Day 22 in Deutschland – Christmas Day (Meckenhausen, GE)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas day found us back over at Stefan & Annerose’s house in Meckenhausen.  We borrowed William’s car and took Opa with us.  William had plans to do other things with his girlfriend Jasmin’s family most of the day.

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Chalkboard in Stefan & Annerose’s kitchen. “Frohe Weihnacht” = Merry Christmas

Stefan & Annerose reserved a room and a special lunch for us at the nearby gasthaus called Gastfof Wolfl – Bei “Staffi”.  The locals refer to the popular gasthaus as “Stafros”.  The family that operates the gasthaus are originally from Greece and their good greek food and pizzas are well-liked.

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The Greek owner/operators are good friends with Stefan & Annerose.

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Opa had the Puten (turkey) and Kloß (dumplings).

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The rest of enjoyed platters of Gyros, Kalamari, and Gebackene Schafskäse (breaded goat cheese).  Our sides included, rice, tzatziki sauce, french fries, and salad.  Yummmm 🙂

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Christmas meal at “Stafros”.
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Christmas meal at “Stafros”.

After dinner aperitifs.

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After our awesome dinner – several of us went on a good long walk on the outskirts of Meckenhausen.  The weather was great, with temperatures in the high 50’s and lots of sunshine.

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(L to R) Stefan, Inge, Stilla, and Reinhart.

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We weren’t the only ones with the same idea.  There were a lot of folks out for a walk today.

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We paused for a picture at a rest bench.

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We passed by a couple hunter’s tree stands… the one below was especially well-equipped with flip-up windows, carpet, and even a kitchen chair.

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Stilla didn’t have the best shoes on today for walking.  She had to take a break from her high heels a couple times.

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Even some small german deer (Reh) were out enjoying the sun today.

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We ended up walking about 5 kilometers (3 miles).  I wished I had my cane or a walking stick, but it was good to get out and get a little exercise after all the fine but heavy meals we’ve had recently.

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Town limit sign for Meckenhausen with the church in the background (east side of town).

When we got back to the house, we found that Annerose had coffee and dessert set out for everyone.

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Check out Stefan & Annerose’s Christmas tree.  The “Floating Tree” (Schwebendes Baum).  Stefan put it on a swivel TV mount… guess he can fit lots of presents under the tree that way. 🙂

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The Floating Christmas tree. Patent pending (?).
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Stilla, Stefan. Prost or Prosit = Cheers!
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Prost!

Dessert:

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Dessert.

And because we clearly hadn’t eaten enough today… around 6PM it was brotzeit:

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Brotzeit.
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Brotzeit.
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Brotzeit.

Green eggs (?)  Can’t say I’ve seen those before… do you think the chickens are “green” too ?  🙂

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A few more family members showed up later in the day as their schedules permitted, i.e., Erich & Eli, William & Jasmin, Anneliese…

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Prost (cheers) again.

Several of us closed out the evening with a friendly game of poker after most folks went home.

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Another great day in Schnitzeland!  Merry Christmas and Thanks for everything Stefan & Annerose 🙂