Thanksgiving

So after all this travelling I've been doing it was nice to have a weekend to relax here in Wü. Well maybe not relax... it was pretty busy actually. But it was still fun and that's all that matters... I can relax when I'm back in Vancouver.... or when I'm old. Anyways, on Friday we went to a student party at Galgenberg. I (uncharacteristically) left my camera at home so I didn't take any photos then, but it was a good time. On Saturday I was up early (for me) to meet my cousin Viviane at the train station. She's teaching/living in Zug, Switzerland right now so she came up for a visit for the weekend. She brought her friend Annette with her, who also happened to be my second year English prof, and Annette's boyfriend Simon. So the pressure was on to give a good tour of Wuerzburg, and I think I did a pretty good job.

We started at the Residenz, which I've already seen, but it was good to see again. The Residenz is sort of like Wuerzburg's palace. Next we walked up the hill to see the Festung (fortress), but it was getting dark and we ended up getting seperated and meeting at the bottom. Next was the Ratskeller where I got treated to dinner by my guests. Finally we went to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) for some Gluhwein. Wuerzburg's market just started up this weekend so it was the first time I have seen one - it's pretty cool, lots of stalls selling food, drinks, and Christmas stuff. I will have lots more photos of it in the next few weeks. After Annette and Simon left for Frankfurt we headed home.

Next day was a bit shorter. I took Viviane to the University to show her my lab, and explained a bit about my work. We also saw a German WWII memorial that I've never noticed before. But by 4:30 she had to leave, so she headed back to Switzerland. But I'm going to Switzerland next weekend to visit her and some other relatives, so its not like I won't see her for a long time!

The last thing for this weekend was Thanksgiving dinner. Now I know Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago, but we know some Americans here and seeing as how American Thanksgiving was only 3 days ago we decided to forego Canadian patriotism and celebrate with them. Besides, they were going to cook the turkey so all we had to do was make the easy stuff like vegetables! I got home from dropping Viviane off and started cooking with Billy and Colin, and then we caught the bus up to Frankenstrasse Nord carrying pots and bags full of warm food. A lot of Germans on the bus gave us curious (and hungry) looks. We ate at Stephanie's house since she has essential things like flour and a working can opener. Stephanie and Pamela (the 2 Americans) had never cooked turkey before, and us Canadians' thanksgiving cooking skills were also a little rusty and/or nonexistent. But I have to say, we put together a pretty impressive dinner. We had our Walmart turket and cranberry sauce direct from the American military base. And of course cauliflower, cheese sauce, best potatoes in the world, 3 (!) huge trays of stuffing, and corn. Oh and apple pie for desset. And I had some of my fine Belgian beer to drink. All in all it was a great meal. My biggest regret is that I didn't eat more food.