, John & Pat decided to go for a walk around the village.

It's not the prettiest village we've seen, however it's different to home and therefor interesting. We needed to do something other than sit around the table and tell tall tales all day.

It's a small village and we could see the slight movement of curtains as villagers watched us aliens casually wander through their streets. Some came out and said 'Kevin?'. We said 'Yes, Kevin'. They all knew where we were staying!

We found a small dam which had lots of rainbow trout actively feeding (where's a fishing rod when you want one?) and a few large, slothful carp.

I saw a bench seat with wheels on either side. LOVED it and will be working on a plan to see if I can get Paul to make one for us when we get home.

Also saw a typical guard dog sign, but hang on a bit...the graphics underneath the dog is not typical.

There's no mistaking it's meaning - if the dog doesn't get you the owner will...!!!

We walked half a kilometer out of town to check out one of the many wind turbines (windmills) in the area. Standing at its base it was
H-U-G-E. We were in farming country and from this spot could see at least 12 turbines around us. There must be thousands of them dotted around Germany.

We walked back through the forest to the village and home again. We thought the whole walk would take 10 minutes but we were gone for two hours!

Later in the afternoon Paul took Kerstin for a ride on the Zundapp to meet her dad. He really, really wanted to see the bike and hear it running.

Paul offered him a ride and he was in the sidecar before you could blink. We took that as a 'yes please'! We enjoyed meeting Gunter & Doris and they, in turn, enjoyed the Zundapp experience.


Later on we were joined by neighbours Manni & Marko. The Aussies and Poms had to leave the room as the incessant smoking became too much to bear.

Something was said to them, the windows were opened and beers shared. Conversation was difficult as they had very little English but they were interested in what we were doing - especially on such an old bike.

Manni proudly took us to his shed to show us his 1960 Zundapp 50cc. He also had a lovely 1983 Citroen 2CV in two-tone green.

It was back home for a traditional German meal of Spatzle which is a pasta dough made in very small pieces, boiled for a couple of minutes and then a cheese, bacon and cream sauce mixed through. It was really nice.

Stories and jokes were the order of the evening and before long the early hours of the next day were upon us.

One thing that came out of the evening the Zundapp was officially named ..... "BRUNHILDA".    It's Germanic meaning is 'ready for battle'..  The Norse meaning is 'warrior queen'.  An apt name for the 'old lady'.