After our first week with Molly, Daisy and Cooper, we are feeling like house sitting pros in Mascherode Germany. After an anxious start, we have relaxed enough to get out and see the countryside and the town of Braunschweig.
Yesterday a neighbor who speaks English took us into Braunschweig for a tour. The town is really cute with a lot of pedestrian shopping streets. I mean lots. Where all the people are coming from, who knows. There are several really big, old churches. Some timber buildings from the 1500’s that are really cool with intricate carving. And it seems Braunschweig may have been a very Nazi town. We suspect the name, meaning “brown town” may be Nazi related. You can see a building where the huge symbol of Nazi horizontal winged eagle with swastika under it, has been chiseled off the façade. Hitler made speeches from the balcony like he liked to do.
Public Transport Foley
A couple days before, we got up the nerve to make the trip to Braunschweig on the bus by ourselves. Arrived in town alright, did some shopping, and had lunch. We Americans ordered Vietnamese food, from a German menu. In the end, we got pretty much the food we expected. On the way home we had the bright idea of getting off the bus near a grocery store we saw on the way out. If we were quick, we could catch the next bus in a half hour and basically not have to walk with groceries too far. A genius plan! Caught the next bus, groceries in hand with a minute to spare. We bought a lot of stuff and some frozen food, because we knew we were not going to have to walk that far with it all. Mark and I high-fived each other because we are really getting expert at this public transportation stuff! However, something went wrong with this next bus. At some point on the route, the bus number (which was visible inside the bus in LED) changed, as did the route. We had left familiar surroundings and were headed to a whole other town. This FINALLY dawned on us, of course we don’t know this area too well, and farm fields and the small housing developments al look alike. We got off smack in the middle of nowhere, with 3 bags of groceries and our lunch left-overs. I’m in shorts, and it is getting close to dusk, so getting cold. Luckily we knew a bus number that would get us back eventually, figured which side of the street to pick it up, and got it within 20 minutes. We haven’t high-fived since.
Interesting observation: In Germany they have traffic lights like we do, only the order is different. Red means stop, and Green go. But yellow occurs after red. It is a warning to get ready to “Go” No one or two second delay allowed here.
Next Stop, United Kingdom
After this cat sitting assignment is done, our 3 months in Europe will be up. Schengen rules dictate that we have to high tail it out of Europe for the UK. A swing through Amsterdam to collect our Winter clothes that we have stored in our storage unit there. We’ll donate our Summer clothes. Winter will be in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and North Ireland. Another family just picked us for another pet sitting gig. We will be spending Christmas with 2 black labs. The owner said walks for these older guys will entail taking them down to the local pub with us. Sounds idyllic. Our stay in the UK/Ireland is forming up. It is a lot of work to plan a 3 month vacation and we are glad to have the time now to get it done. The woman who lives here is British and has been a good resource. Also the other English pet owners for whom we will pet sit in England.
At first we thought it was really bad timing to be required to go to the UK in the middle of Winter. But I am starting to get really excited about it. There will be only a couple days in London before we have the house sit that is about 45 min outside London. That assignment is only a week. We will use that time to get outfitted for the UK weather. Someone mentioned we would need good Wellies. First I need to figure out what Wellies are. But guess what, UK has Costco. Mark is so excited, he has already mapped out where they are.
The first house sit is 4 Golden Retrievers. The location is a small village with a few pubs. But halfway between London and Oxford, so day trips will be easy. Over Christmas, we have another house sit in an equally good location about half way between London and Canterbury or Dover, with 2 black labs. In between that time we are heading straight to Scotland: York (still England), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oban and hopefully Syke. We are sure to plan some stays in Inns above pubs for the quintessential experience of a local pub with roaring fire downstairs. After that we are getting cottages lined up for a week each in the Lake District, Cotswolds, and Cornwall (right on the coast). It is now looking like a good time to be in the UK: there is a chance of bad weather at any time of the year there. In Winter, you are able to rent these cute cottages pretty easily, and at lower rates. We are padding our plans to make sure we can afford to abandon outings on some days if the weather is prohibitive.
House Sitting Success
These German homeowners get back tomorrow from their two week, all inclusive beach holiday in Turkey. We haven’t broken anything and still have both cats. I got my hair done for the first time in almost 3 months. Made it to Braunschweig on the bus and back without a hitch. Still walking the dogs with Gisela. I am going to miss that, and I can tell she will too. Her hair is red and she is always made up. She always wears red, even shoes, guessing that is a favorite color. Together we have figured out how to use Google Translate and we have gotten to know each other a little. She does not have a computer or email at all.
Who has a good chili recipe? We are planning an American dinner for the Homeowners when they return and thought that was a good option. Some ingredients we are used to are not available here (like most Mexican things like refried beans and tortillas), but I think I can source chilli and cornbread ingredients.