After Julia returned to Germany, I assumed that she would be like many young people who visit us in Australia and then tend to forget that we ever existed. I was wrong. She stayed in contact with us, wrote us messages on WhatsApp, asked how Sophie was progressing with her studies and wanted to know when we might be able to visit her in Germany. Initially, I thought that she was simply polite and well brought up, which indeed she is; but she was so sincere in her invitation to visit her and her mother Astrid that in the end we gratefully accepted.
Julia and Astrid had taken care of Sophie during her exchange last year. Now, on this special weekend, they took care of us, introducing us to parts of Nordrhein-Westfalen that we could never have hoped to discover on our own.
Astrid let me speak German with her and I was thrilled. Every time she used a word that I would like to be able to use, I added it to my set of “Tiny Cards”. I love listening to native speakers speak German. As if that wasn’t enough, she gave us her bed to sleep in. We tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted in her gentle, resolute way.
Astrid had planned our first day in Lippstadt with the utmost care and attention to detail. Our first activity was a visit to the Möhnesee Klangwald. Determined to take a scenic route rather than the autobahn, Astrid ignored the rather cross and insistent voice of her navigator and took us through winding roads and tiny villages. The landscape was quiet and picturesque until several wild boars leapt out in front of us. Despite braking hard, Astrid hit one of them and we were all aghast. To our amazement, the creature rolled over a couple of times, then leapt up and ran off into the next field. Upon inspection, we discovered that the car was virtually unaffected – some extra dirt on the front bumper bar. What had seemed like a potentially serious accident became just another part of the adventure.
The “Klangweg” is a walk through the forest on the shore of the Möhnesee that includes several innovative musical “instruments” made out of wood and steel to be played as you walk along. The forest itself was, as Astrid said, a “Märchenwald”, a fairytale forest. It was beautiful and magical.
Afterwards we ate in the Torhaus Restaurant and wandered through the gardens, admiring the sculptures and the nooks with seats, books and views of the beautiful surroundings.
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| A fairytale forest | Davey makes forest music |
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| Julia in the sculpture garden | A quiet nook |
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| “Verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways” | A lifelike sculpture |
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| In the Torhaus Restaurant | Davey and Astrid look out over the Möhnesee |
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| The Torhaus Restaurant | Even the bathroom was a thing of beauty… |
Astrid had even organised an English-speaking guide to provide a tour of Lippstadt for us. We walked all over the town in the evening light, admiring the old houses with their exposed beams and hearing about the power struggles of the Middle Ages. By the end of the day, we were all footsore and weary, but utterly content. Returning home, we ate a meal of tasty German specialties, including home-grown tomatoes, sausages, potato salad and a variety of meats, spreads, cheeses and breads.
We felt that, in one solitary day, Astrid and Julia had provided an insight into this part of Germany, made us feel at home and given us more memories and experiences than we could ever have expected.
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| Graf Bernhard, the founder of the city | Friedrich der Große | Bürgermeister Friedrich Bertram |
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| Gräfin Amalie Elisabeth | Dr Johannes Westermann | Eine Bäuerin |
After our visit to Lippstadt, we identified four more things that the Germans do well:
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| Brunch… | The Strandkorb (beach basket) |
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| Public bookshelves | Public resting places with water view |