Vacation in Saarland

Saarland-- A small German bundesland in the south-west on the border of France, not to be confused with Sauerland, which is in the bundesland Nord-rhein Westfallen. Many people barely know it exists, because 1) it's so small and out of the way and 2) it's changed hands between France and Germany a couple of times in the past couple hundred years, and has been part of Germany now only since WWII.

It's overwhelming to realize that farther north, close to where I live in Wesel, in the Ruhrgebiet, was one of the largest industrial areas which France forced Germany to shut down and unarm after WWI. Saarland also once had a huge industry, and though the area itself is so small, many wars were fought over it. But enough reminiscing of the past, let's talk about Jutta, Stefan and my trip.

It was hailing when we drove out of Wesel, but when we realized we had forgotten the air matress, we drove back to get it anyway. Good thing, too, because apparently I had forgotten my winter jacket as well. Not good when it's snowing and -10 Celsius in Saarland.

The five hour drive passed by without much incident. We saw snowflakes as we raced down the Autobahn, though we mistook them for leaves at first. At a pit stop at McDonalds I got really excited over a car which had the brand name "California: Generation." If you think that's lame, bear with it. These moments of reference to home are few and far between, so they are often special and amusing.

We arrived at Jutta's sister's apartment around 8. Gabi, Jutta's sister, came unexpectedly a bit later, and we decided to go to Döner Kebab for dinner. Jutta and Stefan wanted to take me to their favorite Döner restaurant, but it was unfortunately closed. We tried three different Kebabs before we found an open one.

On Tuesday Stefan had a meeting for his work, so Jutta and I spent most of the day in a mall complex. It was all bedecked for Christmas, complete with sets depicting the story of the one-legged toy soldier.

After Stefan was done, we drove to Elka's, a friend of the Kiefers, house. She gave us all hair cuts before she made a typical Saarlandish meal, potatoes, eggs, and bacon mixed literally in a giant tub and then cooked on the stove. It was pretty good. Apparently afterwards I fell asleep while Stefan and Jutta chatted with Elka and her husband, who happens to be a butcher, in Saarlandish dialect.

Wednesday we drove home again, making it a very short visit. There was lots of snow on the ground, so during one of the pit stops I made a snow angel. Laying in the snow makes you cold and wet (if you never figured that out before) so afterwards I warmed up by waving energetically at the passing semi-truck drivers. They are some mighty friendly people.