Christmas in Germany

Christmas in Germany was a nice break for us as we were joined by my brother Andrew and his family, wife Sandy, there two girls Gabby and Lila and Oliver their 8 month old. After almost 2 months of traveling on our own, it was nice to spend some time with some familiar faces. Our home for the week was a holiday home in the small rural village of Tandern. We were about a 45 minute drive northwest of Munich and thanks to the miracles of a GPS we were able to wind our way through the German country side to our home for the week.

Over the course of the week with Andrew's family we managed to visit a Christmas market  in Augsburg. There we enjoyed some German sausages and glühwein (mulled wine) while doing some Christmas shopping. The market was full of stalls of German treats and Christmas decorations. If you are into nativity scenes, this seems to be the place to go; shepherds, sheep, wise men, camels of all different sizes and craftsmanship. We managed to pickup a small tree, some tasty gingerbread, and a few decorations.

Another day we took a trip to the German Alps and visited Schloss Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle. When we arrived we learned there were actually two castles, the older castle that apparently was not beautiful enough for King Ludwig and the fairy tale castle that he had built using the inspiration of Wagner's music. It was this castle that led to King Ludwig's bankruptcy and loss of the throne. We had the opportunity to tour both castles. We all enjoyed the visits and even though my 2 nieces found it a long day they love princess so seeing these castles will be a great memory for them.

On the morning of Christmas Eve we were greeted by snow and Sonja, our host, with another Christmas tree, treats, a bottle of glühwein, and a Christmas basket. She was very nice and very helpful which included doing our laundry. Andrew and I took care of the preparations for the Christmas dinner of chicken and duck while most of the kids played in the snow. Aaron working on a snow fort and Gabby and Niall making a snowman. Before long it was 5 o'clock and we walked through the falling snow to the local church for the Christmas Eve service. Although we didn't understand the language the service was familiar enough as children performed the Christmas Pageant and did some great singing. Of course the service ended with Stille Nacht or as we know it Silent Night.

Christmas day showed us that even with all our traveling, Santa could still track us down. And in the German tradition he left the boys a toy, a book, and an article of clothing. The boys exchanged gifts with their cousins and everybody was happy. Later Susan and Sandy wandered down to the local wifi hot spot (outside the local bar) and Skyped and Facebooked family and friends back home.  In the afternoon we all took a short walk around the countryside and played in the snow before returning for Christmas dinner.

It was a great Christmas for us. I enjoyed the time catching up with my brother, the boys and the girls had fun seeing each other, Susan especially enjoyed her time with her new nephew Oliver, and I am sure Sandy enjoyed the help of an additional mother. Overall it was a great family reunion between 2 families that usually find themselves much farther apart at Christmas. But of course it was all too short. It wasn't long before December 27th came around and we had to say our good-byes. As Andrew and his family returned to their home in England, it was not without some jealousy that we knew in a few hours they would be home and enjoying another week of Christmas. As they departed, we were left with the reality of how lonely traveling can be at times. I think we all were thinking of our friends and family back home and missing the time we spend with them at Christmas. All too soon we had to make plans for our visit to Turkey and continue our journey.

For more pictures of our stay in Germany, check out our web album.