Euro Trip 2024 - Chapter V - 18 Hours in Deutschland

This chapter of our Summer 2024 adventures picks up with us leaving Belgium where we'd met up with one of our Rotary exchange students, and driving across part of the Netherlands into Germany to visit another!

In 2022-2023 we hosted another Rotary youth exchange student, this one from a very small town in Western Germany. (This pic is the classic meeting our exchange student for the first time at the airport!) This was the first time we had a student so close in age to our daughter, and the two became like sisters. After a year apart, they were so excited to spend some time together! If you don't know, we've hosted exchange students on and off over a 10 year period, and it's been a such an adventure, and our family has grown all over the world because of it. 

The reunion was punctuated by screams and squeals and Charlotte trying to jump out of our moving car to hug her German sister! It was so great to see Marlene again, and to finally meet her wonderful family. From the moment we arrived we were made to feel so welcome. They also had a litter of kittens in the house - so fun. Her dad made a cheesecake for our arrival, and we had cake & coffee, before heading out for the afternoon on a bike ride. I hadn't been on a bike in about a decade, so I was definitely the slow one in the group, but it was so fun!

We biked through fields, country roads, eventually leading to a castle and a town, where we stopped at a market for sausages to grill for dinner. You know I love visiting any markets or grocery stores! We also stopped at a small distillery, where we tasted some delicious local spirits. This was the spot where I learned how kind Germans are, as I lost my balance on the bicycle and crashed to the pavement just trying to get moving on the bike. Every car stopped and people came out to help. I was so embarassed, and bleeding, and my lack of any recent use of a bicycle was obviously apparent. Everyone was so kind and I kept just giving the thumbs up and telling them I was ok. Up ahead of me, my husband was laughing at my clumsiness. 

Back at the house we played lots of games - from foosball to table tennis to darts, and Kniffel, the German version of Yahtzee. It was a lot of fun! We had a great dinner, and while the girls and Scott went out again on bikes and rollerblades after dinner, Marlene's dad and I walked the dog (and the cat came along too!) all around the paths circling the fields. The sun didn't set until 9:30pm, and it was a lovely walk!

The next morning we met Marlene's mom & siblings, who had come back from vacation during the night, and we shared a beautiful German breakfast while getting to know them. They were such wonderful hosts! It was a short and sweet visit for us, but Charlotte was staying to spend time with Marlene. The girls were headed to see Taylor Swift perform nearby, then they'd be off to Italy via Munich to visit another exchange student, before they'd meet up with me 10 days later in Rome. We said our goodbyes, then Scott and I hit the road destined for a few days in Paris.

We've been in Germany previously as a family, when we spent a week in Alsace. We went into charming Freiburg for an evening and a German dinner, so really I've only been there maybe cumulatively just over a full day. It's so close to the other countries we visit while in Europe, I really should see more of it!