Frühling (Spring!)

 (an update from Joe)

This is the second Sunday in a row that it has rained.  That being said, spring has been very nice here.  The last two weeks have been mostly sunny and warm.  Three times this week, for the entire afternoon, I left all the windows in our apartment open.

Last Sunday we spent the rainy day at a local hot spring bath.  We went by local train with our American friends (Chris & Rachel).  As you can imagine it was a good time.  There was an indoor pool and 3 outdoor pools of varying temperatures.  We spent a lot of time in the hot pool, and between the steam and clouds we could see the ruins of an ancient castle.  After we had soaked for a few hours, we had lunch in the pool complex.  As usual, where there is food there is beer –so we had our obligatory wheat beer.

Betsy & I joke about the beer in Germany all tasting the same.  So I helped Chris brew a batch of IPA beer, because our wives love hoppy beer.  It took about 3 weeks of brewing, but we had our first taste this Friday – it is wonderful!  We really miss the micro-breweries of the Colorado Front Range, especially Avery, which is known for its very hoppy beers.  However since we can make our own beer now, the sting of leaving Boulder’s beer scene behind is lessened.

Besides satisfying our beer needs, we have satisfied our other fundamental needs, namely shelter.  We have signed a contract for a new apartment.  It is a great apartment – lots of south-facing windows.  It has a south-facing balcony, which overlooks a garden and a stream, and there is a small horse pasture on the other side.  It is 10 km west of the Betsy’s building, but the bike paths are all flat, so the ride should be easy.  However Betsy is suddenly interested in “Rollers” (mopeds or scooters in English), as she isn’t sure she will want to bike 20 km every day.  It just so happens that Betsy’s new German driver’s license allows her to drive Rollers, as well as cars and small tractors.

We have been to a few parties lately.  Yesterday we attended a spring garden party, and in honor of an Irish tradition, many people wore green.  And I arrive in my kilt, and played a few tunes on the bagpipes – the Germans were a very receptive audience.  And as a follow-up to our last post about board games, Betsy organized a board game night with her colleagues.  We played two versions of Settlers of Catan.  For a snack I cooked up half of a paper grocery sack of pop corn, which was also a big hit.  Earlier this week we tasted the “young wine” at a seasonal restaurant ("Besen") – in the fall we had “new wine” just after the grapes were harvested.