Chicago - There and Back Again

End of Year Excitement for Hobbits on a Journey 

 Christmas was definitely coming, the temperature suddenly dropped dramatically; from balmy one day  to freezing the next.  Andrew and Daena took us to see homes decorated with lights in amazing displays in the richer suburbs, although there were many lovely ones in every street.  Folks pay workers to do their houses up and some of those roofs are high.

A single woman next door named Melissa asked Andrew to attend twice a day to the stray dog, Max, that she'd found a month before.  The trouble was she left him in a cage in a small room for the rest of the 24hrs each day.  We couldn't bear it so Andrew attached his lead to a secure run to  give him some exercise and sunshine; trouble was 'someone' cut the lead - now the chase was on and he was sure hard to catch.   Andrew and Daena exercised him in the adjacent dog park but he squeezed through the bars and took off into the night......  Meanwhile every night he found a new way to break out of his cage and wreck the room.  A lovely obedient dog who'd been well trained.  Whew!

I had found that the Denton branch of the Dickens Fellowship was only an hour away.  Then Jill, Daena's mum was going up there over night to tape a TV show and she kindly let me join her.  So I was able to meet up with some of the key members of their group in a coffee shop in the Denton Town Square by the old couthouse.  They were very excited to meet a Dickensian from New Zealand.  We swapped stories about our histories, our meetings and then I told them a little about New Zealand.  These folks frequently tour in Britain but had not been 'down under'.  Sandra, the secretary, took me to visit a few of the sights in the brief time that we had, including this lovely old 'Victorian' home.  Why do Americans use the term 'Victorian'?



We'd bought a Toyota Sienna van, (2004), so that we could drive to and from Chicago to celebrate the festive season with Daena's family.  That is a 1556 km drive and I was fairly apprehensive about it; such a long way and I'd been having back problems even on short trips. However the van was warm and comfortable and the drivers did a great job, swapping every 2 hours.



We made good time, driving north through to Wichita in Kansas, (and, no we didn't meet up with Dorothy, nor the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion or even experience a tornado though they are currently striking other parts of the US).


 Here we met with one of Andrew's pro-life mentors, Troy Newman.  He showed us around their offices, once an abortion clinic, that they had been able to shut down.



 It seems that much of this 'work' is a racket, where desperate, vulnerable, women are coerced into this 'final solution', to line the pockets of the unscrupulous while seriously endangering the womens' own lives.  I met a sad woman whose daughter had been killed in one of these legal abortions.

The place was in a disgusting state when they bought it; absolutely filthy and nothing like a hospital or health clinic.  No more details here but ask me if you want to know more about this.





  Driving west through Kansas we hit Kansas City which lies on the border with Missouri.  There we saw rolling prairie with lots of trees everywhere in the fields, all denuded by now of course, and all greyish-brown with some snow on the ground and very little undergrowth.  Tall slim silos could be seen next to barns on many of the farms.  Unbeknown to us we passed by very close to where my niece, Kristy Swift's in-laws live and where I think she lived when she too married an American a few years ago.

The motoring conditions were excellent on the freeway, (so called because it is not a tollway), and although the driving was relentless, having the two drivers made it all much more do-able. vAfter motoring for around three hours in the dark we stopped at a McDonald's, where as you may know there is free Wi-fi, and used this to locate some nearby accomodation.

The Quinta hotel that we took turned out to be a dog hotel!  Where many travellers stayed with their dog/dogs in the room with them.  Even though our room didn't have a doggy smell I found it quite challenging trying to navigate down the hall past the woman holding leashes to five bumptious, various sized dogs all at once.   There were dogs on leashes, dogs in cages, dogs on laps and dogs growling or barking at their rivals.  Small dogs were taking on huge dogs and red-faced owners were looking the other way while others were fiercely trying to gain control of their own unruly animals.  Avoid that next time.

