April 1st we celebrated by watching the Alice in Wonderland movie: the second movie I had seen in the theatres in France, and I missed it tons. It also happened to be my first ever 3D movie. Lunch box let down since we were so close to the front row, however, equally as amusing. The glasses rock and I was surrounded by my girls, some popcorn and a bottle of 167. Shocked? Please don’t be. Much more to be shocked by later on. So we partied after at a local bar and it was a dress up costume event. Boy you should have seen the winners that walked in: humpty dumpty, the queen of hearts and of course the mad hatter himself. Insane. It was the night Petey and I would be leaving for Germany, so we decided to party until about 2am, walk home, and be at the bus at 3am. This was NOT my idea. Our bus was unfortunately booked for 4am…am!? Why, why why would we do that to ourselves. No idea. But we did. Of course we did; its Petey and I. Duh. Right, back to the party. There seems to be a trend where men take their clothes off on stage, no not strippers, just the good ol regular French folk, and this was a night like that. Hilarious really as we joined them on stage (fully clothed thank you), laughing our heads off as the paparazzi took pictures.
Then arrives 2am…time to part. We said bye and walked our asses home to where we had our already packed bags. I for some reason sent a couple emails to profs (I’m sure my spelling was fabulous in French) and we were off. Of course you have to be there early, but why? The bus is never on time, and it was freaking freezing. So there we are, in our bar clothes, drunk, with our luggage laughing our heads off at the pictures we had taken and waiting for the bus. Thank goodness that bad boy rolled in early because I was losing the will to live in the cold. We got on that bus, luckily found 2 seats together and I was out cold. For the entire 7 hours. Fabulous right? Poor Petey was not so comfy, but she made it just the same. She woke my ass up to ask if I wanted something, and I can’t even promise I responded in a human manner. Probably a grunt or something. She bought a juice. Good girl.
We finally roll in at about 11am to Germany. Essen to be specific. Probably one of the only German words I knew at the time thanks to Andrew, and fabulously enough it meant ‘eat’. Perfect. I wouldn’t starve to death. Fantastic. Of course, we were dropped off from the bus in what appeared to be an abandoned parking lot. No building or anything, nothing was really open, and we waited. There were two old women beside us who pretty much brought a picnic to eat at the bus stop. Delicious looking, but her German flag scrunchie for her hair was the prize winner of my staring. So after about an hour, we were greeted by the family! Yay! Time to bust out my German: “Hallo! Ich heisse Zara! Jaaaaaaa”. They were impressed. You should have seen their faces. So Petey’s cousin Nunzia took us to her place and we were able to breathe a bit easier. Did I mention she is half Italian? Ohhh right...cause she made the most heavenly bolognaise spaghetti and I was in heaven. Welcome to Germany alright. Home cooking is an A++ in my books. I devoured that plate, and another I’m pretty sure. Then nap time. We were exhausted. Why? I had slept a solid 7 hours on the bus, but you know, it’s a bus.
Petey and I planned to take a nap for about an hour, get up all refreshed and then giver for the first night in Germany. We layed down around 3ish….and when my alarm went off at 7 I knew we had slept a little bit too long. Wow right. Apparently we were not only exhausted but were seeping alcohol through the pours. Lovely first impression. More drinks? Okay! We were off to a brewery of sorts with the four of us: Petey, myself, Nunzia and her boyfriend Thorsten where we had beer with berries, very cool combo. Of course we had to check out German Mcds after and finally enjoy the game of making me pronounce German things. The word of the day was: Stepbeddecke. Yeah…that’s what I thought. Say that 10 times fast. I’m a pro now though. PS – that word means blanket. It’s a good word to keep in the back pocket if you’re cold one day.
Finally it was bedtime and no shock whatsoever we were out cold. Saturday we ventured to Oma Elisabeth’s house where we had some Koenigsberger Klopse (enormous meatballs in this like sour-ish delicious sauce?). She quickly learned that I will eat everything and anything and Petey and I were to finish every last drop. Absolutely Oma. She then took out a couple bottles of champagne, and we quickly flew through those. Being around a home environment was refreshing: homemade food, lots of laughs and just the comfort of family.
And of course, like the fabulous Oma she was, gave Petey and I big Easter bags full of chocolate. I made a mental note to give that to my roommate and we were thrilled. Frohe Ostern! Happy Easter! Not only was I able to meet Oma Elisabeth but also Petey’s parents. Da da dummmm. It was fabulous though; of course there was some questions about how we managed to fall 15 feet, but I was expecting that. Her parents were just as I expected: fabulous. We were going to get along quite well. The day flew by and before I knew it, it was dinner and I was being fed Currywurst: sausages with curry, but it’s a specialty of Germany. Different but good.
