Europe Day 10 - August 29th

15 Celsius and Cloudy

This is the tenth of twenty posts documenting Margaret-Ann and John’s 2011 trip to Europe.

This was Margaret-Ann and John’s last day with Barbara and Rudi. Sepp, Rudi’s brother and, of course, John’s cousin, was on his way to pick up Margaret-Ann and John, but was stuck in traffic. This gave Margaret-Ann and Barbara one last chance to get some last minute shopping (it’s in the genes) done in Idar-Oberstein. Margaret-Ann just had to buy a shower cap from Barbara’s parfumerie; claiming that they don’t sell shower caps anywhere in the greater Toronto area.

Sepp arrived later in the morning and, after a coffee, Margaret-Ann and John thanked Barbara and Rudi for all their efforts in organizing the Paris and Idar-Oberstein legs of the trip – just like the German trains, everything went like clockwork! – then bid them a very fond auf wiedersehen and loaded their luggage into Sepp’s Mercedes for the trip back to Höfen (Sepp’s village of about 1,800 people south of Pforzheim in the Black Forest).

Because of Sepp’s earlier traffic problems, the group’s arrival in Höfen was much later than anticipated, forcing Sigrid, Sepp’s wife, to trim back the planned lunch – however, very delicious appetizers of lard topped with arugula on baguette slices were enjoyed. Margaret-Ann and John finally had the pleasure of meeting Margarethe, Sigrid’s mother, having missed her when they last visited Höfen in 2009.

After lunch Sepp made the short drive, with Margaret-Ann and John to Veronika (Sepp’s sister and, of course, John’s cousin) and Wilfried’s house in Enzklösterle. The house, in this very small village in the hills of the Black Forest, is the recently completed dream home of Veronika and Wilfried (see pictures below); with Wilfried, a real craftsman, and his sons, Mirco and Manuel, doing much of the work themselves. After a tour of the house, everyone sat down at the table and banquette seating, made of course by Wilfried, for treats – wine with delicious Black Forest Cake (much better than the version generally sold in Canada) and assorted cheese cakes.

Saying goodbye to Veronika and her family, Sepp, Margaret-Ann and John returned to Höfen where Sigrid had been very busy preparing a typical Swabian dinner… a starter of Gaisburger Marsch and a beet salad with horseradish dressing; an entrée of Maultaschen with onions and Swabian potato salad (prepared by Margarethe); and a dessert of wine cream (like sabayan) with kiwi purée and strawberry slices – fantastic!

After dinner, Margaret-Ann and John walked to the Ochsen Hotel and retired for the evening.

And so ended day ten of Margaret-Ann and John’s 2011 European trip. Keep checking the blog for more postings of this trip.

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