 Missouri seemed to go on and on but eventually at St Louis, (pronounced Lewis not Lewy), we crossed into Illinois then suddenly the landscape changed.  Now we saw very few trees; only a few standing next to farm houses and huge, red barns together with fatter, squat silos.   The other defining feature of the landscape here are the vistas; all around the land is flat and the horizon is extremely low so that you can see for a long way in any direction and there appears to be so much more sky.   Many of the fields contain the remnants of a corn harvest; grey, sad stubble. This must be good arable land where every bit is well utilised.   Now and then we have spotted nuclear power stations with their characteristic fat chimneys and in other places, fuel burning ones, all with billowing clouds of water vapour pouring forth, forming clouds, and this makes them easy to spot.

 Chicago is in Illinois and lies at in a very strategic position, which has been a large factor in gaining its prosperity.  And it certainly is wealthy.  When you consider that the city was founded at roughly the same time as Wellington in New Zealand and has now grown to 9.8 million.  It is a monstrous city filled with elegant, tall and giant buildings, many taking up whole city blocks, these structures go on and on as you drive north, up the side of Lake Michigan, (pronounced like Michele not Mitchell, as I have discovered).

 Jill had lots lined up for us and her family over Christmas and the days we were there.  She took some of them to overnight at a swimming pool hotel.

 We'd arrived on Peter's birthday so Daena, who had flown up to Chicago the day before, was kind enough to bake a cake for Peter.  He was quite chuffed.

The day we were given a tour of the city by Andrew's mother-in-law, Jill Stanek, the Lake was grey-brown and whipped up furiously with large, frothy waves.



     I visited a church called Hope in the morning with Andrew; it was very similar to our own church.




On Sunday afternoon Daena's brothers arrived with their families and we had Christmas Dinner then with them.  Christmas meant the traditional breakfast at the Double Yolk restaurant for the family - so there we were, eleven of us, all eating double-yolkers, well for all but Levi.

As we drove we were overwhelmed by the staggering number of magnificent sky scrapers, such an assortment of ages and designs.  You really have to respect the people who achieved so much in only 180 years. 

 On our tour we visited China Town and it really was like old China.  I bought some bau here; these are those white, soft, steamed buns which have pork filling.

Parking underground below the Millenium Park in the center of town, we went up top to see a large 'bean' there with a mirror coating, on which it was fun to see our contorted images.











Next up was the 'must do' Deep Dish Pizza Restaurant, 'Lou Malnati's', a big speciality here in Chicago.

That afternoon we drove East to Indiana where Jill's parents live beside a picturesque lake.

 This is also where Jill's family have lived for generations and we were driven around the lake and shown some of the especially memorable places.   Her granddad, Jack Hollar, is very skilled in woodcraft and has produced many lovely pieces of oak furniture, including a highchair that converts into a rocking horse and a desk.

Grandma Mylene, I already knew from Facebook so it was super to catch up with her properly.  She and her family put on a lovely Christmas meal for everyone.  Another day Peter and I visited the Oriental Museum of the Ancient Near East.   There we were amazed to see what a huge amount of archeological work the Americans have carried out in those countries.  On the same day we went to the SMART Museum at the University of Chicago where there were great exhibits of Frank Lloyd Wright and many famous artists as well.   In a western suburb we found a gigantic fabric warehouse to 'blow your mind'.   Here Peter was greatly impressed and had a long chat with the manager who was very proud of his establishment.  

 The following day I went alone by double-decker train into Chicago so that I could see some of the architecture close up and also the Art Institute of Chicago which has an immense collection and is currently showing an Impressionist exhibition.  There, I also saw some gorgeous Chigal windows and what I was very pleased to get up close to was the famous painting called 'American Gothic' which is so often satirised.

Soon enough it was time to be heading south again, this time via a night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time there were five of us in the van plus all the gear.  The roads were clear of snow after the blizard so we were safe and made good time. And were thankful that Levi travelled exceptionally well.


Chicago, we've been there and back again and all before 2013.

Thanksgiving, Fort Worth and Cleaning

Although we shared our Thanksgiving meal with Jill and Rich early on the Sunday, the real celebration of Thanksgiving Day was 22 November.  I believe that this day is traditionally a day of thanks to God for preserving the first Christian colonists who came to America and survived that first winter.  It is usually a meal from foods native to the New World,  they may have shared this meal with the local Indians who had helped them through the winter.

