Sunny Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a lovely small and very typical German town. Well probably a city actually, but small enough to be quiet and feel more like a town. The street in which Thomas lives is one of the original streets of Darmstadt that wasn't bombed during the war. However, a large percentage of the city was completely destroyed and a lot of other major historic buildings and landmarks were seriously damaged. Loss of life in excess of 5000, so a huge big deal for this small city. However, there is no evidence of this now of course and the city is a mix of very old, and more modern buildings. Exactly how Christchurch will look in a few years time maybe.

Our first morning in Darmstadt was lovely. Craig and I got up first and wandered down the street and our noses led us to a cute wee bakery shop where we bought some fresh bread rolls and a loaf of handmade bread. The smell from this bakery was just gorgeous and its not just the usual mouthwatering smell of yeast and hot bread, but something more, something deeper. Its a mix of different seeds and cumin and other things I cant pronounce !

This picture above, is of the tiny wee village square only a few doors along from Thomas' apartment. It is set in a corner where 3 streets intersect and in the afternoon a small bar uses the area for outside drinkies.

Later in the early afternoon Thomas took us on a guided walking tour of his city. As I have already said, its partially old and partially new but it has a lovely feeling. The city is so clean. Thats what strikes you first. Maybe coming from Buenos Aires where it is just the opposite - I dont know. It is the site of a technical university and so there are a lot of young people carrying bags and riding bikes.

But the streets have a lot of areas with very old cobblestones - impossible to walk on these with any sort of heeled shoe whatsoever. We walked through the city centre where a large amount is dedicated to pedestrians. There are huge numbers of bicycles. A lot of young university students. Very large areas of trees and parks.

The overall impression you get left with, when you reflect on the day, is of a happy and peaceful city with huge areas of parkland and young people quietly going about their day.

We stopped walking after a while and Thomas took us to a tiny little pub where they brew their own beer and offer a small selection of light meals. The meals are rustic and very tasty and I had a rich vegetable and meat soup with crusty bread and Craig had slices of cold brawn called (suelze)with hot fried potatoes. He has good memories of eating brawn as a youngster - I do not! Shudder!

We got ready for a milonga that evening which was about 45 minutes away at a small place called Gross Gerau. I am unable to spell this correctly as my keyboard lacks the correct german language letter, but it looks a bit like Grob Gerau. The b is a bit like a capital B with a long tail and equivalent to sz in sound.

It was a great evening and we were made to feel very welcome by the whole room of people. We both danced with so many different ones and the whole night was quite memorable. Neville had told us that he thought the dancing in Darmstadt was a good as anywhere in Buenos Aires. I must say I was a little skeptical - I mean Buenos Aires is a mecca - but he was right. Not only was the dancing wonderful, but the music was also superb. The people we friendly and we felt very comfortable there. The end time of 1.30am seemed to come too quickly.

Home for more wine and cheese and another late night of 3am. Or maybe we have to stop thinking of it as a late night, instead think of it as a normal night. Whats normal???

The next day is Saturday and we went on a fantastic hike with a small group of Simones regular tramping buddies. No proper shoes or clothes, but still we went anyway. It was only around 12 kms - up a large hill and around :)

But thats another story.....