It has been an interesting few days here in Germany to say the least. First of all, we had been greatly anticipating our youngest daughter’s arrival here in Frankfurt as she and a friend were going to Rome and Naples before coming to spend the “holiday” weekend with us in Germany. First of all, obviously Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here in Germany, but we had taken time off of work, partially because it is a holiday in the US, but mostly because of the arrival of our daughter and friend. The day before they were supposed to fly from Naples to Frankfurt, we received a phone call letting us know that her friend had fallen and they were on the way to the hospital. Obviously not the phone call any parent wants to receive when you have children traveling abroad, but she is an adult, so all we could do was support her the best way that we could.
After a few hours, we received another phone call letting us know that her friend had broken her ankle and that they needed to get home to Chicago to receive further treatment. Immediately we began the search for flights that would get them home, forgoing them coming to Frankfurt, but instead just trying to get them from Naples back to Chicago. To make matters worse, Lufthansa pilots had chosen to strike, so finding flights was just about impossible and those that could be found had several stops and prices that were outrageous. After several conversations, they decided to take their previously scheduled flight from Naples to Frankfurt where they would have more options available, but obviously it would delay their return by a day. Perhaps because it was a holiday in the US, they were able to find a non-stop United flight that got them back to Chicago on Thanksgiving day.
That gave us about a half a day to spend with them, albeit not going anyplace other than our apartment, but we did at least get to see our daughter. Sometimes you just have to make the most of what life offers you and take it with a smile. We had a nice time visiting, but certainly not the experience that we had hoped for. One of the things that we had planned was a visit to Würzburg, a smaller city that has a wonderful palace called the Residenz as well as a fortress that looms over the town across the old bridge. We specifically chose this town because it was smaller and we wanted them to see something other than a larger city like Frankfurt or Cologne. With somewhat sad hearts, we went ahead and visited Würzburg over the weekend even though they weren’t with us. It was everything that we had hoped that it would be. The town was festive and busy, but not the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that we have seen in other cities with Christmas markets.
We toured the Residenz, which was truly magnificent and spent most of our time just walking the tiny side streets. We found a restaurant called Stachel that was over 600 years old and served incredible food. There was a wonderful Dom (Cathedral), which was, of course, surrounded by Christmas markets. We truly did enjoy our time in Würzburg, but we were definitely a little sad that we didn’t get to share it with our daughter as we had hoped. After a few stressful and eventful days, followed by a couple of days of relaxation, we are back to our normal routines and should be posting again on a regular basis. We have shared a few photos from Würzburg, but will talk more about this wonderful town in a future post (although it seems like we are way behind on fully sharing our experiences 😀).
I’m thinking about coming back to Germany for Christmas markets next year….
Hope her friend is okay.
If you end up in Frankfurt let us know ☺. We will find out tomorrow what her next steps are.
Thank you!
Lovely photos – the sculptures on the Dom look like something from a Tim Burton movie!
Shame about your daughter’s short visit, but glad you got to see her. 🙂
Thank you ☺. It was short but we did get to see her. Reason for a return trip ☺
So sorry that you only had a short time with your daughter but perhaps she can visit again before you leave Germany.
That is what we are hoping ☺
Pity things didn’t work out quite how you’d planned, but I great to see you made the best of things.
You have to roll with the circumstances ☺. Reason for a return trip ☺
You must be so very disappointed, time with our children is precious, specially when there’s an ocean in the middle. What bad luck, and with Lufthansa on strike too. How on earth did friend break her ankle in Naples? was it loose pavement or a pothole like here in Rome?
Yes, we were. But we made the best of the circumstances. They were going up a steep street with very rugged and rough cobblestones and she lost her footing. Glad that it wasn’t worst.
I was thinking potholes, and forgot about cobblestones 🙁
Glad you made the best of the situation, and I am wishing a speedy recovery to your daughter’s friend. The town looks awesome.
That is the only thing we could do ☺. Heathers friend finds out today if a full cast will work or if she will need surgery. Hopefully just a cast will work.
Beautiful photos. I’m glad the girls got back to Chicago safely.
☺
We were just in Germany over winter break as well! We flew into Frankfurt, and then went south 1 hour to stay in the Black Forest. It was incredible! We then drove to Bavaria and were sold on Germany forever. Check out our blog if you ever want to travel that area of the world again! We already planned our trip back next year! https://thepittstops.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/gengenbach/
We have really enjoyed our time in Germany.Definitely plan on coming back. We will check out your blog ☺