Castles, Cousins & Chickpea Tofu

We woke up in Quedlinburg after another delightful and restful recharge by the river. Before hitting the road, we finished off a few lingering reset tasks: folding laundry, reorganizing the Blue Gnu, and making a batch of tofu. We make our own on the road from chickpea flour, and it has become one of our favourite on the trip (reminscent of menemen in Turkey). It's delicious and makes an excellent stand-in for scrambled eggs.

Our next stop was less than five minutes away: the local grocery store. A restock was definitely in order, and to our great excitement we found our favourite Swedish potato chips. Naturally, we bought three bags.

Priorities.

From there we had a long drive ahead of us toward Dresden. Since we were running behind schedule, our visit consisted mostly of a drive-through sightseeing tour and a few photos snapped from the car. I did spot several things I couldn't photograph in time, including some excellent bunny graffiti.

Speaking of which, Muffy, have you noticed that almost every post includes a bunny photo?

We seem to have developed a habit of collecting photos that remind us of people. If you start seeing random bunny pictures, scary doll heads, or the occasional saucy saxophone shot, there is probably someone specific being thought of. I've also recently discovered fellow lion enthusiasts and manhole-cover lovers, which has expanded the list considerably.

Eventually we arrived in Děčín to visit my lovely cousins Jindra and Sonja.

They were wonderful hosts from the moment we arrived, greeting us with a tasty treat before Sonja whisked us away to the castle for a concert by a local amateur symphony orchestra performing music from My Fair Lady.

After the concert she took us on a walking tour of the city, out for a delicious dinner, and then up to the castle known as "Heaven," perched high on the cliffs above town. The views were spectacular.

That night we parked in the perfect spot behind their apartment. Although our cousins very kindly wanted us to stay inside, we couldn't resist the cozy familiarity of the Blue Gnu and enjoyed what will likely be our last cool night's sleep for quite some time.

The next morning we woke up to summer.

The forecast suddenly shifted from cool and comfortable to properly hot, so we packed away our warm gear into deep storage—or at least as deep as storage gets in a tiny hatchback.

We had to move the car fairly early and then headed upstairs for a delicious breakfast prepared for Cotty.

After breakfast we set off in two cars to visit the family home built in 1877 in Verneřice, where my grandparents once lived. The building was formerly a guesthouse and pub and is now maintained as a summer home and family museum. It was incredibly special to see it and hear more stories about the family's history there, as well as some memories of the times spent there with my Mum.

Next came a private tour of the beautifully restored church that Sonja had arranged for us. We even got to climb up into the bell tower, which was probably the highlight of the visit. Afterwards we crossed the street to explore the town archives.

In one of those wonderful modern-meets-historical moments, my brother Noel even joined part of the tour via video call from Rockhampton, Australia.

By this point I was becoming decidedly hangry, so we returned to the family house for lunch and our goodbyes.

It was a short visit, but a memorable one. We left with wonderful memories, a deeper connection to family history, and enough treats from our cousins that the Blue Gnu is already benefiting from their generosity.

Feeling a little tired after all the excitement, we found a truck stop for the evening and settled in for some work, cooking, heat management, and general hanging out.

Not every memorable day ends with a castle.

Sometimes it ends with a truck stop and a full heart.