German Hospitality

When I was in high school, my family hosted an exchange student from Germany. Her name was Claudia, and we spent a lot of time together during the four months she lived with us. Thanks to Facebook, we have stayed in touch, and I was even able to visit her and her family in Germany when I studied in France.

When we began planning our trip, I contacted her and asked if we might possibly impose on her family for Christmas. We've been very fortunate thus far to have been welcomed into the homes of numerous friends as well as strangers across Europe, but finding someone whom we could visit during a time that's usually reseved for family was especially tricky.

Claudia and her mom, Inge, welcomed us with open arms at the train station when we arrived. Since then, we have been made to feel like both honored guests and part of the family at the same time. We have been enjoying delicious home-cooked meals as well as guided tours around Hessen, the German state where they live.

On Saturday -our first full day here- Claudia and her dad, Martin, took us to visit the town of Speyer which is about an hour away by car. On the way, we stopped at one of Martin's favorite tasting rooms and sampled some of Germany's well known Reisling wines.

The area around Frankfurt and to the south is loaded with vineyards. Most grow white wine grapes, but some grow red. After a few quick tastes, we got back in the car and continued towards Speyer. In order to get there, we had to drive through a handful of small, picturesque German towns and a bit of wine country. I was charmed by the colorful houses and peaceful country-side.

Claudia mentioned that they received a good amount of snow last week, and lamented that we had missed it (they're predicting above freezing temps here through Christmas), but there was still evidence of the storm in the barren woods along the sides of the road. The multitudes of orange-brown leaves still clinging in the trees combined with the bit of leftover snow gave the impression that the forest was trapped between seasons.

Once in Speyer we began our tour at the cathedral- one of the largest and most significant Romanesque edifices in Germany. It was built by the emperors and designated to be their last resting place as a symbol of their power. The crypt, therefore, is of special interest as it contains the remains of eight German emperors and kings, four queens, and a number of bishops.

Just outside of the cathedral we found the first of many Christmas markets to visit in the area. We walked down the row of small wooden stands, all decorated to perfection with lights and garland, and each selling a different product specific to the holiday season. Candles, porcelain houses, sweets, trinkets, dishes, chocolate, and any number of other gift-y sorts of things are available for purchase in these quaint, picturesque markets all over Europe, but Germany is especially well known for having the largest, most diverse and most beautiful Christmas markets. On this day, we stopped and enjoyed some mugs of "Glühwein" (hot mulled wine, usually with a bit of sugar and maybe some spices added) being served from one of the many cheery carts offering it. This special drink, which is only available during the cold holiday season, is usually served steaming hot in a porcelain mug which requires a deposit, and which must be given back to the stand it was borrowed from after it's been emptied.

Once we'd had our fill of the Christmas market, Martin lead us up the street to a restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely lunch. Sean- the braver eater of the two of us- went for a traditional German dish of saumagen, bratwurst and sauerkraut, while I stuck with the more familiar, but delicious looking salad with chicken breast. The food here has been fantastic and plentiful and we have been finding ourselves indulging a bit these last few days- not only because it's the holidays, but also because we know we won't be able to get 90% of these (relatively) familiar things for the next 6 months in Africa or Asia.

After lunch we left Speyer and continued on to Heidelberg. This riverside town is the home of the oldest university in Germany (founded in 1386), and also boasts one of it's many beautiful castles. We began by visiting the castle, which sits up on a hill overlooking the town and the river below. The sun was setting when we arrived, and the dimming light made the colorful houses appear even more vibrant as the sunset painted the cloudy sky above a distant horizon.

After enjoying the view from the castle's patio, we ducked inside to see what else it had to offer. We found several humongous barrels- all larger than any I had ever seen and each one larger than the one before it- which we were told had been built to hold massive quantities of wine. At one point, we walked up a set of stairs, and onto a deck and found ourselves standing on top of the largest wine barrel in the world; with a 6 meter diameter, it holds a mere 220,000 liters (or 58,000 gallons) of wine. The staircase and deck were built many years ago to encourage partying, drinking, and dancing atop the barrel.

From the castle, we could also see the lights of Christmas market #2 twinkling across a ravine, but decided to pass this one by as we had plans to visit several others in the coming days.

We had planned to do a bit of walking through Heidelberg, but had a terrible time trying to find parking due to the hordes of people flooding the town on a Saturday evening. We opted for a quick drive-by viewing instead, and then headed back. That evening, we went out in Frankfurt with Claudia and a couple of her friends. She took us to a bar that she frequents in Sachsenhausen, an old neighborhood in Frankfurt which is well known for it's trendy-ness and bar-hopping atmosphere. There, we enjoyed games and conversation with the small group, and had fun tasting apple wine (an infamous Frankfurt favorite) and cola-beer (exactly what it sounds like).

On Sunday, we relaxed a bit and booked some flights for the next legs of our trip (coming up: Zambia and Tanzania followed by Malaysia and Indonesia!) and then walked with Claudia and Inge to Christmas market #3 in their little town of Dreieichenhain. This market's booths were scattered throughout the old castle area which stands at the center of the town. Dreieichenhain consists not only of the remains of the old castle, but also a number of houses and shops built in the "Fachwerkhaus" style (a half-timbered style of building where the supporting structure is made of wood and filled with brick, clay, or plaster and the beams left exposed).

Inge explaining to us about "Fachwerkhaus" with some examples in the background

We wandered through the market and the castle, sipping glühwein and eating as much delicious German food as we possibly could (our hosts insisted we must have at least a little more room to try just about every kind of food we came across). We half joked that they were trying to 'fatten us up' before we go to Africa, but the way the week is panning out, I wont be the least bit surprised if that ends up being true. Before we left, we met up with Inge's friend Stephanie who has one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met- Molly. Though the booths seemed never-ending to us--especially the ones serving food we just had to try (I mean, seriously? There's MORE?!)-- they insisted that this was a small market, and "Just wait till you see the one in Frankfurt!"

On Monday Claudia accompanied us on the train into Frankfurt where we were able to submit some visa applications at the Thai consulate. After that, we followed the directions she had given us to, that's right, Christmas market #4, and sure enough, it was bigger. Not only did we not see the whole thing, I don't think we could visit every booth there even if we were inclined to spend three days trying. We walked around for a while and picked up a few small souvenirs and tchotchskes, enjoyed a nice bratwurst for lunch, and resisted the glühwein. Then we caught the train back towards Dreieich and enjoyed a quiet evening at "home."