Visitors and puzzle parties

 As usual, October has been a busy month for us.  We have had a string of impromptu visitors and another puzzle party.  

The first set of guests was a family of 7.  George and I met the husband on a train to Mainz when we were taking that cruise with Oskar and Josè.  We gave him a card and told him if he found himself in our neighborhood to stop by.  He did.  This couple had 3 children with them.  All of whom were very well behaved.  One even solved a Rubik's cube for us.  After a long tour of the property we had cakes and a drink.  A new friend has been made.  

Our next guests were friends of Bob Hearn.  He was to visit with us but sadly had a friend's mother pass away and needed to attend the funeral.  He had a friend coming by when he was here and George and I saw no reason to not have her come along even without Bob. Lisa and Zac arrived in time for lunch in the square.  Zac ordered a cappuccino which lead to a look I've never seen before.  This has turned into a joke now with the owner of the bar.  He offers me a cappuccino whenever I walk in along with that wonderful dirty look.  (Italians do NOT drink any coffee with milk after around 10 am.)

After that we did a tour of the finished part of the castle and hotel followed by the disassembly of a Berrocal.  They successfully disassembled and reassembled Romeo and Juliet (with the aid of the book).  

Success!

Zac had a pair of the meta glasses and we had to give it a try.  They might help George with translations, but I think my language is good enough now that they would only be a novelty for me.  It was a real pleasure meeting with them.  

The next group was 5 people that were renting an AB&B down the hill.  I overheard them discussing a place to have dinner and I couldn't help but send them in the direction of our wonderful local restaurants rather than the one an hour away that they found on google.  They thanked me and asked if I knew how many apartments were in the castle.  This of course was answered with a chuckle and disbelief by them when I replied that it was just my home.  I then offered them a tour and they got to see the full castle and the ground floor of the hotel.  It's best not to take the full tour if one is not really interested in puzzles.  They were more focused on the furniture and structure of the building.  The newly opened passage and the area that leads to the apartment next to the castle and the pigeon house were of particular interest to them.  

All of our guests were a pleasure to meet.  Living here is just wonderful.  Every day is a new adventure and we never know when we will be able to meet new people.  

October is also the month for the DCD.  We have been going for many years now and are not about to stop.  This time though it was a very quick in and out as we don't want to run afoul of that time limit outside of Italy for our permanent residency.  I discovered that we brought a memory foam mattress along with us that Kat used at uni and cut it to make a bed in the van.  This way George would be able to take his afternoon nap in comfort while I drove on.  We spent the first night out of home in Como as is our usual and then because George was sick, we stayed in Baden Baden for the second night.  We had actually planned to push through to Oskar's house or sleep in the van if I couldn't make it.  Sadly, we did not take the baths as I was exhausted from driving through heavy fog and rain.  

We arrived at OJ's around noon on Saturday.  We were greeted warmly as always and around 3 or so Geertz and his friend (I'm sorry, I forgot the name) came over as did Ivan from Prague.  We had pizza for dinner and lots of great conversations.  I really enjoy this time being able to talk to friends.  

Sunday was DCD in it's usual place.  We all arrived around 9 or so and while Oskar and Josè set up their table, I brought in puzzles for Dinar and George sat down to chat with Diogo.  I spent a few hours walking around looking at puzzles and talking to people.  At 1 we had the normal lunch of hotdogs, sandwiches, and soup.  

Given my recent fascination with Lego, we had to buy this one.

My favorite Twisty Puzzlers

After lunch, we attended Jack Krijnen's lecture on his new puzzle "Twinkle"  the largest move 18 piece burr (which of course I bought for George).  During the lecture he said no one had asked him for the burr tools file on it.  I dutifully did and he sent it over!  Thanks Jack, you saved George a lot of time. I then gave an update on the WPC and we were given permission to show the Puzzle Palace Movie.  For anyone interested, it is now being shown at DOCNY and you can buy tickets for $15 to view it online here.  Rob gave his annual wrap up of the IPP puzzles.  I think the Blue Bird puzzle should have been included with the Texas theme puzzles that will appear in the CFF magazine, but I'm old so....

Once DCD was over, we all headed out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.  I like the soup and the shrimp chips are amazing.  The rest of the food is good too, but I favor those.  We had a great conversation with Diogo and Louis about puzzling and life in general.  It was a fun night had by all.  Sadly, George is getting a bit long in the tooth and he was out of sorts from his recent illness so we left early.  When we arrived at Oskar's, we chatted for a bit, but then George headed up to bed.  I lasted a bit longer, but as I had a long drive ahead of me the next day I too bid goodnight to our hosts.  

The next morning we awoke early and after a nice breakfast we headed out around 9.  I had a 10 hour drive ahead of me.  

The best part of these puzzle parties is not the puzzles we purchase, or the cities we visit, it's the people.  We adore our friends and treasure every minute of time we spend with them. 

Next post: Prague!

Pelikan Workshop

 Here are a few photos from a visit to the Pelikan workshop.  Enjoy.