On Tuesday (5 Jan), we started out the morning by finishing up the attic clean-out that I described in my last post.  We made quick work out of the rest of the attic work and got cleaned up so we could keep our commitment to meet Stilla’s brother Ludwig and his wife Christa for lunch in Hilpoltstein.

We borrowed WIlliam’s car to meet Ludwig & Christa at their motorcycle dealership, Rothsee-Choppers.  Then we followed them to a super-nice Greek restaurant in Hilpoltstein; Restaurant Delphi.

Another great greek meal.  They just don’t have comparable restaurants in the states, at least none that we’ve found out about yet.

You may recall Ludwig from one of my previous posts (HERE).  We had a great meal and great conversation, hopefully we talked Ludwig & Christa into taking a trip to the states soon for a visit… we’ve tried to get them to visit for years 🙂  Thanks for the great lunch Ludwig & Christa!

On the way back home to Sindersdorf, we had some free time, so we stopped in the village of Mindorf to visit Stilla’s Uncle Michael.  He passed away last year and we were unable to make it back here for the funeral.

The Kirche (church) in Mindorf was built in 1400.

Uncle Michael visited us in Colorado Springs back in the late ’90s.  I think it was the first time he traveled anywhere.  Rest in Peace Onkel Michael.

On the way back to Sindersdorf, we decided to stop by the RV dealership that I mentioned in an earlier post.  This dealership just opened here in 2014 on the Autobahn 9 exit to Sindersdorf / Hilpoltstein.

I thought it would be neat to check out some of the German RV’s and accessories but it turns out that this dealership only has used motorhomes, no accessories in the building, and all the rigs were locked up.

Here’s their website: www.wohnmobilparadies.com.

We were able to wander around the lot.  Here’s a few pictures of what used motorhomes look like in Germany for my RV friends:

Most of the rigs are what we’d call Class C or B in the states.  As I’m sure you can imagine, the RVs here have to be small in order to maneuver on most of the European roads.  Although, it never ceases to amaze me how the big passenger buses get around.

It would sure be great to have the Urban Escape Vehicle over here, but I’m afraid we’d probably get stuck trying to get around the first traffic circle we’d come to.  And you can forget trying to pull a ‘towed vehicle’ here, the polizei would probably pull you over in the first couple kilometers 🙂  I get a lot of questions from our German friends here about how we tow the Silverado… it’s completely foreign and unknown to them.

A box truck conversion.

Here’s an ‘almost’ Class A from Hymer® with a golden gate bridge motif.

Now, here’s an unusual one (below).  I think the car is an Opel Kadett.  I couldn’t tell if the camper was permanently attached or not.  I wonder how they got this one through the stringent German annual vehicle inspections (TÜV).

I had to wonder if this one was a 4X4, if so, that would be pretty neat.

Here’s a decent sized Class C.  It even has a double axle.  Do we have those in the states?

There was even a Winnebago Brave® hiding in the back.  I wonder if someone imported this from the states because as far as I can tell, there’s no market for new U.S. model sales here.

There was one relatively new model Class C on the lot (below).  It had a SOLD sign on it.  It looked pretty nice.

An older Mercedes Sprinter® model conversion.

This one just looks odd to me… it’s hard to see in the picture but the steering wheel was about 4-5 feet back from the windshield.

Mini Class A’s ?

Hope you enjoyed the tour… I wish we could have checked out a couple of them a little closer, but as I mentioned before, they were all locked up.

In the evening, we were invited to attend the annual Volunteer Fire Department (Freiwillige Feuerwehr) party which was held at Stilla’s uncle’s Gasthaus.  You may recall that this is the Gasthaus where we also had Opa’s big birthday party.  Sindersdorfer Hof.

Once again… good food and good times…

A lot of the usual crowd were in attendance; William, Rita, Xaver, Werner, Wolfgang, etc.,

The former Captain for the Volunteer Fire Department (FFW) got the evening started by saying a few words and telling a few jokes.

Everyone bought tickets for the evening’s raffle.  Each ticket cost 50 Euro cents.  Stilla and Wolfgang bought 20 tickets each.  William, and I each bought ten tickets.

William did it the smart way and wrote down our numbers for easy reference when the numbers are called.

The prizes were stacked on the tables at the end of the room.  All the prizes were donated by local businesses.

The children showed off their musical skills and played some tunes for us.

After everyone had eaten their meals and listened to the children’s musical composition(s), numbers were called for the raffle.

As raffle numbers were pulled and called off by the ‘Activities Director’, the children would run a random prize over to each winner as they yelled out or raised a hand.

Stilla and I each won about four prizes.  William didn’t win anything until the very end.  Stay tuned to find out what he won…

Wolfgang won a baseball cap and wall clock.  Yoo Hoo 🙂

The raffle went on for quite a while until all the prizes were handed out.

Someone even won a house plant.

I didn’t win this cap (below) but it was given to me by our neighbor and friend.  Thanks Claudia!

Nice cap… but if I need to wear this, I’m probably too far north in the Urban Escape Vehicle.

We packed all our winnings into the gym bag that we won.  Actually, everything will be left here for William anyway… maybe I’ll keep the gloves for the times we hook up the Silverado behind the Coach.

And the last ticket called for the night William’s.  He hadn’t won a thing all night until the last number was called.  The big prize for the evening was the town’s May Pole (Maibaum)!  He got a symbolic branch as his gift until he picks up the May Pole.

For those of you that don’t know about a May Pole (Maibaum) here’s a link for more information.  Basically, it’s a german tradition (for the 1st of May celebration) for the townsfolk to go out and cut down a long straight tree.  It’s transported back to town with much fanfare and liquid refreshment.  The pole is trimmed, and decorated with rings of branches and design are often cut into the bark.  Then the town has a May Pole ‘putting up’ party where the pole is lifted into the air and then another big party is held (usually all night long) in order to guard the tree.  Another tradition is for people from one town to try to cut down another’s pole if it is left unguarded.  I was lucky enough to be able to attend many of these events when I was here over the years’ past.

Here’s some pictures (below) that I borrowed from William of the Maibaum being put up on the 1st of May 2015.  He was here to help put it up.

Basically, the May Pole is only good for firewood now.  It’s already been taken down and cut into logs.  So really, what William won was a bunch of firewood.  It’s probably worth about a hundred Euros ($100) in just firewood.

After the raffle event was finished, Stilla went from table to table visiting with old friends and neighbors… we only have a few more days before we head back home.

And that’s all for now folks.  Stay tuned…