Week 8 (Grassau): swimmin' and chillin'

Now that we are more settled in Grassau we are having a lot of fun! 

We now have a routine where we get up and clean out the horses at home, have breakfast, cycle to the other stable and clean out those horses, and then we have a few more hours of jobs like weeding the garden or buying food in. We have lunch when Amina gets home from school about 1.30pm (German schools start and finish early!), then have a few hours in the afternoon to chill before cooking dinner. We go out on the bikes pretty much everyday.

We quite enjoy cleaning the horses out, it's not a difficult job but it's fairly rewarding seeing the difference you've made! The tricky bit we find is getting the horses back in from the field after we have finished. Jessica's advice was for one to wave a bucket of food and they'll all trot over into the stable, and the other can close the electric fence to the field. Sounds simple enough, but we find there's normally a straggler that lingers back so you have some in the field and some in the stable. But we persevere and eventually get all of them back in.

On Tuesday afternoon after finishing our jobs we cycled up to Chiemsee lake, which takes about 20 minutes. We parked up our bikes and wandered along the edge of the lake with a Nogger ice cream each (similar to a Feast in the UK) and sat and dipped our feet. We called in at the beach bar on the way back and shared a beer on some deck chairs. It's such a cool spot to have nearby!

Over the wall from Holger and Jessica's garden is a public foot spa-thing (I'm not really sure what you'd call it). So on Wednesday we took a couple of beers over and gave it a try. The water is freezing even with a beer blanket! You are supposed to stand in the water and do a "stalk walk" bringing your knees right up and this is apparently good for your circulation. But we could only manage to dip our feet in for a second or two.

One of Craig's "jobs" this week was to take Holger's motorbike for a new rear tyre. Not surprisingly Craig was pretty happy to help out with this especially as Holger suggested Craig could do a few extra kilometres. He donned Holger's bike gear and set off to the garage, about 30 mins away. This pretty much sums up our Grassau hosts: trusting and very chilled.

Holger is at home most Fridays and although he is usually working this week he took us for a swim in Tütensee lake. This lake is slightly further away than Chiemsee lake, but it is much smaller so it gets warm more quickly in the sun. It was beautiful, surrounded by woodlands and it was really peaceful. We found a pier and hopped in for a swim and then sunbathed to dry off. Craig also found a rope swing and had this very elegant moment.

Over the weekend we just chilled mostly. We still had the horses to clean out at the stables nearby because Jessica was away on a trail ride. There is a park at the end of the garden with a table tennis table so we went out and had a few games, read by the pond in garden, and went for a walk nearby. 

Food-wise I think we have done quite well cooking vegetarian food all week! We have made pasta with spinach and feta, millet with roasted veg, halloumi wraps (these went down well), pea and asparagus risotto and some others I can't remember! 

Medically, both my teeth and my tick bite seem to be healing. I think the mouth parts of the tick have fallen out (they are so small it's difficult to tell). Craig found a small tick in his leg on Monday, which thankfully came out whole, so we have instated nightly tick checks before bed. Hopefully no more medical updates will be required in the coming weeks! 

Total money spent between two: €546

Week 7 (Grassau): mountains and horses

After our whirlwind tour of Salzburg we arrived in Übersee, Germany at 6pm on Thursday 11th May and were met by our new hosts. They are a family of four, Holger and Jessica and their kids Joshua (17) and Amina (11).

We drove to their hometown of Mietenkam and had a tour of the house. From talking to them via email before we arrived it seemed that Holger and Jessica are busy people and work a lot. This was confirmed shortly after we arrived when we were told Jessica would not be home from work until around 10pm. So our main job while we are here will be cooking dinner, as well as a few other bits and pieces, so that they have less to do when they get in from work. Jessica keeps horses and does trail rides into the mountains. There are normally one or two horses kept at the house and three or four more kept at some stables nearby. We were introduced to Tomatin and Tomillo, who were at the house stable when we arrived, and shown how to feed and clean them out, as this will also mostly be our job. The view from the back garden is a pretty good one- it's hard to escape glorious mountain views around here!

