It was a short night as we all had to be up and ready early to go visit Holger's brother, Rudiga and his family in Goettingen which is about an hour and a half away. We were especially looking forward to this because Rudiga's daughter, Nadege and our old neighbor, Seth Ericcson were going to be there with their new baby, Henri, as well as Seth's mom, Patti, our good friend from Madison days! Some things are the same all over the world--so when we arrived, of course, everyone went crazy over little Henri, who is oblivious to but deserving of all the fuss. It's really great to see Patti again! We figure it's been about five years since our last encounter. We met the other side of Annabelle's family,her uncle, Rudiga, Chantelle, his wife, their daughter, Marielle and her boyfriend, Christoff. A feast-and I mean FEAST- had been prepared and a table covered with meats, cheeses, fruits, and breads was set out in the backyard flower garden. The weather gods cooperated and blessed us with perfect weather. We all toasted champagne to Baby Henri and Dick also toasted Nadege, who was the origin of our relationship with Annabelle! Later, we took a much-needed walk through the countryside and the town.
On our way back to Rothmuhle, Holger took the scenic route back home, traveling through picturesque little towns, forests and rolling German hills. We stopped for occasional breaks and took short hikes. At Braunschweig, we stopped and picked up doners, (gyros) and took them home for dinner. Holger had to say good night early as he must be to work about 3:00 in the morning, and this is also good bye to Ulrike and Julius because we will be leaving tomorrow with Annabelle and Guido to travel south to the Black Forest.
We took a quick walk down the road to visit the “red mill”, which is what the town of Rothemuhle is named for. Annabelle says the sign directing us to the mill is really incorrect as the mill is neither red nor a windmill, as the sign indicates. It is a flour mill that operated with power from a water wheel. It is going to be very difficult to leave the Reyhns tomorrow, who have made us feel like part of their family and have been so good to us.
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