Oom-pah-pah and we're off to Deutschland!: June 6, 2018 – Day Twenty-Two

June 6, 2018 – Day Twenty-Two – Kreuztal and Kindelsburg Tower

The day starts like all days and we’re working out how to use up our leftovers and get all our goodies in our suitcases. Mainly, though, we are cleaning up our home-away-from-home. I vacuum and clean the bathroom; Marilyn is cleaning out the car. When I go out to see how she’s doing, we wind up taking another tour through the jungle which is Henning’s yard. The roses are outrageous! And there is a flowering tree tht smells like a cross between jasmine and orange blossoms. Marilyn things we should cut some of those extravagant blooms and make arrangements for inside the house. The only cutting tool she can find is a dull pair of hedge clippers; but we persevere. Many thorn pricks later we got two armfuls of divine fragrance! We bring them into the laundry room, clip, arrange, water, and distribute three lovely arrangements!

We taking a break and have lunch with the first episode of “Outlander”! Marilyn has seen the first three seasons, but is very happy to watch them over again!

The day takes a surprise turn for the divine when Eveline comes over and invites us to go with her and her friend, Heike, to the top of the Kindelsberg, to see the Kindelsberg Tower. Marilyn look skeptical until Evelin says we’re going by car! Now it’s an adventure!

Heike and Eveline have been friends a long time and only live about a kilometer apart. Heike is retired from Krombacher! (I think most of the town works for Krombacher!)

It’s a good think she’s driving because there are a lot of tiny, narrow little roads to get there. Kindelsberg is the second-highest mountain in Kreuztal at 618 meters (about 2,000 feet) and the Kindelsbergturm sits atop it, adding another 22 meters (72 feet). It’s a lookout tower that was built in 1907 by the Sauerland Mountain Club. There is also an historical note; the location was a “refuge fort” and offered the locals protection from invaders. I guess, now, that would be us!

Later, while we're eating, we learn that there is a huge fund raiser for a disabled child. That's why there are so many bike riders out today. It was organized on Facebook.

After we've been walking a while, Evelin says not to let this plant touch you! It's like stinging nettle! But you can make a tea out of it and it is supposed to be good for you - but tastes awful!

I promised a better picture of the tower that graces the Krombacher label!

If you were a serious hiker, you could spend a couple of intense hours reaching the tower. Luckily there is also a real road and we arrive sweat-free and refreshed! We stroll to a lookout point from which we can see the entire valley spread out below. I’m told that on a clear day, if you climb the tower, you can see almost all the way to Bonn

We wander back to the tower and the rathouse and we offer to buy the ladies a drink! Good idea! There are two radlers ordered, one pils and one dunkel. When the waitress asks “Kronbacher dunkel?” I reply, “Of course!” which gets a good laugh. (You must have know mine was the dunkel! ) Actually, there is a whole lot of laughing going on, even before the beers arrive. Eveline and Heike are both very entertaining and although Heike claims to speak no English, she has quite a bit!

The waitress brings us paper place mats and they are for children! Maybe because we’re acting like kids? We also get the colored pencils to go with! Evelin puts a doorbell on her drawing of a house and Marilyn rings it! Soon a family with a little girl arrives and we give her the pencils, saying that we’re through with them!

The inside is charming...

but we opt to sit outside.

Yummy schnapps! (We didn't keep the bottle, just had one drink each!)

I'm not sure why Heiki put the coasters over them. Seems like it would hold in the hear!

Our new friends are hungry. We had just finished lunch a bit before Evelin came over, but it seems churlish to refuse, so we split a “small” order of schnitzel with mushroom sauce. The kindly waitress splits everything in the kitchen so we each get our own plates. It’s been so hot and I’m so thirsty that my beer is gone and this time I order a radler, so as to minimize the alcohol content! And because it’s so good!

The conversation is far-ranging, covering everything from the Siegerland dialect, to what it was like in Berlin when the city was divided, to their opinion of Angela Merkel and the refugee problem.

Heike suggests that we finish off with an order of schnapps! Sure! In for a penny, in for a pound, after all! It is served HOT! It has to sit for a minute before anyone can touch the tiny little dipper-like cups’ handles. Mmmm! It tastes like anise and goes down ever so easily, especially after the first sip!

We’ve sat enjoying ourselves for so long that it is sundown!! It must be nearly ten o’clock! On the way home Heiki drives us past her house, which is very pretty, and deposits us in front of our home (coincidentally that’s also in from of Eveline’s!) and we exchange hugs and thanks. (We’ve picked up the tab for dinner. It was the least we could do after all the joy that Evelin and Heike have brought us! Also, Evelin is going to let us keep her Garmin until we’ve gotten to Frankfurt! We’’ll leave it in the envelope for Henning at the airport, and he can return it to her when he gets home. She won’t need it for a couple of weeks, when she goes to Berlin to meet her classmate from Calcutta.)