A Much-Needed Break with Denise's Family

Our time in Beeskow was always going to be one of the milestones of the trip.  Quite apart from the fact that it marked our 3 month point it was also going to be a much-need breather from the normal routine of travel - with home-cooked meals, internet access, easy laundry options and, of course, family life itself!

Since we stayed in Beeskow (Denise's home-town) from 20 June to 8 July it would be too long and (probably) too much for you to read if we were to provide a daily blog entry.  Instead we thought it would be best to give a few of the highlights of our time in Germany - not necessarily in chronological order:

• Petra's cooking:  Oh where to start?!  Denise's Mom has mastered the fine art of German cuisine...and she spends months (really!) preparing for our visits - planning which menus to cook and literally every meal of every day that we are there.  Breakfast, lunch, coffee & cake, and dinner are all served with military precision - great food and massive amounts!   Bratkartoffeln, cream herring, smoked salmon, bratwurst, steak tartare bread rolls, kassler steaks etc etc.  In just over three weeks we ate probably as much as we did in the previous three weeks!
• Meeting family:  In spite of the fact that we have been together since 1999 there were still a number of Denise's closest family that I had not met.  One of the main reasons for our time in Germany this time was for me to see them and (probably more importantly) for them to see if I am worthy of their family pride and joy!  I got to meet Gerry and Sabine (Denise's half-brother and his wife) and their two kids (Randy and Lea); and in a very special trip up to their town of Angermünde,  her Grandpa, Aunt, and her cousins Andy, Mandy, and Maik (and their families) - Torsten (whom I had met a few times before) was also a welcome re-acquaintance.
• Seeing friends:  Whenever you return home after a long time away the one truth that always holds is that you NEVER have enough time to visit all your friends.  To all our German buddies who we didn't see or even get a chance to speak to - sorry!!  Despite our best intentions to travel to Hamburg and possibly even further afield we actually ended up spending 90% of our time in Beeskow - it was just too good to have the homely comforts that we kind of lost track of time!  We did meet up with Claudia and Torsten (many of you will remember Claudia as one of Denise's bridesmaids), Astrid & Antje (Denise's schoolmates whom she hadn't seen in more than a decade), and Claudia & Kevin, Sascha, and Katja & Andrea in Berlin.
• Other Experiences:  Enjoying Petra and Wolfgang's garden, visiting the medieval tower, museum and dungeon of the Beeskow Old Town, trying our luck at riding an unicycle, lounging in the spa water in Bad Saarow, catching an English language movie (Pirates of the Carribean III), getting advice from Claudia& Kevin re. New Zealand (and pregnancy!!) and shopping shopping shopping (last chance really before Asia).