We woke Sunday morning to EASTER. Yes yes yes. This was the day everyone was waiting for; especially me. You see Petey’s family is half German, half Italian = amazing freaking food. And considering we had been away from home and home cooked meals for a while, this was going to be FABULOUS. I could not wait. I had heard stories from Petey about 7 course meals, family, wine, and it just sounded so perfect. And, it really was. We got dressed up, pretty sure it was the first time I saw Petey in a dress, and we went over to Fiddi and Maria’s house. Pretty sure it was a feast. Started with home cooked pasta, meats, breads, veal, wine, it was HEAVEN. Since I hadn’t eaten in what felt like months, I was just diving right in. Opa Guiseppe insisted that I take my time since I would be full…but you see, he hadn’t met me or my bottomless pit yet. By the end of the meal he said I would never starve because I could finish “all the meat from the bone”. Wonderful. And yet so true. I then became the Canadian, who looked German but who ate like an Italian. Happy Easter! To cap off a wonderful eating marathon, seriously, we were at the table for like five hours, we all went bowling! Ha! You see I like to think I’m a good bowler, but I don’t actually bowl. I am more the ‘bowl between the legs’, backwards throwing sort of bowler. Yeah…turns out her family is killer good so that was an enormous embarrassment…until I learned how to actually hold the bowling ball. My fingers get swallowed by those holes, so I never used them. Well…if you find the right size ball, I’m pretty good!
Day 4 in Germany commenced with brunch at Lucia’s house. Can I say sensational? I think you can tell by now that this trip focused a great deal on food, however, food brings people together. When I picture family, I picture the whole fam together around the table, talking, drinking wine, laughing and taking group pictures. Food is not only a conversation piece, but everything in between: an icebreaker, a saving grace from an awkward moment, to something to laugh together about. This family was no different, the family surrounds the table and you can talk for hours. I loved everything about it. The afternoon was complete with home videos from their venture to the USA, and a little bit of ice age. In German of course. I might have accidentally taken a nap on the couch, which was when the Eaton centre showed up in the home videos. While Petey informed them that this was my last name, the debate began if I were famous or not and whether they should carry me upstairs for a nap. HA. Fabulous right? I wish. I can just imagine waking up halfway up the stairs and absolutely screaming my head off. Also, I had been warned that I would be challenged to a foosball match later on, and as promised Nino did insist. I had never played before, not really anyways, I always just sort of spun the rods and hoped for the best, however being a competitive family, I had to get my A-game together. Nino and I were paired against Nunzia and Petey. Game on. Naturally, with my raw talent we won. But it wasn’t easy.
Day 5 was a relaxing day filled with a bit of shopping, and venturing to everyone’s apartments. We stopped at both Pina’s apartment first for some lunch: currywurst, special fries and a gyro. Delicious. Afterwards we stopped by Claudio’s apartment before heading off to a Bavarian restaurant for dinner with the fam. Here comes probably the funniest moment of all time: Claudio was off to Amsterdam for 5 days with his girlfriend and thus gave the car to Nunzia. She is the only one to have driven a BMW, however she also hasn’t driven in two years. Carrying on, we left the dinner that night only to discover there was no gas in the tank. No worries, we will find a gas station, except its almost midnight and they all seemed to be closed. We pulled into a grocery store parking lot, where it was pitch black, including the car (which Nunzia had semi-turned off). Right. So I am in the backseat and Petey is in the front seat…which led to what might be one of the funniest pictures I have ever taken. Pitch black, I reached my hand in front of her face and took the picture.
Fabulous until Nunzia screamed at the top of her lungs. She thought I was a cop. Not like anything could have gone wrong, we were just parked in the parking lot while Nunzia was calling her mum to ask where a gas station was, however, I have never laughed so hard in my life. While I was deaf. Great multi-tasking really now that you look back. What we did next I’ll never fully understand, but I could not have laughed harder. We got onto the autobahn with no gas. No gas station in sight, we are speeding through attempting to outrun the meter, I am laughing my head off in the back seat about how we are going to have to push the car in about 2 minutes, and Petey is literally clinging onto my leg from the front seat. Miraculously enough, we actually found a gas station. I have no idea how, but I’m pretty sure our empty tank slowly rolled into the station perfectly. It was meant to be. And I could not have been happier. Seriously though. Can you imagine us pushing her car down the side of the autobahn trying to find a gas station? Absolutely not.
