Back to the Homeland of my fav Chocs!

During the lull of the last three weeks we moved on south to the outskirts of Stuttgart. The region is called Swabenia or Schwaben. A tiny town in the middle of nowhere really, but we couldn’t resist the house that invited us to an exchange on this website. Bright, spacious, modern and very-well maintained this house. No fleas here and super tidy in contrast to what we found in Amsterdam. They even left room for our stuff in closets and fridge.

It has three floors with stunning views plus a handy basement. This involves a lot of stair climbing. Good for the old thighs, I know, but lazy monkey that I am, I started to be grateful for my own house all on but one floor. Not to have to climb several stairs down and up again to do the wash or just to get ice cubes for your drink! 

Back to the land of Rumkugeln (see chocolate pic below !!!!) and white asparagus, however!

The local delicacy is called Maultasche, a giant ravioli ofetn swimming in a clear broth. This is defintely the only soup I was ver served with a knfe and fork! History tells us they were invented to avoid the ban on meat during lent and on Fridays. The meat is hidden in a huge ravioli...and then the clergy didn't see it...Right

I couldn’t post because I was out of circulation for about two weeks, surgery and all. Hope you haven’t forgotten my site nor lost interest in our home swapping story.

News on the flea front: The Dutch houseboat owners replied to our complaint. It’s official now.

I didn’t find their response satisfactory claiming ignorance about the situation. People as a rule don’t have three different flea sprays in the house unless they have had a flea problem before. Allegedly, they had several sleepless nights over this matter. They should have tried ours…or swapped with us!

The fumigation company claimed there was a big flea outbreak in Amsterdam due to the heat wave.  Right- our research showed that leas live and feed on dogs and cats.

However, as my really tolerant hubby said this is a long time ago now and forgotten. Off to better pastures! The Dutch removed their so-called pet-free status and are on a one strike and you’re out notice. We got 2 years free membership out of it. That’s the value of $250! Plus the money refunded for the various flea sprays we bought.