Travel during the holidays can be a challange-- especially when the travel is about 40% around the world. This travel time I seemed to have gotten out of Seattle just in time, as the airports experienced hellacious delays and cancallations just hours after my flight from Seattle to Dussoldorph.
There is something very special about Germany during the holidays-- with the open Christmas markets, loaded with one of a kind trinkets, plenty of gluvine and some of the most delicious delights known to man--freshly cooked waffles with Cherry toppings, backfisch, potato pancakes, thuringer sausages--just to name a few things. It all feels very merry indeed. This is the second Christmas we have spent here in the Weimar Republic and each of them were very special and relaxing.
The one minor thing about spending the new year in Germany is the time between Christmas and new years-- the country literally shuts down during this time of the year, which can proved to be a little bit dull. Lili and I were both aware of this slowdown and started to consider places to go during the time--and since it might be the last time that I am here for a while, we considered both Munich and England--and decided to go and visit my Dad's Cousin Andy, his wife Mandy and their three lovely children, Jacob, Jemma and Ben Furbish (or Furbirino, as he prefers to be called).
It was nothing short of a brillant stay-- we arrived late Monday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon-- 6 nights and 5 days in all and most of it was simply spent getting to know a part of the family which I have always loved from afar-- Jacob and Mr. Furbirino I had never met before in person.
The highlight of the trip was the 70's New Year party, held at the local Community Center.. As you can see by the pictures, we had a wonderful time!!
The best part of the trip was seeing a side of my father that I have never known. I had always wanted to visit the areas where he grew up, but was only there when I was a young kid. Seeing and understanding that community where he is from helps me understand things from his point of view-- as we get older I think all of us has a harder time to understand other peoples perceptions--we see the world through our own rose coloured glasses and that is it, sometimes. Travelling to the Isle of Wight allowed me to see and hear the stories of my father and his family before he moved to the States and to walk the same streets he walked as a child, which was an important thing for me to do.
It was also good to spend time with family, something I don't really get to do very often as my family has become split over the years and doesn't communicate as well as they should-- over the years people change and too much tension builds up over the years and people lose touch. No matter how much I want to battle against this kind of thing, I know that I will fall victim to the same problem when the years go by. It's an easy thing to happen, we all get busy in our lives and if the rearview mirror doesn't look so bright, we don't bother to look back at such things.
Anyway, thats my two cents for now.
