A Soft Spot For Germany

Outside a castle in Ludwigsburg

I am now in the second half of my five week adventure in Germany and still enjoying it very much. It's hard to believe I will be back in England in ten days. I am wishing I had this much time in each country I am visiting so I can get to know the culture and language more than you would in just a week or a couple of days. I have practiced my german a tiny bit. It is sometimes fun but mostly I feel silly. One problem with speaking german is that when I get a response from the person I have no idea what they are saying, so really I don't get anywhere at all but still it is fun. The other day I was in McDonald's (they are so nice here!) with a friend and I ordered my meal in german. The lady at the till said something really long and really fast and I just looked at her blankly for a couple of seconds and then said, 'Oh boy!' and turned to my friend who graciously translated.
I finish visiting friends on December 12 and then head to Berlin by myself to explore. I have been blessed above and beyond by every single person's hospitality I can't even describe it. I have a feeling my time in Germany will go down in the books of my favourite times in Europe.

Kind of creepy, I know.

So now I am sitting here eating apple cinnamon yoghurt that tastes like pie - amazing - and thinking about what to write. There is so much that has happened since my last post that it may be hard to pack it into one post but I will try to be short and sweet. I believe the last time I wrote was during the first half of my week in Stuttgart with Juliana. I then moved on to another friend's, Julia and mostly relaxed as I was pretty tired. One day I met up with a friend, Hanna who I had no idea lived in Stuttgart. Her cousin also joined us and we went out for coffee. I had a nutella latte. Oh my word! Real nutella on the bottom that you can scoop up with a spoon. Incredible! Julia and I also went to a Christmas market which was probably my favourite yet. I think I've been to almost ten and they are all fairly similar in what they sell. Crepes, sausages, glüwein, flammkücken, and then gifty things but this christmas market in Esslingen was special because it was Medieval style. Everyone dressed up in costume and different characters walked around and there was a concert as well. Very impressive! I heard Vancouver is having their first german christmas market this year. If you go, you will have to tell me what it's like!

After my time in Stuttgart I headed down a couple of hours to Freidrichshafen on the Bodensee Lake to friend's place who I actually had never met before. Her name is Caro and I knew her brother from working at Capernwray. We got in contact over the internet - a very neat story that I will save for those who ask. Anyways, we are having such a blast, it's insane. I never thought I could laugh so much with someone that I'd never met before. I arrived last Thursday and on Friday we headed straight for Zurich, Switzerland! We took the ferry across the Bodensee Lake (it is bordered by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria), just a short 25 minute ride. This really reminded me of my many ferry journeys to and from Thetis Island. One thing that this ferry had that the Thetis one doesn't, is a really nice cafe and passenger lounge! Once we arrived on the other side our first mission was to head to a Swiss Chocolate Factory where their amazing chocolate is pretty cheap. Needless to say, I stocked up. We then arrived to Zurich, the biggest and most happening city in Switzerland and then found our hostel. We walked around the city for probably eight hours, it was great! As you can see, we had a lot of time on our hands...

We also went to about three different Christmas Markets I think and the city was just beautiful. We were also among the priveleged to hear the amazing Singing Christmas Tree that night.  Not exactly what I expected, singing Abba and other popular english music but I was so excited that anything that came out of all the christmas tree's mouths was beautiful! Mouth's you ask? Yes, there were rows of children lined across the tree singing their Swiss hearts out! Here's a little clip above to give you an idea...



The next day we drove to Biel, where we stayed a night with Caro's friends. They were so sweet and hospitable and extremely funny! They took us to the Alps near the town of Grindelwald. The day before was apparently cloudy and the day after it had snowed but we we had so much sun, it was amazing! We took the gondala up the mountain and then walked down which took about an hour. This was probably one of my favourite days yet.

The view from the city wall. Notice the twisted chimney on the right?

We then walked around the captial city, Bern for a little bit, had some hot chocolate at Burger King and headed home for some authentic Swiss cheese fondue. Not sure what else to say about that except for incredible! The next day after a full out german church service, they took us to a very quaint town called Murten and we walked along the old city wall. Pretty cool. One of my favourite moments was walking along this wall and all of a sudden hearing 'Sweet Home Alabama' blasting from someone's home. Quite humourous if you can imagine.  Then Caro and I headed back across the lake to home and had a very good sleep after a busy but exciting and super fun weekend!

 On Monday I visited Julia from Stuttgart again but this time she was at her parents home just a ten minute bus ride from Friedrichsahafen. They live and work at the bible school also connected with Torchbearers called Bodenseehof. I was given the grand tour and was able to run into a friend who I was a student with for two years at Capernwray on Thetis. I knew he worked there but he didn't know I was travelling so you can imagine the look on his face - priceless. I also walked by the classroom where the students were as one of the staff members was saying to them, "If you are not going to be at any of the meals PLEASE sign out!" If you have ever been a student or staff member at Capernwray Harbour you would know that some things just never change.
Well, that is all for now. Caro and I are heading out to yet another Christmas market tonight with her five guy roomates (this has been very entertaining) and then moving onward tomorrow. I will miss my time here.

Second hand shop in Murten, Switzerland