Wanderung
Since you last heard from us (me), we've just been trying to get into the groove of studying, with varying degrees of success... but now things are starting to wind up again...
A couple of weeks ago, we went to Goettingen, the home (for some part of their lives) of Gaust, the Brothers Grimm, Siobhan and Claudi's friends Bifi and Janine. Claudi drove us there in her little Zwerg... the Autobahns are scary when you've got huge freight trucks to contend with, and you see accidents every 50km or so, but we got to Goettingen in one piece, only getting lost in Goettingen itself about 5 times.
Goettingen is small and quaint, with a beautiful town hall and university, and it was great to see Siobs again after all this time. We had dinner with some of her flatmates, where we all spoke German together (kudos to Siobs, she has improved out-of-sight)... many glasses of wine were drunk and the conversation flowed, a very enjoyable night.
We also spent a lot of time with Claudi and her friends, having Sunday lunch with Janine's family. Her mum cooked a delicious traditional German lunch, but somehow I felt like Luke and I were somehow intruding...
To this weekend though, which saw us going to Cottbus with Robin for his father's birthday. We got there on Friday night, to be heartily welcomed by Robin's parents with dinner and the gift of an advent calendar (Christmas here is taken much more seriously than at home). On Saturday Robin took us on a tour of Cottbus, a city that's been marred by war and the soviet occupation, but nonetheless has a lovely church and inner city.
In the afternoon, we went back to Robin's place, and the relatives started arriving for his dad's party. We went on a relaxing wander through the forest near his house with his aunt and his omi and opi (grandma, grandpa, mother's side), and the family's three dogs. Afterwards, we had coffee and cakes, in traditional German style, then once most of the relos had arrived, it was time for the drinking; beer, wine, whiskey and vodka flowed, creating a loud, merry evening... the gorgeous Opi entertained Luke and me with stories about his childhood, the war, and getting drunk with Russians during the GDR, while Robin's dad showed us his dance and air guitar moves to the Beatles!
On Sunday we drove to Dresden, where we met Siobs again! She took us on a tour through the city, and we went to all three of the Weihnachtsmaerkte (Christmas markets), one of which was in the courtyard of the palace, with a medieval theme... cool pottery etc. We drank plenty of Gluhwein to keep us warm (although it's not very cold here, only 8 degrees or so).
Dresden is a beautiful city, (und ich muss zugeben, Siobs) and I can understand why Siobs loves it so much. At dusk (read 4:30pm), we walked over a bridge from the Neustadt to the Altstadt, and the skyline of the 'old' beautiful churches and palaces, with two bells tolling and the black outline of birds swooping around in the sky was one of the most beautiful things I've experienced in my time here.
We parted with Siobs and Dresden and made the long trip home, tired but content after a lovely weekend. Thanks so much to Robin and his parents for making us feel so welcome and being so hospitable... even though it was his dad's birthday, his parents ended up giving us more than we gave them. vielen vielen Dank!
Next weekend Vienna, the weekend after that, Holland with my parents! You wouldn't guess that we're students...
Greetings to Constance who came and stayed with us for a few days, and to whom we got to show all the different sides of Berlin!
Bye!
A couple of weeks ago, we went to Goettingen, the home (for some part of their lives) of Gaust, the Brothers Grimm, Siobhan and Claudi's friends Bifi and Janine. Claudi drove us there in her little Zwerg... the Autobahns are scary when you've got huge freight trucks to contend with, and you see accidents every 50km or so, but we got to Goettingen in one piece, only getting lost in Goettingen itself about 5 times.
Goettingen is small and quaint, with a beautiful town hall and university, and it was great to see Siobs again after all this time. We had dinner with some of her flatmates, where we all spoke German together (kudos to Siobs, she has improved out-of-sight)... many glasses of wine were drunk and the conversation flowed, a very enjoyable night.
We also spent a lot of time with Claudi and her friends, having Sunday lunch with Janine's family. Her mum cooked a delicious traditional German lunch, but somehow I felt like Luke and I were somehow intruding...
To this weekend though, which saw us going to Cottbus with Robin for his father's birthday. We got there on Friday night, to be heartily welcomed by Robin's parents with dinner and the gift of an advent calendar (Christmas here is taken much more seriously than at home). On Saturday Robin took us on a tour of Cottbus, a city that's been marred by war and the soviet occupation, but nonetheless has a lovely church and inner city.
In the afternoon, we went back to Robin's place, and the relatives started arriving for his dad's party. We went on a relaxing wander through the forest near his house with his aunt and his omi and opi (grandma, grandpa, mother's side), and the family's three dogs. Afterwards, we had coffee and cakes, in traditional German style, then once most of the relos had arrived, it was time for the drinking; beer, wine, whiskey and vodka flowed, creating a loud, merry evening... the gorgeous Opi entertained Luke and me with stories about his childhood, the war, and getting drunk with Russians during the GDR, while Robin's dad showed us his dance and air guitar moves to the Beatles!
On Sunday we drove to Dresden, where we met Siobs again! She took us on a tour through the city, and we went to all three of the Weihnachtsmaerkte (Christmas markets), one of which was in the courtyard of the palace, with a medieval theme... cool pottery etc. We drank plenty of Gluhwein to keep us warm (although it's not very cold here, only 8 degrees or so).
Dresden is a beautiful city, (und ich muss zugeben, Siobs) and I can understand why Siobs loves it so much. At dusk (read 4:30pm), we walked over a bridge from the Neustadt to the Altstadt, and the skyline of the 'old' beautiful churches and palaces, with two bells tolling and the black outline of birds swooping around in the sky was one of the most beautiful things I've experienced in my time here.
We parted with Siobs and Dresden and made the long trip home, tired but content after a lovely weekend. Thanks so much to Robin and his parents for making us feel so welcome and being so hospitable... even though it was his dad's birthday, his parents ended up giving us more than we gave them. vielen vielen Dank!
Next weekend Vienna, the weekend after that, Holland with my parents! You wouldn't guess that we're students...
Greetings to Constance who came and stayed with us for a few days, and to whom we got to show all the different sides of Berlin!
Bye!
posted by lemanie at
1:35 AM
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