Day 157-Icelandic horses in Germany

Elisabeth showed the kids how to make paper hats and
boats this morning.  Many hats and boats were made today.

   June 9-As we went to bed the night before, Sally mentioned that she did not know where her camera bag was, but we figured we had placed it into one of the bags and would find it this morning.  We did a little looking when we got up, though, and quickly came to the conclusion that we did not have it any longer.  Thankfully, Sally had her camera, but she was missing the battery charger and the telephoto lens.  Since Sally lost a camera while visiting Estonia in 1997, I joked that she now had finally lost the complete set.  I don’t think that she was amused.  She realized that the last place she had seen it was the Schneiders, so I called Ruth and she did some looking and found it by the door.  We had just missed it as we walked out of their house a couple days earlier!  While that was frustrating, it was at least nice to know that we had found it.  We asked them to package it up and mail it to Elisabeth’s, so we could have it for the rest of the trip.  Thankfully, they were willing to do so.  

Sally, Shan, Heike, and Robin in Elisabeth's back yard.
The Opal behind us is our rental "racing" car.

   Elisabeth’s daughter, Heike, Heike’s husband, Lutz, and their youngest son, Robin, came over and spent most of the day with us.  They spent a couple weeks in Florida earlier this spring and are able to converse in English, so that took some of the interpretation load off of me.  Elisabeth drove my folks and the rest of us walked a mile or so through the woods and residential areas to a flea market, which is always a hit with the Hayses.  Of course, we all found something to buy, including an army hat for Alex, scarves for the girls, a stacking doll for Sally, a drinking horn for Shan, and Playmobils for the kids.  Obviously, if it is a good deal, it must be bought.  Heike turned out to be a fantastic wheeler and dealer and managed to talk the sellers down quite dramatically.  We returned to Elisabeth’s for dinner and then sat around and talked in the early afternoon.  

Heike helps Joslyn prep her horse.

   Later on, we went to a local stable so the kids could ride horses.  During our morning hike, we had seen an Icelandic flag flying at a house and Heike had told us that Icelandic horses are quite popular and rather common in Germany, which piqued the girls’ interest.  So, Heike, Sally, and I took the girls out for an hour ride through some of the woods and fields around Mardorf.  We were going to take Spencer, but he got a little scared at riding the horse by himself, so in the end, my folks simply walked him and his horse

around the stables while we were gone.  It was probably a good thing, since we got the horses up to trotting and even to galloping a couple times and I imagine that he might have fallen off.  As it was, Joslyn found it a little difficult to stay on herself.  Sally’s horse actually fell into a tolt quite readily, but the rest of our horses did not.  When we got back, I asked if the horses could tolt, and the worker told me that they generally are not allowed to tolt, but that Sally’s

could.  Icelandic horses without the tolt?  I don’t know if that is possible.  In Iceland, non-tolting horses end up on the dining room table!  I suppose this does show how quickly the tolting gait can be lost when it is not explicitly maintained by breeding and by selection. 

Elisabeth's back patio.

   We returned to Elisabeth’s and Heike’s family left to watch the first German game of the Euro 2012 soccer championships.  As we travel through Europe, these games are going to be the talk of the town, I imagine, since all of the countries we are visiting (except Belgium) have teams that qualified to play in them this year.  As it is, we have seen many cars and homes flying German flags or with the German flag colors displayed in other ways on cars and outside homes all because of this championship. 
   I got to sit around and talk to Elisabeth in the evening and then I joined Sally at Edith’s to watch the end of the game.  German won a squeaker against Portugal, 1-0, so we knew everyone would be happy when we saw them the next day.  We finished the day folding the last of the laundry, which we had taken care of since Elisabeth has a washing machine and since we could hang them up at her place and at Edith’s house as well.  Actually, Elisabeth ran a couple of the loads through herself while we were at the stables!  Joslyn had been told that the German “Zahnfey” would leave her money if she put her tooth under her pillow, so she made sure to remember to do that tonight.