Easter in Germany

Usually on Easter, we dress up, go to church and spend the day with family or friends. 

It was 45 degrees on Easter Sunday, so we skipped the dresses. We were invited to join our friend Ben at the cathedral in Cologne for Easter services. Now, this is a Catholic service and we of course are not Catholic, but we decided that since the service would be in a language we only nominally understand, that making the trip to spend Easter in a beautiful cathedral couldn't hurt. 

We left at 6:15am to ensure that we made our 7am train. It was windy and chilly with a few rain drops as we walked to the train station. Our train change in Duisburg was delayed by 45 minutes, so we made it to Cologne only 10 minutes before the 10am service began. There weren't seats by the time we arrived for the service, so we stood in the back. We arrived for the choral service, which we expected to be a service with mostly singing by the youth choir and maybe some readings, but it turned out to be a 2 hour mass! 

After the service, we walked to Ben's favorite burger place (The Bird), which was absolutely delicious. Not a typical Easter dinner at all, but it was tasty, and we really enjoyed the time with our friends!

After we'd eaten lunch, we decided that since we had the Schӧnes Wochenende ticket ("Happy Weekend" an all day weekend ticket for anywhere in Germany on regional trains, we should go somewhere else. We decided to get on the train to Drachenburg Castle in Kӧnigswinter, near Bonn. I think it was about an hour by train from Cologne. 

 Right before our train was due to arrive, we spotted a wrapped chocolate bunny on the tracks. We joked about getting it off the tracks, and if you know Carson at all, you know that he was ALL EARS for that idea. There was a train employee not ten feet away, but Carson waited until he glanced away and hopped down to grab this chocolate bunny. At that moment, our train began to pull in. I didn't document the actual bunny retrieval because I was just a little nervous about the fate of my free-food loving husband, but he and the bunny emerged from the tracks unscathed before the train finished pulling in, and everyone enjoyed a piece of the bunny later in the day (it was Lindt chocolate!).

Drachenburg Castle

(more info on the castle here)

You can take a funicular up to the castle, but we didn't know that at the time, and I think we would have chosen to walk up to it anyway. The walk from the train station in Königswinter was very steep, and by the time we were near the top, we'd shed our jackets for the most part because we'd warmed up so much. 

We got to the entrance of the castle and discovered that it was 7 Euro to go inside or even go up to the castle, and we didn't really want to pay (nobody would be paid by the grant program for a few days, so we were on major budget plan), so we walked around the gift shop instead. We saw these cute fuzzy bat magnets that were cheaper than admission so we tossed around the idea of getting one of those instead in honor of our friend Jenna (who studies bats), but opted to take pictures instead.

We also captured what we could see of the castle from the outside.

I think that's probably the city of Bonn as seen from near the castle.

We walked opposite the castle on the hill and got as much as we could of the view, before heading down that way.

Our Easter 2017 picture. I tried to go with my springiest scarf and green sweater - you do what you can here.

Once we got back to the apartment, we changed into comfy clothes and got to work on our Easter potluck meal for the next evening. We prepped potatoes for mashed potatoes, Jordyn's pasta salad, and boiled eggs to dye and to later turn into deviled eggs. Jenna arrived a little after midnight, and Carson went out to meet her train while we finished the prep, dyed eggs, and did the scariest looking face masks (they're supposed to be black jaguars!).

This was probably the busiest Easter Sunday we've ever experienced. We had a fun time with our friends. I really wish we could have attended church in a language we understood, with like minded fellowship, but experiencing a service in the huge Cologne Cathedral was beautiful too. Life just looks so different this year!

Past Easters

I thought a little snapshot of Easters past would be fun! It is a well known fact by now that I love "blasts from the past". Judging from these pictures, I also really like blue and green. 

2010 - Olympia. We were engaged and I remember going to a Good Friday service at Mars Hill church in Olympia, where I was attending with Carson's Aunt Shannon. Carson was in Spokane, I believe, but I don't remember! We don't have a picture for me to remember clearly. His parents got me an Easter basket. 

2011 - Spokane. We had Easter dinner at the Hoch's after church. 

