casa buskies

our first 3 days were spent at Casa Buskies
Hamburg
Gunther and Andrea’s house
before we officially started the tour
Gunther has such a sweet family
Andrea works in PR and studied in San Angelo Texas
the kids
Helena (6) and Jan Merten (4) are adorable
Gavin couldn’t pronounce Jan Merten
calling him “boy” then “young man” and finally settling on “young mattin”
in a kind of New Jersey accent
the first day the kids played in the backyard
jumping on the trampoline and playing soccer
Jan Merten is a 4 year old soccer prodigy
he is freakishly good
a right hook that could take your head off
i even witnessed a fearless header or two

Gunther took us to the harbor in an attempt to keep us occupied and awake
it was Gavin’s very first train ride
he was giddy
at the harbor we toured an old sailing ship built in the 1860’s
anchored but it still had enough movement to keep me clinging to the railing
then we walked a mile or so under the harbor in a long tunnel
because Gavin LOVES tunnels
the boys played tag and laughed and screamed the entire time
the rollicking continued on the train ride home
they were like two drunken soccer hooligans
it was funny to see two kids who couldn’t understand a word of each other’s languages
somehow communicating with each other
they were inseparable
pushing and pulling on each other
giggling all the time
and i’m sure only slightly annoying to the other stoic train passengers

we returned to the house with only 5 hours left to stay awake
i nodded off in the middle of a few conversations
about health care
guns in texas
music
but managed to make it to 10:30
because our conversations were that stimulating
then i went to bed for 11 hours

Day 2:
our good friend and tapete records booking agent superstar
basti (Sebastian) tim came over to casa buskies
to spend the day with us
basti has a mound of tall curly locks
which earned him the “breezy haired” moniker
from G on euro tour #1
he is a happy go lucky
lovable fellow
with a great smile and instantly charming demeanor
basti could be a superstar in texas
you all would love him
our first stop was a local “biological” farm
we spent an hour picking apples
in a serene orchard
Gunther instigated a contest to see who could pick the highest apples
as those are supposed to be the sweetest
Gavin tried his best by sitting on the shoulders of Basti
then Jayme and finally
myself to try and top team Buskies
but i think Helena might have won in the end
with some sort of stunt gymnastics move
we weighed and paid for our several kilos of apples at the farmhouse
then went to a café upstairs that had a large balcony
overlooking miles of green rolling hills and farms
yep, farms in the middle of Germany’s second largest city
the view was incredible
the sun was shining
65 degrees
it was idyllic
we ate fresh apple cake and drank apple juice and coffee
such a relaxing and beautiful experience
the kids went down to feed the rabbits for a while and then went “exploring” through some dense bushes
actually, Jan went running through the bushes and Gavin followed
he had no idea what was going on because the narrative was all in German
somehow Jan managed to get stabbed by thorns while Gavin remained “thorn-free”.
i believe Gavin has inherited his father’s “avoid danger” motto

after the apple farm we went to a beach along the Elbe
we all sat at a restaurant eating pizza and watching huge cargo ships pass
the water was too cold for swimming but that didn’t keep loads of German children from stripping naked and playing in the sand
little white German butts everywhere
on our way back to the car from the beach we had to hike up a tall green hill which was perfect for rolling down
Gunther’s kids went first
Gavin watched several times before developing his own technique and giving it a try
his technique involved holding the sides of his head with his hands and then trying to push off sideways with his feet
it was hilarious
he would get a yard or two and then would somehow end up rolling along the hill instead of down
the kids then started running from the top of the hill
squealing like girls all the way down
it was a beautiful moment