So here it is Tuesday, a rather warm afternoon in little Bornheim.
Just one week ago, I was back at work after the two week holiday that I took while my father visited.
Like always, I needed a few days to recover from the let down that I experience after a good visit with family. Now, a week later, I am still having nice moments where I smile and think about Dad's visit and all the stuff we did.
I sometimes feel it is a struggle to explain the comment "all the stuff we did," because on some levels we did not do THAT much. People still tend to think that when someone comes to visit me in Germany it's all about tourism and hectic schedules to run around and see stuff.
My struggle comes a little bit from the perception I have that people assume that visiting Europe means being a tourist. My case is a little different, since I just happen to live here. I have a friend who is Japanese, and every two years she takes her teenage kids to visit her parents in rural Japan. It's not as if they go over there and try to see all of Asia.
It's the exact same for me when I visit Dallas. The last time I went to Reunion Tower was probably 40 years ago; no real need to keep going to see that each time I visit.
Fortunately, my father shares my sentiment, so coming to Germany to visit means, "come to Germany and hang out. We will do whatever we feel like doing."
Anyone who has seen some of the recent Facebook posts from my Dad already has a pretty good idea of "whatever we feel like doing" entails.
More specifically, this means lot of pub time, sitting around watching movies, lots of talking, and visiting with my friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. My father knows tons of people in my neighborhood, so that alone takes up a lot of time when we get a chance to have dinner or a few drinks with folks.
My father and I did decide to go visit Vienna for a couple of days, so during the second week of his stay in Europe, we took the train to Austria, and fully enjoyed getting to know that city. I arranged for us to have a very central hotel just across from St Stephan's Dom, and that was a wise choice. We had complete access to the inner ring of the city just by walking around. We did not try and exhaust ourselves and see every blessed thing in the city, preferring instead just to wonder around and find stuff.
Each day we found a new little place to see that we hadn't seen the day before. The weather was maybe slightly coolish, but that was perfect for the both us. When it started to rain a little bit, we found a Coffee House to spend time in. The one particular favorite that we liked was Kaffee Alt Wien, and we ended up having a few beers one afternoon. The place was filled with regulars, and we didn't feel like we were tourists whatsoever. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours.
The rest of the time we spent in Frankfurt, doing a cookout with Ali, having tapas with Nadja in a local favorite place, just for a couple of notable evenings.
Throughout the two weeks, my Dad and I were able to catch up on all sorts of topics, family, life, etc. It is really nice to be able to have those talks in person (ie..not via Skype, although I am quite grateful for Skype and the many conversations I have with Dad) as we have more time to collect our thoughts and not try and fight time. Sometimes when you are on a video call, you don't have all your topics lined up for discussion. After all, it's not a conference call.
Of course, like any good time, the two weeks passed very quickly. Suddenly it was the last weekend before my father would return to Dallas. During my last stateside visit, I had inadvertently told my Grandmother that I was interested in getting a new frying pan. Of course, during the Christmas holidays, she wanted to get me a skillet and have it wrapped and under the tree for me.
I had to point out that I was not interested in lugging a heavy pan back to Europe, but preferred instead to find one locally. There is a little shop close to my place that sells a lot of kitchen and household items, so my Dad and I went to the local street market on his final Saturday, had a bratwurst on the plaza, then popped into the shop, where I spent all of 35 seconds selecting a new skillet.
And I LOVE it.
Over the past several years I have become more adventurous in my tiny kitchen and have enjoyed cooking more and more. The two pans I had been using were a little worse for wear, so this latest addition was quite welcome. Of course my father took a photo so that he could share it with my Grandmother. Another excellent Christmas present.
Additionally, my dad wanted to take me out for traditional birthday dinner. The tradition has more to do with saying it is a Birthday Dinner than with actually celebrating on the actual date. Obviously that wasn't possible to do this year since my father came a month later than he has done in the past.
I am lucky to have a proper Spanish tapas place in my neighborhood, and with a little luck I was able to get us a table Saturday evening. Dad and I just rocked things up with a bottle of wine and some wonderful tapas. The conversation was also good (no surprise), and after we finished dinner, we headed back to the pub for a bit of extended celebration.
Not surprisingly, we ran into a few of the usual suspects, so enjoyed a pleasant evening outside, sharing a couple of whiskeys and beers.
48 hours later, Dad was texting me from the airport lounge with an Auf Wiedersehen, and once he was back stateside, we talked via Skype just about every day last week. He too, goes through his let down period, but by the end of the week we were almost back on normal service and routine.
I will purposely avoid any commentary about the Europa League final; it's time for a few months without any football.
So now it is the start of June, and once again I am amazed that 2019 is zipping right along. The weather has turned more seasonal (summery) in the past couple of days, and I must say that I am embracing the time to spend outside in the cafes and the pubs.
Last Sunday, I spent a few hours jotting down some thoughts and ideas, and it was really a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
It's kicking my June off with a nice little hoopty doopty!
see you out there
bryan
(a few people are probably wondering wtf hoopty doopty means....and I can simply say, "whatever you want it to mean.")
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