Festivals, Friends and Food: Abby's in Town!

At the European Cup viewing

It's been quite the busy two weeks since Abby, my twin sister, arrived back on June 18. For only two weeks, I'd say we have been able to explore, taste and see quite a bit. It's wonderful having my sister in town, but I know it's for only a limited time, so we have to live it up! Here's a recap of our last two weeks:

When Abby arrived at the Frankfurt airport, I was waiting for her at the gate and we began the short journey by bus and train back to our little town of Zwingenberg. We enjoyed our first dinner of grilled bratwursts, sautéed vegetables and kartoffelsalat (potato salad). This was also Derek's first day back to work after the two week hiatus of getting married and traveling to Sicily. When he arrived home, we had a special gift to open from his colleagues at Freudenberg. It was a money cake built by a colleague that Derek works closely with and the entire office had pitched in for the gift. It was so, so sweet of them!

Opening the money cake

Such a sweet gift from Derek's company

Abby and Derek enjoying a lovely German meal

The rest of the week, Abby and I explored the Odenwald Nature Park by hiking to a nearby castle - the Alsbacher Schloss, had a picnic lunch in the park, walked the vineyards, tried some delicious pastries from the local bakery and cooked up some more feasts of schnitzel, mashed potatoes, etc. On Wednesday evening, we hopped in the car after Derek arrived home from work and headed to the Hockenheimring, a Formula One race track about 45 minutes from our house. We picked up our friends Philip and Eva on the way and proceeded into a crowd of about 16,000 people for a "company race". Derek was running a 3k race with his Freudenberg team. He did not know much about the race until we got there, so we were very surprised to see SO many people! There was a live band, beer stands and lots of food choices for the festival after the race. It was great to meet some of his colleagues and a good first night out with Abby!

Philip, Eva, Courtney, Abby and Derek at the race

Derek is out there somewhere

Abby at the Alsbacher Schloss

 On Thursday, we boarded the train and headed to the nearby university town of Heidelberg. We idled through the cobbled streets, explored the small side roads and enjoyed some green time before heading back home. On Friday, the Euro Cup quarter finals took place. We joined up with some friends again and headed to the small Odenwald town of Morlenbach. Not sure what to expect for a "public viewing" of the game (Germany vs. Greece), I packed some chips, wine and a blanket. Since it was standing room only, we didn't need the picnic. There were so many people crammed into the quaint town marketplatz, all trying to get a view of the big screen that showcased the game. Germans love, love soccer, so it was incredible to be with the entire town when they won! This was much better than watching the game from our small TV in the flat. We celebrated in the streets after the win and made it back to a friend's house for some late night Irish dancing. 

In beautiful Heidelberg

Dinner on the porch

Heidelberg

The Morlenbach marketplatz filled with fans

With friends at the game

German ears on our car

On Saturday, we drove the 1.3 hours to Oberstenfeld to meet up with our German family for a Fleckenfest (small town festival). We enjoyed some kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) before heading to the fest where we tried some rostbraten mit zwiebels, a delicious and popular meal of steak with onions and spätzle noodles. On Sunday, we walked to a nearby castle but it was closed to visitors that day. We showed the family some of our wedding photos and even opened a gift of our very own  spätzle maker and German cookbook! I was more than excited to try out the gift. I have made spätzle  with the Müllers a few times now and now I get to make it anytime I want!  And I did test it... on Monday we cooked Käse-Spätzle, a German version of macaroni and cheese. It turned out alright. I'll use a different cheese next time. I'll put the recipe in the soon-to-be recipe section on this blog.

Derek and Günter in Oberstenfeld

Marius and Derek at the Oberstenfeld fest

Our first German beer mugs!

Visiting a castle in Oberstenfeld

Opening the Spätzle maker

Making Spätzle noodles (it's made from flour, eggs and salt)

Spätzle mit Käse with fried onions on top!

On Tuesday we took off for a new adventure and headed to Munich for two nights. I'll tell that story in a following post. After Munich, we watched the semi-finals of the Euro Cup at a restaurant in Heppenheim, and sadly, Germany lost. On Friday night, we had a cookout at our house- one of my favorite things to do! We made hamburgers, taco dip (a German variation, but it was good), pasta salad, rice krispie treats and Abby's specialty, peanut butter pie. We had a wonderful time on our back porch eating, talking and drinking great wine. This weekend we visited another castle, the Auerbacher Schloss, the small town of Lorsch, went to a extremely large and fall festival-resembling carnival in Darmstadt, and today we are going to the Heppenheim wine fest.  To say the least, it has been a great two weeks back in Germany and a wonderful time with Abby! Next up this week: The Berner Oberland in the Swiss Alps.

Cookout on the porch

Abby and I at the Auerbach Schloss 

Derek's inner child