IN ESSEN NOW

I had a good train trip.

The ICE train is a speed train and it really bends with the movements of the curves.

I was driving backwards for a while so I was feeling a bit carsick.( train sick)

Then I found an other place that’s not going backwards and I felt a lot better.

The changing trains went ok, but I was nervous. The conductor told me exactly where to go once we arrived in Dresden.

I had some asthma so I took some ventolin.

Anyway, I slept on Claudia’s floor in her apartment on a mattress.

That was OK but I had fights with the pillow.

The next day we drove in her car to Heidelberg and saw the town and then to see Ruth, Reiner and Ilan, who stayed at our place. Nice house in a small village. Was nice to see them again and see how they live.

We had cake and tea and stayed 2 hours then we drove on to Stuttgart where we went to Claudia’s parents house , stayed the night there . A nice old colonial type house of 1936 with lots of rooms, I stayed in a good room. Had a good sleep. Then we went for breakfast to Claudia’s sister, Arlette, and husband Joe, and they have 2 boys.

She had put on a beautiful spread , coffee, breads, cheeses, salami’s and ham’s and all sorts of yummy things. I had a good time getting to know her.

After this Arlette showed me the house and the garden( big 80 metres long garden) the house is 2 under one roof.

After all this Claudia showed me downtown area of Stuttgart and went into the tv tower,150 metres high, with awesome views, then also showed me the castle and the courtyard, and indoor market etc . Very nice.

Then we had a good ice cream.

Then we raced back to Frankfurt( 145km's per hour) to watch the soccer game, Holland played against France.

We were in a pizzeria, so we had a huge screen to watch it live and ate a nice pasta dish.

She gave me a real dutch orange ( Holland) t-shirt and painted the dutch flag on my cheeks.

It was an exciting game to watch. Holland won 4-1 against France!!! Yeah!!!

After the game back to her place( ¼ hours drive.) now in the train to Essen.

Beatrix and Bernd were both on the platform when I arrived at the station, it was a great reunion. They are great people, and I felt such love and friendship coming from them. I bought a ticket to Arnhem straight away( only one hour from here) so I won't waste my euro rail pass for that.
We went to the market to get some things and also sent a parcel home with souvenirs, books of Vienna and Prague and maps, key rings and more information leaflets that Brian can have a read through.
This will lighten my suitcase.
I had a great lunch here and their daughter, Caroline, gave up her room for me. The house is similar to ours in Voorschoten, but much more beautiful inside.
Tomorrow they are going to show me Koln, thats a great surprise but a great idea.

Pictures of yesterday will come on a new chapter.
Weather, cool, ( cold-ish) and rainy.