On Friday I woke up to find I had an abscess on my gum from my wisdom tooth! I ignored this while we cleaned out Tomatin and Tomillo and had some breakfast, however, it started oozing pus (in case you wanted to know) and we figured it might be best to have it checked out. Holger helped us ring a dentist within cycling distance and they said to come straight down. So me and Craig got the bikes out of the shed and cycled off to Grassau. I was seen by the dentist within 5 minutes of arriving and he cleaned up my gum and gave me some antibiotic gel to keep applying. The trip cost me €27 as the dental practise didn't know how to accept my EHIC card, and our travel insurance has a £50 excess so wasn't worth claiming. But I'm happy to pay this for peace of mind! I asked Craig to come in with me incase I had any issues translating (not that Craig speaks German!), but the dentist spoke very good English.

On Saturday Holger was going white water kayaking just over the border in Austria and said we could go with him and walk their dog Linda while he kayaked. After driving for about an hour we arrived at Tiefenbachklamm gorge at 11am. Holger said to meet back at the car at 8pm; we weren't quite expecting to have such a long time to fill. We walked for 18km: along the gorge, coming out at a clearing, and then climbing the hills up to Brandenberg where we stopped and ate our packed lunch. On the way back down we stopped at a small cafe/bar along the gorge and killed some time with a couple of pints before heading back to the car. It made for a really nice walk, and the water was really light blue- no filter in the pics below!

On the way home we called in at the Chiemsee Lake, about a 20 minute cycle from our hosts house, and we just got to the beach bar and grabbed a beer in time for sunset over the lake. A great end to a great day!

On Sunday we went for another walk, this time in the mountains on the German side of the border. We walked with Holger and Joshua up to a lodge where Jessica and Amina had been out riding the horses and had lunch. Just before setting back off I discovered a tick attached to my neck that Craig kindly pulled out for me. Gross. Unfortunately the mouth parts have remained embedded in my skin, so I am waiting for those to fall out. Even more gross.

On Monday it was Amina's 12th Birthday. We cycled to Aldi and got some food shopping, including stuff to make pizzas for the evening. In the afternoon both of Amina's Grandmas came over and brought cake. We were invited to join the family for a drink and cake, before getting started on the pizzas. We made two veggie, one tuna, and one meat. They looked and tasted pretty good!

So that has been our 7th week! Travelling from Poitiers-Salzburg-Grassau and starting to settle in. Holger and Jessica are very trusting and fair in terms of work, we are generally home alone through the day and they just like having someone to do general housework, clean out the horses, and cook dinner for when they get home. They are also enjoying the opportunity to improve their and the kids' English. Since the family is often out ~8am to anywhere between 6-9pm, we have time to ourselves through the day and they seem pretty happy for us to go exploring, with or without Linda.

Total amount spent between two: €540

Bonus post: 24 hours in Salzburg!

On our way to our next hosts we stopped in Salzburg for 24 hours.

We got the TGV high-speed train from Poitiers to Paris- we were sat upstairs first class (fancy pants!) Though only because it cost the same as a normal fare)- and then flew from Paris CDG to Salzburg.

Salzburg is beautiful even before you get off the plane, there are mountains you can see from just about everywhere. We stayed at YoHo International Hostel, which we thoroughly recommended - good service, food and drink, and secure lockers. Here we enjoyed some schnitzel and a pint (well 0.5L) of Austrian beer. We also got a free apple strudel shot at the bar and then hit the streets. The hostel plays the Sound of Music film every night, but we didn't hang around for that. We walked over the river to the Augustiner-Bräu in the old town, where you select and rinse your stein (they're already clean, but it's all part of the fun) and then hand it over to be filled. Augustiner-Bräu is huge. HUGE. There are five indoor halls, a bit like school halls but with alcohol, and outside there is the biggest beer garden I've seen. There is also a small indoor market area where you can get pretzels, schnitzel, strudel, and even sliced radish. We sat out in the beer garden and whiled away the hours with a couple of steins.

