Weekend in France...

Back from Lothringen last night. Seems like one never ending car ride from one place to another, past extensive wheat fields and hills planted with vines and stretches of forest. Cars whizz past at stupendous speeds. In Germany I believe there is no speed limit so you can do over 200 km per hour.

This morning the coffee machine would`t work and Ayse and Bablu were still asleep. Heinz had left for work so I waited patiently and decided to get on with some mailing. Now Ayse has surfaced. Hope we are going to stay home and rest a bit today before flying off to Turkey tomorrow!!

+++

It has been interesting though and as soon as I can upload the photos I will, on the website, for you guys to have a look. On the way to Lothringen, we stopped to have lunch with a friend of Bablu`s, from his “Young India” (communist) days. Dorothea is a midwife. A robust, talkative 58 year old woman, married to (or living with – I am not sure) Michael, who is seventeen years younger than her. He is a gardener and works right now in the administrative section of a nursery where they send plants off to various parts of the world. They live in a place called Giessen, about an hour and a half away from Cologne.

Lunch was simple and superb, roast potatoes with vegetables sprinkled with herbs and a dip to go with the potatoes. A lush salad topped with a yoghurt based salad sauce and to end with, an even more luscious cake studded with bits of a fruit whose name I don’t know in English – it is kind of star shaped and a bit sour – and horror of horrors – the cake (a kind of sandwich) was filled with CREAM. At first Ayse and I both said we would have only a half portion, the dessert being so rich etc. that we would have to share it with someone. (“No, no. It really is too much etc.”) One spoonful down and there was no more talk of wanting to share and in a few minutes we had both emptied our plates and were sitting back in our chairs with a slightly goofy expression on our faces.

Dorothea and Michael live in a HUGE framework house with a huge garden absolutely spilling over with all kinds flowers in a variety of shades of lilac and yellow and red. The ground and first floor of the building are reserved for Dorothea`s clients who normally come in about a week before the date of delivery. Dorothea follows the case through for a year after the birth. We spoke a lot about childbirth, the natural sort as opposed to hospital born deliveries. Dorothea says that in Germany over 55 per cent of the deliveries are Caesarian and the doctors actually recommend it, so as for the woman to “protect her love channel”!!

+++

We reached Lothringen late at night, around 9:45 and others were also beginning to troop in. So we had a late dinner of bread and cheese and cold cuts which had been left out for us by our hosts, since there was no fixed dinner time that first evening. Ariela and kids and Thomas arrived and after dinner when most people had retired and Felix was in bed, Ariela proposed we open a bottle of wine, to which I readily agreed and we talked over a few glasses of red wine, late into the night.

This place where we stayed is stupendous. Very quiet and very well organised. Ellen and Albert, the couple who own it, have their own workshops on the premises which they also rent out to others. Back of the house is a sprawling garden at one end of which is a big tent with a warm swimming pool. They bought the place over 25 years ago, an old French house dating back to about 1772 or something and over the years they have done up more and more rooms. The rooms are quite plush, carpeted, with latticed windows overlooking the trees, and equipped with central heating (if desired) and shower and toilet.

Ellen has her own workshop at the end of a long and winding corridor on the ground floor, where she makes things out of silk and ceramic and wood. The kids were enthralled and many of us spent a morning there, working on various kinds of stuff. Two little boys, Anke`s sons, were busy polishing stones. I produced a painted silk scarf, and even two year old Felix together with Luisa produced quite a masterpiece of a painting.

The days were quiet and relaxed, we all ate a bit too much and in the evening, Andreas (the singer, who was also there with his son Gabriel and his girl friend Celina) sang and played the guitar while Celina played the bass.

Now we are back in Cologne and Ayse is putting in some hours at the office and Bablu and I are in charge of the evening meal.