Rest day

Saturday, 2 July

Felt depressed after seeing photos of myself – I look so ugly.

Did little today – relaxed, read ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, listened to CDs. Played ‘Siedler’ a very addictive board game. H won – beginner’s luck!

In the evening we left to go to G’s sister’s place in Wegberg near Mönchengladbach. Unusual village – fairly new (ie postwar) and very insular. Very quiet, neat and tidy – reminded me of an old people’s residential institution and had random shops amidst the houses. Met G’s brother who also arrived. His accent was quite difficult to understand – he spoke quickly and indistinctly. I understood much of the conversation though (alles auf Deutsch). After a lovely dinner, we had a brief walk up a hill and watched the sun set. We left after dark – around 11.15pm.

(One thing I found quite annoying during our stay in Germany – I’d wanted to see northern hemisphere constellations – but it got dark so late that I never saw any!).