My new friend

My mother-in-law surprised me a week ago with a present.  She first told me it was 'groß und rot'/red and big.  Well, I did not expect it to be this big. (insert punchline here)  But seriously this is the best bike I have ever had in my life.  I am very thankful for this present and cannot wait for a day-long tour somewhere in Bavaria :)

The best bike EVER!

So here are some facts about my new ride
make–Fahrradmanufaktur
model–T-300 Deore SLX, 27 gears
breaks–hydraulic, OMG, I did not even know such thing exists for bikes.  I am basically riding a Ferrari!
lights–are powered by my legs!
This is a trekking bike, which I can take on long rides/tours with all the gear I would need to camp out in the middle of France for example :)

German engineering at its best!

On the first day I got to ride my bike, we decided to go to a neighboring village, Puch, it is only 3mi away from the house.  This village has a a church with very interesting history.  Here is the link if you are interested to learn about it.  
St. Edigna
The short version–St. Edigna is a Ukrainian/Bavarian saint.  She was a daughter of a French Queen Anna Yaroslavna and a granddaughter of Kiyvan Prince Yaroslav the Wise.  In 1074 she ran away, hid her royal status and lived inside a tree helping poor, sick, disadvantaged, taught children to read and write, basically did all the saintly works.  The Ukrainian Catholic Church is well connected to this Bavarian church and apparently they like to hang out together.

That is the linden tree where Edigna allegedly lived most of her life.  I think I would like living in a linden tree, the flowers smell amazing and you can make tea from them.  

Inside the church.  Behind those flowers and candles there were Edigna's alleged bones, a bit creepy because you could see the scull and all the other stuff.

The icon on the left has writing in German and Ukrainian!
Sorry for the blurry pictures, sloppy work on my part.

This poster was in the church's entrance, a little Ukrainian boy in traditional 'vishivanka'.
The caption reads 'East and West are responsible for eachother'

Barley fields on the way home.

I have a new house pet that can eat flies very very very slowly.  I fed him three flies about 2.5 weeks ago and he still digesting them.  I think this is pretty much the coolest plant I have ever owned, lets just hope I don't kill him.

Say hello to my little friend!
If you look closely the left crocodile is eating a fly.