We bid a sad farewell to Salzburg this morning early enough that we weren't able to enjoy the yummy breakfast buffet complete with several yummy, creamy, stinky cheeses. Bummer. We were happy to see that the day dawned dry again as we headed to the Salzburg airport for a quick trip to Dusseldorf. Off the plane, we reunited Renate with her cousin Karin that she hasn't seen in 13 years. They cried and laughed and hugged a lot. And they totally looked like twins with similar haircuts and coats on. Karin's daughter Tina was with her, and helped us get our rental car situated and then we followed them to Tina's apartment for second breakfast. They actually called it that, and I don't think it was a Hobbit reference. I love these people.
This trip in general, and our breakfast in particular reminded me what dumkopfs Americans are when it comes to languages. The conversation swirled between German and English with Spanish thrown in for good measure. And of course I can barely follow the English part. Now, all day Renate keeps speaking to me in German and it takes her a minute to realized she's not speaking English. Even in the Christmas markets, I hear the vendors easily slipping between multiple languages.
Today was all about Renate and Karin getting to visit. So they spent a lot of time catching up, and we decided to head into town to check out the Christmas market (of course). Tina has only lived here for 3 weeks so she didn't even know how to get to downtown really. So we loaded into our rented station wagon, and set the GPS. After parking in the world's smallest parking spot (I actually had to climb into the passenger seat to get out of the car) we followed our noses to the market. It was a crisp day, but not cold, so it was great fun to explore. I finally tried the "burnt almonds" I had been smelling at so many markets. They are essentially like a sugared or toffee almond cooked in a vat and served in a paper cone. They were delish and less sweet than toffee almonds actually so quite good. This market had some goods we had never seen yet, and we bought a few items that we'll struggle to fit into our suitcases. Still no nativity scene or carousel for me... but there is still hope. But it might have to fight for space with my new metal wisemen now!
It was finally time to get on our way as it was getting dark and we needed to get on the autobahn to get to Iserlohn, Renate's home town. So after hugs and promises to meet in Munster on Thursday we loaded up and headed out. We managed to get here fairly quickly and we only experienced minor delay when our GPS seemed to think we should be driving up a pedestrian-only path to get to our hotel. We put our heads together and figured out what to do in spite of the technology and found Hotel Vierjahreszeiten in the pitch dark. Yay us! Only a minor glitch after that... they didn't have our reservation. Boo Booking.com! But they did have a room and honored what I had booked since I had a paper confirmation to show them (rub in their faces). So it's early bed for us and a big day tomorrow. Renate has a reunion scheduled with the girls she went to school with back in the day. If we're lucky, we will slip out for a bit to tour the Iserlohner brewery.
Linda
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