july 9th

after yesterday's hike, the group was more than happy to make today a relaxing day. so we did. we woke up late -- some got breakfast, some didn't. the weather was beautiful, so we all made our way to the courts for a good hour of tennis and reading (the author will let you decided who did what). benjamin and bruce then led the group to the inn river, the border of austria, to make sure they'd seen everything flintsbach had to offer before they leave. from there, we split up -- the women went back to get bathing suits and floats, the men went to penny markt to grab lunch items. we all met at the hawaiisee for the most relaxing afternoon of our trip, sipping beer on floats, full from meets and cheeses and breads, sun beating down on our stomachs. it could not have been a nicer ending to a wonderful visit from the family.

after we were all pretty burnt and ready to get out of the sun, we made our way back to the room. carissa showered while the rest of us went to falkensteiner for a stein of beer before dinner. carissa met us there, then together we walked for the last time to brannenburg to get pizza and wine at our favorite italian restaurant, barolo. the owner chatted our ears off in german and kept wanting to talk with momar in italian (every time he'd say something to her in italian, she'd look at bruce as if he somehow could help...). after salads and pizzas, the group walked slowly back to flintsbach, stopping again at falkensteiners for one last round before tomorrow's departure. this time, bruce and carissa drank schnapps and benjamin and brent drank steins of beer (the author is sure bonnie drank something. bug juice, maybe? yoo-hoo?). we all stayed there til late, way too loud and laughing way more than a good german would. it was our last night; benjamin and bruce can go back to their german disguises tomorrow.