Sunday, May 24th, Rest Day in Edelsfeld
After coming in at 2 am, there was no waking up at four for me on this morning. Poor Harry had to get up early and go to work around seven. I went back to sleep, but got up in time to go down and have a lovely breakfast. After showering and getting dressed for the day, I went out to walk around town some more. An Australian biker at breakfast the day before had mentioned there were some walking routes that started across the street at the church. The bells had rung earlier to announce the start of church services, now while I walked around it looking for the start of the walking route I could hear the congregation singing a hymn. It was a familiar tune from our hymnbook, but of course the words in German.
I found two big local maps at the edge of the parking lot that illustrated walking routes through the surrounding countryside. As I was trying to decypher them, the bells started ringing again and people started coming out of the church. I wanted to get the bells recorded, so I turned my camera to video and discreetly turned it in the direction of the church to capture the crowd coming out for a visual to go along with the sound. When it was done I went on with my walk, going in the other direction from where I went the day before. I decided not to try the walks on the maps. I wasn't sure I would find markers along the way and thought I might get lost.
I went up past the catholic church and turned right, taking pictures and looking at the houses. Within a few blocks I saw a path heading out into the country through the fields towards a woods. I decided to head that way, and pretty soon I saw a little tiny white church at the edge of the woods. Harry had told me there was a small, really old church nearby, and I was so excited to have found it on my own. I meandered down the little dirt road, taking pictures and enjoying the bright yellow of the rapeseed field dotted along the edge with bright red poppies. The sun shone warm, and it was so quiet that all I could hear was the deep thrumming of the thousands of bees busy all over the rapeseed blossoms.
The little church was a 12th century Romanesque style called Simultaneous Church St. Joseph. It had the old style leaded bottle bottom style windows from back in that time period. There was a May Day sculpture in front of it, I'm not sure why. I wasn't able to get in, but I enjoyed walking all around it. Eventually I headed down the road that went behind the church. It ran down a hill through a little woods. Through the trees I could see the buildings of a tiny little community. At this point I was 1 kilometer from Edelsfeld. The road intersected a road that connected back to Edelsfeld on the other side of town. It was a nice walk, but a little warm on the last leg. The day was heating up. Soon after I got back the bells rang for noon. Right after that Harry came in with a sandwich from the Subway on the base where he was working. He shared half with me, so I didn't end up eating the brochen and yogurt I saved from breakfast.
AFter he left I went for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. I had it all to myself, which was nice. The pool had a spot on one wall that shot a jet of water, chest high, with two handles on either side to hold yourself in the jet. It had a lovely massaging effect. At one point Trudi came in, looked at me and said , "Oh, It's you!" Apparently she'd seen me on the security camera and didn't recognize me. Eventually I went in and showered in the dressing room, where they had one of those big overhead showers...I don't remember what they are called. There wasn't any shower curtain or shower door, so the water went out all over the floor,which I felt bad about. There was no drain, and I knew someone was going to have to clean it up.
I went upstairs refreshed and washed out some laundry in the bathroom double sink and put them in the hot sun on the balcony to dry. I recorded some of the happenings from the day before in my trip journal and took a lovely two hour nap, then finished writing in the journal. Meanwhile, there were families enjoying lunch in the patio out back. One large group included two people who were celebrating 25 years since their first communion. They settled in around one pm and didn't break it up until midnight. Now I coudl see why they don't bring the check. Europeans are masters at staying and enjoying themselves when they go out to eat.
At some point in the afternoon I started hearing shouting and singing. It got closer and closer, and I looked out the balcony to see a wagonload of young men rolling down the road with a crowd of people following behind. I grabbed teh camera, but only got a shot of the crowd as they passed the back gate to the patio. I slipped into sandals and hurried down to the street to get some more pictures and a little video as they approached the end of the street and headed out onto the highway. Since Iwas in my pjs, (black t shirt and black pj knee length pants, I thought I'd better not follow any farther.
I went back in to my nap, and a couple of hours later, while I was journal writing, I heard the sound again. I hurried back down and got some more little video clips, just a bit because the memory stick was almost full. It was the local soccer team, who had won the championship. A white banner above the wagon announced their win, and they were singing and shouting and drinking from steins and bottles. I had fun seeing a bit of the local culture.
When Harry came in from work we went down to the Gasthaus restaurant and I had my first real German dinner since arriving. It was wonderful. I had weinerschnitzel, all crispy and tender, with herbed new red potatoes and a serving of spargle, the local white asparagus with hollandaise sauce. I had a spatze to drink, my favorite.
It was a lovely, lovely day, and I was in love with Edelsfeld.
