Thanksgiving in Germany

Who would have thought crab at a cafeteria?? This is Freidberg Germany, 30 mins north of Frankfurt where Liz, my roomy here in Scotland, invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her sister-in-law, Brooklyn and her two kids. Liz's brother is serving in Iraq and so we spent the holiday on an army base and had thanksgiving dinner at the Howze D-fac..(army lingo for the dining facility as shown below...) Yes, that is a crab leg on my plate...pretty good food if you ask me...infact, it was the best I'd ever had in a cafeteria. A few men in uniform served the meal and were awarded medals for doing so. Then with children screaming, thier mothers chasing them around the room and E.T. playing in the background, I felt right at home...classic American spirit! I missed my family a wee bit, but I've spent the past 4 thanksgivings away from home and it wasn't anything new. This was deffinitely a unique experience and left no room for homesickness. We got home just in time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (a hatch family must) and of course what would t-day be without a nap? Later we drank apple cinnamon tea and had more pumpkin pie, that was enough to put me in the holiday spirit and I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. I talked with Brooklyn about her husband and the experience they had since he joined the service and it made me really greatful for my freedom and those who are serving our country. This thanksgiving, I am thankful for my freedom. Brooklyn and her mom were so hospitable and so nice to let us stay with them. We ate so well, I think between the donnar kebaps, the pastries and the chocolate I gained like 20 pounds!

This was the Ronenburg Castle, dated back to the 1300's I believe. We ran around this castle the first day we got there and it was fun to see the difference in architecture and style coming from the UK...what a difference. The coolest part was a 300 ft. well inside with a bucket and hose that we filled up 4 times and dumped down the well in awe of the length of time it took to fall. It was very entertaining for the three of us... Oh and the nomes, we couldn't resist! Germany is beautiful, atleast the part we got to see. It was flat, but so colorful and the people were actually really friendly.