Wow, jetlag sucks. I had 2 hours sleep yesterday afternoon and 12 last night and I’ve still been way out of it today. Spose that happens when you have 2 days (one of them 29hrs long) and don’t sleep between them.
We are really being treated well staying here with friends of the family. Lara and I have our own area (the entire upper storey!), we’re being driven around the countryside, and have certainly been given more than enough to eat!

After working out for ourselves how to catch and find our seat on the train despite the language barrier, we were amused more than once during the trip to see people wander in to our carriage dazedly looking around for "wagen ein und zwanzig ... ... OK. ... Drei und fünfzig.. drei .. und .. fünfzig". One couple even had one of the ticket inspectors sit down, heave a big sigh and tell them that yes they do in fact require a valid ticket and no, being simple-minded is not a valid excuse so please don’t smile at me like that. Or something.
Our feelings of intellectual superiority were short-lived however when we arrived in Nuremberg to find a large train station and no-one to meet us. We waited for over half an hour, looking all over the place before calling and leaving a message on the phone of our friends. A little later we went to the service desk and asked them to page our friends. Less than two minutes later another page come over, this time for us! Laughing to ourselves, I went to the desk and called then number left there for us. Turns out we were supposed to call our friends when we arrived in Frankfurt to confirm our arrival time in Nuremberg. They’d waited for our call, but hadn’t received it so thought we must have changed the day, and they went to work.
Not to worry, just one more hour’s wait (during which anyone could have stolen our luggage or painted our faces while we dozed on and off) and we were headed for Heilsbronn.
We had the energy to take a tour of the town on foot that afternoon, and promptly went to bed after returning to the house.

Today has been great. We spent most of the day at Rothenburg, a nearby town that is hundreds and hundreds of years old (as most places here are - as old as Angkor even) and still has most of the city walls and buildings from over the centuries intact. This place is full of great history and we had a knowledgeable guide (father of our friend) and it really was good fun.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Neuendettelsau for their annual Kirchweih festival. Done traditionally, this festival is great. All the men of the village head out in the morning to find a big old pine tree that must be 30m tall and dead straight. Once found, everybody has a drink. The tree is lopped and stripped of branches except for a tuft at the top, and a wreath is hung about two-thirds of the way up. If the tree’s not straight however, you have to go and find another. Everyone has another drink. The tree is hooked up to a tractor and carried into the middle of the town behind another tractor that carries a band. The tractors drive slowly so the men can walk (while drinking and singing) behind. When they reach the town they put the tree in the ground, erecting it in a slow way leaving much time for singing and drinking. Watch must be kept during the night (fortunately the tree is planted outside a pub) to make sure neighbouring villages (whose men have been having a go with songs of their own all day) don’t chop down or vandalise the tree. Much merriment is had by all.
Today’s effort was less than lackluster. There was very little singing, there was little drinking (except by a few rather drunk bystanders), nobody seemed entirely sure how to erect the tree (I don’t know if using a ladder is part of the custom), and it really was quite boring to watch. Our friends apologised but they had expected it to be not so good because Neuendettelsau is now such a big town. Even from the start things were not good: "Oh no, nobody is wearing a red scarf! See, already this is bullshit!" [said in broken English]. But we did get an idea for how it should be, heard some great tales of how good it is in the smaller villages (there’s one nearly every weekend because each village has their own every summer), and heard a taste of a German jeering song from our driver as we drove off early.

Tonight we have feasted on BBQ’d traditional Franconian sausage. Splendid items they were, just lovely with potato salad and a touch of chili sauce perhaps.

During the day I’ve had a chance to daze and doze during the car trips and I’ve found myself reliving some good times in the recent past (though some were odd: who’s in for a chorus of "Springtime for Hitler"?). So I’m feeling incredibly worn and worse for wear, but I’m obviously happy and comfortable here.

Residence of our family friends,
Heilsbronn, Germany