An Excursion to Hann. Muendel

We woke up at 7am on a Sunday, had breakfast at 7:30 and got ready to be picked up at 10:30am. Herr Gross and Ursula picked us up to drive to Hann. Muendel, about 50 Km away. It was a beautiful drive on a country road through the countryside. We arrived in Muendel where the rivers Fulda and the Werra come together to make the Weser, which flows to the sea.  The poem above reads in short summary :  Where the Werra and the Fulda kiss,a new river, the Weser is born and runs to the sea.  (If anyone has a better translation please let me know. I did some research, but there were too many conflicting ideas, so this is the best I came up with.)  In any case Hannoverische Muendel is known for it's old town and the three rivers. 

 This is where the rivers come together to form a  new one. Ah, the mixture of the waters, like the mixture of genes.

This is a very old oak tree. I think it is older than our oak at home.  But we could sit here and stare at the water.

Part of the old town. Half wood homes are here. It is quite beautiful.

Day 2 in Hoexter

No, Dick's bag wasn't there. So we called the police and the Kundenzentrum.  Guess what, everything is closed on Sunday. Not the police, of course, but their staff is greatly reduced. Big surprise.  So when Dick is through blabbing today to those kids at the Gymnasium, he and Ursula will have to go back to  Kreiensen. 


Oh yes, another shocker. Ursula had us get out of the train at Kreiensen. We assumed Hoexter was so small that no railroad station existed. Imagine our surprise, when  we stepped out of our hotel and there was the train bouncing into the station  across the street. So I asked why we  were sent to Kreiensen. Wouldn't it have been easier for us to walk across the street, settle into our room before the evening started. 


No. It was easier for Ursula to pick us up in Kreiensen in order to have coffee and cake at her house. Very sweet really. However she has paid dearly, since she has to take Dick back and forth to Kreiensen in search of the bag.  In any case we will be returning with a train from across the street.


The long trip back and forth to Kreiensen made us late for the first night's dinner. Herr Schuldirektor Gross was forced to wait for an hour until they returned. It was a beautiful night, so he wasn't too irritated. However, the Germans think being on time is next to cleanliness which is next godliness and being on time means being five minutes or ten minutes early.


The Germans never know when you're joking, and when someone reacts with horror at a comment I make I 
only get worse. Sorry, it is a flaw in my otherwise perfect? character. 

                              Ursula and Herr Gross 


When we arrived in our hotel room, my first reaction was how absolutely perfectly clean the room was. The duvets would put new fallen snow to shame, and every surface sparkled like a creek in the early morning sun. Everything shone in the bathroom and one could see his image in the tiles. 


When Ursula asked me how we liked the room, I said, "It's okay, but it was a bit dirty." The look on her and Grosses faces, you can imagine. I laughed and told them I was kidding, that the room was perfect. 


We had a great meal and laughed the whole evening. A good ending to a bad start.