A Birthday and a Wedding – Germany recap part I

Apparently, the second half of my vacation was so packed with activities that I didn’t have the time to update at all. If this recap might get a little lengthy, I apologize in advance.

I spent New Year’s Day at my sister’s place. We had some friends come over in the afternoon and in the evening, we had leftovers from New Year’s Eve. As you could probably tell from the picture, we had way too much meat (and side dishes), but we didn’t mind having fondue again and it was a great evening :)
I really love spending time at my sister’s.

Friday morning, we had breakfast together and then I went to see an old friend from high school for a couple of hours. We hadn’t seen each other in over 2 years and it was nice to catch up.
In the evening, we went out to dinner to celebrate my Granddad’s birthday. We traditionally go to the same restaurant every year and it was great that I could be part of the celebration this time. I remember that last year, I had to leave a couple of days before my Granddad’s birthday.
It was a wonderful evening and real quality time with my family and Greta, of course, was the center of attention. She’s such a behaved child. Even though the dinner didn’t end before 11:30 p.m., she slept for most of the time and was very calm and happy the rest of the time.

Nina and I at my Granddad’s birthday dinner

Saturday morning I had to get up quite early to catch the train to Berlin to attend Ute’s and Justin’s wedding! I had cut quite a deal by being able to use a 55€-round trip-train-ticket (to anywhere in Germany) that was advertised and sold by a local supermarket chain.
In Essen, my friends Sanni und Sebi got on the train as well, and we talked nonstop for 4 hours while having coffee and sandwiches. Before we knew it, we had arrived in Berlin/Potsdam, where a thin layer of snow awaited us. It was noticeably colder, too.

Thankfully, our hotel was conveniently located right next to the wedding location. At 5 p.m. sharp we went over and were greeted at the door by Justin, the beaming groom. We were given our place cards (table 5) and sat down, just to realize that we were seated with Antje (and Jörgen), as well as Ellen, which I both know from the blogosphere :) It was great to finally meet Antje in person and to see Ellen again (we had met in 2006 when I was in Berlin).

Jörgen and Antje

The wedding ceremony was very nice and we definitely had a fun evening, only topped by witnessing the happiness of our lovely wedding couple! :) I am so glad I could be there!

Ute and Justin

Ute and our wedding gift

The next morning, long after Ute and Justin had already left for the airport (crazy people!), Sanni, Sebi and I caught the train back home.