Day 6 was what I was looking forward to: the ZOO! Yes yes yes. You should hear the word pronounced in German, so much better. It was pretty cool, the zoo was split into three parts: Asia, Africa and Alaska. Funny story about Alaska: they showed a school bus…like a normal yellow school bus and basically mocked it. It was an exhibit of Alaska, in what we actually drive to schools. Apparently they take coach buses. Huh. Go figure eh. Also, the one day it had not rained is the day we planned for the zoo. How brilliant right? So the sun was shining and we had a blast going through all the exhibits to see polar bears, monkeys, giraffes – the whole shebang. There was a boat ride we took along a little river, and Petey and I were determined to get the front seat. That would be ours. We maneuvered throughout the line so that we could be at the front and jump on ship. Yeah…that didn’t happen. This string of teenage girls beat us. Damnit. Also, her friend sneezed right in her face. She was horrified. Karma right? Took our damn seat. Petey and I had a good chuckle. Poor girl actually…it was gross.
So that night we watched a soccer game at Fiddis place and enjoyed some delicious finger foods for the game – surprised? Turns out Germany vs Manchester was a killer good game. Very entertaining. I was taught the basic rules, and of course I had to cheer for Germany. Another late night, but when I got home I had to submit two essays and the small detail of booking a place to say in Brussels a week from then.
Then the last day came, The week had gone by so quickly already and it was different than the other trips. We weren’t packed everyday doing touristy things. This trip was about catching up with family, and eating. Lots and lots of eating. I honestly don’t think I have ever eaten so much in my entire life. No really…the family discovered that my stomach was a bottomless pit, and I got the mother load of every meal. It was HEAVEN. Everything was made from scratch, at home, the pasta, sauces, meats were tender, bread was fresh, wine was perfect. It was heavenly. The last day was no different. We were going to spend the morning at the Bergbau Museum; a mine that Petey’s opa had worked in for many years. Very cool indeed. Of course everything was in German, but I was able to get an English guide that had tid bits of info for me. We saw all the machinery, the tunnels, where they kept the work horses even. Took tons of pictures, of course, and had some good laughs. Shocked?
Then the masterpiece of all foods…the feast at Oma and Opa’s house. We walk in to noodles drying on the table. Home cooked pasta. Amen. What do you do once you have had home cooked pasta? I feel like everything is a lunch box let down. Damn you Europe. We spent the rest of the day with the family, and did our final goodbyes. I couldn’t believe it had already been over a week with the family. Not going to lie, I felt pretty German. I knew a good chunk of vocab words, ate like a German (slash Italian I suppose) and the name was Zara.
Before you could say Stepbedecke it was the next morning; leaving day. Boo. We had a final breakfast at Nunzias and then we hit the road. What was a 7 hour bus ride, is only a 3 hour car ride. Wow. Cue death eyes to Petey. It was my goal to stay awake the entire ride. I really can’t explain it, but I’m pretty sure its physically impossible for me to stay awake in transport. Honestly though, cars, planes, trains, buses…I’m out cold. So the goal was to stay awake for the entire trip. I ALMOST made it. 2.5 hours, out cold for the last run. Ridiculous. We get in nice and early, around 2 or 3ish, tons of time to catch my Paris train at 8pm. Beautiful. So I get home, check the email and BAM. An e-mail saying that SNCF has gone on strike and my train is cancelled. NO EFFING WAY. I don’t think so. I was catching a flight to Barcelona the next morning and there was zero way I was missing that. I would hitch hike to Paris that night if I had to. In a panic, I ran to the train station which is conveniently next to my house and made sure it was in fact cancelled. Turns out, my train was the only one not yet cancelled. Fabulous. It was on. Phew. I was still going to Barcelona: outstanding. So I packed and met up with Petey and the rents one more time for dinner. We went to the Hippopotamus and enjoyed some sangria. It was strange to say goodbye; even more so with Petey. However, I would be seeing in her about 4 days, so it really wasn’t that long. But considering we spent everyday together, it would be a while.
Germany has been fantastic. It was nice to relax for a week, take it easy and be in a family environment. Smooth, entertaining and some really good laughs. It was the week Sarah became Zara and I soaked it all in.
No comments:
Post a Comment