Mini-OE to Germany–Day 13 and 14

On the road again … this time from Wuppertal to Brandenburg. Which is on hour west of Berlin. There is another camp of Lilo's relatives. Lilo’s mum and dad come from this area and she has 2 uncles and one aunt form her dad’s side living there. They all live in one house which is in the family since 1912. There are also aunties and uncles from Lilo’s mother’s side living in the same city. Auntie Baerbel and her husband Klaus will be our hosts for the time here in Brandenburg.

The drive was very interesting. The first thing we found was that the country is sprinkled with wind turbines. They are everywhere. We already knew from a friend but it still looked interesting. They have whole fields with turbines all over the place. These modern windmills are huge. I would guess that one wing is about 25 – 30 meters. What would Don Quixote have made of these monsters?

We eventually drove through some of the parts of Germany where they breed cattle. but we only saw some of the usual black and white Friesian cows. I don’t think there is much cattle farming going on anymore.

We crossed over the former border to East Germany. There are still some watch towers and there is a memorial which sadly wasn’t signposted so we missed the exit and just drove past. It is a strange feeling I drove through East Germany to Berlin when I was younger and still remember the depressed feeling we got when we were checked by East German solders who pointed their rifles at us.

After a long drive we eventually arrived in Brandenburg. The city is surrounded by water. There are many lakes and the river Havel is meandering through the city. It is a beautiful part of Germany and the city is very well restored. It is actually more beautiful than it ever was during the Socialist Regime, so I was told by Lilo’s uncle who was born here.

We struggled to find the place where Lilo’s aunt lives and had to ask for the way. One of the two old ladies we asked told Lilo she would know her from somewhere. “You look familiar. have we met before?” “Not if you haven’t been to New Zealand recently” Lilo replied. They didn’t even know Lilo’s aunt Baerbel. Still, Lilo looked familiar to them.

After a combined effort we eventually found the place where they live. I was so surprised how the place has changed. It was a garden holiday house before and they fought to get a permit to convert it to a proper house. They wanted to add a second level but weren’t allowed to do so. Although they are surrounded by houses, some even with a number of apartments, the planning office insisted there are no buildings around them and so they couldn’t build a house there. It came to a court ruling and a meeting n site. The council person looked very silly when the judge showed her the “invisible” houses. They eventually got a permit for a “holiday home extension” which allowed them to add another level and also change some parts of the house. This created a fully functioning and very nice one bedroom house with a beautiful garden.

We received a very warm welcome and immediately felt at home here. I love Baerbel and Klaus very much. They are simple people and are very warm and open hearted. They let us sleep in their bedroom upstairs with an ensuite and slept on the couch downstairs for the three nights.

We were soon sitting in the garden, enjoying some great coffee and cake and were chatting away. We spent Monday with talking and eating – just as usual.

Tuesday was the day we were visiting the house Lilo’s dad grew up. His sister, Auntie Elfie and his two brothers, Uncle Guenter and Uncle Otto still live here as well as some cousins from Lilo. The house is in the family since 1912.

Klaus and Baerbel drove us to the place. When we walked up the stairs I could already see the backyard decorated with a German and a New Zealand flag. A gazebo was put up and all looked like a bigger event than I expected. But first – lunch. Will it ever stop? We ate our way through Germany. Lunch was pork roast and cauliflower with potatoes and gravy. Again, traditional German. We also met Anneliese who is the first wife of Lilo’s uncle we visited some days ago in Frankfurt, She lives in Berlin and joined the festivities. We learned that it is not only us they celebrate that day but also one of the daughters of Lilo’s cousin who had her 20iest birthday.

We later joined the small crowed in the back yard and many more showed up over time. We soon were about 25 – 30 people I guess. It was a great mix of young and old across several generations. We had a great time.

Oh and I got one of those from Marianne, she is my favourite Auntie now:

Just before we were picked up we were shown the apartment of Guenter and Marianne. Guener is a very young looking 86 year old and I was surprised about the modern look of his apartment. But the main reason why we climbed up the many stairs was to have a look at his models. He builds boats from wood. Many of his models are build from scratch using traditional methods and material and he even makes most of the hardware himself. Two boats he built without a plan or measurements, just out of his memory as an owner of these boats. His skill is tremendous and I could have spent more time there but our “drivers” were waiting.

We had a wonderful time again and ate too much as usual.

So far this holidays are absolutely wonderful Not one of the worries I had about some relatives or having a bad time sitting in living rooms with boring aunties hasn’t materialised at all. The opposite – we have such a great time with any of our family and friends which makes it really hard to move on. What will tomorrow bring?