A concert, a stroll and a party

Friday:
The weather was fantastic. After a slow start to the day Ralf and I went shopping for breakfast things. Again there were fresh rolls, meats and cheeses.

Michael has made good friends with the 13 year old boy next door, Dennis, and they spent most of the day playing computer games, shooting each other with pellet guns, riding scooters and also exploring the neighbourhood. Rachel and another boy, Christopher also joined in some of the time. Andrew has caught the kid's colds and spent the day reading. Ralf and I went shopping all over the place for groceries for a party Ralf is holding on Saturday. He has said there will be about 20 people celebrating Oktoberfest.

At night we enjoyed a photographic exhibition on the theme "blue" and afterwards heard Shaun sing solo 10 pieces from Schumann. He has a wonderful baritone voice and was abley accompanied by a friend (both about 22 years old). Beate, Ralf's ex wife and Shaun's mum, and I sat together with Frau Köller. Ralf, Beate and Frau Köller should be very proud of their young man. Ralf then invited some friends back home to have a mini party in preparation for Saturday's main party. It was nice getting to know some more people and to know there will be a few familiar faces.

Saturday:
Again, a sunny and beautiful day. While Ralf and his neighbour, Petra, prepared the house for the Oktoberfest we went exploring to another part of Wuppertal which is a very old town and on the other side of one or two valley's. Not as brave as it may sound as we took Dennis, Petra's son, with us. Ralf lives about 10 minutes walk from a major bus, train and schwebebahn hub, so it was easy to catch a bus to Bayern Berg, once we had looked at a transport map with bus routes marked. What wasn't so easy was buying the travel ticket, but Ralf had come to help with that before letting us fly on our own. It was a gorgeous afternoon to walk around the lake and the village for a few hours. The colouful trees in the forests and by the paths, white swans on the lake, old houses with slate shingled walls and an abbey helped complete the scene and once again came the phrase, "Well, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!". We headed back to our starting point then caught a schwebebahn to another city area and looked for some items which Michael and Rachel wanted to buy before heading back again to our starting point and buying icecreams. So we managed to get around and use a smattering of very poor German and a lot of sign language to help communicate with Dennis and various shop keepers.
We came home to find the house decorated in the Bavarian colours of blue and white, the snacks on the table and the beer ready to pour. The crowd started arriving at 5.30pm and kept coming until after 10pm. Did I say 20 were expected, it seemed more like 50 who squeezed themselves into all corners of Ralf's house, which we would liken to a large terrace house. Everyone made merry and most people tried at least a small conversation with us, as we did with them, which created many smiles, laughs and calls for Ralf or Shaun's assistance. Although we had longer and easier conversations with quite a few people too. Ralf's sister and husband came, whom I last met in 1982 so it was great to catch up again. We have been invited to Beate (Ralf's ex wife) and her husband, Carstom's home for dinner on Monday night, and the children invited to sleep over and go to school with their 8 year old son. I don't know if they will accept being real live "show and tell" news items, but we'll ask. The party ended for us in various stages, I was the last to bed at 1.15am leaving about 10 people still talking in the kitchen. I think it will be a slow start to the day for many. And next week they will do it all again when they have a neighbourhood party for a hedge cutting session. I hope they cut the hedges first before they start to party too hard. Hosting parties for this large group of friends seems like a regular form of entertainment, so it was a privelge to be invited and welcomed into this large circle of ecclectic friends.

Sunday:
It is now 10.30am and Michael and I are the only ones to surface downstairs so far, although Andrew is probably in bed reading. I don't think we'll be moving very far this morning. The weather has also clouded over, so I am very glad that we took the opportunity to explore the delightful countryside yesterday. We haven't travelled so far or so often as we did in England, it has been more immersing ourselves in the different language and custom of the area. In the remaining days we will explore the Rhine river, south of here and visit the large cathedral at Köln (Cologne). It should be less crowded on the roads, and other areas, as school goes back on Monday. So we are pleased that Michael and Dennis had a few whole days to play and get to know each other a bit.

Please excuse any typing and spelling errors. I had just got used to a different keyboard layout in England and am now discovering the delights of a German keyboard which has extra letters and many keys in 'odd' places. For example the 'z' and 'y' are reversed, there is also "öÖ, äA and üÜ on the right hand side of the keys, and it takes forever to remember how to find the @, which makes signing into email and this blog a slower process than usual. I have discovered that the english spell check isn't working. Also, there are no photos yet as that is one topic I haven't even tried to put into the mix. Technology isn't my strong point in Australia and I had John's help in England but my German isn't going to be of assistance in this area. So you'll just have to be patient.

I will try and dig up some history points and details about Wuppertal and the Schwebebahn for the next installment. Love to you all, and hope all is spinning well in your worlds.
Gruße aus Deutschland.