Esslingen

Guten Abend! Yesterday I went on a little adventure to a medieval town called Esslingen. It was in my little orange schedule book thingity, under "suggestions to do today" except it wasn't really a very good suggestion, seeing as everything is closed on Sundays. Anyway, it was somewhere around -3 degrees yesterday, so I rugged up with my new scarf.

I tuck my hat into the scarf, which is warmer, but if I turn my head the scarf and hat stay in the same place :P I know I look like an idiot and people give me funny looks because apparently it's not THAT cold, but dammit! I'm freezing my arse off here! It's always too cold! I also have some unfortunate news. The little tassel dealie on the top of my hat came off D: I am very sad D: I suppose that's what you get for three euros *sigh*

Anyway, I was sitting on the train half an hour into my journey when I suddenly realised that this was a really bad idea. It's negative three outside and here I am willingly subjecting myself to an afternoon out in the cold. But I was already nearly there so I thought I'd just take a quick look around then go home again. It turns out that this medieval city thing was just like any of the other towns around Stuttgart, except it obviously had no other attractions than it's cute little medieval buildings and stuff. So, more pictures of buildings! I've started only taking pictures of stuff that is different to all the other pictures of buildings that I've taken. So I has this one:

 

I thought it was funny :P Turns out it's a restaurant. Every old tower like structure I have seen so far in Germany has been turned into some sort of restaurant :P

I thought this was really pretty. It's the Neckar river again, the same one that goes through Tübingen and I got the lovely photo of the sunset last weekend.

There's more, but I won't post them here. I wandered around a bit, then found a museum that was open. It was really tiny and quite boring. Most of the stuff was post 1850's, and there was way more text to read than things to look at, and of course it was all in German so I didn't even try :P I decided to wander back up to the train station after that, because I figured I'd seen everything I was going to on a Sunday. Then I got lost. The streets are all windy and twisty and narrow, so I wandered for ages before ending up in the fields at the very back of the town. There was a steep upwards incline, so I decided I was definitely going the wrong way, and turned around. I eventually found my way back to the train station, but I felt like ice and my hands were so cold they were burning, even in my gloves. The whole train journey back I slowly thawed, just in time to stand in the wind and wait for the bus. I could actually feel again but hadn't started to warm up, so I was shivering uncontrollably and kept making involuntary noises. The one other person at the bus stop was looking at me strangely, as if to say it's not THAT cold. Stupid Germans and their stupid weather *glares*

I've also realised that the cold makes me not want to eat. I don't want to take my gloves off and open my mouth. IT'S TOO COLD. As a result of this I didn't have any lunch, but when I got home I made myself a nice hot cup of tea and some toast with honey and smushed banana. Om nom nom.

Life has been very interesting with Marina's sister visiting. On Saturday night I was just starting to contemplate bed when they started dancing in the hall and announced that they were going to the Diskothek! I felt like a bit of a nanna then :P Sunday morning they all toddled off to church, and got back just before I got back from Esslingen. Then randomly at 7pm they decided they needed to buy train tickets for a trip somewhere the next day, so Marina took them to the main station. I think poor Marina is very distracted. She told me to put all my laundry in the machine so she could do a load on Saturday, but forgot about it. My towel was in there, so I had to retrieve it to have a shower yesterday, and I was about to go retrieve it again for another shower, but she's remembered and put the cycle on. I wonder how quickly it'll dry? Anyway, last night Marina had started cooking chicken for dinner, but then they went out to the station and ate there. I ended up warming up the leftover käsespätzel (YAY!) and having my chicken boob. I have no idea what she's going to do for tonight's dinner :P She just got a phone call from them, saying that they've just arrived at the main station and they're gonna walk home. WALK. In the COLD. It's a long way! Marina just shrugged, so who knows when they'll be home.

Marina has lost her pyjamas. She's been sleeping in my room on the sofa bed, and she SNORES. Her sister's husband also snores, and as they all have the doors open all night and it's a small flat, there's just this chorus of snoring going on all night. Not happy jan. Anyway, Marina has lost her pyjamas, and can't remember of she wore them to school or not. Right now she's wandering around the flat calling them, but they're not answering :P Only another three nights of sharing and then no more snoring!