We have had a wonderful ten days or so in Germany so far! The first few days were spent with Heike as she was on half-term, and we were lucky enough to spend her Birthday with her.
Friends and family came round for the afternoon and evening, where they were treated to homemade cakes and soup. Along with this there was bubbly and lots of chatter, which we tried to get involved with (the chat, bubbly we had no problem with) but eventually we had to give up and retire!
The three of us took a trip into Hamburg to do some shopping, then we visited a nice restaurant called Bullerei, www.bullerie.com. It is in a building that used to be an abattoir and when they refurbished it they retained some of the old tiles and plumbing so you can see some of the original features. It is owned by a friend of Jamie Oliver (apparently) and it is in the old, bohemian area of the city called Schanzenviertel.
While there we also visited a sofa bar called Zoe 2, www.zoebar.de in the Saint Pauli area of the city. During the day it mainly serves as a tea bar, but in the evening it has a really lively feel to it. All the seating is old sofas, that have been refurbished (to a degree) and it creates a lovely inclusive feel. You may be sat next to someone you don’t know but that adds to the dynamic and no doubt creates some interesting conversations!
On our way home, Heike was reading our German phrase book and was in fits of giggles as it gave some advice on ‘etiquette’. The guy sat next to us on the train could not help but laugh as we were reading bits out.
After a week, Heike went off to London for a few days and we settled in to look after the gorgeous dogs Tessa and Murphy. They are an absolute joy to look after, especially as Heike has trained them so well.
We’ve been on plenty of walks with them, and we’ve been out on the bicycles to the old army camp at Reinsehlen. This is on the Luneburg heathland, an old training ground for the military during the years 1950 – 1990s. You can still see the tank ‘wash-down’ area but it has now been turned into an adventure play area.
Dean has got back into running and has gone out a few times with Heike, and also on his own. I have got back into my Pilates and cycling so we are well on the way to getting back our fitness!
Brian returned with Heike a few days later and we’ve been spending time with both of them, which has been great. Unfortunately, Heike has had to go back to work this last week but we are still spending time together.
Today we went swimming at the pool in Schneverdingen. It cost 3.50 euros each and it is a 25m pool, with a depth of 2m at the deepest point.
The town has spent a lot of money on the facility and it shows. It is a great place to go, albeit a bit of a labyrinth to get from reception to the baths themselves! On Tuesdays and Thursday the temperature is raised to 30 degrees C, but that is too hot for us so we went on Wednesday. There is also a bubble pool like a massive jacuzzi that we took advantage of, before getting out and heading to a local café called M-One for lunch and coffee.
