Celler!

Our hosts surprised us for the weekend with a trip to visit their family in Celler! It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive north of Dusseldorf. We stayed with Dietmar's mom. She didn't speak English, but she was very sweet. Her home was very cute, with a gorgeous porch and backyard, much different than the flats in Dusseldorf. We also met his sister and her family and his brother. They cooked so much for dinner, I wasn't able to eat it all. I don't know if that was normal for them or if they were celebrating. Julia and her cousins Michael and Maria took us out in Celler. They were so sweet and welcoming! Michael even let us drive his brand new 80,000 euro Mercedes. It was so awesome!! We started laughing so much because he only speaks German and we didn't understand fast, slow, turn, and directions. We learned pretty fast though. They are so giving and trusting. I don't know any American who would have done that. They tried to teach us German all night. It was hilarious! I don't think I learned very much though. lol It is amazing how much they know about our culture. They listen to so much of our music and watch our movies! I never listen to other countries music or movies. They take in interest in world news, learning about so many other places and people, where as I think we tend to focus just on new that directly effects America. We watched the Lion King in German. It was so funny! I could catch a couple of the words since I know the movie so well. We took a tour of the historic part of Celler. Some of the builiding date back to the 1500s. It is incredible how much historz there is, with Napoleon, World Wars, and the Cold War. I can't imagine having so much history. We even saw original letters of Martin Luther to the Duke of Celler. It was incredible. You could never see something so old like that in the United States. We also saw a beautiful castle and French Gardens. It was a great trip. It's odd because I will never see them again, but they were so open and sincere. They truely wanted to get to know us, even for the short period of time. I'm excited to get to see more of Dusseldorf this week, since we haven't really been able to walk around yet.