Family Time

Your trip report is a bit late because your intrepid reporter was sleepy after our marathon 4 hour dinner last night. More about that later! As you recall from our last installment, we were expecting the storm of the century near Hamburg, so needed to get an early start to hopefully get there before it hit. So, after one more bowl of quark (kind of like a combo cheese/yogurt) Renate was ready and we hit the autobahn. Yes, it's fun driving over 100mph. And actually it's more satisfying doing it in a car with the speedometer in kilometers because it feels even faster to hit numbers like 160 and 170. But you can't drive like that forever, you have to slow down with each town, and highway interchange so it's not like you can cover the distance in lightening speed. We had good weather with some increasing winds as we got closer to Hamburg, but not bad. It was almost 4 hours and as we got close, we checked in with Jen and Al who were already here and they suggested we meet them in Luneburg along with the rest of the family. Of course we were missing texts from each other, and couldn't actually reach Al (we did get his replies an hour later) So hilarity ensued, GPS was recalculated and we found them. 

OK so this "family" thing is complicated. I'd draw a diagram but I don't have visio on my iPad. Renate has one remaining blood related cousin, Hans. He lives near Hamburg and will be 89 next year. There is a family here that he is very close to. He is godfather to one of their daughters and vacations with the family all of the time, and basically he's part of the family. When his goddaughter Marie was in high school and wanted to come to the US to study, he reached out to Renate to ask how it was done. Al and Jen decided they would like to host her, so she came and lived with them a couple of years ago for a year. Now, they are second mom and dad to her. So the families are intertwined even more. This part of our trip is for Renate and Hans to see one another, and we have come to stay with Marie's parents, Marion and Frank. Al and Jen came too from Prague, and picked up Marie on the way as she's living and working in Berlin right now. So we had a short visit with her before she had to go back on the train this am.

Yesterday we didn't do much Christmas marketing as the markets were all advised to close in the afternoon to prepare for the storms. We did stop for coffee and to warm up before heading home for a bit. We enjoyed the German afternoon tradition of caffe and kuchen (coffee and cake) as we all sat around the table talking and laughing in German and English, or in what I like to think of as deutshlish. 

For dinner last night Hans had planned a very special night for us in a local restaurant. We had a private room, and I would guess it was originally the parlour of a very old home, which was lit with candles and set for all 11 of us (including Laura, Marie's sister, her boyfriend Benny and their baby Max who, truth be told, really just slept in his pram in the corner the whole time). There were no menus, just the chef's specialties coming out for hours. There was truffle flatbread, and different tartare dishes, homemade ravioli with braised beef, fish and veal, and bottomless wine, including a delicious prosecco they are making themselves. All the while the storm started outside where we could see the trees bending with the wind, and the snow blowing sideways. Fortunately when we left 4 hours later the snow and wind had slowed for a safe drive home. 

This morning the snow is falling pretty heavily as I finish writing my daily missive with Berger the giant, gorgeous Bernese Mountain dog for company. This would have been faster to write if I hadn't regularly felt an insistent paw on my arm begging for some more attention. Luckily mama just came downstairs and now there is oodles of drama as she gets ready for her morning walk. Today we are hoping the markets are open as it's Jen and Al's last day in Germany and she still has an item or two that she wants to pick up. Wish us luck!

Linda