A Cast of Cooks

 

The halfway point of the tour was located in Augsburg, whom some of you might remember as a daytrip from our last stop of the tour in 2011. In fact, Sarah, my host “sister” from Dillingen now lives in Augsburg and was eager to host me during our stay!

On one of the free nights I had she invited her friend over to cook dinner; and, as luck would have it, my friend Cameron (Mallory’s brother) was doing a study abroad in Munich and hopped on a train to join us for the day as well. So many friends in one place!

Sarah and her pal carrying the most important part of the meal. (Beer, that is)

 

They wouldn’t even let us help!

 

LECKER!

 

Cameron had to catch a train back to Munich, but not before we snapped a quick picture on the platform.

Sic ‘em, Baylor grads!

 

Sarah’s mother was kind enough to come over from Dillingen to see our performance of The Creation and even brought along their dog, whom I just adored two years ago. 

 

And speaking of bringing things from Dillingen, she happily fulfilled a personal request passed along by Sarah: the return of the Raclette.  Carole and I were huuuuge fans of this typically Winter tradition, and while we were at the concert, Sarah and her roommate, Andreas (who was kind enough to vacate his room during my visit), prepared all of the vegetables and meat for the feast!

Grill it, broil it, devour it

 

Andreas and me before he headed back out

 

I feel extremely lucky to have been able to reconnect with so many friends, both from past tours and even from America, on this trip and I am very very grateful that Sarah was as excited as I was to be able to stay together for a couple of days.  She is a fantastic host and I look forward to getting to hopefully see her sometime in the not too distant future!

2 more years??

 

Artist: Michael Giacchino / Album: Ratatouille

If I Were a Sailboat

On our free day in Stockelsdorf I was able to go around with John and his host family and do a little more sightseeing in Lübeck.  The first stop was nicknamed the Seamen's church and is where all of the sailors in the olden days (whenever that might have been) would go while in the city. Inside a small room to the side were the remains of a life boat from a crashed ship that held the only eight survivors of the catastrophe.

Replica of the crashed ship

The actual life boat

Across the street was the lodging house for said sailers, and though it has since been turned into a restaurant they still maintained the original interior, including replicas of all the chips that once sailed from the city.

Lodging house exterior and...

interior

Speaking of lodgings, Lübeck is home to the oldest old folks home retirement home youthfully challenged home assisted living facility whatever-the-appropriate-word-is in the world.  When the powers that be decided to turn the building into a museum they simply told the current residents "good bye" (or more likely "auf wiedersehen" a la Heidi Klum) and sent them on their rickety ways.

Small replica of the building

Interior hallway

The bedrooms.  Daisy would NOT fit :(

We then went to the largest church in the city for some more sightseeing and attended the noonday service.

So these are remnants from when the church was destroyed at some point and the bells fell.  The church decided to leave two of them as they were

At noon the clock went to WORK!

This is on the outside of the church

He's such a jolly looking devil! Oh, and the statue is cute too.  (Wah wah)

John, his family and I then gravbed lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe where I had some yummy curried wurst and even yummier beer!

John and I and our best friends.  And no we did not call each other and both decide to wear red.  .  . maybe

To end our day in true sailor fashion we took a boat tour through around the city.  In walking to the harbor we even passed the music high school that Maestro Christoph works at when not heading the Blue Lake choir during the summer.

This boat's name is ELLEN... just like one of the other counselors!

In case you had forgotten who she was.  (Shame on you!)

The Frederick Chopin!

Gah, look at those silly people burning calories!

Lübeck at a distance!

And up close!