Jill and Daena cooked an 11 lb turkey stuffed with lemons, celery and onion in a turkey bag.  Then they made some stove top stuffing and mashed potato.  They also cooked mashed yam (a kind of sweet potato) and baked this with white marshmallows on top. Whole corn was a separate dish.  There was gravy too.  Rich carved the turkey as he has done every year; he learnt this special method from his dad.  He separated out the white from the red meat.  We sat down for the meal at 7pm with two bottles of wine.  

It was great meeting up with Daena's parents again; we'd met them in early 2011 when Jill had been one of the Pro-life speakers that Andrew had brought out to New Zealand.  Now we met them as family and shared Andrew, Daena and Levi.  We are learning about their way of life and language.  The differences may be minor but they certainly can cause some confusion.  Sometimes Jill calls for an interpreter so she can follow the conversation.  We have the benefit of watching and listening to years of US TV programming.

The following week was Andrew's birthday and Daena was keen to take Andrew on a tour of a boutique brewery in Fort Worth.  This they did after driving for miles - as they do in the US - to check out a vehicle that we were looking at purchasing.  We got horribly lost and only just made it to the brewery in time for the tour.  The multiple tastings were 10 oz each, so the family decided to cut their tour short; one was plenty!  



Our next port of call was at the Water Gardens in downtown Fort Worth.  These deep architectural concrete pools and fountains surrounded by large trees are designed to provide a variety of cool experiences for the overheated citizens when the temperatures reach the 40s in the summer.  In an older part of Fort Worth we visited the Stockyards, where most people were wearing Western outfits, Cowboy boots and Stetsons.  The state of Texas has a lone star symbol and it is on display everywhere; even carved multiple times into the freeway girders.

Daena had heard of a popular Mexican restaurant so we had a very scrumptious meal there including soft, fresh, corn tortillas and Margaritas.  The folks at the neighbouring table were so fascinated that we were from New Zealand that they insisted on ordering us another round of drinks.

Andrew is friendly with the Christian landlord of the next-door flats and made an arrangement with him for Peter and I to help Steve clean and do some maintenance on it in return for staying there until he can rent it out.  So though we are living here rather sparsely, we have our own little/not so little, space here for the time being.  I put a few dollar shop Christmas decorations up and today we had an early visit from Santa in the way of Mr Cardinal bird who landed just behind the chimney! (Photo not the best or reddest).

After much fuss with money transfer and insurance issues and registration arrangements we finally got our vehicle on the road.  It's a grey seven seater Toyota Sienna 2004, for those who like to know those details.  So at last we can get around without inconveniencing Andrew, who has been most gracious and has taken us all over the place.  The roads may be wide but there are three lanes each way and each lane is narrow.  So many of the vehicles are wide, SUVs and large ute-trucks not to mention trucks. We, therefore feel quite vulnerable and the allowable road speeds are rather frightening too and much faster than at home.  Before we got the car we did a lot of walking and had to really watch it when trying to cross any roads - for a start we kept looking left when we needed to be looking right!

Levi helping change the wheel nut on the Sienna

It's amazing for us to have Andrew driving us so competently in and around this huge metropolis; in and out of the spagetti junctions, on and off freeways and all at such speed in busy traffic.  Great though to see all the different sights and all the drive-ins; even drive-in banks.

As for the weather there has been an unusual Indian summer here with hot days in the 70Fs, that's over 20C.  Interestingly Alex tells me that they, in Perth, are experiencing an unusually cool spring.  So all this is for the better for all of us and we are enjoying the warmth while we are about to miss the New Zealand summer.  So I have been able to go out during the day with no cardigan.   Also we have had no rain and we have been here nearly 4 weeks.

Surprisingly huge flocks of large black birds emerge in the early evenings, these may be Great-tailed Grackles; they fill the sky and then descend into one or two trees.

There is so much that is new and interesting and we are enjoying the challenges of it all every day.

With Moore Family in Dallas

With Family in Dallas  

Having finally arrived here in Dallas Texas we now have met our daughter-in-law, Daena, and their dear little 7 month old son, Levi.

He's a dear wee boy with a very ready smile.  I had been concerned that it might have taken a while for him to like us but having been on facebook for over a year this was no trouble for him.  He is roly-poly and enjoys playing by himself on his play mat when all the grown-ups will give him the space.

His other grandparents, Rich and Jill Stanek, Grandma and Grandpa, were down from Chicago for 4 days to celebrate Thanksgiving here since Jill had to tape a TV show in Denton, a town nearby.  So Levi was totally swamped with attention and loved it all.  

Andrew and Daena's home is a well appointed two bedroom brick house that is part of a duplex.  They live in a leafy and pleasant neighbourhood surrounded mainly by lots of condominium complexes.  Their street is near a main road, 40 minutes from the airport and about15-30 minutes from down town Dallas.  Their lounge/living room is larger than ours and both bedrooms are what we would call large doubles.  It has a bathroom and an ensuite as well as a small internal room for a laundry.  The kitchen is well designed and is a little bigger than ours.  Andrew's desk is usually in the bay window facing the street with a great outlook.  There is a large fireplace with  a strong mantlepiece above it.  They keep the house at 22 degrees so it is T-shirt territory even in late fall.

Church on Sunday morning was quite an experience.  The almost new building was a complex much larger than the Christchurch Town Hall!  It is built in Wood and stone and to a high standard.

Seven thousand people attend there in a series of services throughout the day.  They have various out-reach programmes and seem very committed to their community.  The teaching was presented in a modern way by the youth pastor using concrete blocks to build a cross on stage to act as a teaching tool.  The singing was louder than I could have wished for but all in all it was  fine.  After the service we had our family pictures taken.

During their stay Jill and Daena made the Thanksgiving dinner that we enjoyed early, on Sunday evening.  It was delicious, all set out on the big table (actually Andrew's desk), and nicely finished with Pumpkin Pie and whipped cream and our own inimitable Hot Apple Punch.

I have contacted a Dickens group which is also in nearby Denton and we may be able to go up there for their December meeting.  We are looking at other possibilities for side trips while we are here so if anyone has suggestions that would be great.  At present all we have booked is Christmas in Chicago. 

We have a house-sit just now and although we are back and forth it does give the family some space.  

So as you can see we are really having a great time and are most thankful.

Three Scientists and the Wartburg

Today is Reformation Day, 31st October, and we are in the heart of Reformation territory, slightly to the East of Erfurt, South of Wittenburg, and also East of Wartburg Castle where Luther translated most of the Bible. This is also the former GDR (German Democratic Republic), although it was never democratic! It's so exciting to be in this once forbidden place, where we could once only imagine what life was like here. Nearby is the city of Weimar which gave it's name to another German empire, the Weimar Republic, which was formed here after the First World War. We visited a medium sized church today that our friend Ute attends. Folks there were very friendly and the elder and his wife kindly invited us to lunch. We ate Flamkuchen again; it must be popular! He is a laser engineer. His company design lasers to inspect lenses and it seems to be an extremely high-tech business.

In the last three days we have been staying with Ute in the town of Stadtroda (this means town of tree cutters). It is a beautifully preserved town with quite different architecture from anything we've seen before. There is a local black slate in this Thuringen state of Germany and it can be seen at its best covering some of the church steeples. The houses in the old town are terraced and of about 5 stories each, including the basement. Often they have ornate decoration and fancy roof-lines. We saw the large, stand-alone home where Ute had lived as a girl, growing up in the GDR. She said life during that time was fine as long as you were content with a simple life and not many luxuries. Her dad was in the secret police and needless to say, not well liked. She showed us the garden plot that her mum maintains which is quite a distance from where she lives. Other housing in the town is of the Cold War type; huge unimaginative blocks, rows and rows of them. Ute rents in one that has been renovated recently and it is now a rather pleasant one bedroom apartment. To enter the apartment you use a shared entrance, eight other flats use the same front door; your key opens that one and your flat door too. The flat itself is on the third floor and is quite spacious with a good view but has no lift. When you take a flat like this it has no fitted kitchen whatsoever. Peter has been working on our car, fixing the dent that came with it when we bought it, quite a dusty job and no really suitable place to work.

