Strawberries and Rollar Blades - Erdbeeren und In-Line Skates

Lane took the trains all by herself back to Rheda-Wiedenbrück on Friday. After some shopping, we went back home and got ready for a fancy dinner that Christof and Sandra were treating us to that night. 

We all wore high heels! Well, not Christof.

The next morning we woke up, ate some cereal, and strapped on rollerblades. Yes, that is correct. Lane and I had planned on going strawberry picking on Saturday, but were thrown a curve ball when our bikes were in the shop. “No worries,” says Sandra, “You can take the in-line skates.” We were worried. After spending the greater part of the morning practicing and taking pictures in the backyard, we set off to the bank before skating to the strawberry field. Bad idea, seeing that the bank was located in Old Town Wiedenbrück, aka cobblestone galore. It also didn’t help that we were skating with a big purse and an empty bucket for our strawberries, but we made it to the bank with only two wipe outs. After sitting outside of the bank and removing our skates, we went in wearing socks, keypads, and wrist guards. Money in hand, we skated to the strawberry field, which was actually very nice and easy to get to, and picked strawberries for probably around 4 minutes. When our bucket was full, we went to pay. 3.17 Euros. We had triple that before our disastrous trip to the bank. Who knew strawberry picking was so fun and so cheap!? Plus, we learned that Mathis loves strawberries as well.

Blading is serious business. Safety is also. Please note the safety gear.

Finally made it to the bank!

Taking off our skates so we can go inside.

The cobblestones were problematic. 

We made it to the strawberry field!

Skating back with our strawberries.

We were proud.

Mathis and Lane excited to eat!

We babysat that night and baked a German chocolate cake for Martha's birthday on Sunday. They had never heard of it. Right as we were commenting how problem less and calm Lane’s trip had been, she just happened to check one of her flights which just happened to be cancelled. After some minor panicking they found her a flight an hour earlier and added another stop to her trip, coming to a grand total of six airports in 24 hours. We woke up at 3:30am and I drove (stick shift!) to Düsseldorf with Sandra. Man, I really loved having Lane here. I can’t wait to come visit her in Maryland when I get back to the States. 

Speaking of visitors, Brian is supposed to be landing in Düsseldorf on Friday. Here’s to hoping this volcano in Iceland doesn’t get in his way!