We left home at 09:00 on Tuesday morning and only got into bed in St Mang at 23:30 the following night: a total travel time of 38½ hours.

Our eight-hour stopover in Dubai was from midnight until our flight at 08:12. We barely managed two hours of sleep on uncomfortable airport chairs and ate in the lounge at 04:00 in the morning.

After landing in Frankfurt we had to stand in a long passport queue because only one of the twelve booths was open. Germany was also very hot. We waited about an hour on the train platform and then had to wait again in Ulm.

Hugo and Caro travelling south by train from Frankfurt
On the train south from Frankfurt.

Our train then stood still while waiting for another train that had broken down. We missed our connection to St Mang, so Anton and Paul fetched us at the station in Kempten. Monja had made butter chicken for dinner and we finally went to bed at 23:30.

On Thursday and Friday we mostly worked and slept. On Friday afternoon we wanted to cycle to a lake, but the rain caught us, so we stopped for ice cream and then went to REWE.

Caro outside the ice cream shop after rain interrupted the cycle ride
We stopped for ice cream after the rain caught us.

When we came out of REWE the sun was out again and it was hot, even though it was already 19:00. It only gets dark at about 21:00.

For dinner we made pizzoccheri. Monja had buckwheat pasta from Anton’s aunt in Switzerland, and at REWE we bought napa cabbage, Bergkäse and Parmesan to go with it.

Homemade pizzoccheri with buckwheat pasta, potatoes, napa cabbage and cheese
Pizzoccheri for Friday dinner.
A bottle of local Met honey wine
A bottle of local mead, or honey wine.