Wednesday 28 August 2013

Wednesday 28 August. Day off in Hitzacker.

We are at our B&B, Privatpension Karin Radke. We decided to stay two days to see if Shiel's leg improves. If it doesn't I'm thinking of putting some Bute in her salad tomorrow evening! (RDA joke.)

Karin Radke runs a very efficient B&B with none of the penny pinching that has spoiled one or two other places we've stayed at. She seems a nice woman, she reminds me of my auntie Gladys. :)

At breakfast this morning there were five other people beside us and we were all told, "if you can't eat all your breakfast please take it away to eat later." (My translation, E&OE). She even supplied plastic bags with cable ties on the table so we could seal up our 'doggie bags'. That's what I call hospitality! It makes you feel more  like a family member than just a source of income. Wonderful!

Two cyclists  we met on the Elberadweg, with a similar family name to Karin, recommended her B&B to us and we will gladly recommend it to others.

Today we largely 'blobbed out'. We did a bit of sight seeing and visited the local church, with some modern stained glass,  it looked art deco to me, like some of the things we saw in the Ashmolean two years ago. It was very good. We also visited the local museum which had an excellent interactive display of what it is like to live, as Hitzacker does, between two rivers that flood on a regular basis. 

How the Elbe course has drifted over the years was also very interesting and there was a good photographic display of the June floods. I've attached a picture of the poster advertising the museum. In it you can see how extensive the flooding was. It has adversely affected the income of many businesses on the Elberadweg this year.

We had coffee and Kuechen at Albis, a cafe run by a French woman, who is married to a German. They lived for many years in Cornwall. She knew Torquay well and her son still lives in Truro. We had also visited her cafe the day before. They have good coffee and cakes. We had been talking to her in English and she said it had affected her dreaming that evening. She said last night she dreamt in English, French and German! Brussels would be pleased.

This evening we went out for a meal in Greek restaurant. Interestingly Germans seem much less reserved than the British when eating out. They are happy to greet strangers and chat with them and even share tables with them. 

We had a very good meal and the first Greek coffee we'd tasted for 38 years!!! No 'Greek delight' though?

As I write this Shiel is enjoying the highlight of her day. The American Open on the TV in our B&B! Last week she was able to watch the European Show Jumping Championships.  

Tomorrow we head for Neu Darchau.


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