Goettingen, Germany

Next we travelled via Mallorca (and wished we had a longer stop there!) to Dorthmund, from which we trained it to Goettingen, the HQ of the Speyer family, arriving just after midnight. As we dragged our luggage through the pretty university town I suddenly felt a a calming sense of familiarity wash over me; everything here was known to me in an almost unconscious way, even though I had only been to Goettingen once before, it was still the Germany I grew up with.

We got to spend time with Raph's youngest sister Noemi, and hear of her travels to Chile. Andrea and Ken made us feel at home (thank you!), and as per usual, we stayed up late on long talks and long walks with Ken. We also got to have a lovely dinner at Raph's brother Matthew's place, catching up with Anna and their son Nick as well. Despite all the lovely fresh, organic meals cooked at home, I managed to sneak in a real Bavarian Bratwurst when nobody was looking (unfortunately, no Black Forest cake this far north). And no visit to Goettingen would be complete without a gander at the Gaenseliesel, a statue in the centre of town dedicated to a rather feminist fairy-tale heroine, Liesel, who dressed up as a boy to get a job tending the King's geese, so that her family could have enough money (of course, the king finds out she's a girl, falls in love with her, and marries her-- hey, it is a fairy tale!).