In the Shadow of a Castle

There’s nothing quite like the nostalgia of waking up in a warm bed, opening the window to crisp winter air and breathing in the reality that you’re in a different world from where you normally find yourself.  In our case that happens to be right smack bang in the shadow of a castle.  Magical!

Our first night was blissful, featuring a solid many hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Layah and I opened the windows to a frosty and cold world and spent a while just looking out at the castle and very German houses.  We’ve done the same thing every morning since. 

A lot of events all happen around or involve food here (food paragraph alert, be prepared for rumbling bellies)!  Despite all the amazing food and the enormous amount of it, we have exercised impressive self control so far.  The first order of every day in a German household is a classic German breakfast.  I tell you, the array of cheeses and spreads satisfies even my good breakfast standard!  And we can’t forget the traditional Battle of the Schokkoküsse!  This time around I had to give the victory to Layah as she thoughtfully smashed hers in my face on the second morning (she wants me to clarify her behaviour but I’m not going to).

Breakfasts so far have been such a lovely time of laughter, conversation and ‘togetherness’ with Moni, Siggi and Kai.  We’ve eaten lunch with Ingrid and Frank (long-time family friends) at our favourite Greek restaurant (who would have thought we’d come to Germany to learn Greek – kalispero!), had the good old nutella and cherry crepe, Currywurst and Kinderpunch/Glühwein at a Christmas market, been reunited with Malzbier and the infamous Kaffee and Kuchen (coffee and cake) sagas which I have sometimes made violent by throwing cake at people, visited Frau Schunk, another long-time friend and neighbour, and got to see Alimeh (cleaning lady) again.  Fun fact: in Germany it’s very normal to live in the same house for almost your whole life; Moni and Siggi have been here for over 50 years and a lot of their neighbours haven’t changed since they first arrived!  It’s such a cool idea, a whole neighbourhood living and growing together.  It’s quite social in this particular area as well and it’s so lovely.

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Each day has consisted of either a bike ride or a walk, exploring and revisiting places from past memories. Layah and I collect fresh bread rolls each morning for breakfast and on one particularly cold morning of -2 degrees we were riding to the bakery and to my great confusion and amazement, my hair had been frozen.  It recovered quickly in the warm atmosphere as we decorated the house for Christmas (hmmmm, Layah’s still trying to convince me of the amount of appreciation that Christmas is worthy of, I still don’t think I’ll ever get to her level).

After many days of saying that we were going to the castle, we finally got a chance to visit it. The walk was so beautiful as all the leaves had fallen from the trees, coating the ground in a beautiful golden shade. We had aimed on breaking the Dürr record for the fastest time to the castle but with so much to see and so many photos to be taken, that goal went out the window very quickly – I think Buster was all ‘photoed’ out by the end of it. While we have been to the castle many times throughout our previous experiences, this was our first time climbing the second tower due to maintenance work. We can confirm that Auerbacher Schloss (pronounced ‘slosh’ by me much to Layah’s entertainment) is as beautiful and breathtaking as ever before.

Another shout out to the colours and the leaves – BE-A-UTIFUL, if we could bring one thing home with us…not really, that would be bad priorities, but it is gorgeous.

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The evening we had anticipatedly been waiting for, the Night of the Proms (for once was not based around food) was a night of high energy and entertaining music. For those that don’t know, I am not one for classical/orchestral music and would take any opportunity to state that to my family. Layah on the other hand loves (being an understatement) this ear aching style of music. I can’t tell you if someone had spiked my drink or not but never have I ever heard better live music in my life. The effective lighting, amazing music and stage presence each band/artist brought gave me a new appreciation for orchestral music . To my great relief, most of the songs were in English and we actually knew some of the songs. To top off what was already a great experience, we managed to stand second row to front the whole time and got a direct wide-eyed high eyebrow smile and a wave from The Hooters.  We also made up Morse code to communicate with a couple of choir members during the intermission – I don’t know who thought it was more exciting, them or us haha!  The best moment of the night, though, was at the end when Siggi took his first selfie…

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In Germany there is a tradition on the night of the 5^th of December where you must clean and polish your shoes so that when St Nicolaus (shoe dude stated by me) comes, he puts goodies in your shoes. Unfortunately due to a very late night Layah and I both forgot and were ‘told off’ the next morning 😉 Luckily for us Moni and Siggi were able to ‘contact him’ and he came for second rounds the next night.

As mentioned we went to the Bensheim Christmas market (Weinachtsmarkt). Ah the atmosphere…always beautiful and gorgeous decorations. Christmas markets also have a lovely distinct smell of hot spiced apple, sugar, pine trees and warmth.

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Layah and I went to a local church on Sunday. While Layah translated what she could, I still didn’t understand most of what was being said and just laughed or agreed every time everyone else laughed or agreed (I hope I wasn’t saying yes to something dodgy). Layah confirmed that it was a good church so it’s alright, as long as we’re trusting her judgment ? A great surprise came when they started playing music to songs we did know. While everyone else sang in German, we sang in English (and mumbled when we couldn’t remember the words).

Aaaaaaand that’s a wrap to our first week. We’ve seen so much already and loved every minute.  We’ve also done very well in the food restriction department…although maybe not Buster, who seems to be keen on getting the full German experience package…

Keen for the next adventures in our journey!

L&J