On to Göttingen

Our next stop was Göttingen, where Clara's parents (Ruth and Jürgen) and Hannah "R" and her parents (Helga and Bernd) and Hannah's sister Nele live. As we rode into town I saw this smiling young lady on her bike waiting for the light to change beside us. Then Bernd turned his head and said, "There's Hannah!" So we followed her home. The cars behind us were not as happy as we were, but it was only a few blocks, and then they whizzed by.
Helga & Pat, Hannah & me, Nele (If you looked earlier, Nele was not showing. Her photo was hiding under my photo.)
Helga, Hannah and Nele made us feel SO welcomed. We felt like we had known them all our lives as Chuck & I got settled into our rooms and then we had apple kuchen, coffee, tea and gave out our gifts in their backyard. Hannah was also pleased with her quilt.

Next we were off to the Kind's where Bernd and Pat stayed and we all had dinner. We missed Paula, Clara's younger sister as she is in Quebec for a semester. Ruth and Jürgen are as comfortable to be with as Helga is. We haven't met Bernd R. yet as he was at a conference. Our dinner was lively with animated conversation. Here are Ruth, Pat, Helga, Hannah & me in the kitchen. And Ruth and Jürgen with their new iPod/phone carriers and luggage tags.

I happened to sit near Nele at dinner and am so impressed with her political awareness of world news. We loved that each time something was lost in translation Jürgen would either pull something up from Google or his hand held translator. The meal was delicious and topped off with plum cake, different than mine, but equally as good! Or was that the next day for coffee? We had several plum cakes while in Germany ... all good and each a little different! I love plum season!

And then the next day was also filled. First with a delicious breakfast that Helga prepared and Bernd R. came home so we chatted some more. Then off to Kind's where we walked to town and enjoyed the public market. Back to Kind's for coffee and treats and a tour of Göttingen. The University has produced 22 Nobel winners. Impressive. We could live in this town. In the evening we went to a concert with 4 saxophone players who played classical and popular tunes and then back to "R"'s for a light supper, topped off with "rote grutze", a red fruit pudding, conversation and much laughter.

The next day we met at Kind's for a long leisurely breakfast before we took off for Brake. As much as we were looking forward to the next part of our trip, we were reluctant to leave the "R"'s and "K"'s. We wished we had thought to stop there at the end of our trip to tell them about all our adventures, as they were such a huge part of our plans.
Here are the 2 Bernd's and all of us together.