Now we are staying with Stefan (Schtefan) who has a flat on the second floor of a large house near the centre of Jena, a city 14km from Stadtroda. This city is where Ute works and fellowships. It's really beautiful here, especially as it's autumn and there are huge trees full of yellow/golden leaves everywhere. The buildings nearby are huge seven or so storied houses; often terraced but each one individually designed. They are quite ornate and come in a range of colours. This is a university city so I think many of them are divided into flats. The town streets are cobbled.

Our time at their church was encouraging. There were 60 or 70 people and it was a really friendly environment. And when the elder invited us to his home for lunch I was glad that I had a few bars of NZ chocolate on hand in the car. Both Dirk and Stefan are in high tech industries; Stefan designs ultra small cameras and Dirk is also in optics and designs machines to scan lenses searching for imperfections; well I think that was it. I managed to persuade Peter to buy a pair of good German shoes, which was no easy task, and so will 'not be afraid of the snow' for him. Of course I was much more easily persuaded!

On our way to the town of Huttenburg three hours west of Jena we stopped in at Eisenach, an extremely picturesque town overshadowed by the Wartburg, a huge castle on the hill above the town. This particular castle attracts large numbers of visitors because this is where Martin Luther translated most of the Bible into German when he was a captive there for over a year. It really is quite a special place but we didn't have much time to spend there.

There is a small Reformed Baptist church in Huttenburg. The pastor, Andre Bay, is originally from South Africa but has worked in St. Petersburg and met his wife there. They held a camp there last weekend for German youth and had 60 young people, which is quite amazing for a church with just a handful of families. He was also in NZ a few years ago for the Don Carson meetings.

Further west we visited the old capital of former West Germany, Bonn and also Koln, (Cologne). Here we ,et someone who works at the Max Plank Institute; a Scientific organisation that specialises in Radio-astronomy and I had a brief visit there.

This next leg of our journey has brought us to The Netherlands. It is really special to finally see it after hoping to for so long. I have to say that it is VERY flat. But it's flat in a very picturesque way and well laid out in regular rectangles, with trees in neat rows or groups. There are large farm houses and out buildings with huge dark roofs; often with large areas of photo-voltaic cells. And then there were the canals, amazing to see them at last and different architecture from what we had seen in Germany. We are here now in Bodegraven in central Netherlands near Utrecht. We are with the widow and 4 children of pastor Chong. They have been in Europe 20 months and are living in a nice 3 storied home near a canal. This morning we met in a big church, which was full, and the preaching was faithful. We had some gingerbread at breakfast as is common here. And now after coming home from church, coffee and cake of course.

A Swiss Adventure and Bavarian Hospitality

Visiting our friend Sabine was a highlight. She and Daniel live north of Zurich; still in the same apartment but are just about to move into their own home in a village near Winterthur. They will also have just had their third child, so they'll be busy. Our trip there was by country roads; this is necessary as the motorway fee is an annual one there and quite pricey. Also you get the lovely tour of the various villages.

Switzerland came alive for us during our two days with Catherine Schmid. She gave us thoroughly Swiss meals and insisted on taking us past Lucern to the middle mountains. There in Engleheim we took the gondola up to 1800m. You have to do this often in Autumn in Switzerland because the constant fog is really depressing and doesn't often clear, so getting away to the mountains and above the fog is a recurring theme. Then we realised how special it was that we were able on our first arrival in Switzerland to get great views of the Alps.

After this we crossed back into Germany, actually rather unexpectedly; this is one of the more undesirable features of our sat-nav. But there we were, suddenly on a bridge over the Aare River with the customs officers looming in front of us and no possibility of doing a U-turn. So we missed our opportunity to take a ferry across the Bodensee, Lake Constance, which we had been looking forward to. Nevertheless we made it to our friends, the Kerns, in good time and were even able to take an exhilarating walk with Karen up the hill above the lake before Matthias arrived back from school. They took us to a local restaurant where I was served Spatzle noodles; these are home-made extruded noodles. I hope you enjoy them too because I am likely to serve them when you visit me! This family have finished home-schooling now and are currently helping others, after a stint in the UK to avoid fines here in Germany, so we had plenty to discuss.

