Monday, 3 July. Kirchheim Unter Teck

Last day in Kirchheim. I did a bit of sorting, found the rubbish bins, and planned my times for tomorrow’s trains. I decided to be ruthless and threw out the top which had gone peculiar after I put it in the drier at the laundromat.

There was another market in the town today, mostly clothes this time. It’s on once a month according to Daniel, who I bumped into as I came into the old town centre. Today I completed the walk to the far end of town that I had started yesterday but I didn’t see anything earth shatteringly wonderful. Then I headed to the shopping centre with the huge Edeka supermarket. I found the best ham and salad roll there the other day but I was too late today and had to make do with a pretzel and a cappuccino. 

At 4.00 I met the Szumanskys and we returned to Neidlingen for the last time. Sabini, Lott’s mother had organised a tour of the water driven mill that makes spherical stones. It was a very interesting contraption and our guide did a great job. I think we all bought one of the stones.

Sabini and Jack live directly opposite the workshop and we were invited to dinner at their place. Sabini had made another typical Schwabish meal, a wurstsalat or sausage salad. There were also some of Jack’s delicious cherries. A lot of wine and beer were consumed before the schnapps came out. I declined this time. Sally and Joe performed a duet and a few others sang too. Alex excelled himself with a love song for Lott and James had a good go at his song but couldn’t remember all the words. That might have had something to do with the schnapps.

Finally it was time to say goodbye to our wonderful hosts and new friends, and to the little town of Neidlingen. Tomorrow Kate and James fly home, the Szubanskys drive to Switzerland and I catch the train to Frankfurt. I hope our wonderful hosts get some rest now as they have not stopped cooking and entertaining for at least a week, on top of doing all the wedding preparations.

Jack’s first taste of Vegemite.