Last Days on Farm

Sorry the photos don't go right along with the story. Rushing to try and get an update out and this takes so much time, which we generally don't have. We had a really great week with Renate on her farm. One day when it was particularly hot we went to see the surrounding area with one of her friends, Johnny. He took us to see his horses, the ruins of an old castle and we went down to the Danube to have ice cream. Then Johnny took us out on the Danube in his motor boat. It was slate grey looking and had a decent current. The temps were chilly but everyone (except me) went swimming. We floated and had cheese and beer and went swimming. It was really nice and we felt so lucky to have that local experience and not have to hire someone to get out on the water. Back on the farm the girls continued to hop into riding classes when available, we mucked stalls, fed the animals, cut the grass and started working in the forest to clear cut logs. One of the last nights we were doing the grass in the dark because we had been so busy and did not feed the horses until 11:30pm. We ate schnitzel, knoodlen, wurst, quail....On the very last night Renate took our whole family out for a ride in the evening. She was crying when she dropped us at the train station. It is an interesting relationship you form with woofer hosts. You are there a short time, but it is intense and you spend all day together and they open their homes and lives to you. We felt we knew her and have a tremendous amount of respect for her as a person. She is hard working, optimistic, kind and patient.

We rode the train to Munich, having to switch trains twice, but it was a smooth trip. Once in Munich we figured out the subway system and got to the apartment of James' old teammate. We dropped our stuff and went into the city to explore for Molly's birthday. They first and main thing we checked out was the English Garden (a giant park with a man made river through it). There is a place where the river creates an eddy that people can surf on. We watched this for awhile and then joined the fray with everyone jumping into the river and floating down the current. Think of a lazy river and this is what was running through this park. We all tried it and Casey and James went many times. We dried ourselves in the sun and then wandered around a little more until we found an outdoor cafe to have Molly's birthday dinner at followed by gelato on the street. We headed back as everyone was exhausted.

This morning James and I picked up the rental car and we are headed to Salzburg.