I arrived back in Germany on Monday morning. It was going to be a quick and boring week!
Matt picked me up from the airport and took me home, where I slept for the rest of the day. I had barely gotten any sleep during either of my flights and I was exhausted! I woke up only to eat dinner, and then went right back to bed.
On Tuesday, we were straight back into the routine and work. That evening, we went to Sitt Wine with some friends. They have ‘Tapas Tuesday’, the first Tuesday of every month, and we try to go whenever possible. We had fun and drank too much wine, as usual.
I was still so tired that I went straight to bed when we got home. But, I woke up at 1 AM and could not go back to sleep; I had some kind of reverse jet lag! I was exhausted the entire day on next day and went to bed early again that night.
I felt mainly back on track by Friday. The house was so quiet because the kids were still in the US. We had planned to go away for the weekend, but it was just too much effort to find a dog sitter, pack a suitcase, and get on the road. We decided that even though it would be beautiful weather and perfect traveling conditions, we would stay home.
We had dinner at a friend’s house in the garden and stayed up way too late again, so we had to sleep in on Saturday.
Saturday was a gorgeous day, but we barely left home. We caught up on many things around the house, watched TV, and took lots of naps. We got ourselves together for dinner at our neighborhood pizzeria and then returned home to continue vegetating on the couch.
We finally left the house on Sunday. Matt planned a 60-kilometer bike ride, and we started around 9 AM. We first drove north, taking the new bicycle bridge, which, after two years of construction, was recently completed.
Then, we jumped on the bike highway and went north to the old World War II Tank Trail. We rode on that for a couple of kilometers, and by the time we got off, our backs were stiff from bumping around.
We made the turn south and stopped at a small village bakery to grab a coffee and a pretzel. We were starving!
Next, we biked through the town of Renningen and then to our final destination, Weil der Stadt. Weil der Stadt is a half-timbered medieval town known as the birthplace of Johanas Kepler. Typically, WdS is about a 30-minute drive from our house. Of course, we went the long way around, but it took us about two hours to get there on a bike. By the time we reached it, we were really thirsty and headed to the town center to find a café. It’s always easy to find the action in a new town; just go towards the church steeple, where there’s always a large square with many restaurants! 😅
We found the market square and were surprised to find it had been transformed into a beach! The city had brought in truckloads of sand, filled the platz, and put out beach chairs and umbrellas. It was filled with many families and kids playing in the sand. We grabbed some drinks, relaxed a while, and then headed back home.
As we got closer to home, we decided to meet some friends at a beer garden near our house. We had a tiny late lunch and beer, then went home for a nap. The kids were coming home the following week, and we couldn’t wait!
Gilcrests Abroad 