Imagine my surprise when both Lufthansa Airlines as well as the Deutsche Bahn didn’t run on time.  Years ago a person could set their watch by the trains, but no longer.  My flight to Vancouver was delayed by 40 minutes which made me a bit nervous as I had a tight turnaround in Frankfurt to get the train to Stuttgart.  I needn’t have worried, as the train was also delayed, so all was well.

On my return the train was stuck in one of the stations longer than expected so it was running late, and I thought oh no, but should’ve known.  As I ran to the gate for my Lufthansa flight home, I learned the flight was delayed by two and a half hours.  I chatted with people and we’re all pretty much like beaten mules, just shrugging, and taking the punishment.

But I’m happy to report all the time between the actual travel was excellent.  I stayed with mom’s cousin Doris, who is 92 and I’m very pleased to tell you we polished off two 26-ers of vodka in the two weeks I was there.  I told the relatives vodka and orange juice is called a screwdriver, and the translation for that tool is a schraubenzier, so we would say would you like a schraubenzier and enjoy our joke.

Speaking of adorable things my cousin Heilke drove me around to the very cute towns nearby.  Southern German is beautiful and in the fall driving through the deciduous forests was magical, sometimes spotting a castle perched high atop a hill. It had rained quite a bit so the farmer’s fields were the most vivid shade of green.

My gramma was a fantastic cook and I grew up eating Schwabisch food, and so I adored all of the things I got to eat there.  Spaetzle are a hand-made pasta which I ate on a couple of occasions smothered in dark gravy.  I got to eat my mom’s cousin Hannelore’s sauerbraten and also her Zwiebel kuchen.  Heilke’s best friend Monica invited us for coffee, as did my Schiller relatives, and we were presented with the most wonderful tortes.

I think my favourite part of the trip was having coffee in the morning with Doris.  As an homage to that memorable time, I’m going to return to the old Melita coffee filter method my gramma used and which I substituted with the French press.  We simply can’t get the kind of bread you can get in Germany.  Doris and I would eat this ambrosia untoasted, slathered in fresh butter and topped with jam, sipping our marvelous brew and enjoying each other’s company.

Have I mentioned how large my stomach is on the photos?  I was disappointed in my hair as well, but decided to ignore the negatives and focus on the positive.  For instance, I was almost able to cope with my carry-on but caved and bought two sweaters at a second-hand store, and I also managed to get two and a half kilos of chocolate into my suitcase.

As it turned out, at the Ritter Sport Factory store one can get a whole bag of assorted chocolates cheaper than by buying them individually so I thought why not?  Though I must say the times I had to heave that bag into the overhead compartment and act like it was the prescribed weight was no picnic.  All in all, a wonderful trip.