Seventy-two hours to go before we depart on our return to America. Time is short. What hasn’t been done by now won’t be. That isn’t to say there is nothing to do. We won’t sit still twiddling our fingers. Matter of fact, we would have headed north tomorrow to Köln (Cologne) and then over to Venlo, Holland, but a cold rain has set in over central Europe, so we’ll hang out and keep Jutta company. During the early day today though, we have some chores. First up was buying a guitar case for a guitar owned by Caroline’s grandfather. Having the car today instead of taking the train creates huge delays, as finding parking is never easy if there isn’t a nearby parking garage. By the time we get to Bergerstrasse, we’re both super hungry. On the way to pick up a sandwich through the Saturday open-air market, I spotted these strange-looking berries that I wasn’t sure if they were raspberries or strawberries. Turns out they are an old-fashioned type of strawberry not cultivated for mass consumption anymore. Maybe they’ll make a comeback with their incredible flavor, which is not 100% strawberry. But they are expensive at $6.00 for two small handfuls of the super sweet-tasting berries.

Weeks ago, I wrote of my being enamored with pork-belly sandwiches, with only a couple more opportunities to delight in them; this was my choice for breakfast today. During this time, I’ve nearly become friends with one of the ladies who works here at Erich Zeiss Metzgerai (butcher). While I fetched my meal, Caroline was back over at Bäckerei Kamp (bakery) getting a full-grain dark bread sandwich with brie, cucumber, lettuce, and lingonberries, also a favorite of ours. She also picked up a couple of slices of strawberry cake that we were taking to share with Jutta.

Having found a great parking spot, we were loath to leave it. Instead, we dipped into the U-Bahn tunnel to catch a train. We were also testing the idea that instead of taking streetcar #12 all the way to southwest Frankfurt, maybe it was quicker to take the subway part of the way and then pick up the streetcar. The verdict is out as it felt about the same, nor do we have any empirical proof that could sway the jury.

Jutta’s certainly feeling much better; her first question for us upon our arrival was asking if we’d like to take a walk outside. She hadn’t realized that the temperature had dropped into the cold and that it was currently raining. Instead, we walked over to the dining room of the rehab center and grabbed a pot of coffee and some forks as we sat down to chat over some yummy strawberry cake.

For the next hours, we bounced around the conversation and shared details of yesterday’s trip to Strasbourg, France while Jutta recalled her visits. While she’s been so very happy to see, she’s also encouraged us to get out and see a few things; we obliged her with those trips to Wattenmear, Denmark, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Lünaburg, Dresden, Eisenach, Bautzen, Görlitz, Poland, and Prague. Before we know it, time has flown out the window, and we have to get moving to finish the remaining chores. We bid Jutta adieu and walked back to the train stop without the duffel we intended to pick up, though we didn’t realize that until just before arriving back at Jutta’s apartment. Part of our intentions today was to test pack; without that bag, we’ll have to postpone. So it goes.

After packing up what we could at Jutta’s into plastic bags and putting the guitar in its new case, it was after 6:00, and we were getting hungry. Thought about stopping on the way back to Stephanie and Klaus’s but decided on one last return to the Lahme Esel restaurant. Good thing we didn’t go directly there because after asking the Engelhardt’s if they’d like to join us, a call was made for table availability, where we found out that there was nothing until 9:00. Okay then, a late dinner it is. Caroline opted for the Grüne Sosse, and I took the meat fantasy plate. My dinner was the Bäcker-Schaufel or Bakers Shovel, and a shovel of food it was. Two pieces of pork steak, rump steak, hamburger steak, sausages, bacon, fried potatoes, mushrooms, and a salad. I have to say it again: twenty years ago I thought traditional German food was kind of boring, but when this trip ends I’ll be doing my fair share of missing this style of cooking as my opinion has changed greatly. Oh, how I love German food.