I am sitting in Chris’s grandparent’s house in Schenefeld,
Germany writing this instalment of the blog.
It is an interesting house, built by Chris’s great
grandfather. Parts of it are a bit
rundown now, but it originally
incorporated a bakery which has long since closed. Chris’s maternal grandparents name was
Backenhaus (Baker House) an excellent example of nominative determinism. The house has many nooks and crannies to
explore.
The house backs onto the local cemetery. The graves have impeccably kept gardens, but
once your grave lease runs out, the headstones are unceremoniously dumped.
The weather has been reasonable with a bit of “liquid
sunshine” to use Chris’s dad’s term for rain.
The village is relatively small, but Sue and I have enjoyed
wandering around it and visiting the local bakery. The local Lutheran church was originally
built in the 11th century, with significant updates in the 1600s and
more recently in 1909.
Our flight from Brisbane was due to depart at 2:30am but we
were held up and did not get away until 5am.
Not a good start! Nevertheless,
we have enjoyed all other aspects of the Emirates flight and even found the
food quite edible.
We had a one night stopover in Dubai. The temperature (45C) was the first thing to
hit us. We could see the worlds tallest
tower, but it was largely obscured by the dust haze. We wandered through the shopping centre, but
it seemed to be targeting people with more money than us! I didn’t even bother to wander into Cartiers.
The general workers (mostly if not all from other countries
– about 126 countries apparently) are not highly paid, but all I spoke to
enjoyed living there with its freedom and lack of conflict. I wonder how the country will survive once
they run out of oil? (Fuel here is about 30c/L)
Anyway – back to reality.
Just had a chat with my dad (isn't Skype great!) and I am sitting in the kitchen while Sarita is with Sue trying on her wedding dress. Then we are off to visit Chris's mum in Hamburg. We are all getting excited looking forward to the wedding in 2 weeks time.
In the meantime, Sue and I will be in St Petersburg.
Auf Wiedersehen.
