There are many reasons to visit Germany – the tasty sausages and pretzels, cakes and pastries are an excellent starting point; the vast selection of beer, wine and schnapps; the spectacular scenery of sprawling pasture lands and forests, waterways and the seemingly endless supply of castles and beautiful towns to explore. Luckily for us, there is also a branch of the extended Kozyra clan living in the beautiful south west corner of the country, in perfect proximity to the Black Forest, the Rhine river, and just a stone’s throw from France and Switzerland.
There is never a dull moment when we find ourselves in the company of our German crew – the table is always loaded with food, the laughs are unlimited, and although this year is our 6th trip to the region we always find something to do that we haven’t done before, and this year provided us with an extra special reason to add Germany to the itinerary.
Our first stop was Emmendingen, a small and pretty city just an hour from the Swiss border with a population of approx. 25,000. Once again we were greeted at the train station by Natalie and Matthias, and their gorgeous little people Nico and Alexander, and walked the short walk into town and to their home which is one of the oldest original homes in the city centre and heritage protected. Once the table is set here with enough sausage, bread and cheese to feed 40 people (even though there is only 8 of us including Natalie’s parents Hans and Erika!) we are truly immersed in the German experience – Andrew even drinks beer in Germany!
The summer days dragged on well into mid-September and our few days in town were spent enjoying the excellent German tradition of kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) in the late afternoon, a BBQ with yet more cousins in the small village of Freiamt with Marion, Rainer, Max and Mina, and we also squeezed in a lunch in France. The pretty town of Colmar is just an hour from Emmendingen over the French/German border and with all the flowers of summer still in full bloom it was an idyllic spot for lunch and a wander, before finishing our day in a winery for dinner.
On to the next location, and the reason we are in Germany this year, we travelled 3 hours up the autobahn to Rheinsheim – home to cousin Heidke and Herbert, and the location of the wedding of their daughter Kristin to Tobias. We were so thrilled to be able to make it to Germany to celebrate this special day with the family, including Florian who stayed with us in Sydney a few years ago and his girlfriend Jorjia, and having Andrew’s aunt Teresa make a surprise appearance from Sydney definitely added to the festivities.
The intimate celebration of less than 20 people began in Speyer, a gorgeous town on the Rhine river where the ceremony took place followed by a champagne toast, before we continued with a long lunch, photo shenanigans and live music into the late summer evening. Around the wedding action, we also had some down time catching up, eating of course, taking long walks and planning everyone’s next trip Down Under.
It was an action packed week and so good to see all those familiar faces again. Despite the distance between us, its always so easy to reconnect and pick up where we left off last time, and there are always a few tears as we say auf wiedersehen until next time we meet. Dankeschön for the memories Team Germany, see you all again soon, somewhere.
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