Moving on from there we caught up with our friends again in Neuffen, where Nathan had been living; this time meeting the father who had been away in the US on our previous visit. It was their little one's 6th birthday and what a cake! They have a style all their own which is a family tradition with them; iced with coloured custard. German families generally eat their main and hot meal in the middle of the day and then in the evening they have bread, sliced sausage, cheeses and other trimmings. We have to keep reminding ourselves of this when we are making arrangements.

Our old friends, the Zollners, whom we knew years ago when they lived in New Zealand are still in Schwabach and this was our next stop. This town with a main church building larger than our Cathedral, is just half an hour South of Nurnberg, the home of Albrect Durer, the famous reformation artist, of some 500 years ago. Nurnberg is also where the Nazi war crimes were tried after WWII. It is a large modern city but still retains its Medieval wall. Tina and Jurgen kindly gave us true Bavarian meals including her lushiously moist roast pork that I remember so well. She served it with sauerkraut and potato dumplings - superb. It was also my birthday and so a double treat.

Nearby we are now staying with home-schooling friends with nine children. They have an extensive property with an abundance of space in their several farm buildings, some of which they have renovated. Here they have their own botanic garden with many varieties of trees because the dad is a tree doctor. We have been very spoilt here and have needed to stay longer since we have had to make some changes to our itinerary. Peter has busied himself with doors again. One in particular was a curly one - the hinge had been set into the plaster wall but the plaster having crumbled left the door extremely loose. So Peter had to drive a large bolt, which he had attached to the hinge, deep into the masonry and then cement it all in place - exactly the right place - so that the door would swing properly and match up with the separate door jamb. For those who take an interest, doors are different here on the continent; they sit against the door jamb and don't fit within it as they do at home.

Meanwhile I have been teaching English here and there and in particular the writing course to some of their children - now that's a bit different in another language. For instance they don't have the present continuous tense, so you can't start a sentence like "Singing loudly I ........" so we left that bit out. I've also been swapping recipes here and in other places and that usually means preparing the dish - made Bread and Butter Pudding today.

It's the autumn festival at the moment so you find old wooden trailers heaped up with large orange pumpkins and sometimes gourds too, on the sides of the road in various places. If you drive through a village you'll be likely to see one on the outskirts. And in just a few kilometres you hit another village - the place is littered with them and they are all quaint - except for the ubiquitous modern, colourful, supermarkets nestled into some corner and stealing most of the trade from the old style shops. Although bakeries still seem to be an important feature of village life. The other thing you notice about the autumn festival are the autumn trimmings attached to front doors and indoor decor to match, something similar to our Christmas decorations. It's quite special really and of course it's all there to buy in the shops.

Well the weather has changed and I think we have seen the last of the balmy autumn days, it's very cold at times and there was a heavy frost this morning.

Taking a Break in Switzerland

When we left France, we first made a detour so that we could pass through the village that Thierry comes from, Sercoeur. We got some photos so eventually you'll get to see it too. We drove across mid-eastern France and into the most south-western part of Germany, near the Black Forest (Schwartzwald), to get to Switzerland and the town of Aarau. On the way we passed yet another field of blumen (flowers), so this time we stopped and picked some Chrysies. It's really expensive here in Switzerland; prices are double or almost double that of Germany. Unfortunately we were stopped on the border and the car was thoroughly searched by the Swiss boarder control to see if we had too much (> 7kg) of meat or too much alcahol. It was a bit scary as we had a lot of groceries because we were about to go house-sitting, and we thought they might be confiscated or that we might be fined as we had heard of such things, and we really didn't know what they might be looking for. Eventually though, they let us go but it wasn't a pleasant experience at all. However the weather was excellent.

So we arrived in Switzerland and are staying at the Huesler's home; Emily and her family stayed here 7 years ago. This is the same town that Catherine Schmid lives in; do you remember her, she stayed with the Pollards earlier this year?

