Again, it’s been ages since my
last blog and I apologise for being so crappy at it. I only generally write
when I have something exciting to tell or share, otherwise my life is pretty
normal the rest of the time and no one needs to hear about that. This blog
though, is going to be a day-by-day account (because I did so much each day,
which I just cannot summarise) about my trip that I did in Dec/Jan...It’s
loooooonnggg:)
I left Konstanz really early on
23 December to take a 5hr train to Obernburg, where the Klimmer family live.
They are the family I came to when I was on exchange in Grade 10 and the family
I visited again when on my gap year. Amy (kind of like my second sister) had
already travelled to the Klimmers 2days before and had kindly paid for my ticket
up too. Once I got there, we decorated the tree and made ourselves pizza in
their pizza ovens. Germans celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve so most of the
table, food and preparation was done on the morning of the 24th. We
then went to an early evening Church service and then went home to feast. We
sang carols before opening presents and then all the girls took part in some
crazy photos. On the 25th, we woke up late and had crepes for lunch
because the Klimmers also own their own crepe pan. We celebrated again with a
big meal for dinner and with the other grandparents and cousins at their house.
More carols, presents, wine and singstar. The 26th was spent
recovering from our food comas and chilling. We stayed up playing detective
games till midnight to wait until Franzi’s birthday. At 11am the next day we
celebrated her birthday with the whole family and ate pretzel, weisswurst and beer. I then packed my bags and for
dinner, some of Franzi’s friends came too. We only landed up going to bed at about
2am, which was a bit stupid since I was getting up in 5hrs time for my train.
On 28th I left on my
train to pick up Felix in Munich Airport. I literally didn’t know how I was
going to keep all that excitement in me for 4hrs before I would see him. God
knew, because I landed up sitting next to a really interesting guy and we
chatted the whole way! He even bought me a coffee and gave me some foreign
currency in Riyals (I think?!), so time went a lot faster. I trekked across
the airport and waited about 30mins for Felix to come through and for us to
finally start our travels. We successfully made the 8hr trek across Germany
into France by train, leaving us really exhausted by now. We were greeted
in Breaute Beuzeville by Amy, Terry
and Eric at midnight. We got treated to some scallops and wine in Eric’s
amazing Chateau before flopping into bed. The 29th was sadly the
only full day we got to spend with them so we walked around the area and went
into town too. We ate an amazing lunch, visited friends for tea and then did a
last minute grocery shop so that we didn’t have to buy food in Paris. A huge
pot of mussels was eaten at dinner before we packed our bags ready for Paris in
the morning.
Sunday 30th we woke up
suuuuper tired but excited for a full day in Paris, especially since it was my
first time. After our 2hr train and metro ride, we eventually found our
couchsurfer’s house but not before I walked over a bridge and started screaming
when I first saw the Eiffel tower, haha. We got settled into our place and
walked to the Eiffel tower, took pictures but didn’t go up because the line was
too long. We walked around the gardens there and took the metro to the Louvre,
but decided not to go in since it was closing soon. We carried on wandering
around and rode on a huuuuge ferris wheel, just like our date on Christmas day
in 2011 at the Cape Town Waterfront. We then decided to test our legs even
further and walked the Champs-elysees, which had a Christmas market on the
whole way. Felix tasted Gluhwein for the first time and then promptly peed
against a tree, while I had to keep look-out because you had to pay for the
public loos. Hilarious. We had dinner and a crepe and then walked to the Arc de
Triomphe. We just missed going up by a few minutes so instead took photos and
then used to the metro to get to the business district of Paris, where the
huuuuge modern "La Defense" was. Finally, we took the metro home, had
tea with Tristi and her friends and fell asleep to her music from nature. Another early day on 31st and we
headed straight to the Louvre again but decided against it when we saw the line
was hideously long. Felix found a good deal on roasted chestnuts and we walked
to the Notre Dame and then to the Shakespeare and Co. Bookshop afterwards.
