German experiences with Good friends

Sitting on a couch in a tiny cosy cottage in country Germany, a glass of wine in hand, chocolate in reach, playing a game of 500 with dear friends filled my heart with warmth and contentedness. Matt and I were staying with our Australian friends Tim and Mandy in their small cottage in Duisdorf, surrounded by green fields, horses and little forest groves. Their cottage was homely, small and simple with one main room decorated beautifully with a country touch by Mandy. There was a small stove fire flickering in the corner creating a deliciously warm glow - a cosy haven from the freezing temperatures of the dark night outside. This was the end of my epic overseas adventure, and it couldn’t be more perfect. The last few days had been wonderful with Tim and Mandy as they shared Germany with us. They picked Matt and I up from Duseldorff train station in their little red mini, heading straight for Christmas Night Markets set up around a castle in the country. There we ate a soupy spinach dinner with a huge sausage floating in the middle of it, shivering in the chilly air. We scoffed down our hearty meal while watching a choir of old men swaying on stage with Santa hats singing Christmas carols in German accompanied by two piano accordions. It was a festive and cheerful atmosphere with many people out, young and old, all rugged up drinking their hot spiced wine. I can understand the need for these markets - breaking up the miserable long winters with something to look forward to. The markets were filled with many artistic home-made items, and I was creatively inspired. As we walked around, we bumped into two older ladies eating an interesting looking pudding desert. Very curious, we all gathered around them both, peering at their food inquisitively. Mandy, our German interpreter, began asking what it was they were eating, excusing us for ‘we were Australian‘. I can imagine how odd we must have been to these women! (I didn’t think of it then, it seemed like perfectly normal behaviour). I think they found us entertaining, as after explaining what they were eating, suddenly one of them began shoving large spoonfuls of her pudding into Tim’s mouth and proceeded to do like-wise with all of us. The other lady exclaimed with laughter ‘yes, that’s right, feed the kangaroos’!! I’m sure if we had stayed longer, they would have fed us all their pudding and bought another one for us!

We went on a road trip the following day to stay in a Castle in a gorgeous town called Monchau. We drove via Maastricht in Holland, and stopped there for a Dutch beer. Very cool to be in Holland! (even if only for a couple of hours!). Sort of surreal to be passing through a country like that. Monchau is a small village in a valley, with two small overflowing rapid rivers diverging in the middle of it.

The buildings are ‘framework houses’ - where the wooden framework is exposed in criss-cross on the outside walls. We enjoyed some more atmospheric Christmas markets here, with more hot alcoholic drinks (very good to warm you up!) and German tucker. Staying in the castle was very exciting. It was converted into a hostel, and the rooms were quite plain, however it was cool to be sleeping in such an old building high up above the village with tremendous views. The excitement increased the next morning when we all discovered it was snowing! It is funny how snow still provokes this child-like fascination and excitement! Along with the snow, came the cold! My fingers and toes were frozen all day! In the afternoon, we headed to a football match between two local teams. I’ve never been to a soccer match before, so it was quite exciting. The packed crazed crowd was pumped, chanting their songs, drumming their drums and waving their fists. We joined them in their singing and clapping and waving about - partly to keep warm. (it was a chilly 1 degree!). We witnessed an historic game, as three of the five goals of the winning team were scored by the opposing side!
Our last day in Germany was spent with Tim and Mandy and their lovely neighbours. A delicious and hearty brunch, a hip-hop dance performance by their (neighbours) talented 8year old son, a game of hacky, a wonder into the nearby forest, a row on a lake, some good conversations and thawing out inside with tea, fires and wine. A great and memorable way to finish the trip off!