First stop: Leonberg, Germany

The main purpose of this European adventure was to catch up with our German exchange student of more than 20 years ago. Sabine now lives in Lucerne, Switzerland so we flew into Basel and Sabine picked us up. We drove to Leonberg near Stuttgart, to stay with her mother, Maria for the weekend. Although we have always kept in touch, it was extraordinary how comfortable we all felt with each other after a long absence. Also amusing was Sabine’s still very noticeable Aussie accent.

We spent a very hot weekend enjoying Maria’s hospitality, with long hours in the garden eating delicious German cheeses and other treats and drinking crisp, cold German wines and beers . We visited nearby Stuttgart for a festival but it was far too hot there so we went walking in the forest nearby. It was cool and pleasant under the trees and of course there was a small castle in the forest where we could have a very welcome beer.

Sabine’s very grown up sons spent most of the day with us on Sunday. Louis is 20 – what happened to the years? We had a BBQ in the garden. Lovely! After seeing Sabine off back to Lucerne we stayed with Maria for one more night before catching the train to Munich on Monday morning. Thank you so much Maria. We had a weekend to remember. Maybe you will visit us in Dorset later in the year.

We talked so much that we forgot to take any photos!! There are lots when we visit Sabine in Lucerne later.