Day 1 - Jet Lag

So we left Sunday the 16th after church from National Airport - and had a connection in Philly. We arrived in Philly on time and then waited 45 minutes on the tarmac because they didn't have a gate for us. The problem was we landed at 3 PM and my connection was at 4:05 PM - so the extra 45 minutes was NOT a good thing for us to be sitting on the plane. We barely made our connection but I was so happy that we got on the plane because I did not want to be stranded in Philly and not get to Germany at our appointed time.

We arrived at Frankfurt am Main airport at 6 am (German time) which would have been midnight our time. The mission was to stay awake as much as possible to reduce our jet lag. This was easier for Jasmine than for me as she slept about 6 hours on the flight and despite all my efforts, I could not fall asleep.

Rainer (Ute's dad who I call Papa) was there to pick us up but much to my frustration, the car seat made it to Germany but not the luggage (you all must know that this was my third time in Germany and my luggage never has arrived at the same time as me!). They promised they would deliver it to us later on that evening (which thankfully, at 8 PM that night they did). We drove the 1.5 hours to Wurzburg and I was in Paradise - the thing I love about Europe is that it rarely changes and Wurzburg hadn't changed in the nine years I had been away.

We settled into Omi's house (Ute's grandma) and took some well-deserved naps. After the nap, we had lunch and then went out for some fresh air. Papa took us to the riverside so Jasmine could play on a playground and get out some energy and run around. She absolutely loved it. She saw ducks in the river and almost ran directly into the river (she would have if I had not run after her and caught her) screaming, "Ducks, Patos, I'll hold you, I'll hold you" with her arms outstretched! It was the cutest thing you ever saw.

After the jaunt in the park we headed back to get ready for dinner - Papa had planned to take us to the Waldhaus (a restaurant I have been to many times - family favorite) where Ute's wedding dinner would be taking place that Friday night. Ute wanted to discuss the plans with the owners and so this was a great opportunity for us to have a nice meal and get things done. It was really nice but the one thing I realized about Germany this time that I had not thought about before was that a meal in a restaurant takes a long time. Germans enjoy and savor their food and the company of those they dine with. A dinner typically runs 2 hours or more. There is no rushing to churn and burn tables like there is here. It is nice for adults but can be difficult when a child is hungry and when they are done, they don't want to sit around waiting for everyone else. Many restaurants we went to had toys and other activities to entertain children with. I thought that was great and so did Jasmine. It was great to meet Reg that first day and see my long lost sister Ute - it seemed we had been seeing each other more often than every 4-5 years. It just reminded me how special our friendship is and she genuinely seemed happy that we were there. I even began a scary effort to speak my German - which everyone said wasn't bad despite the fact it had been 9 years since I seriously spoke it with anyone. As the week went on however, there were drastic improvements and I even amazed myself at how much of the language was buried in my brain and I was able to retrieve it!

After a good meal, and even better conversation it was time to go back to Omi's house for bedtime. I was grateful as by this time Jasmine and I were VERY tired! We slept well and dreamt about Day 2 of our European adventure!