Felix peed around a corner again but this time I refused to be the look-out. We
walked to Pantheon and then had lunch at Mc Donald’s and
catching up on warmth, wifi and toilet. We walked through Jardin du Luxembourg
and chilled at the water. We bought some baguettes and went home to make a
picnic for us for midnight. We then took the metro to Moulin Rouge and ate a
crepe before it started raining and we headed to Sacre Coeur. There was still a
church service going on and we got to go inside and take shelter from the rain.
We did get shushed by the woman in front of us for talking though, lol. We went
outside and waited for New Years with a whole bunch of other people. Fireworks
went off and we drank some wine and then started on our journey home, which
turned into a disaster. All transport was free for new years so all the trains
were really full and rowdy. We jumped off at a stop when a man in front of us
puked all over the floor and then got told that all metros have stopped now
because of over-crowding and it was becoming dangerous. So, at 1.30am and
without an umbrella, Felix and I started our 45min walk home in the rain,
beginning the year on an epic note.
New Year’s day we had to be up
really early to catch our international train at 7.30am, and we were already
bushed from the night before. We eventually arrived in Konstanz and chilled
with my family and had some cocktails with them and their friends that evening.
From 2nd-4th January I had to look after the kids during
the day, but in the evenings we went to the hot thermal pools, had a wander and
some ice cream in the city centre and then Felix treated me to a dinner in town
at a Mexican restaurant. On the 5th we chilled all day and watched
“Love Actually” and then had raclette for dinner. On the 6th we took
a train to Zurich and went into the Zurich museum, looked at the Polybahn,
walked along the river and saw the Grossmunster (Church). We also found a hill
that overlooked the river and took some cool photos there before walking the
pretty street of Augistinergasse. We bought some cheap, reduced food at the
supermarket (like typical student travellers do) and then hopped on our train
home to Konstanz, which is only 1,5hrs away. We came across a parade happening
in the city centre and stayed to watch some music and display of some sort with
really loud, large whips being smacked around?!
On Monday, it was a normal
working day for me and the kids going back to school, so Felix left that
afternoon to visit Freddie in Augsburg. Tuesday was just a normal working day
and Wednesday 9th I left on a train to Augsburg too. Freddie’s
grandparents made us lunch and tea later and then we went into town for the
evening. We played some pool and then went home to sort out our snow day we
wanted to have the next day. Up until then, it hadn’t snowed once since Felix
had arrived, so we were determined to enjoy it somewhere. On Thursday 10th
we took a train to Oberstdorf and then took the cable car up to the first
station stop on the mountain. We paid for 2hrs of use for ski things and tried
the ski bikes first on the slopes. At first it was really scary for me but soon
we were flying all around the place and making such fools of ourselves. We also
looked a bit out of place since we didn’t really have proper ski clothes, I was
wearing jeans for one, and Freddie had normal shoes on. We had so much fun and
then decided to upgrade to the ski lift to tackle bigger slopes. After the ski
lift hit me on the back and went over my head three times, while everyone in
the line just stood and glared at me, I eventually got it under my bum and was
lifted up the hill. Felix and Freddie also didn’t have much luck the first time
and also had trouble getting off the lift at the top, which proved to be
equally hilarious. It wasn’t too cold and only started snowing near the end of
our playtime, and then we took the cable car down again and our train home to
Augsburg. We packed our bags, showered and had dinner and a nap before Felix
and I left again on a train to Munich Airport again at midnight. We arrived and
slept on benches till his check-in time and then said a teary goodbye as I left
on my train and he left on his flight home to SA. With hardly any sleep, it
made the 5hr train ride to Freiburg that much faster and easier. Franzi picked
me up from the station and we walked around the town, saw their famous church
and went up the hill to see a view of Freiburg. We had lunch and chilled at
home before watching “Silver Linings Playbook” at the cinema that evening. On
Saturday 12th I slept late while Franzi had to work and then we went
to her volleyball game in another town. I then took my train home to Konstanz
and couldn’t believe my biiiiig travelling trip was now all over and it had
flown by!
