July 18

July 18th (sunny and beautiful)
This is the best hotel we could ever be at. Wake up whenever we want in our own suite, shower and then go down to a great breakfast. Alfred and Anneliese are fabulous hosts. They are extremely generous and will not allow you to pay for anything. Georg has given up fighting with Alfred. We have decided to leave them a monetary gift when we leave. That is the only way to even begin to repay them for their kind generosity.
Alfred and Anneliese packed lots of good food and drink, including snaps, for a long walk in the forest just outside of Fulda. First, however, we met up with their friends, Charlie and Renata at their lovely house for some champagne before all of us drove to the starting point for our walk. Seemed everyone was hungry so we ate even before our walk began.
It is possible to walk everywhere in Germany either by road or on marked pathways. We arrived at a restaurant in the middle of the forest that was originally a castle from the 1600’s. Here we had more to eat and drank some very good dark beer. There is an endless selection of delicious beers everywhere.
Upon returning to our cars at the end of the walk, we drove up a mountain to a monastery called Kreuzberg where they produce scrumptious beer served in a very authentic German beer garten. You cannot get more “Deutsch” than this. After saying our goodbyes to Charlie and Renate, we stopped at a couple of other points of interest before driving home to more food before going to bed.