Germany 2009

For some reason, I've never had a desire to visit Europe. When I was a wee lass, our family lived in Scotland and England for a year. I have some vivid memories from living there. And when I graduated from college my Dad took me along with him on one of his French Open trips. Once again, I have some really cool memories of France. In 2006 I spent three weeks in SE Asia and almost 2 weeks in Brazil. The countries I visited were fascinating to me and I wouldn't hesitate a second to go back to Thailand. I consider myself very privileged to have traveled to so many places in my short life thus far. Then again, I would rather do than have and travel is at the top of the "do" list for me.

With that said, it was around this time last year when I traveled to Stuttgart Germany to spend a couple of days with LT. I find myself thinking of how surprised I was that I liked it there. The buildings were rich, the streets were tiny and the meats were mysterious. We had some memorable experiences there.

The story goes like this. In the spring my Dad purchased tickets for us to visit LT in Djibouti in December. The more we talked with LT the more it made sense that visiting Djibouti wasn't a good idea. It's not really a safe place. So, we cancelled our tickets. Travel to Djibouti isn't cheap, so that left me with a decent amount of airline money to use. (Even after my trip to Germany we had enough to use to go to Disneyworld this past March) LT found out he had a training in Germany and we decided I would meet him there for a few days so we could be together. My roommate took the lead with taking care of O and things were set.

When I arrived in Germany, I'd been up for hours and was ready for a shower and sleep. But, when I walked into the hotel room, LT was there, lying in bed. He wasn't suppose to be there. The very first thing he said to me was, "I've got the stomach flu". NOT the way to welcome me. If you know me, I mean REALLY know me, you'll understand why I wanted to get back on the plane and go home. Also, I was exhausted but I didn't want to get into bed with him because if he had the flu, there were bugs all over. I said something like "Oh crap". No "Hello", no compassion or sympathy, no "I'm sorry, I hope you feel better, what can I do?" I proceeded to interview him to get an understanding of what was going on and it turns out he just had food poisoning. SO much better.

Once he felt better, he got up and went to his conference and I slept. Then, I explored. I took the train all over to find a store and to get to know the system. I discovered where to go to the Christmas market in the town square. After his conference ended we ventured out. We arrived in the dark evening, it was cold and misting. We ate mysterious sausage meat and kraut. We wandered around the cool buildings. Outside of a beautiful cathedral, a guide who spoke some english invited us to come back in an hour because they were going to set the church "on fire". LT said "Oh really, this I've got to see". What they really did was illuminate the interior with candles. It was cool. I'm really sad I forgot my camera that night.

Another "exciting" thing that happened while we were in the town square was a protest. We were walking near the mall when we heard a lot of police sirens and a lot of chanting. Immediately I wanted to see what was going on. I dashed to the nearest column and peeked into the street. The police were creating a barricade and they were dressed in the riot gear I've seen officers wear in TV shows. I was SO excited and a bit frightened. I had NO CLUE what the hullabaloo was about because, I don't speak German. It didn't take long for LT to catch up with me and as soon as he did he whispered in my ear "We need to go". Awwwww man? He's the cautious one. Well, it DID make sense to avoid a possible civil conflict in a foreign country, but it would have been SO COOL to see. I reluctantly walked away with him. *pout*

One of our favorite days was our visit to the Medieval Christmas Market. It felt like such an adventure to ride the various trains to get there and then enter a world of knights and maidens and mysterious foods. (Have I said enough about the meats yet?)

I thought this street was pretty cool.

The Sodom and Gomorra Bathhouse

I love the dude with the 21st century camera.

Here I am with Hagar. I don't know his real name so I made up my own.

Hey, I've seen one of those before, except it was mini and had candles all around it.

At this meat was NOT a mystery.

Vlad

People in furs.

Overall, it was just nice to spend time with LT. The poor guy was exhausted and burned out and all he really needed to do was rest. I'm grateful he humored me and let me drag him around. Always a great guy. I'm so happy we get to be together for this December instead of just a few days. We are so blessed.