We had an amazing weekend in Northern Germany with Nate's relatives. We boarded our train at 8:30 PM Friday in Zurich and arrived in Bremen, Germany at 9:30 am Saturday. It was my first time on a night train. We arrived in Bremen a tad weary, but ready for adventure. Jake made it all the way from Salzburg, Austria to meet us there. Nate's cousin Nicole and her boyfriend Sven picked us up and took us back to their apartment for much needed showers and a fabulous breakfast spread.
We ate far too much and then took on Bremen: we had a tour of the old town, squeezed through the smallest street, partook of some ice cream, saw the sites, and of course, rubbed the feet of the Bremen town players while making a wish. It's tradition!
Another fine German tradition, at least for our relatives, is to eat amazing meals together. We finished the day with a traditional (the buzz word of the weekend) meal provided by Thea & Hermann in Neubruchhausen. Lots of meat, cheese, bread, salads, and yes, meat with an egg inside thanks to German cutting edge meat production practices. We went to bed early due to travel exhaustion and the rest of the family settled in to watch Europe's international version of American Idol (except it has been around since 1956): Eurovision Song Contest. I won't keep you on the edge of your seats, Germany's contender Lena won. How could she not with a song like this, plus she's pretty cute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmOeISUYXuISunday was filled with more family fun. Hermann took us on a walk through the town and we saw a town poster featuring Nate & Jake's great grandfather Fritz Bodenstab.
We did a little exploring on our own and then met up with the extended family at Nicole's parents house for a bbq. Nicole and Domenik (cousin) did double duty with translating and we had a fine time depiste the rain. But, the best part of the weekend was due to our current favorite computer program Skype. We busted out the lap top and Hermann and Thea were able to chat with John and Rose. (Despite it being earlier than 6 am west coast time, John & Rose were not only awake to chat, but they were fully prepared for church as well. Impressive!) All the family took turns saying hello and it seemed to be a great moment for Hermann & John.
In the evening, Nicole & Sven brought us back to the train station for our twelve hour journey home. We settled into our sleeper car and just as I was was ready to open my book, we got sucked into a three hour long discussion with our professional vedic astrologer sleeper car mate. He was a friendly and strange guy earnestly trying to explain to us the real meaning of life. It was interesting for a while, but sleepiness set in and I politely ended the conversation. Oh, the people you meet on a train. On the way to Bremen, Nate and I met a Columbian working in Amdseteram as a massage therapist who just had his heart broken by the love of his life. But, that is a much longer different story :) All in all, it was another awesome weekend!
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