21st Birthday in Netzbach, Germany!

Life here in Madrid is keeping me so busy, I have hardly had time to post pictures and call home, let alone write this long overdue blog post to share my 21st birthday experience with everyone back in the States!    I think now that we are down to just over three weeks remaining here in Madrid and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we are becoming hyper-active tourists again, roaming the city, looking for interesting things and attractions, hidden bars and good food.  We have to get it all done before we leave and doing so has left very little time for other things.  Not to mention, since my birthday a couple weeks ago, Lauren's mom and sister visited Madrid, which took us all around the city sightseeing and even on a day trip to Segovia (which was incredible and I hope to share in another post!).  Thanksgiving was last weekend, shockingly the Spanish people don't really care about the pilgrims nor the food-laden holiday, so we were forced to go out to eat at TGI Friday's for the most American food we could find, although there was no turkey or pumpkin pie.  For lunch that day, I ate microwave mashed potatoes from Jenna's care package with a side of jellied cranberries (from the American store), that I literally tore out of the can after not finding a basic can opener in my host mother's ill-equipped kitchen.  It was painful to see all of the Thanksgiving photos posted on Facebook, to Skype all of my family and to hear about their holiday, but I know it will make it that much sweeter to return home for Christmas!!

Back to Germany.  I knew when I decided to come to Spain last year, that I would undoubtedly make at least one trip back to the little town of Netzbach, Germany to stay with Bettina and Stephan Scholl and their family, Gayle's relatives whom I have visited and stayed with 4 times now!!  They have always been nothing but gracious hosts and I knew this opportunity would make for a perfect weekend away from Madrid and the hustle and bustle of big city travel that I have definitely grown to dread.  Bettina suggested the weekend of my birthday in November to be a good time to go.  She is super-busy, so no time was a good time, but she was willing to work us in.  I was able to convince Dan and Ross to join me, so we booked our tickets and headed off to Germany.  This trip was the last one in a series of five weeks of traveling; Palma Mallorca, Sevilla, London, Amsterdam and then Netzbach!!  We were worn out from traveling and definitely looking forward to the homey change of pace.  We ended up separated on the plane, because for some reason they can never just keep the seats you choose... so Ross and I sat next to a very nice, kind of strange woman who talked to us the whole time.  She worked for a German telecom company and had traveled and managed technology businesses all around the world.  She had met really interesting people, like the founders of Skype and Spotify, and had a really interesting life to tell us about.  On the plane she was pilfering through resumes to hire a new employee.  haha!  I had a terrible time with my sinuses on the flight, my head and chest had been congested for about a week and the pressure on the plane nearly popped my eyeballs out of my head.  It was actually really painful and pretty scary, but luckily only happened on the descent, making for about 15 minutes of discomfort, then 18 hours of screwed up hearing... ugh!!  In Frankfurt, since we arrived pretty late, we connected to the huge, airport train station and boarded a high-speed train to Limburg (a larger, small town about 10 minutes from Netzbach).  The ride was 17 minutes and the same trip in a car could easily take over an hour!  Super fast!!  There, Bettina picked us up and took us home.  It was so nice to be chauffeured around in a nice car, versus trapped at the mercy of untimely and miserable public transportation.  Once we got to their home, she did what she always does, cracked open a bottle of German, white wine and prepared some appetizers for us, since we were starving!!  We spent the evening drinking wine, snacking and chatting with Bettina and Stephan.  Having been there so many times, it really felt like being back at home and definitely more comfortable than any other accommodations we have had.  I think Ross and Dan were immediately impressed with the whole situation!  Since it was my birthday weekend, of course, Bettina gave me the entire guest bedroom and large queen-size bed.  It was the first time since arriving in Europe, that I had had my own room and a bed larger than a rickety twin.  Therefore, I didn't even feel bad that the boys were put upstairs on a (really nice) pull out mattress, outfitted with a clean set of towels, bottled water (without gas for the Americans) and welcome chocolate!

