Denmark

We all arrived in Blavand in Denmark. Alistair and Jessica with the kids flew in from Manchester, and Andrea took a week holidays to join us. We are staying in a holiday home of a friend of ours, perfectly suited for 5 adults and 3 kids with a swimming pool, sauna, steam bath and jacuzzi. It is only about 300m to a 40 km long sandy beach. Blavand only has about 200 inhabitants, but there are over 2,000 holiday homes in the area and the village is quite busy. The weather is sunny, but with a cold wind. The jacuzzi is great after a walk on the beach.

Celle

We are spending a week in Denmark with the kids and grandkids. They fly in, we are driving from Heidelberg. On the way, we stopped in Celle in Northern Germany. The old city still has over 400 half-timbered buildings from the late 16th and early 17th century, very picturesque. At the time Celle was experiencing a boom, partly due to the influx of Huguenots forced to leave France. We are enjoying just walking around, and spending some time in a Café in the sunshine.

The oldest house in Celle, built in 1526

Hirschhorn

I took my bike along the Neckar to the East today, 30km to the historic town of Hirschhorn, first mentioned in 773 AD and visited by Mark Twain on August 9, 1878. The paths were quite a lot along busy roads, but there were also beautiful stretches along the river. The wind was cold, but no rain today. A nice Greek lunch warmed me up, but then it was another 30km to come back.

Manchester

Sheila has been in the UK for a week and today I joined her in Manchester. Jessica and Alistair are redecorating their house and the bedroom is straight out of Africa, the kids love it. The weather in Heidelberg was awful, wet, windy and cold. In Manchester it is sunny and warm (and I am not supposed to comment on how unusual that is).