In Paderborn!

 Hey guys! I arrived in Paderborn Thursday evening and really like it here. Juliane and her family are SO, SO welcoming and sweet, they make me feel right at home. I am almost back to 100% healthy, although yesterday I fell down their stairs in the house and totally broke my toe! There really isn't anything you can do for broken toes, so I just ice it and take Ibuprofen. Other than that, I am doing great and it is so nice to be with Juliane, we mostly talk about Mallorca and how much we miss it! Yesterday we went into town (above pictures other than the last one, thats in Mosbach) and walked around to look at all the shops and cafes. We went to a beautiful cafe and had a lovely latte, then we went to a little restaurant and had the typical Paderborn meal; it's a big sausage covered with ketchup and a little curry powder sprinkled on top, with pommes frittes! It was very delicious. After that, Juliane took me to meet her horse, Nina who is a very interesting, moody little mare but she loves her owner so that is all that matters. I have never met a horse that when she meets a stranger, she will not let you pet her, pins her ears and squeals at the top of her lungs! But, at the facility where Nina is, there are many other horses and donkeys, one of which I fell in love with, Eddie, who is a very cute, sweet little donkey. They also have Icelanders, which are these short, stout little horses who are very sweet and I think next week we will take them out and ride! The people who own the property have two very cute dogs, one is an Australian Shepherd actually, and the other is a mix of collie and who knows what else, so since Juliane cannot ride her mare anymore due to old age, we took Nina and the dogs on a walk! We walked down a nice trail which also bordered two big lakes that the dogs loved to play in, even though it was SO cold! It has been pretty cold here, averaging about freezing, but we bundle up with lots of coats and seem to do fine. Last night we went into town and tried to go to a couple bars, most of which were full but we finally found one and had very tasty Sangria which made for a really good time. Today we are heading to Wewelsburg where there is an amazing castle to look at that was built in 1603! Afterward, Juliane wants to show me how the donkeys can pull a cart so I will definitely take pictures of that for you all to see... should be interesting!! We head to her sisters in the south of Germany on the first of March, which is when I think we are going to Switzerland! For this coming week, Juliane and I have made plans to go sightseeing, drive on the Autobahn (YAY!!!) and visit a concentration camp, Buchenwald, which is about 3 hours away. I will post next weekend with new pictures and tell you all about our new adventures! I hope everyone is doing absolutely lovely and will post soon! Tschuss! -informal goodbye in German : )