Don’t get me wrong, I’m not thrilled at having to search for a new home.  I do love touring new neighborhoods and houses! Yesterday Dave & I spent the morning driving through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) right behind our current house.  We live on the edge, literally on the edge, and in five minutes it was a whole new world.  A world made even more beautiful with the fall colors shining through.  We are only at about 20-25% color and it was already breathtaking.

I especially fell in love with Calw and the Nagold river running through it, the old German “Fachwerk” houses perched picture-perfect on the edge.  It was a perfect sunny day yesterday, and it just felt, and looked, magical.  Two of our potential new homes are right on the outskirts of Calw.  I’ve got fingers and toes crossed that one turns out to be the perfect fit for our family.

Of course we stopped to get a cup of coffee and something to eat.  We like to try new things and this time Dave tried the fleischkäsebrötchen (bologna-meatloaf? nothing to do with cheese) and I tried the birnen schokokuchen (pear chocolate cake).  As always, we loved it!  And again thanked our lucky stars we have three more years to explore Germany.  We’ve learned to order große tasse kaffee (big cups of coffee).  We no longer get those teeny, tiny cups that shocked me in our first months.  I am, however, surprised it always comes with a shot of water.  I’m still not sure if it’s to dilute my coffee, or because they are worried for my kidney health with all that caffeine?