There was no school for elementary and middle school students today because of parent/teacher conferences, so Andrew and I got to spend some quality time together — just the two of us, because big brother, Joshua, still had to go to school.
After much debating about how we should spend the day together, we decided to bundle up and walk to the town square in Sindelfingen. It was a chilly day with temperatures in the low 40’s but we didn’t let a little brisk weather get in the way. Our first stop was the local backerei (bakery) where we bought a fresh pretzel to nibble. Today was all about discoveries — and learning more about the neat little village where we live.
It's rather ironic that an architect has his office in this centuries-old building with sagging timbers and beams.
Andrew and I walked through the oldest part of the village where the homes date back to centuries ago. In fact, the church is celebrating this year because it is 975 years old!
Ever observant, Andrew noticed all the really old houses and buildings seem to have some sort of small or unusual door. At first, I thought he must have seen only one or two, but sure enough — the more we investigated, the more we discovered every old home had a tiny or “secret” door!
One of the many small doors we discovered on our walk today. The door in the middle stood no more than four feet high.
I never get tired of the charm of cobbled streets and half-timbered houses; I just love this village!
It was market day (every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and although I didn’t buy any fresh produce today, we enjoyed walking through the stalls and booths to see all the wonderful things for sale.
At lunchtime, we decided to embrace the custom of so many Europeans and eat outside — even on such a chilly day! We stopped at a lovely outdoor cafe near the market where there were comfy red fleece blankets on every chair, and a couple of outdoor heaters to keep us from becoming really cold. We shared a Belgium-style waffle, an order of pommes frites (french fries) and sodas. What a treat!
Andrew took this photo at the outdoor cafe.
It was worth everything to see the happiness on my little man’s face. He just beamed. He declared that this was one of his best days ever because we got to do something really fun and different, and he felt like “such a grownup.”
Just like the Germans do it -- they eat their pommes frites with a toothpick!
We spent about four hours on our adventure and walked over two miles. We talked, we laughed, and Andrew shared with me all the “important” things he likes to think about. You know — the really important things like the names of all his Webkinz, the reasons why Pokemans aren’t really real, the Peter Pan clock in London (Big Ben), his favorite kind of dog, why he likes Goosebumps books, and why Halloween is his favorite holiday — although now he is considering that his birthday might be his favorite. (Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that his birthday is three weeks away?) He even gave me a complete scene-by-scene rundown on the movie “Jumanji” (which he watched recently on video) and he asked me all sorts of questions about Africa and how big the mosquitoes are that live there.
As we got close to home, he stated emphatically that we MUST have a photo of BOTH of us to remember the day, so we stopped and I took this photo of us — which didn’t turn out half bad considering I had gloves on and I was holding the camera and trying to get us both in the photo at the same time!
Andrew hit the nail on the head about one thing: It sure was my best day today!
Some things never change -- these stone figures stand as testiment to the practice of sharing news (gossip?) at the local fountain.
Enjoy a few more snapshots from our perfect day out in the village of Sindelfingen!
A lovely German winter garden.
One of our favorite local restaurants, the Zum Erdinger.
Can you believe the size of the leaves we found?
beautiful pictures, glad you had such a nice day with Andrew. Looks like a beautiful town. Sure wish I could get a pretzel like that. I remember trying them everywhere and the best was by the big wine barrel in Heidelberg.
Did you find out what the small doors were for? I am thinking, coal or wood and food.
Happy Thanksgiving.