Germany
December 1999
So just what is Christmas? This was a question Lori and I
were discussing a few weeks ago as the season came rushing up
on us. So, we started with a list. What makes a normal Christmas
for us?
Let's see, a long drive there and back, snow (or at least
cold), sausage and sauerkraut, good friends and family, the church
nativity play, lots of gifts, concerns over how to get everything
back into the car, last minute shopping in crowds, conversations
late into the night, exhausted children, and running out of time
to get everything done.
Yep, that about sums it up.
So, how do we do that here in France?
The church nativity play: Alex and Juli were in the church
play on the 13th. In English. Check. Lots of gifts: You should
see under the tree. Check. Running out of time to get everything
done: Christmas cards still in the box and the Christmas letter
by e-mail. Check.
That leaves a long drive, snow, sausage and sauerkraut, good
friends and family, concerns over how to get everything back into
the car, last minute shopping in crowds, exhausted children, and
conversations late into the night.
Sounds like a road trip. But where?
Wait a minute--our friends, Fabrizio and Daniela, the ones
we visited with this summer
in Italy and who had Juli carry
the rings in their wedding
in October, just moved to Cologne
in Germany. According to Michelin, it's about a five hour drive.
It's further north than Paris so there's a good chance of snow.
Sausage and sauerkraut--yep, they've got that. Last minute shopping
in crowds has got to be possible. We always talk late into the
night. If we plan the schedule tight enough, we can exhaust the
children. Great! We're getting close.
That just leaves worrying over packing everything back into
the car. Ah well, can't have everything. It's not our fault we
currently are driving a very large station wagon.
And that's how we found ourselves on a trip to visit Fabrizio
and Daniela in Germany.
I left work Friday afternoon and we set off for Germany as
soon as the kids came home from school. Daniela and Fabrizio live
just outside the town of Cologne, Germany. From our house just
south of Paris, it's about 500 kilometers (300 miles). Most of
which is motorway if you take the route through Belgium. This
is the route we took going out as Belgium lights all of their
highways and we figured that this would be a good thing for a
drive that started as the sun was going down.
It turned out that it rained all night and the Belgium roads
are not designed to drain. As a result, we were running through
puddles at 75 miles an hour or so (the speed limit in Belgium
is 75 mph)--always an exciting proposition. At least with the
lights we could see the puddles coming. We also found that the
lights kept Juli awake (as did the excitement over seeing her
friends "Mr. Frizio" and Daniela). We arrived tired
but safe at about 11:30 that evening.
The next morning started rather slowly and then it was off
to Dusseldorf and the Christmas village in the center of the old
town. It seems that many German cities build small "villages"
composed of small wooden buildings that are brightly decorated
and sell handmade crafts, small gifts, food, drink, etc.
By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and the temperature
was in the low 40's (F) with a bright sky. A perfect day for walking.
After an excellent lunch of sausage and sauerkraut in the oldest
restaurant in Dusseldorf, we walked the entire business district
as well as the Christmas village. So did everyone else in Germany.
While we enjoyed the walking and the talking, Alex and Juli especially
enjoyed the carnival rides. We left Dusseldorf as the sun was
beginning to set.
We then returned to Daniela's and Fabrizio's for a brief rest
and then it was off to dinner in Bonn with a mutual friend. To
work up a good appetite, we walked through the center of Bonn
window shopping and chatting. The children enjoyed simply running
free where there were no cars and open spaces. The center of Bonn
is a open pedestrian area surrounded by buildings with shops on
the ground floor. By the time we got there the shops were closed
and everyone else was sitting down to dinner. As a result, we
had the city to ourselves. Another delicious dinner (although
the children were getting tired) and we arrived back at Fabrizio's
at 11pm.
Sunday was supposed to be a repeat of Saturday, except in
the town of Cologne with a visit to one of the largest cathedrals
in Europe. We made it to the cathedral, but services were in process
(imagine that on a Sunday morning--good planning Brian...) and
the beautiful day of Saturday became cold when a wet breeze started
up and the temperature hovered near freezing. After lunch, we
went home and put the kids down for a rest. While they were relaxing
(?) Lori and Daniela chatted while Fabrizio and I assembled furniture.
After Fabrizio served a wonderful dinner of his creation, we put
the kids to bed and then sat up talking until past midnight. We'd
been doing this every night, but it was a bit more of a stretch
this time as Daniela had to leave the house at 5:15 the next morning
in order to make it to the airport and a flight to Italy.
4:30am Monday morning arrived too soon, still dark, and with
snow. We all packed up and were on the road by 5:15. This time
we avoided Belgium and came home through the small country of
Luxembourg. We'd never been there and figured this was a chance
to add another dot to our map showing all the places we've stopped
in to visit.
After breakfast, we let the kids loose
in the town square with the snow. Again, it was a pedestrian area
and the 1-2 inches of fresh snow made for some good snowball fights.
Even Mom and Dad got into the act! We then walked around the explored
the town a bit. During this wandering we found another Christmas
village. Being on the border of Germany, France, and Belgium it
appears this bilingual country has many of the Christmas traditions
of both Germany and France. What it meant to us was that we could
have the Christmas village of Germany and be able to "chat"
with the shop keepers in French. I don't speak French well, but
certainly much better than German! Some hot mulled wine and another
snowball fight and by then we'd had a good day--with a few more
hours to drive.
Our drive home brought us through the Champagne region of
France where we got to admire the many vineyards and turn our
thoughts to the coming year.
So, let's check that list. Sausage and sauerkraut. Check.
Late night conversations. Check. Friends and family. Check. Long
drive. Check. Snow and cold. Check. Shopping in crowds. Check.
Exhausted children. Double Check.
Not bad. We've gotten almost everything on our list. It's
starting to feel a lot like Christmas here in France. So for the
big day we'll stay home and take it easy, thinking of the many
friends and family that we now have throughout the world and enjoying
our family here in our little corner of it.
