After the trip with Paul and Betty Ann

Once we got back from our trip, we still had a couple of days in Jena before Paul and Betty Ann had to head back to Canada. Luckily, the weather was finally a bit nicer, and we made use of one crisp sunny day to head out for a big walk.
We crossed over the footbridge near our house...
...and had a nice look at the river Saale.
...and a look at the circus vehicles, which were set up along the shore.
Paul was amazed by the ducks which were so tame and used to people (and not used to getting shot at).
From there we headed through Jena Ost (East Jena), following the trail signs for those heading to the Fuchsturm (the fox tower).
These soon led us onto forest paths, which brought us up, up, up, to the top of one of the hills surrounding Jena.
At last, we could see our destination, the Fuchsturm, ahead of us.
At that point Béla was hungry, so I fed him in the courtyard below, enjoying the sun, while the others climbed the tower to enjoy the view. Here's the view from the tower onto the courtyard where you can see my legs as I'm sitting beneath the tree.
The view from the tower:
Look how high we climbed!
Paul at the top of the tower...
There's also a nice little restaurant next to the tower, which serves traditional fare, and we stopped in there for some lunch.
And of course, a beer or two.
Everyone enjoyed the food, especially after all that hiking.
After eating our lunch, Béla was ready for his photo shoot. He was wearing a sleeper that was part of a present from Jeremi's colleagues, and we wanted to get a good picture of him in it to send in a thank-you email.
We wanted the picture to show the tower as well, as it's a well-known landmark in Jena. We took several pictures to be sure that he looked good in one of them, but he looked so cute in all of them, that I thought I'd include them all here for your viewing pleasure!






Then we headed back into town, and had a nice supper of Greek salad and spanakopita (not shown here). The next day was my 30th birthday, and we celebrated by dressing Béla in his giraffe sleeper for the last time (as it no longer fits).
I was also greeted by flowers and a candle at breakfast.
Aren't they lovely flowers? They still look pretty good, actually. That day we headed out shopping, buying things for supper that night and souvenirs for Paul and Betty Ann to bring home. That afternoon they all worked together to cook up a multi-course Middle Eastern extravaganza for supper, including lamb-topped flatbreads, a cucumber-mint-pomegranate salad...

... a chick pea dish topped with garlicky yogurt...

...a big bowl of tabouleh, my favourite salad of all time...

...and roasted chicken stuffed with a variety of dried fruits. It was all delicious, and made for wonderful leftovers as we relaxed on the couch the next day!

And then we all went to bed pretty early, as Paul and Betty Ann's train left from Weimar shortly before 5:00 the next morning. Because there aren't any regional trains running from Jena to Weimar that early, we borrowed our friend Valentina's car and Jeremi drove them there at 4:00 the next morning. It was sad to see them go, but I'm so glad that they were able to visit us, see where we live, explore Europe a bit, and meet their grandson!