Home -> Europe -> Germany -> Travelogue 2003 -> Monday 21 July

Zermützel, with our German friends

The day starts just as cool as it was at midnight, so very pleasant. We didn't have to put up our tent since there was a bungalow available where we could sleep. When Teije walks out the door this morning he sees a Pfennig lying on the ground. It turns out to be an old Reichspfennig from 1941, adorned with a swastika. A souvenir from a dreadful period in history, which one doesn't find every day.

We just relax and have nothing to do, like having a real holiday. We chat with Annemarie and Wolfgang and some friends of old who pass by. Meanwhile it is getting warmer very quickly.

The Falkenbergs live in a beautiful spot with a lake behind their house and in the afternoon we have a few hours of fun in the water, swimming and playing. There are some people, but not very many, not the multitude one would expect to see in such a nice spot in the holiday season. The inhabitants of the village are quite happy with it.

Elisabeth still sits on a surfboard when suddenly a snake comes swimming by, at least 80 centimeters long, maybe even a metre. We both once had pet snakes, so we are not afraid, but we are surely surprised. We think we would have been startled though, when we would have been swimming in the middle of the lake and then see a snakes head swimming next to us. We try to make a good picture of the snake, but he moves very fast, so you have to look at the bigger picture. It appears to be a grass or ringed snake, a real watersnake, but harmless.

We spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with Annemarie and Wolfgang, their son Thomas and his wife Coletta and son Niklas, who have just returned from their holiday. We also get a visit from the sister of Annemarie and her husband, acquaintances who Teije saw 14 years ago for the last time, when he was in East Germany during the fall of the wall. There is a little bit of lightning and about 10 drops of rain fall, but after a few minutes it gets warm and dry again. We sit outside, covered by a patio roof and we have a great time before we return to our bungalow, quite late since we have so much fun.

Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije