(Joe's recap of our weekend)
Today we rode our bikes to the Ritter Sport chocolate
factory and museum in Waldenbuch, which is about halfway between Stuttgart and
Tübingen. The weather was perfect, sunny
and warm, but not too warm – we didn’t want to get too sweaty riding up the
several hills on the 18km route. We went
with 2 of Betsy’s lab colleagues –Jamie, a Canadian visiting for 7 weeks, and Aude
another post-doc from France (whose oven I recently helped to hook up).
We were like the proverbial kids in the candy shop, and we
bought A LOT of chocolate. Although more
than half will be gifts. For instance,
Betsy’s colleagues made it clear that she should bring back something for the
group, so they will have to share a 2 kg variety pack (4.4 lbs) –I think that
should satisfy them, at least for a few days.
We also got our own Ritter Sport expansion pack for Settlers of
Catan! After a quick dinner, we played;
Betsy beat me, and handily.
To add to (or compensate for) our chocolate expedition,
Betsy & I have been swimming regularly with a “competitive swimming” group
at the university. We happened on them
quite by accident. There was a misprint
for free swim time at the pool, and when we showed up on the pool deck, ready
to swim, they were concerned that we were just there to play. As it turns out this is the type of swimming
we have been looking for since moving to Germany. Unlike what Betsy described in “Schwimm,
shwamm, ist geschwommen” on the November 13, 2011 post, this group knows how to lap swim. The pool is small, 3 lanes and only 20 m
long, but the group manages to accomplish a serious 1.5 hour workout with 3 or 4
people per lane.
While we don’t have pictures of it, yet, there is a
parachute flying club that uses the hill between our apartment and the
university. They take off from the top
of the grassy hill and fly into the wind.
They only manage a ground speed of walking pace, but manage to get up to
100’ above the ground. We aren’t the
only people to watch in amusement.
Joe and Betsy,
ReplyDeleteBiking to a chocolate factory--it doesn't get any better than that! When I was working on a joint PPG-Schott project in Jena a few years back, Ritter chocolate was a staple for snacking. I especially liked the one with hazelnuts.
Relative to biking, I got a new mountain bike this spring and have already have had three flats but only one (minor in case Linda reads this) crash. It's a nice bike--29er, disk brakes, front shock, aluminum frame, and 10 speed cassette. I'm sure the guys at the shop were wondering why an old fart like me was buying such a nice bike. It's a very comfortable bike on flat trails as well, and I wish I could be riding it on trails in Germany. In Jena I was known as "Bob from America" at the bike shop as I rented a bike several times.
I hope you're enjoying your new apartment,
Bob Heithoff