Liz’s family was having a reunion, of sorts. She has 2 brothers and 1 sister. Three of the four children live away from home. So it’s always a special time to have everyone together. They have a fairly large home with several bedrooms and bathrooms. So it was very comfortable there, even as a stranger coming in for the first time. I was greeting with open arms. Jurgen and Gabi (Dad and Mom) were great. They enjoy having people in their home and had activities planned for the entire family.
We got in about 9:00 PM the night before after picking up Liz’s sister, Anne, from the train station. We all sat around their large dining room table and had a tradition southern Germany meal prepared by Zita, Liz’s older brother’s, Jony, fiancé. The whole atmosphere was somewhat like a scene from “Meet the Parents” except everyone was very comfortable and happy. There was a hectic, yet jovial fee,l with everyone chatting away, talking about weddings and old times. It seemed Furgen was often the butt of many of the jokes an comments. But it was obvious it was done out of love and fun. I was never bored. Everyone spoke English very well so there was always someone willing to translate for me.
Liz’s younger brother, Florian, was kind enough to let me have his room. I slept well.
The next morning Holli and I awoke and walked to a local bakery to purchase bread for breakfast. Steinfurt is a very small, but beautiful little town, packed with old German charm. All of the houses are extremely well-kept. I never saw any trash or clutter in the streets or in the yards. It reminded me of walking through a section of Disneyland, where everything is neat and tidy and in it’s place…and very European.
After breakfast we all met at the local library, where Jurgen and Gabi are very involved. They are the main reason the library is still open in Steinfurt. They have fundraisers by selling donated books to fund the library. Furgen is a Biology teacher. Gabi has recently started giving walking tours of Steinfurst. Gabi took us on a wonderful tour of the town, pointing out highlights and telling us of the long, somewhat rocky, history of the town. It amazes me of the longevity of European towns. Some of the buildings go back over a thousand years. Being from a town where a building of 50 years is considered old, it was hard to wrap my head around. We visited small castles, waterwheels and old churches.
We took a break from the tour so the bride and groom to be could visit a bakery to pick out their wedding cake. We also scoped out the room at the town hall where the wedding will take place (in November). This will be the smaller, official wedding. The main party and wedding celebration will take place next Summer someplace larger.
We stopped at an ice cream parlor, where Jurgen frequents often, I got a double scoop waffle cup of Truffle and Cookies ice cream.
We headed back to the house and had a delicious lunch of goulash and bread. Afterwards we all headed back out to a local pub that also had a bowling alley in the back. But this wasn’t your typical bowling. It was a German-style game called Kegeln. The balls are smaller without holes and the alley is much narrower. But the goal is to knock down pins. It was a separate room with just the alley and a long table where we could all sit, talk and drink. It was a very fun, relaxing environment where we played different bowling games. It was a friendly competition. We all really enjoyed ourselves. Much more entertaining that just bowling. I did pretty good for my first time.
We went back home for dinner before heading back home again. Jurgen presented me with a book of Germany and told me how much they all enjoyed having me visit them. They said I will need to come back again but bring my wife next time. After a round of hugs and good byes, we headed out again. I got to drive the German autobahn this time, with no speed limit. Holli and Liz thought I drove extremely well. I felt very at ease driving 100 MPH down a dark, somewhat foggy freeway. I could get used to the speed.
We arrived back home about midnight and after a quick catch up on the blog, went to bed.
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