Preetz

Sunday it was warm again with not a cloud in the sky so I biked up the road to Preetz. It's funny, I have been down to Eutin several times but never to Preetz. When I got close to town I stopped at a park and got out my map to get oriented. I chatted with an older couple that walked by about where I was on the map and what the name of the park was (all in German!). They seemed to really appreciate me making an effort not to use English. I went to the altstadt but almost everything was closed. evidently Preetz doesn't have permission to open on Sunday during tourist season like Ploen does. There were a few bakeries open so I stopped and got a kaese brot and a cappuchino and sat outside to watch the people walking by. There was a fountain there with some ducks lounging on it and a female duck waddeled over and stared at me intently for some bread. I tossed her some crumbs then a house sparrow, crow and sea gull all glided in on cue and watched me for more. It got hotter on the way back and I drank most of my half liter of water. Almost in Ploen I diverted toward the lake and jumped in. The water was unusually warm and I didn't want to get back out. By the way, it has finally cooled off some and clouds have come in the last 24 hours (Tue-Wed) but for several weeks now it has been very sunny and warm with almost no rain ... and people told me this was the rainiest part of Europe. So far it seems more like southern California! Lack of water stress is evident on the plants in the yards and fields, even in the forest under the trees plants are wilting, but the locals don't seem to be worried. Germans seem to love the sun. Growing up in the south I am used to avoiding the sun. In the summer we seek out the shade to rest in naturally, but here people do the opposite. They sit in sun wherever possible and seem oblivious to their pink sunburns, probably because they are so ubiquitous no one stands out unless you are not sunburned.