A travelling day today and off to the furthest south-east corner of Germany to meet up with our friends who live in the small town of Eibau. We had a good journey, autobahn most of the way round Chemnitz & Dresden, then down the road to Eibau – an N road but very patched, and unusual in that it seemed to be wall-to-wall villages with very little space in between, unlike the A9 which hardly gave us a view of a house.


  It was interesting to see the difference in the styles of houses we passed, unlike any we'd seen earlier: many were roofed in tiles with a curved bottom, and the first storeys were often covered in patterned tiles of grey & white. A lot of the houses appeared quite old but looked very attractive.


 We arrived safely and parked the caravan next to the house of Mario & Katrin, friends who we met whilst travelling in Botswana in 2011. Although we’ve stayed in contact, this was the first time we’d met since then and what a grand reunion it was. We had a lot of catching up to do and fortunately their English is really good as we have virtually no German apart from greetings.


 Clara is now 13 and learning English at school so we were able to talk to her as well – what a lovely young lady she has become. She delighted us with her reading of her notes from school about England and took time out to correct my pronunciation of some German words – thank you! Their elder daughter and her boyfriend also arrived so lots more talking was done – I know it sounds awful, but its such a relief when people can speak English, and these two were extremely good at it – Anna will be a great English teacher when she finishes university.



  The family house is beautiful, some parts dating from the 1700s and originally the home of Katrin’s grandparents so they have lots of antique furniture and belongings. There are plants everywhere, some framing doorways, and we sat in their large sun lounge filled with light and plants – and cake: we were treated to the most wonderful cake confections - I love the German idea of cake in the afternoon!


 In common with many houses in the area, 100 years ago the ground floor of the building housed a large weaving machine, used by members of the family to produce flaxen cloth. They had an ingenious way of insulating the family living above from the weaving machines: apparently the upstairs floor was not connected to the ground floor building and was supported by these arches as a sound insulating system: this was a big flax weaving area and the machines were housed underneath , deafening those living above. What a clever system.


 As sunset approached we all tramped through the fields and up the "small hill" behind their house, which gave us a great view of the village and its surroundings – the air was so clear we could see the hills in the Czech Republic only about 20km away.


 The bbq was ready when we returned to the house –this was our first introduction to German meals at home, and Mario had smoked a trout for everyone. It was followed by a bowl of lettuce with Kathrin’s dressing, and all washed down with beer - delicious!


 The family has a guest house in their garden, an old-looking building on the outside but ultra-modern on the inside; everywhere is clad in pale wood, with sliding glass doors and even a sauna, although we didn’t have time to sample it. We were very comfortable in there and had a good night’s sleep, exhausted after all the talking.