Xanten and great news

We have now been back in good old Germany for a few days!

What can I report? First, I should point out that I still expect other people to greet me with "Bonjour!" or "Good morning", but that usually doesn't happen!

It's still strange, the street signs are all familiar and yet so strange, especially because they are so BIG! In Great Britain, it seems that the penny pinchers have been put into action.....

Then today we were in the older part near Xanten, the Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. This was initially a legionary city of the Batavians, called Vetera Castra, who had served as intrepid and brave mercenaries in the Roman army, but after the death of Emperor Nero they no longer wanted to submit themselves. After an uprising in 70 AD, the settlement was re-founded and soon received city status from Emperor Trajan, who then gave it its name. When you walk through here, everything is a little smaller and more tranquil than in Pompeii or Paestum, BUT you should not forget that these cities have a different climate and access to the sea. The equivalent here is access to the Rhine, and then there is the proximity of the uncivilized Germanic tribes; the settlement with the stationing of the legion was a statement.

The settlement has been partially rebuilt, as large parts of the bricks were used for the Xanten Cathedral, for example, which we want to see tomorrow. Only the remains of the walls of the old settlement remain, most of which are under a layer of earth. The exhibition, especially of the thermal baths, is gigantic! Someone has really put a lot of thought into the museum's educational aspect, as the hall above the remains gives an approximate size that I otherwise only know from the Caracalla Baths in Rome! We found it fascinating, even though we have also followed in the footsteps of the Romans in Great Britain, France, Spain and Morocco.

If I were a teacher in the area, I would come here with a history class straight away!

We drove yesterday too, but in an easterly direction to Dortmund. The reason was relatively simple, there was an offer for a caravan (actually 3 offers for different variants) that we wanted to look at on site. Christian's research showed that almost all other caravans are already 2.30 m, but that would be just a little too much for Scandinavia and Great Britain, so we had to look around. Christian then told me about a few that I looked at online. When researching the models, I noticed that the kitchen layout of an Eriba was really spacious. I then configured it with the kitchen and Christian found two suitable offers in Dortmund.

We had a look around, tried out all three versions, looked at storage compartments, kitchen, bathroom, etc., and then it became clear pretty quickly that we wanted to do that.

The deciding factor for me was the Lokuste, because the guy immediately jumped into the exhibition caravan and stared at the kitchen with great hope, just like in Palumbi. So we have now agreed and the Eriba will be picked up at the end of August. I am considering whether Loki should come along, because he wanted the caravan just as much as we did!

I am relieved because the offer is priced at a price that Christian can still install and upgrade a few things; everything is possible without us having to come close to the price planned above. AND: The caravan is already here, it doesn't have to be produced first!

If someone asks me why the 2.15 is better for us, even though everything is narrower, I would recommend using the satnav to avoid a construction site in the Netherlands or Belgium, because we ended up on a cobblestone road by the canal, and on second glance the tunnel was high enough, BUT with the 2.15 I would have had to consider whether both tires were dragging on the right and left. With Palumbi it worked without any problems, but now I have to adapt. I NEED THE UNBELIEVED MIRRORS NOW!

I am looking forward to new adventures, because we can now finish this one in peace with our brave Palumbi!