Mollie and I do a lot of house swapping through homelink.org its a great way to see the world. This year I put into my profile that we would be travelling and that we would love to meet people along the way. A wonderful family Jochen, Uli and their son, offered to host us for a night near Stuttgart, so when we finally got to Baden Baden, it was only the start of our travels in Germany, we still had to find our way to their village.

We took the scenic route, steep roads, scary drop-offs, little valley and trees everywhere. I love that each house has an enormous woodpile. This is a beautiful area, the villages have loads of wooden beamed houses, narrow streets and its just gorgeous. The drive took a lot longer than I anticipated. Rosita being stout of heart but slow of engine. Nonetheless the drive was amazing, we arrived horribly late at our hosts home. But they were the soul of hospitality.

We had a wonderful BBQ sitting on the deck as the sun went down. These people are my tribe, people who know what it is to reach out to strangers and make them feel at home. I loved chatting to them, comparing our respective lives. What makes people able to reach out when the whole world, all of our media says..'be afraid'..stay home...watch more TV.

Anyway, enough amateur philosophising, they also gave us a bed for the night and while rosita is comfy a real bed is luxury and I am in their house now using their interwebs...which is why there are a lot of posts!!


I am so jealous of their home though, it is gorgeous, all co-ordinated and sophisticated and so tidy: My house looks like a battle at a fete and will never look grown-up. But c'est la vie...(my 20 years old french actually improved and was adequate in France, its amazing how far pointing and shrugging will get you!)

Later today we push on towards switzerland, schauffesen (sp??) and the rhine falls direction, I am not sure how far south we will get, but definitely Zurich on Friday to meet up with another wonderful person for a cuppa.

So my lovelies that is all for now (do I hear the peanut gallery saying 'its about bloody time too!') No idea when I will get online again, but I daresay there will be lots more words when I do

X
Uli
7/26/2010 12:09:06 am

Hi Edel and Molly,

now already almost a week has past since your visit...and I discover myself frequently thinking back on our wonderful evening and wondering "what are their new adventures; are they having fun etc.?"

We enjoyed our chat with "native" English-speakers very much. At this opportunity we became aware of the fact how little we know about our european neighbours (shame on us!). By your way of travelling you will learn quite a lot. ( I wouldn´t be able to muster enough courage for such a trip - that leaves me quite jealous myself)
For us, we would have had so much more questions and topics to talk about...but time ran on so quickly.
We would be pleased to stay in contact.

Besides, as I read your blog about our house I really had an eye-opener and had to laugh about myself. Isn´t it funny how different the views of different people can be? I never would have dreamt of labelling my house as "coordinated" or "sophisicated". I myself would call it structured and lacking unneccessary things, because I´m sooo lazy, when it comes to cleaning. :-)

Well, so much for now...I hope I got my English right to express what I meant to. Be sure we will follow your proceedings. We are keen on your next blogs (your writing is so funny - are you an profesional writer beside your lecturing?)

All the best for your further travelling!!

Uli and family

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