January 3rd - Blackhawks and Bye bye Germany

On our last full day in Germany, we took some time to visit my brother at work at the US Army Base in Ansbach.  Rachel had to take Sophie into her preschool, and Grandma and JJ went along, leaving Sequoia, Pheonix and I to pack our things and just hang about.

I was sitting on the stairs at the front waiting for them to come back when Uma Lina, Andrew and Rachel's landlord and neighbour across the courtyard came to say good morning.  Well, Uma (Grandma) Lina does not speak English at all, and the kids and I really didn't get much further than guten tag in the German language department.

I bought 2 bottles of Uma Lina's peach schnapps (comes complete with a pic of said lady on the bottle's label) and before I realised what was happening, we were being ushered inside her house for some morning tea while we were waiting.

Uma Lina's house

Peach Schnapps complete with photo on the bottle

The kids were offered juice and some homemade cookies and Uma Lina insisted I join her for a small glass of local wine.

Well, about 20 minutes later, and a few turns with the google translate app on my phone, I heard Rachel's car and we gave our thanks and made our way out....

Actually, I stumbled my way out (after a 2nd social glass of wine), and I am sure this was all before 10.30 in the morning!!!!

The kids had a ball climbing all over the Blackhawk!

We had a nice lunch in town, Sequoia had a haircut and I purchased some farht in a box before we headed home for our last night with our family...

Like all good things, our time in Germany had came to an end.  :-(  It was so great to see Andrew after such a long time, and a real pleasure to see him so happy with his family and his life.  It was hard to say goodbye to him, Rachel, Grandma, Sophie, and JJ, but they will be out to Australia for a visit in about April this year, so we won't have to wait for too long to give them all big hugs again...