Greetings, blog readers. The weather in Germany is positively awesome right now. The sun has been shining, and it’s been warm, with the slightest chill in the air, signifying that autumn is well on the way.

Bill got home from his latest trip– a super short jaunt to Brno, in the Czech Republic. He was there for just two nights, and had to fly to Prague, and then drive 2.5 hours to Czechia’s second largest city. He didn’t get to see anything there, because he was staying on the outskirts, in a non-descript, unexciting area.

Then, he had to leave Brno at about 3:00 AM, to ensure that he’d make his return flight to Frankfurt yesterday. I think these business trips are getting very tiresome… but the work Bill does is important and interesting. Sometimes, it’s even fulfilling, or culturally enriching.

We’ll be leaving for our road trip to Eastern Europe on Thursday, and we have one stop in Czechia– Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad). One of the Czech officers Bill met on his most recent trip told him we should pay a visit to the Becherovka Museum in Karlovy Vary. I hadn’t even considered that, but now I think maybe we’ll try to do that. I do like that liqueur, and God knows, I enjoy booze tourism.

Last night, we had another wine stand, hosted by the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany). Our neighbor, Pete, who ran an unsuccessful campaign last year, was behind the grill cooking sausages. We said hello to him, and the friendly guy standing next to him, helping to man the grill.

I didn’t go to the previous wine stand, because it happened while Bill was in Budapest, and I was taking a break from drinking. Besides, since my German is Scheisse, people don’t really talk to me. However, when Bill and I are together we do get to talk to people. Such was the case last night.

We were first greeted by a guy we met over the summer, who has a lovely dog named Stella. I think she’s a sheltie or a miniature collie. Stella stayed home last night, but her master had a chat with us. We told him about our upcoming trip, and he told us he’s going to Norway for three weeks. That will be cool… LITERALLY!

He ate pizza and hung out with a couple of his other friends, while Bill and I partook of pork sausages. We don’t usually get the sausages at the wine stands, because they are served in rolls that don’t really fit them and are a little challenging to manage. But we didn’t have anything readily available for dinner, and I had kind of been craving a bratwurst.

They also had the beef sausages, which I had at a previous wine stand. The beef varieties are also good, but I think Bill and I both prefer the pork ones. And I tried the roll below, which was covered in poppy and sesame seeds. It was delicious. I could have just had that and been delighted. The sausages and bread were a bargain, at just nine euros!

I suspect our new friend probably likes to see us at the wine stands. I’m not naive, though. I’m sure part of the reason he likes us is because we always get there early, and usually, no one ever sits with us. So that means there’s almost always a place for him to sit and eat pizza with his buddies. 😁

After our dog loving friend left, we were greeted by Boris and Gaby, whose names I’ve finally memorized over years of hanging out at village events. This couple is older than we are by a couple of decades, and they don’t speak much English. But they are fun loving, friendly, and eager to communicate. I always enjoy seeing them, and with a little effort, we can chat.

I dare say it’s good practice for us and our German skills, and for them and their English skills. 😁 And it’s a valuable reminder to regular people that just because our POTUS is trying to alienate everyone, that doesn’t mean all Americans are in agreement.

Gaby and Boris brought a friend with them. She didn’t speak English, either, but she lit up when Bill told us we were going to Karlovy Vary. It turned out she was born there. Gaby was a little confused, but then her friend reminded her that Hitler had annexed that part of the Czech Republic, so when she was born, it was considered part of Germany. Again– it was called Carlsbad, back in the day.

We told their friend that we had been to Karlovy Vary before, but only for a day trip. In February 2009, we visited Chodava Plana, a little hamlet where Chodovar Beer is made. We were there to try out the spa at their Beer Wellness Land, which has really expanded in the 17 years since our last visit!

I would definitely be up for another trip there, especially since our visit was spoiled by Bill’s asshole ex boss and narcissistic war buddy, making contact with him to tell him that he’d “pulled strings” to get us moved out of Germany a year early. 🙄 At the time, I was really pissed off… but as you can see, we have more than made up for that lost year. And war buddy later got very publicly fired after abusing troops, and was forced to retire early. 🤭

I like to remind myself that people who are narcissistic assholes usually get exactly what they deserve, in the long run. The thought of that keeps me warm and helps me sleep at night.

We decided to leave when it got noticeably colder, and Bill and I both realized we needed to pee, and didn’t want to use the public WC. So we said goodnight to our local friends and headed home. Bill needed to go to bed after his very long day.

I’m not sure what we’ll do today. The weather is still beautiful. In earlier years, we might have gone out to enjoy it. Today, we’ll probably get some household chores done before we take our long anticipated trip east.

Wiesbaden is a real treat, though! I do enjoy living in this neighborhood. I think it’s my favorite of all of the places we’ve lived so far… and happily, at this point, it’s the place where we’ve lived the longest.