Around town

Most Sundays in Germany, nothing is open. Well, not exactly. Some bakeries are open for a few hours in the morning and in the afternoon. Generally that's about it. This means that the only reason to go outside on a Sunday is to have fun, choice options being walking or cycling. Good thing we got our shopping and fun all in yesterday though, because the weather today was grey and cold, whereas yesterday was a real blue-skied pleasure. (Yes, it also follows that we haven't left our apartment today, and that we're very pretty pleased about it.)

But anyway, when I was dragged outside yesterday morning, I was happy to discover that the world had been preparing for my arrival. We strolled around town and found a cool apple/potato shop. The potato poster up in this shop was quite interesting. I mean, I know there are different varieties of things. Apples are an easy example. They taste different, and some might be better for eating, while others might be better for baking. But potatoes? I had to move to Germany to learn that you have to choose if you want floury potatoes, or potatoes that are good for boiling, or potatoes that are good for salad, or potatoes that are good for building a craft to go to the moon—presumably, I mean, I didn't read the whole poster.

We also wandered around some of the outskirts later in the afternoon. There were more apples, only most of them were rotting on the ground. Warning: be careful when treading on thick carpets of autumn leaves, they may be from an apple tree, and this will mean that you are also stepping in apple cider. For some wildlife viewing we spotted what seemed to be an enormous hare frolicking about in a farmer's field.

Later in the evening we went out to see the Ehningen Accordion Club perform, and on our way back there was some more German wildlife—a totally adorable hedgehog. Japanese elementary schoolers asked me, more than once, what a harinezumi is in English. I'd usually get them to draw me a picture, because I didn't ever memorise that Japanese word (in retrospect though, pin mouse, duh). And then I'd see it and say "Oh! A... krimpvarkie. Listen kid, give this old lady a while, she's going to remember the English word by the end of the lesson, promise."