Hipoltstein

We are finally here in Hipoltstein, Germany. After a 7 and a half hour flight to London, one missed connection, a short flight to Frankfurt, a train ride to Nurneburg, our homestay Hans picked us up and drove us the 50 kilometers to Hipolstein, just outside of Roth. Hans, his wife and 2 kids took us for a walk around the town and out for dinner. In less than an hour we saw a beautiful lake, great 50m outdoor pool, hiked up and went into a castle built during the 9th century, into a gorgeoous church and then we had a great dinner. We crashed out around 10 and I was hoping to be up at 7 and hit the pool early.
Well, I rolled out of bed at 9 45. I had some muesli, bread, a small piece of apple streussel and walked the 10 minutes to the pool with Court. The pool was outdoors, 50m and had a metal bottom. Pretty cool.
Then Christine (sorry if that is misspelled) took us out to 3 markets to get some food. It was quite an experience trying to figure out what things were. Cottage cheese and peanut butter were hard to find, but wurst, cheese and yogurt were everywhere. Without her help we would have wound up buying all the wrong things.
I have never really experienced not being able to understand a conversation that someone is having. I feel frustrated and need to really learn my Deutsch better. I don't want to have to com>municate with hand gestures and pointing at things on the menu. Nor do I want them to speak English, it is my responsibility to learn their language. So I am working on it whenever I can. I have learned to say my race number, bicycle, tire and a few other words that you normally dont need. I do know how to count, how to say some basic phrases and some fun words as well.
I also got out on the bike(farrad in German) for a short spin and hit the roads for a short run as well. All in all I feel better than I thought I would. The legs feel recovered from the race, and they aren't too stiff from the travel. Fortunately the house is right on the bike course and only 500m from the swim start and portions of the run. I couldn't ask for more, even the bike shop is 200m away!
That's everything from Hipoltstein. I will try to update more, but my internet access is limited so be patient. And if there is a z where there should be a y, it's the keyboard.

Danke,
AJ