Mini-OE to Germany–Day 9

Another farewell today. We will be leaving mum and dad and heading to Frankfurt today to see friends of Lilo and then stay a night with her uncle. It is hard for me to leave my parents. We had a great three days here. Yes we had again some difficulties but I think we resolved them. Those difficulties mainly resulted from me not being able to accept presents, especially when it is money. This makes it difficult for my parents to give me presents which results in awkward situations which make it difficult for me to accept presents. If you are now thinking I have a slight problem then you might not be completely wrong. 

We started our first longer Autobahn trip during daylight. When we arrived we drove in the dark. But now we could enjoy the German landscape flying past. Two things have changed quite a bit since we left. The cars on the road are almost all new. You don’t see many older cars anymore. With “older cars” I mean the cars we owned when we were young. The 10 year old cars which were cheap, caused problems every now and then and often had to be replaced after a  year or two because the engine blew up. Nowadays you only see modern new cars, peppered by the occasional older one. But they are the exception. And most cars are European. The Japanese car makers are not as represented as they were 13 years ago. Some years ago, the German government put a higher tax on older cars and also paid out some money if you turned in your older car. I think you got up to 2000 EUR for an old car. Many people sold their old cars and got a new one. I agree that this benefits the environment. And probably also the car manufacturers. But according to my parents this also led to many young people getting money from the bank for a new car.

The other experience we made is the way the Germans drive. We were a bit scared when we left for Europe because we knew it is war on German’s roads. When we lived there we had several situations each day which were straight out life threatening. Fast cars coming up from behind, flashing their lights were normal. But all the trip from Karlsruhe to Frankfurt. We had not one driver kicking us off the left lane and we never saw a middle finger raised towards us. And this was in the middle of the week, not on a weekend. Again, this was later explained by one of our relatives that the the police was giving people a high fine when they caught them misbehaving.

We arrived safe and sound in Egelsbach where our friends live which is about an hour south of Frankfurt. Nikki is a friend for Lilo from the time when she lived in this city. This was over 30 years ago. We visited them often and kept in touch with them when we lived in Germany. Thomas, her husband is a keen sailor and he taught Lilo wind surfing when they all lived together. He has a 470 and I had the chance to go out with him on a trip around a lake. He is very competitive and if there is another boat close by the trip automatically turns into a race. Back then I had my first spinnaker experience on his boat.

We again found that the people we left all those years ago haven’t changed a lot. Most of the friends we met and family we stayed with looked very young for their age. The same with Nikki and Thomas. Of course on closer inspection you see a bit more wrinkles and grey hair but they all look very good and healthy.

After a couple of hours chatting and enjoying German wine we left our friends and made our way to Sprendlingen, which is only a short trip from Egelsbach. Here we will stay with Lilo’s uncle Horst and aunt Gerda. Also her cousin Jochen lives in the same house with them. I must admit I wasn’t very much looking forward to this. In the past when we visited them on family occasions I felt very much as an outsider. This comes from the fact that Lilo’s family is very tight nit. At least her dad and his brothers and sister are. If they are together they forget that there are others in the room. So I was a bit complaining when Lilo told me about the schedule. Which I must admit was unfair. She loves her uncle. He is a dressmaker and tailor like her and they worked together in a company when Lilo finished her apprenticeship. She lived in the same house with them and they are very close.

We had a nice family dinner and were joined by Lilo’s cousin Jochen and his wife Kirsten Jochen is an enthusiastic cart driver and was telling stories about his races. You could feel the excitement and how much he loves his sport. This is a stark contrast to what other people told us. A few of Lilo’s family were talking about Jochen’s hobby in a bad way. He would spend so much money and he would be on the road taking part in races every weekend. I can only tell those people that he loves what he is doing. And why shouldn’t he then spend time and money on it? We can not judge from what we prefer to do with our money and time. And what better way to spend is there than spending it on something you love?

After dinner Lilo was chatting with her aunt and I was talking to her uncle. Host told me about  his past, his life when they were still in East Germany, how they left East Germany and how he started a new life in west Germany. I love listening to stories like this. I think it is so important to learn how our ancestors and our family lived, loved and suffered. In situations like this I wish I would have a tape recorder with me.

We went to bed at 1 am! I will never ever complain that Lilo’s family is not talking to me. Never ever again!

The next day after the usual German breakfast we left for Wuppertal and Lilo’s dad.