What I did on my holidays

[karohemd]

20th of December
Got up at six to get ready, took a taxi to the bus station and headed off at 8. Stupid bus took over 3 hours to get to Heathrow because it took the long route. *grumble*
A huge queue at the Lufthansa desk meant waiting for at least half an hour to check in. At least I only had my backpack to carry around on the long trip to the gate (again with at least half an hour waiting to get through security check).
Plane took off about 20 minutes late due to heavy traffic in Frankfurt, my stopover destination. Safely arrived there, looked around for somewhere to eat but failed to find the restaurant for some reason so I got some marzipan at the duty free shop, yum (there was no food on the flight from London, the bastards).
Plane to Nuremberg was on time. Was greeted by snow upon landing, much snow. Cool. Took the underground to the station, checked when my train would be going and tried to phone my parents so they knew when to pick me up from the station. They're still refurbishing Nuremberg station, maybe that was why only one of the public phones worked but didn't take coins. Looked for another phone for ages until I finally found one, phoned home, had a bratwurst baguette for dinner and went to the platform. It was announced that the train would be 10 minutes late, not really surprising considering the weather and the masses of snow (there was about half a foot of fresh snow on the tracks). The first half of the train arrived and people got on. I had to wait for the second half, though (the train would be split at a stop halfway and go to different destinations). That half of the train was still 20 kms away and they said there would be another indefinite delay. Great. As my mobile contract doesn't support roaming I couldn't even call my dad which meant he waited at the destination for 45 minutes as well. Finally the train came and I could get back to the warmth (it was about -10 degrees C on the platform). My dad picked me up and I was finally home at about 10 pm. A hearty dinner later with German bread and meat products, I was tired enough to fall into bed.

The next couple of days I spent sleeping in, reading lots (Dune and American Gods), watching telly, and eating mum's delicious cooking.
On the Saturday I accompanied a mate to a band rehearsal. In the 5 hours we were inside it snowed almost 20 centimetres and we had to dig out the car again. Others who weren't that lucky and had their cars parked for longer looked like this. You'll find more pics of what things looked like on those two pages. I later realised I hadn't taken a pic of our house or our tree. Shame.

Christmas Eve
A quiet day with lots of snow outside but it had almost stopped snowing. We had the traditional bratwurst for lunch and broiled carp for dinner. Presents included quite a bit of money from my grannies and uncle (they never know what to give and I'm glad I can buy my own things instead of receiving knit sweaters or crap like that), CD and book vouchers and the coolest (literally) of them all, a bag with reusable icecubes (stone cubes you put in the freezer which stay cold longer and don't melt, so your drink won't get watery).

Christmas and Boxing Day
Equally quiet, disrupted by food (roast venison on the Tuesday and roast duck on the Wednesday). The next days were equally lazy.

30th of December
After lunch, I packed my things and headed to Nuremberg (after waiting 40 minutes for the train) to meet old friends I intended to spend New Year's Eve with. Arrived in N an hour late, but Christiane had waited for that long. Despite having lived there for six years before I came to England, I had never seen that much snow in Nuremberg, quite amazing and wonderful. The streets were clear, though.
That evening was spent gaming with friends, eating Greek takeaway (yum) and talking til 4 in the morning.

New Year's Eve/New Year
Slept in late til 11am, had breakfast, went along to the supermarket to get some last minute things and ingredients, spent my last Deutschmarks, made dippadoom (sadly no fresh herbs, the bastards), helped clear up for the party. The party was spent eating an amazing ghoulash a friend had made, playing party games and talking about silly things.
At 12, we burned lots of fireworks. Back inside, we played Munchkin for a bit and then just talked til the wee hours in the morning, the discussions getting more philosphical as we went along. In short, a very good party. If you want to see the people I hung out with, you can click here (sorry, the comments are in German).
I had to leave at half past seven, without having slept and having drunk quite a bit that night, so my host gave me a lift to the airport. I checked in, had breakfast, paying with Euro for the first time.
The flight back with the stopover in Frankfurt passed without problems, I also had to wait only 20 minutes for the bus to Cambridge and was finally at home at 5.
Stupid me obviously didn't go to bed (strangely enough I wasn't tired anymore then despite not having slept for 31 hours) and talked to people on IRC instead. I finally fell into bed at 10 and got up at noon today.

Well, that was it

Comments

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

YAY! An Ozzy holiday! (I have NO idea why that phrase suddenly filled me with such joy!)

Corks in mouths

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

Is this some sort of German mating dance?

Re: Corks in mouths

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

No, a stupid but hilarious (at least when you're drunk) party game where you take a cork in your mouth and talk about the illnesses Willy has, the first player comes up with an affliction, the next has to repeat the previous ones and add one of his own and this goes round and round the table. Trying to say multiple sclerosis, appendicitis or syphilis isn't as easy as you might think when you have a cork in your mouth ;o)