I began my Easter holidays with a bad start. Cynthia and I had booked train tickets to London Euston on the weekend and had to collect them at a ticket machine, however, when we got there the machine said that we had already collected them. We had paid seperately and only my email had a booking reference, so we had a fair amount of trouble getting our tickets, but we were determined not to have to buy new ones. Our determination paid off, 2.5 hours later we were given special authority tickets and were finally on the train. We stayed at Jacques for two nights and met Fränzi at the airport. Jacques and Cynthia went on an earlier flight to Fran and I. We struck the most evil of evil security ladies and consequently had a fight with her, all because I left my mobile and some coins in my pocket. "The UK is under serious terrorist threat" she kept on saying, i would reply with my bitchiest tone "Yeah well guess what, so is Australia, and there, forgetting to take something out of your pocket is not something to make a scene out of!" She made Fran strip down to just about a bra infront of about 200 people because the lady thought Fran's top was a jumper and so she had to remove it. The other security guards agreed with us, that the psychotic cow was in the wrong. Gah!
We arrived in Düsseldorf and met Fränzi's mother and younger half brother; Amelie and Alexander. That night we went to an 18th birthday party, it was very tame, just sitting around playing celebrity heads, i think we were all in a bit of shock at the surrealness of the situation. Throughout the next 8 days we did heaps of things. It was Easter Sunday the day after we arrived. We went to mass and on the way out were given dyed eggs which we ate on the way home. We had a big Easter egg hunt and had breakfast. Went to Fran's dad's house for lunch and went for a bike ride through the countryside. We went to Fran's grandmother's for dinner on monday night after we played in the fresh snow all afternoon. Her grandmother lives in a big mansion and has stables where she keeps her 7 golden retrievers which she breeds. We played 'hatze' (chasey) with all the little cousins. We went to Köln - Cologne, on tuesday and climbed the 600 odd steps of the Köln Dom (Cathedral) in the snow for a fantastic view of the city. Went to a chocolate museum and Lindt chocolate factory, and a walk around the streets. On Wednesday Fee (Fränzi's sister) took us to Düsseldorf where we went to a lovely fresh produce market where we all bought a punnet of delicious juicy strawberries.
On Thursday I took Cynthia and Jacques to the ski hall where I taught them to ski for the first time. Although very crowded, we still had a great day. On Friday we went to Fräanzi's grandfather's castle, cycling 60km to get there and back. We ate yummy home made soup and then on the way back we had spaghetti ice-cream, a specialty of Germany. On Friday night we went to a bizarre party. I don't quite know what was the nost amusing part: the softdrink bottle containing a foul alcoholic cocktail handed to Jacques for us to drink, the fact that everybody (including us)rode bikes to the party so that when we arrived at the house we could have mistaken it for an outdoor, night time bike shop, or the very intoxicated girl that was all over poor Jacques for the entire evening, completely embarrassing herself. All in all, it was a very memorable experience.
On Saturday we went to Venlo in Holland. It was really pretty, we had a good wander through the 'carless' streets, peering into almost every shop and at the end of the day ate some Poffertjes! Yum! On Sunday we had a full day going around the Eiffel region of Germany, planned by Fran's stepfather. We went to castles, churches, S.S. training facilities ad finally to a beautiful little town in the mountains called Monshau where there was an absolutely massive christmas decoration shop so I of course bought mum one and then went off to a nice restaurant where Fran's mum and stepfather shouted us lunch. We then, exhausted from such a big long day, went home. On Monday we went to Fraänzi's school which was interesting. None of the students listen to the teacher and just talk each other, apart from Fran and a couple of friends. In the afternoon we had a frantic post office experience ten went to Moers, a city very close to Fran's town, where we had yet more spaghetti ice-cream and had a look at the shops. On Tuesday I got up early and went to München - Munich on the fast train - 280km/h! Got off the train and was met by Julian, smiling and looking as happy as always!
