Header picture: Clouds over Leipzig, 1 July (Photo by Katie).
3 July - All reunited in Neustrelitz and four of us (including Katie and Matt) enjoying holiday together (back on the water today).
Thomas Andrew, however, is still at home, together with his adventure-loving sheep. One of these has just been on a holiday jaunt, together with its lamb (which when they set off was already limping from an earlier episode). Together, the sheep and lamb made their way the 4 miles over the mountain to the neighbouring valley of Gyadalen, where they kidnapped another lamb from a farm and continued into the next county and the village of Tonstad, setting up camp outside the door of the Co-op. From their holiday base they made regular mealtime excursions, sampling all the local lawns and flower beds, before returning to the Co-op door. Tonstad is a sheep-ish kind of village, so no-one really reacted to this until the sheep starting going into the Co-op in search of a broader range of vegetables. The result was that Thomas Andrew has just made the hour's drive to Tonstad, returning via Gyadalen to deliver the kidnapped lamb to its grateful owner. The sheep was apparently not especially pleased to see him or to return home before the end of its planned summer holiday.
Ice creams at Neubrandenburg, then an evening swim in the lake and walk in the woods by the flat. We are all enjoying immensely our sunshiny and relaxed summer life.
Every day since we arrived we've been swimming in some lake or another.
Today it was the turn of a little lake in the forest close to the flat — and which is home to many fish who like to swim alongside you
(which Tracy finds a little disconcerting).
Come and swim with us here.
6 July - Long walk in the evening, from the Buffalo farm and along an old pilgrims' route, returning to find that the buffalo's neighbours are alpacas (click left for photos)
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There are lots of different ways of paddling a kayak: a couple of them can be seen on this very short film clip.
10 July -
Today was overcast, so we took the slightly complicated train trip (nearly 3 hours, with 2 changes) to Schwerin, which is the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (our state).
Our main goal was the former Ducal palace, which now doubles as the state parliament building and a very good museum.
The palace was lovely. The town was all right, but not worth a journey to visit. (Photos, right).
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13-16 July -
Friday 13th was the day unsupersticiously selected for Katie's return from Germany to Norway.
Because T&T needed to drive her to the airport at Berlin, we had looked around for the best-value short flight to anywhere, really, for us,
in order to explore somewhere new with the excuse of "having to be at the airport anyway".
After finding an inexpensive flight to Nice, Tracy found a kayak blog via Pinterest which described amazing clear waters, relaxing atmosphere, startling colours and tropical vegitation along the coast not far from Nice.
So we followed the links and booked kayaks there for a couple of days, as well as finding reasonable hotels for two further nights inland in Provence.
Landing in Nice, T&T were met with messages to ring Katie.
Due to a mishap at the airport she had missed her flight to Norway and had to take a train home to the flat at Neustrelitz, from where she is reviewing options.
T&T's trip, though, was much more successful.
Everything we had read about kayaking on the coast was true and vastly understated — we were really bowled over by the experience.
The sea water was so clear that when swimming we constantly felt that the water was shallow, only to find that it was far deeper than we could dive to.
We've never seen such shades of aquamarine. Really beautiful.
See a few photos from on land, left.
Our second evening there was the night of the World Cup final.
Even in the small village where we were staying, the celebrations were considerable and just after the final whistle we were astonished to hear sirens on the tiny island street.
The fire engine, police car and ambulance were having their own celebratory procession round the streets.
16-18 July - The second — inland — half of our trip was divided into lowland and highland. The first day took us through a landscape of vineyards and traditional villages,
(click the steps, above right, for a few photos), ending up in a very comfortable hotel (particularly welcome after roughing it for a couple of days on the coast).
The second day took us right up into the mountains (a few photos, left).
The narrow roads climbed constantly and steeply, with hairpin bends that reminded us from time to time of Norway.
The many highlights included Taradeau, with its 12th-century watch tower and Comps Sur Artuby (which badges itself as the gateway to the Verdon Gorge).
We passed the village of Bargème (3600 feet above sea level), whose sign made the rash claim that it was one of the most beautiful villages in France.
So naturally we had to call in to check out the claim, reviewing its qualifications from the comfort of its tea room (which also did wonderful chocolate crèpes).
So far as our limited experience allows, we're fully in agreement — it was absolutely spectacular.
Medieval streets, church, ruined castle, beautiful mountain-village architecture and wonderful views.
It's worth travelling a long way just to see it (click image, right, for assortment of pictures).
Our final overnight stop was at a charming farmhouse called La Bastide des Pins, before returning to Nice and our flight back to Berlin.
As we were in plenty of time for the flight, we dropped off at the
Château Grimaldi.
We didn't have time to go into the château to admire the art gallery, but simply wandering the medieval streets around it (querky houses from the 1300s) was enchanting.
We couldn't help thinking that they would have served well as a Harry Potter film set, an impression only reinforced by the short-stay car park.
Remove arial, fold up mirrors, park in a little cupboard and get out.
The car is then picked up and transported by the goblins into an individual underground vault (there's a monitor screen where you can watch it being recovered when you return later).
We were so unprepared for all this that I left the camera in the car when it was taken away.
Fortunately, Tracy had her mobile and saved the day with four photos here.
20 July -
Katie, stranded in Neustrelitz until further notice, has spent the day at an animal rescue centre (as staff, not as inmate),
while T&T took the kayaks and went exploring.
