Since the entire trip was in celebration of our 5 year anniversary, we didn't plan any special night out. We did, however, find ourselves dining with Clemens' entire family at their home in Leonberg (roughly 15 minutes outside of Stuttgart).
Chris and I were a bit nervous for the event, as we didn't really know what to expect. Upon arriving, we were met at the door by Angelika and Fritz (his parents). In broken English, Angelika greeted both Chris and I with a hug and immediately invited us in. From there we were greeted by Ferdinand, his wife Maren, and their two children Friederich (5 weeks), and "The Franz" (3).
The mood was pretty relaxed as we made our way through a formal coffee and cake session in their dining room. For those reading this that don't know anything about the family, I forgot to mention...Clemens' parents are fairly well off by German standards. Their apartment is roughly 2000 square feet, with a 180 degree view of the town of Leonberg, and a distant view of the Black Forest. Its styling borders on that of a museum with all white furniture and well placed artwork everywhere. While the tone of the event was relaxed, there was no doubt that Chris and I had to put on our formal dining faces.
After some fantastic coffee and cake, we all departed for a local restaurant in downtown Leonberg. We were seated in an old (16th century) wine cellar for dinner. Fritz and I carried on quite a conversation about the differences in business between the states and Germany, this was the one topic that really seemed to get him to start chatting away. Angelika chatted away at Chris as we all watched "The Franz" make his way through the German version of Hailey's favorite meal "bratwurst und pommes". After polishing off 4 bottles of wine, we decided that dinner was over and headed home for the night.
While it wasn't the stereotypical anniversary with the intimate 2 person dinner and romantic atmosphere. It sure was nice to be considered a part of the family and sit down for a nice family dinner in a very cool and beautiful restaurant.
Unfortunately, we got no pictures of this event...the camera was in my pocket the entire time.
More articles and pictures to come...
Shane and Chris
