Yes, visiting Germany again! Couple of weeks ago I wrote that despite all prejudice Germany is a really cool holiday destination. For me going to Germany is a mix between new adventure and travel back in time as mostly I go to Germany to visit my family in Trier. It’s not different this time. Long weekend with my amazing aunt and fabulous cousins.
Welcome to Trier
In my tops and flops – places post I’ve mentioned that Trier is considered the oldest city in Germany, founded by the Celts in the 4th century and then conquered by Romans. As I’ve been here a couple of times, I saw all the cool ruins and the cathedral but never was on a Moselle River tour. That changed today. In the afternoon I got the ticket and jumped on board. Despite the wind it was really cool especially as on board you could order local wine. Not sure if you know that the Moselle region is famous for it’s Riesling wine. Wine for lunch, oh yes! The tour took two hours and after I went for a walk at the riverbank and discovered a Ferris wheel, of course I went for a ride. It wasn’t as big as the London Eye for example but still I could see the panorama of the whole city.
After the sightseeing I returned to my aunt’s apartment and saw it! The döner place I used to go to when I was a kid. Despite not eating fast food apart from pizza I had to stop by and order a döner. Man, it tasted exactly the same as 20 years ago. No regrets as today evening I will burn all the calories from that döner while doing yoga 😀
Before I tell you something about my family, I have to say that there is one thing that makes Germany the most fantastic country ever! Cigarette vending machines. Nope, it’s not a joke. In Poland when I run out of cigarettes during the evening, I need to search for a 24h liquor store where they also sell cigarettes. In Germany you have vending machines with cigarettes on every street corner. Additionally, in some restaurants you have special smoking areas and besides when you smoke in the street nobody is looking at you like some kind of cancer spreading alien. See USA you could learn something from Germany!
The Family
I absolutely love visiting my relatives in Trier. My aunt Maggy is the warmest and loveliest person ever. Well, she is also my godmother, and she does look a bit like the godmother from Cinderella. Every time I visit her, the most important question she asks is – shall I get you your favourite Haribo jellies from the supermarket 😀 I adore her as she is the most open minded, funniest and crazy person I’ve met. Not to mention that the both of us are very alike. Guess from whom I got the traveling, adventure and smoking gene? Yup, exactly from her! When I was a kid, every time I did something that didn’t fit into the picture, my grandma used to say – exactly like your aunt. Thing is that I am close with my aunt Maggy. I tell her stuff I wouldn’t dare to tell my Mum. Maggy doesn’t judge, only tries to understand. Additionally, her sense of humour would bring up a smile even on the grumpiest face. It’s simply impossible not to laugh while being in her presence. The both of us love to sit on the balcony in the morning, drink coffee and smoke a cigarette – that’s our understanding of the perfect breakfast. And when we don’t see each other, we speak on the phone at least once every two weeks. Hope that shortly Maggy will be able to come to Kraków for a counter visit… oh god, all the crazy shit the both of us could do! Unthinkable!
There are also my cousins: Linda, Ann and Seb. The four of us always had fun together. I remember a time when Linda and I were obsessed about two things: Diddl Mouse and Pokemons. We had Diddl toys, Diddl pens and Diddl letter paper. Pokemon however has a funny story behind it. In 2000 when aunt Maggie and my cousins visited Poland I went back to Trier with them for the end of the summer. At that time Linda was collecting Pokemon pictures printed in the daily newspaper. When the family was in Poland, Linda missed like three weeks of pics. Not all was lost as I had an idea. I asked my cousin – when was the last time the garbage was collected? Hmmm the garbage is due every four weeks, she replied. I thought…. let’s go and search in the garbage bins for the last three weeks’ newspaper editions. As we thought, so we did. Linda and I searched all the garbage bins that were in front of the apartment building. We were extremely lucky as we found nearly all editions from the newspaper from the past three weeks. Don’t have to mention how much fun we had while searching for the Pokemon pics.
Somehow it happened that I didn’t see my cousins for 20 years… Well, it is somehow my fault as I was focused too much on university, work and relationships, forgetting how much fun it is to hang out with them. Last year however when all of us saw each other again after all those years it was like time had stopped and we still had crazy ideas or played Nintendo together. Only now it’s even more fun as my cousin Seb makes fantastic drinks. Today for example I went to the city for a quick sightseeing tour and when I came back Seb opened the apartment door and said – finally I was about to text you as it’s time for our afternoon drink 😀 What a great guy!
There is also my cousin Ann, who a couple of weeks back got a baby. Yesterday I met her son and despite not being a baby fan, I have to admit that the little one is extremely cute.
Also, yesterday was the first time I was holding a baby in my arms. I was always afraid that I could accidently hurt a baby while holding it as they are quite fragile. It turned out to be the exact opposite. The little one didn’t even cry while I was holding him so I think I had to do it correctly. As a bonus Ann asked if I would like to give the baby the bottle. God I was terrified but looked at it as a challenge and said yes. Well, I need to have some training to be a good aunt lately for him. It was also kinda cool have to admit, especially as the little one is a very calm kid and laughs quite often. So yeah, first training in being the best aunt ever done!
To be frank I actually couldn’t wait to come over to Trier for the long weekend. It’s so much fun spending time with the family and we do laugh a lot and make jokes of each other. The most important however is that each of us has a nickname. Maggie – horsy, Linda – cow, Seb – piggy, Ann – lamb and Alice – pussy. No wrong ideas please, we have nicknames after farm animals. On top of that as we are a modern farming family there are also parrots. Seb has two – Daki and Besti called Les Oiseaux and have to admit they do bring a huge joy with their singing in the morning… radio or Spotify not needed 😀
Indeed Alice 