We ventured down a little channel off the river Havel, not expecting it to lead anywhere, and followed it for at least an hour until it emerged into the most beautiful and peaceful lake.
Here and there, the channel was only a couple of feet wide and so overgrown that it was necessary to duck down under the overhanging trees; in some places it was so shallow that we had to get out and drag the kayaks over sandbanks.
But it was wonderful and we enjoyed our "find".
See short film clip here.
21-23 July -
A quick trip down to mid-Germany — to Gräfenhain in Thüringen — to play a concert.
On our last visit to Gräfenhain, in August 2014, we commented on the friendly people and the lovely church with its special organ from the 1720s.
Once again we enjoyed boundless hospitality.
We stayed overnight with a lovely couple who looked after us very well.
After the concert (with a large and enthusiastic audience) there was a reception/party for the "Friends of the Organ".
Due to unexpected rain, the event was held in our hosts' garage.
Despite the unexpected location, it was an event full of laughter and fun (some photos, left).
A trip we'll remember for a long time.
We managed to fit in a couple of other experiences on the trip.
The night before we arrived in Gräfenhain was spent (courtesy of our hotels "lucky-dip" facility) at a magnificent hunting-lodge hotel from 1909,
nearly 3000 feet above sea level in the wonderful forest of the Thüringer Wald.
During the DDR (East-German) period it was reserved for high-ranking party officials
(the lovely library on the top floor still contains rather a lot of works by Marx and Engels),
but has been recently modernised and is wonderful.
Dinner and breakfast were fantastic.
Our other excursion was a brief stop on the way home at the little lakeside town of Rheinsberg (less than an hour's drive from Neustrelitz).
We took Jon and Sarah there last year but for some reason didn't stop off at the wonderful Baroque palace
that was a precursor to the Sans-Souci palace in Potsdam.
So we corrected the omission and enjoyed it very much (with apologies to Jon and Sarah!) (photos, right).
25 July - A story — or two? - There's a story in today's Norwegian news and another story on the BBC. But they're supposed to describe the same court case. Here are the two stories side by side. The Norwegian version speaks of how the "Kvikk-lunsj competitor lost its case" and that Nestlé has been attempting to gain sole rights to the idea of "four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base" (in its format as Kit-Kat); where "the goal has been to stop Kvikk-lunsj". Half of the article is devoted to the fact that last year the Guardian newspaper ran a taste comparison between Kit-Kat and Kvikk-lunsj, which "Kvikk Lunsj won hands down". The BBC, however, reports how "Nestlé has spent more than a decade fighting to trademark the four-fingered wafer shape - something that rival Cadbury had fought hard against" and how a new verdict "could bring an end to the snack's protected European status". However the story is reported, I'm sure Norway will be celebrating tonight!
27 July - lunar - "I think we ought to become less conventional", said Tracy, while sitting just after nightfall on a blanket in the middle of a recently-cut field, by the side of a country lane. Not long earlier, she'd been looking for a tree to spend the night in. We'd taken the hammocks to the lakeside in order to watch the famous eclipse of the moon. After weeks of good weather and clear skies, it seemed like the ideal opportunity. We encountered two problems at the lakeside. Firstly, we realised that from the beach, the potential view of the rising moon was blocked by reeds. Secondly, whenever Tim goes camping, there is a storm and heavy rain. And sure enough, large clouds were rolling in, threatening rain and blocking any possible view of the skies. Walking through the forest back to the car, Tracy suddenly heard a voice speaking to her. She would have said: "Lord here am I", but that the voice was in German. Turned out to be a bird watcher very well concealed in a hide. Took some recovering from. Plan B took us in the car to an area of open landscape where we set up camp on a picnic blanket in the middle of a field, together with a flask of tea, waiting for the clouds to move. Some passing cyclists said: "??!?" or words to that effect, but as the clouds refused to move, we eventually had to and went home to bed. Before climbing into bed at the flat, we went out onto the balcony. The sky was clear and from where we were looking the half-eclipsed moon hang dead centre in the sky.
Naturally, we follow the Norwegian news at a distance, though there isn't much to report. A brief burst of rain was a blessing for farmers and fire-fighters, but there hasn't been enough of it yet. Otherwise, it's business as usual for the news — the NRK national news headlines stories such as Jenny, who has just discovered that she's had a berry stuck up her nose for the last 60 years, and Tor Arne, who got himself stuck in the outside toilet (literally stuck in it; for five hours on a very hot day — don't ask). Jon suggested ages ago that I ought to report on the complaints of foreign tourists visiting Norway. These (according to another press report) range from complaints about the midnight sun ("but it's the same one as during the day") about the absence of northern lights in mid-summer, or about why the snow hotel is not open during the summer (not even there, in fact) to winter complaints about snow falling on the road or about the absence of a log fire in their room in the snow hotel. All good entertainment.
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31 July -
I take it all back — there is news in the Norwegian press.
While we, unknowing, have been enjoying ourselves at the water's edge at 35° (and frequently cooling off in the water at 27°),
today's regional newspaper headlines the shock news of a burglary at, of all places, the Co-op in Vikeså!
The article goes on to describe the crime:
"Between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, someone appears to have stolen a sack of fertiliser from the Vikeså Coop".
Tracy's theory (which the FBI is welcome to consider when they get called in) is that someone's wife forgot to mention it as instructed while paying her groceries at the till.