Bettina and Dan - talking Euro politics 

Getting the "red light" treatment

One of Bettina's biggest concerns of the trip was to make sure we got plenty of R&R, per my request.  Therefore, on Friday morning, we got to sleep in late, until around 11, and then ate breakfast.  If you have read my previous Blake News from Germany, you can probably guess the breakfast we had.  Ross and Dan were so surprised, since in Spain "breakfast" consists of coffee and a piece of toast or a small pastry if anything, but while guests in Netzbach we had a basket full of delicious croissants, Nutella, jam, lunch meat, bottomless coffee and countless other things.  After breakfast we got ready for our tour of the old town of Limburg.  We left shortly after, but not before Bettina convinced me to try a "red light" infrared treatment for my sinus issues.  She had pumped me full of holistic drugs, as well as some real chemical medication and said that her dad, Fredrich, swears by the red light.  It did feel good and I think helped to reduce the sinus pressure!  This was now the fourth time I had been to Limburg, but did really enjoy it again.  Bettina said that every time she comes to the US, she goes to the state capitol, the St. Louis Arch and to Farmersville, I guess therefore I had to do the same while in Germany. haha!  Ross and Dan really enjoyed seeing the traditional district with the half-timbered houses and the beautiful cathedral.  Dan got plenty of pictures and even got filled up with his favorite German wheat beer, Paulaner.  The three of us stopped into a little Paulaner biergarten, while Bettina did some shopping for the secret party on Friday night.  She had emailed me a couple weeks before and said that she had been invited to a James Bond Skyfall themed party at a friend's house and that we would come and would have to dress accordingly.  I was working hard to pry more information from her, but she quickly shut me down, saying that we would all go to the party, no questions asked and she would not say anything more.  After her shopping spree, we were telling her that we would likely not be dressed too accurately, since we simply did not bring the proper attire to Europe.  She suggested that we stop into H&M to pick up some cheap formalwear to make ourselves look right, blend in and be more comfortable.  I picked up some black pants, a belt and some dress shoes for just 50 euros, while Ross and Dan only needed the pants.  We had already equipped ourselves with bow ties back in Madrid!  After the clothing stop, we grabbed some "fast food" at a seafood stand.  Fish sandwiches, shrimp, etc.  We took that to go in the car, then headed home to regroup and prepare for the evening.  I took Dan and Ross on a little walking tour of the 900 year old, rural, village of Netzbach and they were super-intrigued.  It is so quaint, smelled of winter and bonfires, and is just unlike any other place we have visited.  I am so glad they got to experience it!  We got to squeeze in a little power nap before showering and dressing for the party.  Bettina still had not caved on the party information, but I had some speculations after some accidental name dropping on her part.  We got into the car and headed to an unknown location, the three of us and Bettina's sister in law, Susanne.  As we were approaching the house, she said, "Well Blake, now do you know where we are?" And I absolutely did!  Bettina's friend Tania has an incredibly beautiful home in a town called Wallmerod.  I have been to one party there before in 2009 and was taken aback by the lavish decorations, great food, classy waitstaff and kind guests.  As it turns out, Tania had arranged this James Bond party in conjunction with the new Skyfall movie release, since she celebrated her birthday away from Germany at her home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.  The party was nothing more than impressive and I think Dan and Ross were absolutely shocked!!  Once again, we were greeted by formal waitstaff, who took our coat and promptly filled our hands with our choice of a vodka or gin martini (shaken not stirred, I imagine).  Or largest problem was trying to meander through the party guests while balancing a martini in one hand and finger food in the other.  The "warm-up" party took place upstairs in the foyer, kitchen and dining rooms, while the real party progressed downstairs into the indoor pool and full bar, once people had eaten.  There was a chef in the kitchen preparing James Bond inspired dishes, like Goldfinger sausages (with real edible gold on top), another Octopussy item and a filet (we ate that, plus the sausages... haha!).  There was flaming desert and bottomless drinks all night.  I asked Tania's daughter, Carlotta, and her friends to take Dan, Ross and I on a tour of the home, so they could see the place.  At around midnight, right as my birthday was about to roll around, Bettina mysteriously disappeared and Carlotta requested that we all make our way downstairs to join the rest of the party.  I was nervous, suspecting that something shady was going on!  Next thing I know I am in the doorway to the packed bar, with Carlotta whispering in the DJ's ear and him beginning to speak in German, I assume about my birthday, while interviewing me over the microphone.  What's your name? where are you from? How old are you? etc... Then the crowd began to sing German happy birthday as Bettina and Susanne came down the hallway with a birthday cake, loaded with candles for me to blow out!  A line formed as people came to say hello, congratulations and wish me a happy birthday.  I was overwhelmed, but will never forget such a unique birthday celebration!! I could not thank Bettina enough for her obvious planning and Tania for letting me crash her top-class party for my 21st birthday!!  WOW!  What a night.  We stayed there, drinking and mingling for a couple more hours and headed home, back to Netzbach, around 3.

