Our day started as planned with a walk to the yellow canola fields but the weather damped the hue and our pants. A sunnier day would have made the yellow all the brighter. Hopefully I’ll make it back one day soon. We managed to finish the rest of our to-do list except that Christine made the soup solo as I was not feeling all that well. Turns out I have bronchitis. Not fun. Sure hope Christine didn’t get sick.
Monday our second guest arrived before our first left. My girlfriend Christine from the good ol’ rez days arrived from Amsterdam. It hadn’t been so long since we saw each other but again, good to see Canadian friends especially when away from Canadian soil. So with Nick and Christine, we gave the tour we gave Dennis and Liane- up the tallest standing lookout tower left in Germany, Grauer Turm. Yup- it’s in our very own Fritzlar.
After paying the 45 cent entrance fee (they hiked the price the price 20 cents since October), we luckily received the key from the nice old man tending the gate even though the tower is technically closed Mondays and started our climb up. I wonder now how many stairs there are. I’ve been up 4 times now and have never counted. I’m going up again in June with my parents. I’ll count then. I wonder if they sell a year pass? I’m sure the discount would only be a cent or two. Anyways, we reached the top and looked over not only the town of Fritzlar peaked by St. Petri Dom but all of the surrounding towns. I have always admired the view from up here but this time it was different. The canola fields were in bloom and you saw what was like a gold and green checkerboard in the distance. Beautiful. I admired the canola fields on the way to and from Bremen this weekend wanting to go and take pictures, but we never got the chance. Christine was just as impressed with the view remembering that the canola blooms in July back home in Alberta. July in April…it’d sure be nice. It was nice! I am realizing how hard the Edmonton winter is going to be this year. Not looking forward to it. So Christine and I started planning for tomorrow. On the list of things to do: walk to the canola fields, pick stinging nettle on the way back, make nettle soup, hit up the bakery, brew some tea and paint. I was looking forward to it already.
I just had to post these pictures of Dan and his evolving facial hair. Although mama Schultz wasn’t too pleased with her clean shaven boy turned rugged, his wife doesn’t mind a little tickle along with a kiss. But when it came to a deep exfoliation, I had to draw the line. “That thing has to go!” Dan’s plan was to be Forrest Gump I’m sure for the marathon but lucky me, the nice weather has decided to stay and Dan is worried about tan lines. Hahaha! And I thought only girls worried about tan lines. So off came the caveman cover-up and Dan had to sport the Wolverine look for a few days until Nick arrived. Nothing like influencing your Youth, right? Now Dan is back to sporting only a little chin hair. I think I’ve convinced him to keep it short. I made it pretty clear that I do not kiss Billy goats. 
So like I said previously, Nick made his way to Fritzlar after being only hours apart for the past 6 months. Funny how busy one gets so fast. I must say it was nice to see a familiar face from Canada. I guess the “Nick, over here!” and arm waving gave it away. Dan, always aware that we are in another country (non-english speaking to top it off) grabbed my arms and gave me a look that got me to keep quiet but it didn’t stop me from running past the half dozen people in front of me to give Nick a welcoming hug. We had a good visit with Nick as we showed him our little town. After Dan promising to take me to the Calgary Zoo for 5 years now and not going, he made up for it by taking me to the Hannover Zoo. Again, we were lucky with the weather, missed the rain and the sun even came out to play. It was just the two of us even though we invited the whole Teen and Youth group from Bergen to join us. They were all busy with birthday parties and whatever else seemed more important than going to the Zoo with your Canadian youth leaders. It turned out to be a great date, just the two of us. It’s weird how real dates tend not to happen when away in another country. Not that they really happened much in Canada either. But we will be making that a bigger priority when we get back. So we say. Back to the zoo…we saw lots of different animals that impressed us but everyone knows that monkeys are the best to watch. Although not necessarily PG, they always make me laugh.
