Europe Day 6 - Herten Market, visitors, ice cream

Friday June 2

We were both awake early today. William was cold and climbed into my bed. 

I said: "Brrr, you are cold"

His answer: "You are like the sun."

Oohh, nice. 

Since it was early he needed some breakfast already. Ute had wonderfully taken care of us with kitchen dishes and utensils and provisions. I could make a fruit salad enjoyed BY ALL. William is always happy about everything. Nice table conversation too. 

 

 

 

The vulcano gummies were a present from Tante Ute on arrival but they had not been opened. William decided that the dinosaurs would each like one. 

 

9ish we went to Tante Ute were he had another cheese sandwich. After that we went with Ute to Herten Market. We had a few things to take are off. 

When you come out of the park house there is a fountain and this herd of pigs. Ute stood by him while I went into the t-mobile shop right there. I have an issue with the German phone I used to use when visiting. The number had been cancelled of inactivity. 

 

 

I got some answers about the phone and moved on. We could not go past the toy store and William used more of his spending money. Omi found a money purse for him. 

Of course we had to go and have a look at the (weekly) market. I have to go and visit one at least once when I am in Europe. When you live there you know which little town around you had one on which day of the week. You know which vendor is usually where. 

You can't see it but in this photo on the corner there is a vendor with nothing but eggs. Some were even boiled and colored. I pointed it out to William. The vendor lady noticed that we spoke English and started making small talk to him and gave one bright yellow egg to him. He said "thank you". I whispered to him whether he could say that in German. He took his hat of and swang it back with a deep bow like a gentleman years ago and said it loud and clear. It was so funny ... and such a surprise. He loved his dinosaur egg ... and ate it later. 

 

On the way back home we stopped for lunch. USA is famous for hamburgers. Here it is currywurst. I had such an appetite for it. These places are mostly take-outs but have a few tables too. We decided to stay and after ordering sat down. William decided that the dino he had just bought was hungry. 

 

 

There is no end to Dino's appetite. 

 

At Ute's we found things to do (like playing with Carsten's old Legos- happens to be space theme) until Inge and Martina arrived at 3pm. The 4 of us walked to the ice cream cafe. The menu was quite a picture book and it's not easy to choose. William opted for the one with the Überraschungsei (surprise choco egg). 

 

Ute had decided to come quickly by car and joined us. It was a lot of fun. 

 

 

If only the portions were not so big. 

 

William played "hide the Dino" with us and he was the one looking all the time. Warm, cold, colder. I think it was under his hat on Martina's head at one point but I am not sure. 

 

After we walked back we had coffee on Ute's terrace in the back while William kept asking for one of us to play soccer with him. It had been such a lovely day. We commented about clouds moving in though. After Inge and Martina left, William and I gathered our stuff quickly too. Ute even made a cheese sandwich to go. We were at the apartment short before 8 pm and when the first heavy drops fell. 

We made ourselves comfy and William (and some dinos) had his sandwich. Maren came soon to (from work) and joined us. She even brought Thai soups for me and herself. Spicy but so good. 

I had bought another cheap toy. William can blow up these balloons easily and let them fly like the ones we had in Nashville. How much fun can you have. We were so loud laughing that I had to caution all of us. The apartment is so empty with all those stonewalls that I don't know how much you hear upstairs. Yup, German way of life.

 

And then William surprised me again. After 9pm I thought that he really needed to go to bed. He willingly washed, brushed teeth and put his pjs on. A bedtime reading as always. Pillow talk, a prayer, yes it's ok to turn the light off. We left the room and didn't hear a peep from him. He must have been asleep in 30 seconds. I had expected to have a huge protest since we had such a fun guest. What a boy. 

Maren and I talked for another couple of hours. I made her text me when she was home.