Half-Timbered Houses of Limburg

James Bond Skyfall and Madamme Goldfinger

"Shaken, not stirred"

Happy 21st Geburtstag

Classy Partiers

Needless to say, we slept in late on Saturday!  Bettina had piano students around 11 and we had planned lunch her her mom, Helga's, for noon.  Stephan woke be at 11:55 telling me I could "stand up" and shower, clearly Ross and Dan hadn't woken me like they said they would.  We were all scrambling to get ready, but made it over (two houses) to Helga's not too late actually!  She served a fantastic salad, along with two different types of schnitzel, some sort of potato casserole, spaetzle and dessert.  I was stuffed and still queazy from the celebration the night before.  We left Helga and Frederich's to return to Bettina to get ready to leave once again, this time for an outing with her brother Johannes.  He had planned to take the three of us on a nature walk with his friend and their younger sons.  It was actually a lot of fun.  We dressed like we were going mountain climbing and it turned out to just be a leisurely stroll along a farming path from their small village to a neighboring one.  His friend, Kai, had three bottles of pretty terrible German schnapps and each time we passed a park bench we had to take a shot alternating the flavors... there were SIX stops along the way!!  The kümel, carroway, was the absolute worst, while the peppermint and johannisberren got better and better.  We ended the walk at a little bar where we stopped for more beer and pizza to watch the Dortmund soccer match.  Saturday night was Bettina's choir concert that she had had planned long before I crashed the weekend.  We said she wanted us to come and experience a little culture during our weekend, so I was happy to do so.  We returned from the walk and drinking (thank God) to get ready to leave with Stephan and Paulina for Flacht where the concert would take place in a church.  The concert was called Voices and Light, it featured five choirs, three of which were under Bettina's direction, in a church outfitted with colored lights.  As the concert was beginning, I got the same shady feeling as the night before at Tania's party.  I began to recognize words like, United States, St. Louis University and Geburtstag, birthday.  Of course, Bettina had arranged the guy opening the concert to acknowledge my birthday as well as the three guys from SLU who had traveled the furthest to attend the concert - and the crowd laughed!  The concert was very good, with several German songs that we didn't know, but a few American songs, which were interesting to hear in a different light.  After the concert, we left with Stephan to go back to Johannes and Sonja's for his birthday party!  They had three nice fires out front, traditional German sausages with round buns, along with Bitburger beer and warm glühwein, a spiced, heated wine drunk in the winter.  After that party, we were dead-tired, still from the night before I imagine.  But regardless, we returned to Netzbach just to head next door to another neighbor's birthday party.  Sabrina had just celebrated her 20th birthday and was having the party on the night of my birthday.  It was strange to go to two other birthday parties on my actual birthday and even weirder to receive gifts at them, but it was a ton of fun.  The guests at the second party were more our age and a lot of fun to hang out with.  They have always been so kind to me when I visit, it was great to get to see them again!

Country walk with Johannes

Bettina's Concert in Flacht

Happy Birthday, Sabrina

Sunday turned out to be a completely relaxed, cozy Sunday in the house.  We had discussed a trip to Frankfurt, or to Weisbaden for Sushi, but we all just agreed to stay home, lounge around the house and enjoy the final day in Germany.  We had a huge brunch around 11 or 12, with coffee, bread, croissants, Nutella, meats, cheeses, etc.  We laid around for the next few hours, Dan and Ross watched TV shows, I chatted with Bettina and Stephan, and used Stephan's iPad to check all of my Facebook birthday notifications.  Around 5PM Stephan began to make his awesome homemade pizzas.  He prepared the dough and sauce and we got to choose the toppings... it was a lot of fun!  We did the same thing last summer with Jenna and we really enjoyed it!  After dinner, some of their family and friends came over for a little get together in honor of my birthday... again.  We all sat around and chatted, drank some German wine and enjoyed the company.  After everyone left, Bettina decided it would be fun to call Gayle, so we did.  We both got to talk to her and laugh with her, as usual!!  After one last red-light treatment, we all went to bed to rest up for the return home on Monday.

Sophia, me and Paulina

Renate!! 

Us with Sonja, Leon, Johannes and Yamila

Die Oma Helga

Susanne, Marcus, the boys and me

It was a nice change of pace to have a later flight on Monday.  Fortunately, we got to eat one last good breakfast before heading to the airport relaxed.  No rushing, fighting public transportation, etc.  Just a smooth ride at 600 MPH on the Autobahn.  It was sad, as always, to leave Germany (to see Bettina shed a couple tears) and return to Madrid, but I left knowing that I will, of course, return and that I spent a very special birthday there, surrounded by great friends and near family, which was the absolute next best thing to being at home!!