Yes it has been almost a month since I've written, but now I have so much to say! After a 4-6 hour long test in the German language last Wednesday, I was ready for a vacation....and my traveling time started this weekend. Believe it or not, I do believe this weekend is hard to top!
After staying with my family, 17 years ago, visiting us 14 years ago....I rekindled a long lost friendship with our former exchange student Sarah! I came by train to visit Sarah and see a bit of Hamburg and her little town of Stemmen. Low and behold, I also got the surprise of going and visiting her parents as well. (Her mother I had met on her last trip to Nebraska.) The first night I met up with Sarah und her boyfriend Björn and we went out to dinner. I was so exhausted from the long week, as was Sarah, so we both crashed really early on Friday. But Hamburg awaited us on Saturday.
From Sarah's office, I got the view all the tourists are jealous of. Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe and sits on the Elbe river. I would describe it as the Venice of Germany. On occasion during winter storms, the water gets so high that the bridges you see that are across the water are used for pedestrian walk ways and you can't use the lower streets.
Next we took a boat ride through the Harbor and to see many of the sights of Hamburg. The harbor is actually bigger than Monaco! While the boat ride was enjoyable it was a bit cold in the shade and quite windy!
We came home and all passed out after being beaten by the windy and lots of walking. Little did I know more exciting things were to come the next day!
I spent all of Sunday and Monday with Sarah's parents. We went into Cuxhaven and I got to see the beach, another port and get a wonderful tour from the natives!
Again, very cold and windy day, but it was a perfect day for visiting and using my Deutsch with more native speakers.
We walked along the beaches, taking pictures and hearing about the time my parents visited them back in 1997!
Again, very cold and windy day, but it was a perfect day for visiting and using my Deutsch with more native speakers.
We walked along the beaches, taking pictures and hearing about the time my parents visited them back in 1997!
I was also fortunate to get to watch Sarah's niece at her jumping lesson and I got to learn a lot about horses in Germany!
This morning Sarah and I went to cheer on Lea (her niece) at her jumping test. We got to see ponies jump super high and the crazy warmbloods tower all over the smaller ponies, but they were so much fun!
I think one of the best surprises of the trip was getting to visit Frau Eidmann in Cuxhaven. She is the mother of one my neighbors in Nebraska, and the last time I saw here was when I was 6 or 8 years old. She rode her first Western horse at my house on our old horse Doc.
She was quite surprised to see me towering over her and speaking German. We sat and had tea and cookies and talked about horses and Cuxhaven and the "good ol' days".
She was quite surprised to see me towering over her and speaking German. We sat and had tea and cookies and talked about horses and Cuxhaven and the "good ol' days".