Back to Germany and the Motski Family
We arrived on Friday 17th at about 1.30 at Leo & Dagma Motskis’house in Oelde near Munster.
[background, we met 3 of the Motski brothers last year at lake Balaton in Hungary, after much beer drinking and laughs we were invited back to meet their family back in Germany, which we did, now 51weeks later we are here for our second visit]
The afternoon was spent get reacquainted, drinking beer, drooling over Manfred’s new Harley motor bike, eating cake and drinking coffee. Jenny during the afternoon went with Dagmar to the shops to look for a new jacket but came home empty handed. The whole family came together for the evening meal Leo and Dagmar with their son Lutz, Micheal and Tanja with their sons Felix and Leo, Manfred and us.
Later Manfred taught us a new card game which we played while drinking beer and schapps until after midnight.
The next day we had breakfast at the sensible time of 9.30 and prepared for our days outing. We drove in two cars, for about an hour to visit a statue of Big Herman. A statue dedicated to the leader of the german tribes who halted the advance of the Roman Legions into Germany. A very impressive statue on a hill in the middle of a forested region which stands 53.46 metres tall and you can walk up inside the base he stands on and get a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.
We enjoyed a walk around the statue and after taking a lot of photos we returned to the cars and drove to visit some interesting stone outcrops. When we got there it was quite busy and we discovered it was the “open” day and there were a lot of stalls and demonstrations along the path up to the “stones”. Reportedly this is a mystical site, where many people come to celebrate the summer solstice and they believe it has magical power.
There are steps leading up to each of the stones where you see a nice view and on the sides of them they have been carved with mystical figures and symbols.
It was getting late and so we then decided to head back home to Oelde and get ready for a bbq tea. Ewout and I travelled in Manfreds car and reportedly we got to 210kms /hr on the motorway on the way back… I can only report this as I don’t remember anything as I had fallen asleep on the way back. The evening was spent eating, drinking and card playing, going to bed at one in the morning. As I was feeling unwell I had a lot of “doctors” giving me advice and dosing me up with “medicine” mostly of the alcoholic type. Didn’t cure me but after a being dosed with vodka, then schnapps I didn’t really anyway.
(Ewout) On Sunday Jenny remained in bed as she had been battling a chest and head cold, she emerged at three in the afternoon. Meanwhile the “Motski” clan and I rode to the other side of the town on our bikes to the Pott’s Brewery. There was an open day with the factory in full production where we could see the beer being bottled. On the grounds they had food stalls, vintage tractors, rides, traditional German bands playing, a beer museum and even stalls where you could buy beer!!! Amazing. A short time after we returned home their brother Bernard arrived with his wife, with a crate of beer in his hand and a bottle of Jagemeister which was a gift for us. The men retired to the garage to drink, talk and listen to the football on the radio, while most of the women got busy in the kitchen preparing the evening meal. Jenny still feeling poorly stayed in the dining room, using the internet and then entertaining the small boys with a computer game. A small step towards trying to communicate with the youngsters when you don’t speak german and they don’t speak english.
All too soon the weekend drew to a close, goodbyes had to be said, children off to bed, adults needing to get an early night so that they can work the next day and so it goes.
Good byes said, thanks given and we spent the last night in the camper parked in Manfred, Leo & Dagma’s drive.
Next morning we got to have breakfast with Leo, (as he didn’t start work till later) and then it was time to leave and make our way back to Holland and Martins house in s’Gravendeel.
It was such a nice weekend, the family is so comfortable and easy to be with and they make us feel very welcome and part of the family that it makes us feel at “home”.
Back at Martin’s it has been a lot quieter, apart from a visit to Dordrecht to see Tonnie and Remco, we have mostly spent time getting the camper organised.
We purchased a new vent/window for the roof to let in more light and air, and that has been installed by Ewout, also a new outside light so that we can step out safely and a few other maintenance jobs that needed to be done. Jenny has done a bit of washing, and started sorting out the packing for the return journey, in between times of feeling unwell and having nanna naps.
One more weekend of socialising to go though, as we are going to visit another couple we met last year on our travels. But that’s for another blog…..