Difficult Good-byes

The children played again all morning- building a tree house and playing with the sheep at the home of their new friends. Brett and I had a tour of the work Natasha and Andreas have put into their farm. One of the most interesting sights is the natural refrigerator- a large cellar built into the ground- the temperature is a constant 10 degrees C in summer and winter. The bricks are cut by hand- an art that is not taught or practiced any more. A local mason estimated that to duplicate this room would be 50,000 Euros.
They must work today. There is a law in the town that the streets in front of their home must be cleaned every Saturday by the home owner- and everyone pays close attention to be sure it is done right. They are also building a floor for their living room.
We pry our children away from the friends for a “VERY BORING” tour of the town of Creglingen. We visit a tiny home that was created from part of the old town wall surrounding the city. Only photos can do this sight justice- it looks like a bad roadside attraction in the Dells. The little house was bequeathed to the town by the eccentric owner – a woman who lived to be 96. She insisted that the house be kept just as she had it in 1930. Every detail, including her darned socks is intact. We are blessed to arrive just as the tour is beginning and the other guests help to translate for us.
We had dinner and attempted to enjoy a drive along the Romantic road. Some of the Romance is stolen by 3 children in the backseat “This is so boring. Can we go back and play with…” Forget the fairy tale landscape, we can’t compete. We return home to pack and soothe the whiny souls. Can you ask new friends to babysit?
They are waiting for us when we return- a bonfire, picnic table set and a warm snack of potatoes and cream at 9:00pm. We bring the modern photo album- my laptop- and do the best we can to show them our bit of America. After midnight and many sad, tired good-byes we return to our separate lives. Like leaving our friends in Rome, we have heavy hearts knowing it will be a long time before seeing each other again.