This year it seemed as though the Christmas celebrations just didn't want to end - but let's be honest, isn't that a good thing? We flew out of London on Tuesday (23rd) afternoon to crash Nick's family Christmas in Eschborn, Germany. It was the first time we'd spent Christmas with a family (admittedly not ours!) since 2003!
The Zeebs showed us an amazing German Christmas, ensuring that every morsel of space in our stomachs was full at all times! We ate quite a variety of meats - goose, duck, turkey, wild boar, pork, and a countless variety of sausages. Nick's family (espeically his Mom, Renate) are amazing cooks, so it was impossible for me to stop eating until I thought I'd explode. Stupidly, I didn't take any photos of the delicious food, so you're stuck with your imaginations I'm afraid.
One of the highlights for me was driving on the Autobahn. We were "upgraded" to a Mercedes Benz A-Class - but it was an automatic! How boring! Foot flat on the floor, the car hit a top speed of about 172 km/h and had absolutely nothing left to give; it felt like it was more comfortable cruising at around 160 km/h. To it's credit, the car was solid as a rock, even at top speed - no wheel vibration, and very responsive controls. And that's still pretty fast - when you then slow down to 100 km/h, it feels like you're barely moving!
Nick's Dad, Peter, took great pleasure in taking us for a tour around a few of the towns. Our first tour was in Frankfurt on Christmas day, and it was freaky to see how empty the place was when nothing was open. Frankfurt is the financial capital of Germany and this is fairly representative of the institutions that you see around the joint. Still, the city is not without its culture, and the old opera house - the Alte Oper looks particularly stunning at night.
We also had a tour of Calw (pronounced "Calf"), the town in which Peter grew up, and in which his mother still lives. The style of housing (all across Germany) is so unique, and as Kristy put it so well, so Disney. It's hard to believe that the houses were purposely built in this style, and not done just to impress the tourists.
As you can see, we had beautiful clear weather for the most part, however this meant that it was absolutely freezing cold each day. I literally mean freezing here - temperatures were consistently hovering around 0 degrees.
Still, a little bit of frozen water wasn't going to stop us getting out and about, and Eva in particular insisted we keep up with the German tradition of walking. Kristy and I thought she was crazy - who'd want to be walking around when the temperatures are well below zero? - but to her credit, we met lots of other people on our walks, just being outside and enjoying the beautiful day. And it really helped with the digestion!
Overall it was an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and we're extremely thankful to the Zeebs who went to great lengths to ensure we were comfortable and felt welcomed. Maybe one day we can repay the favour by showing them Christmas, Australian style!
Loads more photos in the Christmas in Germany photo album.