While John slept I read a bit about Marburg from the pamphlets Margot had left for us. The river through the town is the Lahn. The castle on the hill is the castle of the Landgraves and the building was first begun in 1000 AD The first Protestant University in the world, the Phillips University, was founded here in 1527. The Brothers Grimm studied here and evidently joked that the town had more steps in the streets than in the houses. The city has a population of 76,000 with 18,000 university students, hence is known as The University Town. The main church, St Elisabeth's, dates to 1235 and was one of the first high Gothic churches in Germany.

We had the best night’s sleep since we had been away which was very welcome . Then we had time to breakfast with Margo before she went to work. Valentine (who is about 17) had come in at midnight having been part of the celebrations after Germany’s 4-0 win over Australia.

Margot had had a reasonable amount of sleep, for which she thanked her homeopathic treatments. She was lucky enough to get a cancelled appointment for 10am with the Chinese healer who treats her and we were happy to drive her there and wander around the supermarket and the suburban streets. We were surprised to find shops popping up in the middle of a group of houses rather than there being a shopping centre.

Her house has a number of patchwork wall hangings which she has done. She has a huge room, much bigger than a usual living area, set up for patchwork. Pat Taylor would be envious.

We walked to the Schloss (castle) following her directions but then got lost. Well not really lost but we couldn’t see the castle and it is rather big!! How can you lose a castle? Well if you are in the Schlosspark with its huge trees it is possible . We did find it when I asked, and was told where to go. The map we got later made it clear – the park is to one side of the castle and we thought it surrounded it.

The castle seemed to be used by the university and there was a seminar on there. There is meant to be a museum but we didn’t find it. We enjoyed just walking around marveling at the size and age of it before we had a picnic lunch, while enjoying the view. There were about 20 people in total at the castle – a nice change from the crowds we have been seeing. We then went down the steep main entrance (we had come in the back) past the grounds men who were literally burning off the moss and weeds with a 'flamethrower’. No Roundup here in this environmentally-aware country.

We walked down through the Old Town and picked up a map and guide book at the information centr,e which was shared with the police station. This is when we discovered that the things that especially caught our eyes yesterday were actually in the ‘recommended for children’ section. We noticed that many of the buildings in the centre were actually homes still, although there were a number of cafes and small shops.

We stopped for a cold drink and again watched people in the square. A group of children were playing with water from the fountain as they do world-wide. We also found a house with big houseflies or similar attached . A bit odd but they were attractive in an odd sort of way.

We then went on towards the river where the buildings were also mainly old but now a mixture of standard shops and homes. There were also lots of bookshops of various types including those selling old books. It had been very pleasant but suddenly the lack of sleep over the previous weeks and the increasing warmth caught up with John so we made our way back to Margo’s, to find all the others also resting.

We had a meal with Margo that included her potato salad recipe, which had the potatoes skinned and sliced thinly with gherkins, red pepper and a traditional oil as dressing. Then we talked about places to visit on our way to the Alsace and while in Meersburg and Bremen. Then we had an interesting discussion about taxes because they are high here as they are still helping East Germany as we had heard also from Axel in Berlin. Margo’s house is 100 years old so she has to reroof her house to fit historic regulations and it will cost about 200,000 euro (i.e. $400,000) while the cost of a new 3 bedroom house in the area is 200,000 – 300,000 euros.