2012 - Spokane. We hosted a potluck lunch with my old college roommates and their husbands... Now-husbands. Erica and Zack were engaged. 

2013 - Cleveland. We had lunch at the Weihrauch's and then came home and dyed eggs. 

2014 - Cleveland. Emily and Jillian were in town and we'd had a great weekend. They left soon after church and then Carson and I grilled at our house.

2015 - Beaufort. We didn't really have a church yet in Tallahassee so we drove up to Beaufort for Easter to see family. This was the first Easter I'd been with family since 2008. 

2016 - Tallahassee. We found a church! We spent the day with good friends - our community group leaders, the Kings. 

Easter 2016

Easter Weekend was rainy this year. The Easter BBQ our church usually hosts the day before got rained out, and it poured all weekend long. So raincoats in hand, we set off for church. 

After we returned, Carson and I finished up some things for Easter dinner and then I made him take some pictures. They are not stunning, but since we weren't willing to get wet, this was as good as it got.

Excellent background here with the grilling things and a garbage can.

Carson made mashed potatoes the night before, but was disappointed in himself for not having any gravy. We left the potatoes to warm in the crockpot while we were at church. When we returned, I suggested the addition of cheese, chives and sour cream (I think?) and then we threw them in the oven for a little bit. They were delicious and no one missed the gravy.

The deviled eggs and I suited up to brave the rain.

We had potatoes, deviled eggs, salad and a lamb roast at Josh and Christina's. The lamb was apparently a first-time try and it was so good.

After lunch, we sat around and talked and looked at pictures, then we dyed eggs. Grandmama usually buys me egg dyeing kits for my birthday, so we put it to good use!

We stayed quite late at Josh and Christina's. It's nice to have friends where the time gets away from you as you enjoy time together.

When we got home, we sat on the couch and went through our book of questions while Carson rested his left foot. He injured it again at the end of February and his doctor advised him to ice it and elevate it as much as possible.

Easter weekend was restful, focused, and quiet. We greatly enjoyed our time with friends, and we had a lovely weekend!

Easter 2015

Will we spend all our holidays with my family from now on? No, but the thought occurred to us that we are close enough to spend Easter with family, so... we did.

We drove up on Friday afternoon and arrived just in time for the Good Friday service at my parents' church. Afterward we hung out at the house and gave the dogs the attention they obviously (thought they) deserved. 

On Saturday, Carson and I joined Mom and Dad in a jaunt to Charleston, after a lazy early morning at home. Dad rarely has weekends off, so it was fun to be visiting family AND spending time with dad at the same time. We went to the Charleston Farmer's Market, ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom on King Street, and walked on the Battery and around Battery Park a little before heading back.

Lots of people were there to witness this couple we didn't know get married in the gazebo. When they kissed you could hear clapping all over the park. 

Sunday, we joined the family for church, where we enjoyed celebrating the resurrection! It was also so great to see old friends. We didn't have much time between services so I didn't get to see a ton of people, but I got to connect with Jillian (and baby Wren!) and to see Brooke, Levi and baby Clayton who are spending time in the South this summer before moving up to the Northwest! Connecting with old friends makes me feel, well, old... but it's so fun to see and connect with people even though it's often for a hug and a picture in between services.

And here's a throwback to us in the same spot in 2008, the last time we were home for Easter:

And now here we are with husbands and a baby.

After the service, we rushed home and began prep for a family Easter lunch. We'd planned it all just a few days before, but it came together wonderfully and there was more than enough food. I claimed to enjoy Easter food more than Thanksgiving food and that news was not well-received. I still stand by my unpopular claim, even if it is based solely on the fact that Grandmama's potato salad (one of my favorite foods) is seasonally appropriate for Easter and not Thanksgiving. Also, there was quite the abundance of delicious desserts, and I much prefer cheesecake to pumpkin pie. I will likely be disowned for that claim, but it's true.

We had to leave the gathering much too soon because we had to get back so that I could go to bed and open the next morning. Unfortunately, my work doesn't look kindly on skipping shifts. What are the odds? Also, there was rerouting due to road work they weren't doing, so that was fun. 

It was lovely being home for Easter!