Day 7: Wolfpark, Merzig City Center and Ice Cream!!

ONE WEEK IN!! And, really, besides the little moments where I had issues with the biking, no major catastrophes (thank GOD!!). So, here are the Merzig-er wolves. I guess in this area, there were wolves a long time ago, but because it is now rural farmland, they cannot roam free. The people of Merzig have set up a very nice preserve for them where they are allowed to live their lives still, without being disturbed by humans. We got a couple of glimpses of them. These were, by far, the closest up to the fence line. I think they were eyeing the little human babies that were out walking with their parents this afternoon...if I were a wolf, I know that that is what I would be doing...

The vegetables in Kaufland (kinda a mix between HEB and Wal-Mart) are not very good, though they are also locally grown. THIS however, is the small shop in the city center that sells veggies that the local Merzig farmers grow. Can I just tell you that, while the shop is small, they have an amazing assortment of fresh, large, organic vegetable at very low prices.

This is what Connie and I bought; tomatoes. They are so red, they almost look purple, AND they are perfect. No soft spots, or blemishes of any kind and they came from somebody's back yard. So, our bread is made fresh daily at the bakery and our vegetables come from the local's backyard. For those of you that know I am a foodie, you can understand how exciting this is. Also, the eggs that you can buy just at the supermarket are traceable. As in, each egg has a number and a letter code. From this code, you can see where the egg came from, how it was raised and which chicken laid it. Pretty cool. This is totally the Germany that I wanted. We ride our bikes now to the vegetable stand and to the bakery to get our supplies. WONDERFUL. I am going to miss this at home when I have to start eating wonderbread again.  

Okay, so this is called "Spaghetti Eis" or spaghetti ice cream. They take the ice cream flavor of your choice (in this case hazelnut was the preference for the afternoon), put it into a noodle-maker so that it comes out in strands, add strawberry sauce on top and use white chocolate to make "Parmesan" flakes. Its delicious, and a lot of fun to eat. The ice cream is delicious... made with very, very rich cream and intense, natural flavors. So, this we enjoyed after our walk through the wolf park. 

It was a lovely afternoon of basically just bumming. Bumming here, though, seems like so much more fun than at home...I suppose because everything is new and exciting!!