I ended my last entry wondering what I was going to do for 5 hours in an airport without benches. Well I walked all around that airport trying out different sleeping positions and eventually found one on the bottom floor. It was a row of 6 chairs. I slept there for about 2 ½ hours waking up constantly to check that my luggage was there and to make sure they weren’t going to kick me out for being homeless or something. Needless to say it was not a restful sleep which did not help for Jet Lag!

Jochen picked me up from Stuttgart and I had never been happier to see someone in my life. I wanted to be far, far away from an airport as soon as possible!

Jochen took me to his hometown of Karlsruhe, an old town where King Karl built a castle so he could have a place to relax. “Ruhe” means relax in German. All the roads lead to that castle. While giving me a tour of the town, I admitted my love for coffee so we went to a fantastic coffee place. Starbucks has nothing on this place!

We went to his apartment complex so I could change and prepare for the cookout of the evening! His furniture was practically all IKEA. I feel like that store is following me. I also saw it from the plane before we took off from Newark!

The cookout was a blast! It was hard in the beginning because I could not speak much German and everyone was talking so fast. Gloria, the owner of the cookout location, had wooden shoes that she used to work in the garden. She let me try them on. They were so comfortable! I really want a pair now!

The food was so good. Jochen was the official griller and he did a fantastic job! The side dishes were also good. There were cucumbers and cheese tomato things with a garlic dip for the meat. So Good!

I finished drinking my bottle of water (which are huge here) and filled up my glass with wine. Yes mom, I did. Jochen let me…

I began to speak a lot more German! Or at least lost the fear to speak! They all lost their fear of speaking English as well, so the languages were flying! My mom told me that Jochen’s friends would probably talk politics and it definitely did not take long for that to happen. I am not too informed with American politics, and I realize how bad it is when people from another country know more than me.

I also realize how bad my English is when I try to talk properly so others can understand!

The sun did not set until about 10:30 p.m. So far – Germany is a gorgeous place where one can never sleep because the sun goes down late…and there are no benches to sleep on!