Our three train journey to Naumburg (also in East Germany, went without a hitch. Dorte Maria, our next host, was waiting at the station to take us back to her guest house located just outside the city of Naumburg. As we arrived there was a blackboard with "welcome Chris and Jo", written on it which was quite sweet!

This week my morning job is to help in the guest house and, whilst the weather remains good, Chris is back to using the scythe to cut a meadow as well as clearing a hillside terrace of weeds and ivy. The Germans love their scythes!

The guest house is in a beautiful location at the bottom of a hillside vinyard, known locally as the Steinmeister hills. There are vines hanging everywhere dripping in black and white grapes that produce the local Steinmeister wine. The river Saale runs close by and there are cycle routes all round into the city of Naumburg and around its countryside. On Tuesday, after work, we cycled along the riverbank to Naumberg. The area around Naumburg is completely flat so biking is very easy, also it is quite a small city so it is easy to navigate. The outskirts merge into the countryside and as you cycle toward it, all you can see is the cathedral spires and the church rising above the landscape. Although it is still hot there are signs of autumn, the fields have great bales of hay and straw ready to be collected and the sweet corn has been harvested and the fields ploughed. Today is the first day of the white grape harvest. The leaves are starting to change colour and are beginning to drop, it is noticeable that the days are becoming shorter.

We visited a local Monastry about a mile up the road that has been turned into a school and still produces wine with their own label. It was a very peaceful and cool place to wander round, especially after a hot cycle ride - of course we had to sample the wine they so conveniently provided in the shop on the way out!

A fellow resident took us on a tour of Naumburg and around Naumburg cathedral. The cathedral is renowned for its carvings by an unkown sculptor who they call the Naumburg Master; He was the first sculptor to put expressions on his figures which makes the statues very life-like to look at.