And so with the sky beautifully clear we looked out over the town to the hills and the distant Alps. In fact it is a view very much like a what you would see from the hills in Christchurch. Today the weather is still balmy. Up here on the hill it was misty until about 11am this morning and then when it had burnt off a sparkling day appeared. And for once I have time to write.

We have just walked up the hill through the forest. If you look closely you can find hazel nuts every ten metres or so when you are out walking. There is a farm up there above part of the forest with a restaurant and 3 goats with tinkling bells on their necks. One was king of the castle on a pile of stones; goats do that. Louder, deeper bells could be heard higher up and were the cow bells, we could see only four - Jersey cows. There are lots of bells around here; the church bells from various churches are ringing right around the clock. So we are having a much needed rest after quite a busy time.

Neuffen, Germany to Nancy in France

Leaving Neuffen (read Noi-fin) and friends behind us we drove toward the black Forest (Schwartzwald), at first it seemed like any other European Forest with its firs and beech. Its beech is very reminicent of our Notofagus or NZ Beech forests for those who are more botanically inclined. Only these seem to be deciduous and are currently tinged with patches of brilliant yellow; very eye catching. However the deeper we travelled into the forest and the higher we ascended the more we realised the extent of this beautiful place. And then at the summit we caught our breath as we surveyed distant tiers of forest clad mountains receding into purple mists; here indeed you feel that you are truly in the Black Forest. Now as we dropped down into the Rhine valley we began to catch glimpses of that great river shining in the late afternoon light between gaps in the trees.

Ben Vosseler's home is in an industrial area on the edge of town not far at all from fields of apples and grapes as we quickly discovered when he took us for a drive to see castle Schaunburg not far from his home. Ben's dad, Rafael, has been renovating a commercial building and has developed it for their home, he's done so much and they live on a grand scale now. Both his parents work as musicians and play something like a French horn only it's in its historic German form. His mum, Christiane also tutors this instrument. They took us for supper to a castle, yes another one, where the view was magnificent and we ate flammkuchen, which is a kind of pizza that I plan to make for you one day! It was served on individual boards, and we ate in the open air right by the battlements. Intriguingly they told us that this beautiful day was the last of the good weather and sure enough that evening down came the rain. They know their weather in a way that we do not. The pool where Ben works is literally over the fence and through a stand of tall trees from his home which is handy.

When you cross a boarder you never quite know what to expect and now we needed to cross the Rhine and thus to go to France. Well there was no boarder control but we certainly noticed the prices, much higher. That's why lots of the folks in Strasbourg do their grocery shopping in Germany.

Our French hosts turned out to be Romanian. I must admit I had wondered when I saw the name Dimitri. So this is how he became a naturalised Frenchman; he served in the French Foreign Legion for five years. And that qualifies you to become French. In Strasbourg we were in an appartment over the boulangerie in the city with a young family; some of their friends came over to meet us too. One lot are about to drive around the world in a campervan, including NZ! I went to the International church there and got to stay for lunch; great company and excellent food. Transport in the city is by extemely modern trams which bend in several places; the floor moves too, they are very comfortable and sleek. Nicoleta and Ana-Maria and I had a lovely day out looking around Strasbourg, travelling by tram and also visiting Petit France, a delightful old part of the city.

Then we were in Chanteheux just near Luneville where there is a palace just like Versailles built in the same grand style, 350 years ago or so. It is currently being restored after a fire in 2004. The whole town around it is about the same age, lots of 4-5 storey buildings all with wooden shutters and wrought iron grills to hold the flower boxes which are filled with an over abundance of mainly red geraniums. We had a trip to the nearby city of Nancy with its magnificent Stanislaus Square surrounded by huge guilded gates. Stanislaus had been a polish king who was aslo Duke of Lorraine. Another trip was to the town of Baccarat, our host, David Zimmermann's home town, where lots of top quality crystal is produced, so many shops with all sorts of crystal. One shop seemed to have an endless array of chandeliers. All the little villages are extremely picturesque so I took plenty of photos. I only wish my camera were better. The family here are planning to emigrate to New Zealand so we spent some time discussing home-schooling and even more time on what it's like living in New Zealand and how they could do it.