After coming in at 2 am, there was no waking up at four for me on this morning. Poor Harry had to get up early and go to work around seven. I went back to sleep, but got up in time to go down and have a lovely breakfast. After showering and getting dressed for the day, I went out to walk around town some more. An Australian biker at breakfast the day before had mentioned there were some walking routes that started across the street at the church. The bells had rung earlier to announce the start of church services, now while I walked around it looking for the start of the walking route I could hear the congregation singing a hymn. It was a familiar tune from our hymnbook, but of course the words in German.
I found two big local maps at the edge of the parking lot that illustrated walking routes through the surrounding countryside. As I was trying to decypher them, the bells started ringing again and people started coming out of the church. I wanted to get the bells recorded, so I turned my camera to video and discreetly turned it in the direction of the church to capture the crowd coming out for a visual to go along with the sound. When it was done I went on with my walk, going in the other direction from where I went the day before. I decided not to try the walks on the maps. I wasn't sure I would find markers along the way and thought I might get lost.
I went up past the catholic church and turned right, taking pictures and looking at the houses. Within a few blocks I saw a path heading out into the country through the fields towards a woods. I decided to head that way, and pretty soon I saw a little tiny white church at the edge of the woods. Harry had told me there was a small, really old church nearby, and I was so excited to have found it on my own. I meandered down the little dirt road, taking pictures and enjoying the bright yellow of the rapeseed field dotted along the edge with bright red poppies. The sun shone warm, and it was so quiet that all I could hear was the deep thrumming of the thousands of bees busy all over the rapeseed blossoms.
The little church was a 12th century Romanesque style called Simultaneous Church St. Joseph. It had the old style leaded bottle bottom style windows from back in that time period. There was a May Day sculpture in front of it, I'm not sure why. I wasn't able to get in, but I enjoyed walking all around it. Eventually I headed down the road that went behind the church. It ran down a hill through a little woods. Through the trees I could see the buildings of a tiny little community. At this point I was 1 kilometer from Edelsfeld. The road intersected a road that connected back to Edelsfeld on the other side of town. It was a nice walk, but a little warm on the last leg. The day was heating up. Soon after I got back the bells rang for noon. Right after that Harry came in with a sandwich from the Subway on the base where he was working. He shared half with me, so I didn't end up eating the brochen and yogurt I saved from breakfast.
AFter he left I went for a swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. I had it all to myself, which was nice. The pool had a spot on one wall that shot a jet of water, chest high, with two handles on either side to hold yourself in the jet. It had a lovely massaging effect. At one point Trudi came in, looked at me and said , "Oh, It's you!" Apparently she'd seen me on the security camera and didn't recognize me. Eventually I went in and showered in the dressing room, where they had one of those big overhead showers...I don't remember what they are called. There wasn't any shower curtain or shower door, so the water went out all over the floor,which I felt bad about. There was no drain, and I knew someone was going to have to clean it up.
I went upstairs refreshed and washed out some laundry in the bathroom double sink and put them in the hot sun on the balcony to dry. I recorded some of the happenings from the day before in my trip journal and took a lovely two hour nap, then finished writing in the journal. Meanwhile, there were families enjoying lunch in the patio out back. One large group included two people who were celebrating 25 years since their first communion. They settled in around one pm and didn't break it up until midnight. Now I coudl see why they don't bring the check. Europeans are masters at staying and enjoying themselves when they go out to eat.
At some point in the afternoon I started hearing shouting and singing. It got closer and closer, and I looked out the balcony to see a wagonload of young men rolling down the road with a crowd of people following behind. I grabbed teh camera, but only got a shot of the crowd as they passed the back gate to the patio. I slipped into sandals and hurried down to the street to get some more pictures and a little video as they approached the end of the street and headed out onto the highway. Since Iwas in my pjs, (black t shirt and black pj knee length pants, I thought I'd better not follow any farther.
I went back in to my nap, and a couple of hours later, while I was journal writing, I heard the sound again. I hurried back down and got some more little video clips, just a bit because the memory stick was almost full. It was the local soccer team, who had won the championship. A white banner above the wagon announced their win, and they were singing and shouting and drinking from steins and bottles. I had fun seeing a bit of the local culture.
When Harry came in from work we went down to the Gasthaus restaurant and I had my first real German dinner since arriving. It was wonderful. I had weinerschnitzel, all crispy and tender, with herbed new red potatoes and a serving of spargle, the local white asparagus with hollandaise sauce. I had a spatze to drink, my favorite.
It was a lovely, lovely day, and I was in love with Edelsfeld.
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