Augsburg, Germany

After our fun filled few days in Munich, my grandfather's girlfriend's family became our hosts and tour guides for a few days a bit North of the city, near Augsburg. Now, none of them actually LIVE there- they all live in these little farm villages outside of the city, which was so interesting to see.


Bethanne and I stayed with Aunt Hildie, who is in her mid-seventies and barely speaks English. She had the best beds ever!! The only problem is that the German's just don't believe in heat or something. The house was so cold, I swear you could see your breath in the morning. Getting out of that down bed to go to the bathroom was like torture.
Our first night there was my actual 30th birthday (the 27th), so Poppy arranged for Heidi's ENTIRE family to meet for dinner at a local restaurant. About 18 people. I have no idea what it is really called, because Heidi calls it Hanz and Franz. (They claim those are the names of the owners). So, I had a fun birthday dinner at Hanz and Franz in the country of Germany, with a table of English-challenged relatives. It was so much fun!Now here's the thing- due to their strong Germany accents, they have a hard time saying the word Bethanne. It comes out as... Bat Man. So for two days, this group of people got a kick out of the fact my sister's name was Bat Man.


We spent a day with cousin Seppe, who took us around to some smaller towns on the Romantic Road, showed us his country club (the golf course was so cool) and took us to his house for a cocktail. In one of the towns, we climed up to the top of a cathedral for a better look- little did we know it was 350 steep stairs up the bell tower! Shoot me. Poppy found a nice place to sit down and have a beer while we trecked it up to the top.

Dinner that night was at Uncle Oskar's farmhouse. A special little turkey based dinner for Bat Man, since she does not like ham and that seems to be all they really eat. The house was so neat- they literally converted a barn into a house! Heidi found an ancient tractor, and Okcar actually started it up for us to show it off. I have never seen so much dust and dirt kick up!All in all, it was a really nice few days, and Heidi's family went out of their way to keep us busy and make sure that we were taken care of (and fed). It was so interesting to see how the people of Germany really live, rather than be in a big city hotel. When Seppe picked us up to drive to the train station for our trip to France, we had to stop the car to let a herd of sheep run across the road....