The following morning we had a continental breakfast at the hostel and then set off exploring. We walked along the river and over Makartsteg Bridge, which is covered in "love locks", back into the old town. We didn't have much of a plan, just wandered and took in the sights. We happened upon the birth place of Mozart, with a very fancy Spar underneath, which tickled me. I actually thought the crowds of people were stopping to look at the Spar.

We walked through Residenzplatz and saw Salzburg Cathedral and then climbed the hill to Fortress Hohensalzburg, which sits at the top and has amazing views over the city. We took a path that carried on past the Fortress and into some woods and eventually came out at a clearing with panoramic views over the mountains.

On the way back down we stopped for some lunch at a small understated restaurant that was hidden away in a shop. It looked like nothing from the outside but out the back they had a small terrace with great views. We went for traditional Austrian street food: a schnitzel burger and bosna (a spicy sausage with onions, mustard, ketchup, curry powder and served in a grilled bun). Plus a couple more beers each to wash it down. This was the perfect find for budget travellers like us- a cheap taste of Austria with a great view. To find it, just follow the road downhill from Fortress Hohensalzburg and after a few minutes it'll be on the left (see picture).

After lunch we had a couple of hours to explore the Mirabell Palace gardens and then it was time to head for our train to meet our new hosts in Grassau, Germany.

Salzburg has become one of our favourite cities and now we've had a teaser we'll definitely revisit in the future.

Week 6 (Limoges): farewell La Gimbretière!

This week was our last week with Diane and Marcus in France. 

Both Diane and Marcus had Birthdays, on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday some friends of theirs came round in the afternoon and we celebrated with champagne and cake. On the evening Diane cooked a lovely meal of beef with couscous, pistachios and pomegranate (a Jamie Oliver superfoods recipe apparently, and definitely one to remember!) and we had a pinball tournament. Of course we let Marcus as the birthday boy win a couple of games!

On Wednesday we went for lunch at Auberge de Lecurie in La Font-d’Usson. They have a menu de jour, where you have a starter, main course, cheese, dessert, and wine for €13 but the menu is a surprise. We had a fish pate to start (still unsure exactly what type of fish), stuffed tomatoes, curry sauce and chips for main, a cheese board, and a french toast with caramel ice-cream for pudding- with a sparkler for Diane. It was lovely! The restaurant was really quirky inside, with lots of interesting bits and pieces for decoration.

On the way home we stopped at Isle d’Jourdain again and I took some pictures on the viaduct and had a little photo shoot with the Traction. 

In the evening we surprised Marcus and Diane with some cupcakes I made (chocolate and orange with white chocolate and orange butter icing) complete with the Bon Anniversaire candles we picked up from Limoges last week- you can just about make it out in the picture.

We also got up early on Tuesday and Wednesday morning to let the chickens out and feed the animals so that Marcus and Diane could have a nice lie in on their Birthdays! On Thursday we treated them to a Birthday breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted french bread. This is a celebratory breakfast in our house back home and I think I nearly made it as well as my Mum does!

On Sunday we went to another vide grenier at Bellac in the Traction. There was a small exposition of classic cars and bikes, so Marcus parked the Traction along with these. It turns heads and attracts admirers everywhere we go! The vide grenier was in a beautiful park, with a band playing in the band stand. We wandered around classic cars and stalls before having a beer, sausage baguette and chips.

We have been finishing off our last few jobs before we go. Diane and I finished planting the vegetable patch, which is now full to the brim! It’s great to see everything we planted coming up nicely. Craig helped Marcus get some final bits of wood, and ploughed a field ready for Marcus to plant some corn after we’ve left.

We made a little video of our time at La Gimbretière, which I think captures quite well all the fun we have had in our 6 weeks here. We honestly could not have asked for a better start to our trip and are so grateful to Marcus and Diane for being such awesome hosts and really great people. We’ve been invited back next year when Diane and Marcus celebrate their 60th and 65th Birthdays, so hopefully this is not goodbye!

Total spend between two (including travel to next hosts): €334