So this weekend was a blast. My dad met a guy, Guenter, about 22 years ago through work. They have kept in touch, and seen each other a small handful of times over the years. So, it seemed silly that we wouldn't see each other while we are here in Europe.
We drove to their house saturday morning, and arrived to a friendly welcome from Luzimar (Guenter's girlfriend). She entertained us until Guenter came home from the grocery store. He was very excited to see my dad and us. He gave my dad a hug and greeted both my mom and I with a good amount of enthusiasm.
He then showed us a cake his mom had baked for us, so we all sat down and enjoyed a very delicious apple pie/cake. It was super fluffy with sweet apple chunks in it. After a few minutes of enjoyable cake and conversation, we went off to check us into the hotel (and ended up driving to the wrong one...who knew there were two Hotel Adler's in the Ostalbkreis area of Germany?
), and then off to
Limes-Thermen.
All over Germany they have what they call "spas" but they are very different from our spas. They have massages and such, but they also have saunas (nude only...) and natural mineral water hot spring baths. This is what we went there for. Not the saunas! But the baths. : ) At Limes (pronounced Leemess)...luckily bathing suits are required. They have about 5 of these baths (which are essentially shallow, heated swimming pools).
- indoor/outdoor. You walk into it inside, and then swim/wade outside. This pool was quite large, and had fountains in an area coming up from the sides, so you could stand under them. And jets to massage.
- seperately closed off. This one was nice because when you walked into the seperate room, it smelled lemony. The whole building was decorated in an ancient Roman style, and this pool had marble blocks in it with marble towers on top of them.
- centrally located, probably the second biggest, and the second warmest. the pools were all supposed to be different temperatures, but 1 & 2 were similar degrees.
- this one was in a small enclosed area and was the hottest. It was just like a hot tub you might find at a nice hotel in the states
- a teeny little one, three person max I'd say, that was full of freezing water. Gunther managed to convince me to try this one, going from 4 to this one...I literally lost my breath when I went from standing in it, to up to my shoulders. It was COLD! but did feel good!
So after a few hours of trying each pool and relaxing, our fingers were thoroughly pruny and our tummies rumbling hungry. So we got dressed and while we went back to the hotel to get ready, Guenter and Luzimar went back to their house to prepare for a party they were having.
When we arrived at their house, there was already two other couples there. One, who had just stopped in to say hi really quick, left shortly after we got there. Another couple arrived not long after that. Jeff and Carina were one couple. My dad had actually met Jeff around the same time as Guenter, as they were all working on the same project. And Jeff is actually born and raised in Flint, Michigan! But he has been living in Germany for the past 18 years (I think). It soon became very clear that Guenter and Jeff are very good friends. The other couple there were both German, the woman was born in Berlin, and the guy in the area that Guenter lives in.
When we got there, Guenter was making a drink that he had told us to be prepared for earlier. It's a brazilian drink called
Caipirinha. Luzimar is Brazilian, so I'm sure this is where Guenter learned it from. Now...something you need to understand about Guenter...he certainly does like his alcohol. And, knowing that I am 20, (and the drinking age for beer and wine being 16 and alcohol 18 in Germany) he offered one to me. He had told us about them earlier, describing them to have lots of sugar, and lemon (but he meant lime) juice in it, I figured it was worth a try. Holy Alcohol...strongest drink I've ever tried...to date.
While I cautiously sipped on that, everyone was talking and drinking there own drinks. After about twenty minutes, I still had about 5/6 of mine still left, and my mom's was now gone. She
kindly offered to help me with it. It was down to about two sips in probably ten minutes.
After appetizers and the Caipirinha's, it was time for dinner...and dinner drinks. Luzimar was asking everyone what they wanted. I took a champagne with cassis in it. This was yummy, and I drank it myself.
After dinner...Guenter started pulling out bottle after bottle of different alcohol's. It was so funny to see him stand at the end of the table with probably a dozen different bottles in front of him. He poured me about two sips of something or other into a shot glass and insisted I try it. I was seated next to Jeff, and every time Guenter got him a drink, he would pass it to me and tell me to try it first. I probably tried about 6 different ones. It was quite entertaining.
Then, Guenter was telling us about a friend he has that is working with a new technology. Basically, the guy can make metals look like gold (Guenter showed us a completely silver coin that looked like a gold coin) and he can color diamonds as well (or cubic zirconias). He comes over to me with some tissue paper, and shows me a diamond sitting in it. He tells me that this is what I should tell John I want (it's a pretty nice sized stone). He then tells me that it's a cubic zirconia though, and is covered in diamond, to make it look more real (and let me tell you...it DOES), and then tells me that he is giving it to me! I almost fell out of my chair. It's b.e.a.utiful!
Later, after everyone had a few drinks in them, we all went for a walk in the cool 1 o'clock in the morning air. Then we came back and talked for a bit more. Finally, it was time to go. Guenter had pre-arranged for Carina to drive us to our hotel on their way home. So they did that (but once we got there we had to turn right back around because my dad had forgotten the hotel key in the car...which was parked at Guenter's...).
Once we got into the room, my dad (who had had about 4 beers, and a few shots of different liquors) laid down on the bed to wait for my mom and I to finish getting ready for bed. I came out of the bathroom to find him still laying on the bed...eyes closed and mouth agape. I told him the bathroom was free and he mumbled something and then said, "but that means I have to get up." He didn't move. About three minutes later, as I was just relaxing and starting to fall asleep...I heard a few snores coming from my still dressed (shoes and all) dad.
