Last of April, First of May

Last week saw the change from April to May. Weatherwise, it went from spring to summer and back to almost winter, all within the course of seven days.

On Monday (28 April) I was working from home. A back and shoulder massage was a good way to break up those busy hours. After work, my sister and I met at our Mum‘s. It was still sunny and warm enough to sit on her balcony, full of beautiful flowers this time of year, for our meal. Afterwards, my sister and I didn‘t go straight home but walked to the cemetery first and then back via the fields.

Unlike most weeks, I went to work at the office on Tuesday (29 April) instead of Wednesday. As is so often the case, there were problems with our local trains, and it took me an hour to get to work instead of the 17 minutes according to the schedule. 

I arrived still in time for our annual company assembly, though, which was the reason for me not working from home that day.

The weather was beautiful, and on my way home I got off the train in Zuffenhausen and walked the rest.

Wednesday (30 April) was my last day of work for two weeks, and only a half day at that. After a short lunch break, I made my preparations and packed my big black suitcase. A little after 4:00 pm, I wheeled my suitcase to the station and soon boarded a local train to Stuttgart, where I changed to a long distance one to Offenburg.

There were last minute changes of platforms and slight delays, but I reached Offenburg only a few minutes late.

The day felt summerly, and O.K. and I enjoyed a light meal of cold meat, salad and bread on the balcony in the last hour before sunset.

The 1st of May was here! On that Thursday, the village band plus family and friends almost all joined in the effort of hosting the May Fête for the whole village. As usual, we worked from morning to night, first setting up everything (tables and benches, counters for food and drinks, pavilions to protect against the sun, parasols, rubbish bins, and a thousand other things needed for the smooth operating of such a fête). 

At 10:30 in the morning, men from the village set up the May Tree (that‘s what we call the Maypole here) and the band members provided the music for this annual ceremony.

We then had about an hour and a half to rest at home before it was time to go back to the fête square. O.K. and I had enough time to buy something to eat from the food stall and sit down together before the band started to play again, and I had to start my shift at the dishwasher.

For the next 6 1/2 hours, together with the mother of a young band member I was on my feet non stop, loading and emptying the dishwasher (it was one of those heavy duty industrial machines that run only for about 15 minutes before the next load can go in), wiping the beer and wine glasses (soft drinks were sold by the bottle) and collecting empty glasses from the tables where people had not bothered to take them to our counter.

The last part of our shift was mainly spent cleaning up after the fête had ended.

The weather couldn‘t have been better, and we had a constant stream of visitors without there ever being too many to handle.

We were both exhausted (like everyone else involved with the fête) and happy that all had gone well, looking forward to a day without a busy schedule.

Friday (2nd of May) was the warmest day of the week, at 27C more like a summer day than spring.

We could sleep as long as we liked but didn‘t get up late. O.K. had a few things in mind he wanted to do around his Mum‘s house before our departure on Sunday, and while he was busy with those, I did the ironing and a few things.

For the first time this year, we had our late breakfast/early lunch on the balcony.

Mid-afternoon, O.K. drove us into town and we had ice creams. In the evening, we grilled sausages on the balcony - it really felt very much like summer.

It was O.K.‘s birthday on Saturday (3 May), but we didn‘t have a party planned. Most of his family and friends happened to be away, at concerts or other events, and so there were only four of us in the evening at a restaurant in nearby Ortenberg.

The day had mostly been spent with preparations for our departure the next day, but all at a leisurely pace.

Still warm at 23C, but with some rain and heavy clouds, it felt muggy, and the forecast thunderstorm with a lot more rain arrived in the night.

The expected drop in temperature made itself felt on Sunday (4 May); at about 10C, it was a lot cooler, and rain kept falling while we were getting ready to leave.

By the time we had said good-bye to O.K.‘s Mum and loaded the car, it was almost 11:00 am, but we only had a drive of about 4 hours ahead.

The motorways were VERY busy, but we were never really at a standstill. It kept raining most of the way, sometimes heavily, but O.K. is a good driver who knows how to adapt to different road conditions.

For the last 15 minutes or so, we drove through a thunderstorm - always a bit special in the mountains.

After unpacking, we received our welcome drink. 

It wasn‘t raining anymore, and so we went for a first brief familiarising walk to the lake and back through the settlement (it can hardly be called a village).

View from our room

our hotel, as seen from the pontoon

If you click to enlarge, you will see snowy bits on the mountains.

A very ornate Alpine style house across the road from the hotel

A very good dinner was next, followed by a brief rest in our room before we were back downstairs for a gin tasting, lead by a charming and knowledgeable young lady. There was only one other guest apart from us, which made for a nice and cosy event.

All things considered, a good start for our holiday in Austria, Tannheimer Tal, Haldensee (in case you want to look it up on a map).