Sleepy Sunday

Yes we are a bit sleepy on Sunday morning. We have all woken a little later, and compare the tightness of various muscles in our legs. I seemed to have gotten away without any. I am sure my shoes had nothing to do with it though, as they were just flat street shoes. After a bite to eat around the big table in the kitchen, and some lively conversation and reminiscences of the walk the day before, we all head to Wiesbaden, 45 minutes away. Simone wants to show us her beautiful city.

We start with a ride up a hill in Nerobergbahn water cable car. Its a very innovative way to move people up a steep hill. As I understand it ... and I am no engineer.....there are 2 cable cars on separate tracks side by side. One at the top and one at the bottom of the hill. Each car has a water tank underneath. The tank of the car at the top is full, and the one at the bottom empty - and therefore much lighter. When car at the top starts to come down the slope, it pulls a cable which pulls the car at the bottom to come up the slope. They pass half way. The new car at the bottom now gets the water emptied out and it is pumped back to the main reservoir at the top to full the top car and start the process all over again. Its very clever and fun to ride on.

Riding in the cable car.

The park area that Simone take us to is gorgeous and becasue we are now high up (having ridden on the cable car) we get panamoric views of the city and parks below. Simone showed us a band rotunda that she has danced tango on a few times with a tango group. I have a quick look in my new (and very clever) cellphone and find a lovely piece of Canaro music which I start to play and Thomas and Simone danced on the rotunda in front of some fairly amused locals.

After this, its a quick change at Simone's apartment and we are off to an afternoon milonga at the Rowing Club. It was a lovely spot overlooking the Rhein River and we all thoroughly enjoyed the company and the dancing. There were several people there from the previous milonga and we felt very relaxed and at home in their company. Such a lovely group of people and what really surprises us is the amount of English spoken by them all.

We just had a quiet day on Monday catching up with washing, and I had also volunteered to cook for us all, and had to come up with something fairly typical of what I make in NZ. Craig and I went to the supermarket on our own and had a hilarious time trying to find what we needed - with everything written in German. I wanted to make a favourite dish of Tuscan chicken that I make regularly. I needed chicken thighs - but could manage OK with chicken breast. So we found the chicken section and then bought what we thought was chicken breast. I must say at this point that the dish was delicious and I was pretty happy with it considering the ingredients available. The chicken turned out to be turkey, but it was delicious and very tender and less inclined to dry out like chicken breast does. And it was so cheap!

The next day was 1 May here and its a bit like Labour weekend at home but not Mondayised. So it was a Tuesday this year.

The plan was to go to friends of Thomas and Simone (Bernd and Hedda) who were hosting a tango party at their home in a very small village about an hour away. Bernd is a forest ranger and lives on the edge of the forest that he manages. The area is quaint and quiet and very picturesque. It was a continuous pot luck lunch/afternoon tea/dinner.

We made a dish of white asparagus called Spargel, which was rolled in thin slices of ham that had been spread with mayonaise. Like asparagus rolls at home, but with ham instead of bread. The night before, we had also made a dish called GRUENE SOSSE (I wish I could use the correct german characters!) which was a mix of plain yoghurt, mayonaise and then an enormous amount of finely chopped mix of 7 fresh herbs. these included parsley, chervil, borage, common sorrel, cress, chives and burnet. I havent ever seen some of these herbs and we have fun translating the recipe and tasting the herbs.
There was a huge amount of food and we had fun with Thomas and Simone trying to explain what everything was. Lots of new tastes and flavours to sample. Lovely dancing in their huge family room and friendly people. More new people to meet and dance with. Both of us are struggling to remember all their names now though. We are so comfortable with the people here. They are so relaxed with us and even though we are strangers to them all, we dont feel like that.

Home from here for showers and then out to the Darmstadt Tuesday night milonga. It is just a comfortable 10 minute walk from Thomas' house and  on the 6th floor of a building and is gorgeous and very intimate inside. Lovely dance floor and excellent music from our DJ Karl-Heinz.
Its a beautiful warm and calm evening as we slowly walk home.What a lovely day we have had and we chat and reminisce, while we sit around Thomas' big table sipping a glass of wine.