29/11/09: Yes, these days I am in Germany again and today for the second time I received an opportunity to be served by the German hospitality. Last time, it was during my previous stay when I was invited by Elena Martens to Paderborn, where we had some good time cooking and playing in the lush green environment of Paderborn. I had also been to the Paderborn church and some local market there. I really thank Martens lady for that.
This time, I had been to Soest today. I was invited by Soraya Bondi to her husband’s (Roland) parent’s home at Soest. I spent around 7 – 8 hours with the family. It was very kind of Soraya and her husband to pick me from Pension Pilk – the hotel in Bad Westernkotten where I am currently staying. Then we drove for about 20 min to reach their home in Soest. It was 3.00 pm and the light rain showers were in the air along with the bright sun and we saw a beautiful rainbow along the way to Soest. On arrival there, I met Roland’s parents – Mr. Lothar and Mrs Mari-lis, cute little Lennart and Ronald's brother and sister – The Scholz family. I was served with the tea and cake at their home table. We spent about 1 hour at the table. I had taken the famous Bikaneri Bhujia which was liked by the German family. For me, it was a surprise to know that they were fans of Indian food and already knew Garam Masala. It was also interesting to know that this German family was so much interested in India. Looking at their interest in Indian varieties, I have promised them to send whole Garam Masala from India.
After some chat with the family, Lothar leaded us to the beautiful ancient city of Soest. It was around 5.00 pm in the clock but being the month of November, it was as dark as 10.00 pm of Indian summer. It was amazing to see the homes which were build in 1200s, 1600s and 1700s. To my knowledge the ancient homes were built using Plaster of Paris…amazing really!!! There I also saw the leaning tower of Soest, which unlike Tower of Lisa, leans towards the right side. And another surprise was to see a catholic and a protestant’s church so close to each other. Then we went to the Christmas market and enjoyed some Irish music along with some warm drinks. Of course, I choose a non-alcoholic one!! This was our main destination where we spent some nice time at different German culture stalls. On our way back home, we went to an Italian restaurant, where I met with another surprise. This time I saw the word – annanas – on the Italian menu card. Yes, like in Marathi or in Hindi, pine-apple was called annanas. So I had a Pizza Vegitario mit annanas. Yummy!!!!! Soest, being an ancient city in Germany, is also surrounded by the wall of which two-third remains are still preserved. We were walking on one such remains during our way back to Lothar’s home. Back at their home, we rested for some time and I comfortably had a look at Mari-lis’ collection – photo-album – filled with cats. Since I also have cats at my home, I developed a different interest in those photographs. There were about 100 photographs of cats of different color and shape. Since the Scholz family has supported Cat-breeding for more than 10 years, they had a beautiful collection. With this, I took their permission and Roland-Soraya dropped me back to Pension Pilk. Really an experience to remember!!! Thanks to the Scholz family!!
This was the second time when I was treated by the hospitality of German families and both these times have become my unforgettable memories!! I wish I could also get to treat them in India along with my family :)
I will keep on updating you all with such experiences. Till then...CYA
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