Back in Town

We had a nice three-week escape at Matthias' parents house in the Harz Mountains. The weather was great - atypical for Germany - plenty of sunshine every day. I should say the weather was great for hiking and sitting outdoors; it was less than optimal for gathering mushrooms (which, I have learned, requires the damp conditions more typical this time of year.) Fortunately, it had rained quite a bit before we got there, so we had a few good days of mushroom hunting. Here is a picture of Matthias preparing some stein pilz (Stone Mushrooms) considered (at least by his family) as the "gold standard" of 'shrooms. You can click on the picture to enlarge and get a better look.

Besides looking for mushrooms, we spent lots of time hiking to nearby towns and sights and firing up the backyard bbq. Matthias even used some hickory wood and sawdust (from a tree his parents chopped down) to smoke some spare ribs for a real southern American-style treat. Pictured here is a dam (we actually drove to) by a fish restaurant where we celebrated our third anniversary over a yummy meal. And, Matthias' parents came up for part of the time to enjoy the great weather in the wild.

Now we are getting ready to head to Spain for the winter. We couldn't find any of those cheap flights the Europeans are always boasting about (maybe because of Octoberfest or something.) so we decided to travel via bus and train. Now I'm thinking we were a little crazy to do that, but at least I'll get to see the part of France (albeit from the highway) that I didn't get to on the bike ride. Also, we'll be able to take more luggage this way (those discount airlines hardly let you take anything with you!) And, well, we do have the time.... So, we leave on Friday from Braunschweig (about an hour from here) and take the bus to Lyon, France, and then change buses for Barcelona, where we catch a train to Malaga.