~Duetchland~

Waking up in the very early hours of December the 14th I had that irresistible sense of excitement, a little bit of nervousness, and perhaps a touch of wonder i get when ever I'm about to set out on a journey. This time was a little different though, not only because we woke up very very late and were in quite a rush to get out the door, but also because this journey was one that I had only ever dreamed I would be taking. I was the first person to arrive at the airport that morning, and I promptly set up camp on one of the vacant benches where I slept, read, and chatted for the next five hours of waiting.

As my plane approached Stuttgart I caught my first glimpses of the wintry wonderland that would be my home for the next week. Since Stuttgart was not my final destination however, I had to get on the metro and go to the train station where I could purchase tickets to Saabrucken. As most of you probably know I speak little to nothing in german, so the purchasing of a ticket was being a rather complicated procedure, until a very nice young man came over, promptly told me I looked rather confused, and offered his help. About a minute later I stood there with tickets in had, and looking up to thank my helper, found that he had disappeared. I've labeled him my angel in disguise. My first European train experience proved to be a very pleasant one as I rushed on to Saarbrucken where my friend Hanna picked me up when I arrived. What followed was one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

The next morning, a Tuesday, Hanna and I took of on a walk through her little village and the surrounding coutryside, where I took so many pictures Hanna made a point of laughing at me for it. But how could I help myself!? I was in Germany, where I had always wanted to go, trekking through light snow and hills unlike any other place I had been. Granted all the places I've lived have been rather flat, Between the Amazon and Kansas you don't get very many mountains or even hills for that matter. That evening we explored the town and visited the Christmas market, where we pointed and laughed as, with much fanfare, Santa Clause pulled by eight reindeer flew over the market from one roof top to the next. Europe's Christmas markets go all out!

(Middle: Saarbrucken, Bottom: Christmas market!)

Wednesday proved to be a relaxing day of relaxing by the fireside, reading, and movies topped of by an evening spent with Hanna's discipleship group at a traditional all you can eat "flammkuchen hause" Flammkuchen is something very similar to pizza, only it has a very thin crust and usually doesn't have tomatoe sause.
There are all kinds of different toppings including sweet ones. It was delicious! After having a gift exchange and the group leaders home (they even got something for me!) we headed home to Hanna's for a good nights rest to be followed the next morning by one of the most cherished moments of that leg of my journey.

Thursday morning I woke up to a light fluffy snow falling down out side my window, and so was thrilled when Hanna's mom drove us out to the stables to go horse back riding.  The Krumm's have a few horses since Hanna's mother works with disabled children and horse back riding as a kind of therapy. Hanna led the horse up and around through ever snowier fields, leaving my hands free to take even more pictures of all the white hills dotted with horses grazing.

 Friday was our day on the town. After spending the morning ice skating, and making complete fools of ourselves we headed home only to return that after noon for a very productive afternoon of shopping. One thing that I love about europe, and especially this little town is that very little of our shopping time was spent in malls, it was all set on two or three shop lines streets that we would walk down, peering in windows and getting a few breaths of fresh air in between stores. It was lovely. I suppose it's something similar to the "plazas" they are starting to build now in the States instead of malls. Or perhaps it's always like that in bigger cities. At any rate I was a very happy girl by the time we had enjoyed a little break at a cafe and headed home again.

Saturday was Hanna's birthday! So we made a delicious breakfast complete with home made coffee cake, all sorts of german breads, lunch meats, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, and more. The night before I suppose God had decided to give Hanna, or rather me a wonderful gift of heaps and heaps of snow, that coated all the world around tuning everything into a glittering wonderland. So after the guests had left Hanna and  I headed out on our snow walk from her village to the next one, and back. If Hanna thought I had taken too many pictures on our first walk, she was in for a surprise during this little excursion where I only returned the camera to my coat pocket when the lens got so cold it very nearly had a coat of frost over it. The evening was followed by a delicious meal out at a fancy resturant to celebrate Hanna's birthday.

Sunday was my last morning in Saarbrucken, and the beginning of a new adventure, as all who have read my blog are well aware of. My time in Germany was one of the best weeks of my life, I'm not sure I'll be able to top that excursion for a long time! I was able to spend time with one of my great friends, stand in awe of God's beautiful creation (in this case many times the snow-which I like to think was falling at times just because He knew how special it was to me) delicious food ( with veggies!!!!!!!=D ) and as I have said memories to last me a life time. It couldn't have been a better beginning to my vacation.