European Wednesday

I have been looking forward to writing about this day for quite some time now. The problem with that is, is now I have all sorts of things I want to write about and it has been difficult to pick a spot to start from. So as it is with all great things there is a beginning, and my European experiences just so happen to begin with Germany.

A quick introduction as to why I was in Germany the first time was because of my stepfather, who happens to be German. Without revealing too many details of a personal nature, we simply had to go for urgent family business and I was fortunate enough to be involved. We were to meet someone in northern Germany in a little town known as Hennstedt that would help us with vital information we had been searching for.

My trip to Hennstedt, Germany, has been one of the most life altering experiences I have ever had. As a kid I read books and watched movies and learned about history and always wondered what it would be like to travel to a little town in Europe. I must admit that my expectations were fully met and then some. We stayed with a family that lived just a bit outside of town, down a dirt road lined with tall tress and nestled around what I seem to remember as hundreds of christmas trees. The family knew very little English, so there was a definite language barrier, but we managed to get a long with our broken bits and pieces of one another's native tongue. What I remember most is how they ate. I was a teenager at the time so naturally food was constantly on my mind. We ate on circular wooden plates, no plastic dish ware was to be found here. Every meal the food would be laid out across the table, ripe for the picking and choosing. Breakfast being the most expansive and diverse of them all. Wonderful kinds of breads, amazing cheeses and savory meats. When eating in Germany remember to keep both of your hands on the table, clean your plate and when finished have your knife and fork placed on your plate and titled toward your right hand. Meal times are something to be enjoyed and taken at a slow conversational pace. It's called etiquette, something I am highly impressed by and believe to be something we do not have nearly enough of here in America anymore. This is solely my opinion and may be quite subjective, but it's my blog and I may say what I wish.

Hennstedt has an amazing aesthetic appeal to it that is hard to explain. Maybe it's because I am drawn in by my own imagination and make it out to be something more than it is. Germany has many modern buildings and technology but there are also the special places that feel like stepping back in time and gives a glimpse into what the world once was. It's getting close to eight years since that trip and we still keep in touch with the family we stayed only a few short days with.

"Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was." ~Will Rogers