When we left Neckergamünd, where my aunt and uncle live, we drove all the way up to Kiel, Germany where a close friend of my grandparents lives. Her name is Marlene. I told you briefly about her in a previous post, as she was the one who let me use her computer! Let me tell you now, Marlene is one of the sweetest ladies I will ever meet. Before we even walked through her apartment door, she was already offering to help us with luggage, or get us something to eat or drink. She was such a fantastic host to have! She gave up her bedroom so that Talia and I would have a big enough bed to sleep in, and reserved a beautiful hotel room for my grandparents to sleep in. She was so humble and selfless, I was deeply touched by this kind woman. When we were all settled in, we walked down to the Fiord where we walked along the edge and looked at the sail boats. Marlene noticed I had my Canon on me at all times, and gave me some good places to take some great shots of the ocean, boats, and birds. There was a female Swan nesting in the corner of one of the 'boat parking lots', as I call them, protecting her nest of eggs from a few seagulls that were lurking around. I felt so lucky to capture the beautiful bird on my camera! Later, grandma and grandpa checked into the hotel and Marlene, Talia, and I left them in their little suit to walk back to Marlene's apartment and prepare dinner. Even though she has a little trouble with her hip, Marlene walked us all the way back to her apartment. It took an entire hour, and yet Marlene refused to rest before setting the table for dinner. When we got back, we set up dinner and talked to Marlene, read, and checked out our room until my grandparents came for dinner. The rest if the evening went very well and by the end of the meal, I was extremely stuffed. Ah, that's another thing I should mention. Marlene never. Ever. Ever. Let us get hungry. There was always a pastry to be eaten, a cup of tea to be sipped, and bit of Brötchen to be nibbled on. She was always worried about whether or not we had had enough to eat. I repeat, she was such a sweet lady.
That night, Talia and I had planned to go to bed early because we hadn't achieved much sleep in the past few days. But the moment the lights went out...... They went back on for another hour and a half. For the first time in years we were both afraid of the dark. This is partially because this was the only time in the whole trip that grandpa and grandma hadn't slept in the same building, and also because the room was so dark, you could feel it pressing up against you. It was scary, okay?
The next morning, we woke up on time and were ready 5 minutes early for breakfast! However, Marlene had other plans and headed off for the bakery ten minutes early. Then, she sent us on a dangerous mission. For orange juice. She gave us some rather vague instructions to find the orange juice and sent us on our way. Eager to NOT fail our mission, Talia and I followed the directions. Go up the street, to the right, until you see the bakery. Then, there should be some orange juice. These instructions were easy enough, as I already knew where the bakery was. However, when we got there, we didn't see a place to buy orange juice. Again, still eager to not fail our mission, we walked in circles for 5 minutes before we decided to run down to the nearest grocery store and buy orange juice there. That's what I get for forgetting how to say 'orange juice' in German! I could have asked 'Wo ist die *makes hand gestures that represent oranges bent squeezed*?', but decided not to risk it. Anyway, we bought the orange juice and triumphantly ran back to Marlene's apartment. She told us the orange juice was sold at the bakery. *faceplant*
ANYWAY, later that day we went to a Viking museum. There isn't much to describe since you would need pictures to grasp how awesome it was. But, I'll tell you now that it was epic. It was a large piece of land where a bunch of ancient Viking houses sat. You walked into each one and saw the almost living past. It was AMAZING.
After the Viking museum, we all went to our rooms and took a loooong nap, ate dinner, and made conversation (Talia and I almost washed the dishes, but Marlene literally pushed us out of the kitchen..... Three times....). I Skyped with my family, had some more laughs at the table and went to bed. One problem. Talia and I had bought ourselves cold coffee not two hours before we went to bed. Soooooo, we were up a little late - almost completely silent as we were simply deprived of our lovely sleep.
The next morning, we packed our bags, put them in the car, said goodbye to Marlene and thanked her a million times for her hospitality. I cannot wait to see her again! She really was one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet.
Anyway, now I'm in Friedensborg, Denmark at a youth hostel that has INTERNETZ. YAY! And it's 11:45. I must got off to bed. I love and miss you all. :)
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