Day 6 - Munich, Germany (Meeting Uwe's Mother)

Today we flew from Paris, France to Munich, Germany. Although I've been to Germany before, this is my first time in Munich. What a change from the high French fashion to the traditional Bavarian Lederhosen and Dirndls. It's been quite a culture shock!

Munich is the stereotypical German city that Americans think of when they think of Germany, as it was part of the American occupied territory. Here is a photo of Uwe's mother, myself, and Astrid. We're staying in Hotel Torbraeu for 2 days, as is Uwe's mother. We met for the first time tonight. She lives in Northern Germany, but traveled by train for 7 hours down to Munich to meet us and see Astrid, her granddaughter, for the first time. Uwe's mom bought this traditional Bavarian hat for Astrid. We had a good laugh about it when she said the hat made Astrid look like a little Pope. (The Pope Benedict XVI is visiting Munich tomorrow and preparations are under way for the big event.) Lions are the symbol of the city of Munich and local artist have decorated various lions that are displayed throughout the city.
I'm glad I finally got to meet Uwe's mom as I found her to be very charming and funny and she looks great for her age. Even with the language barrier we were able to understand each other with my rusty German, and Uwe helping to translate at times. It was also interesting to see similar expressions and facial features of hers and Uwe's, and to get an understanding of where Uwe came from.

We exchanged information about me and my family, and for some reason Uwe's mom thought I worked for a bank, so it was good that we got that cleared up. Do I look like a Banker? One other amusing thing is she was very impressed by my "perfect white teeth." =) This was the first time I got to experience what it feels like to be an in-law.

We had dinner at a traditional German restaurant and although there were no veggies (green vegetables) which is typical (a potato and coleslaw doesn't count), my entree was delicious. We ate, drank, and shared stories about Uwe as a child. Many of"Uwe's" remembered first were a little exaggerated or distorted with time. According to his mom, Uwe was able to sleep through the night right after he was born. Uwe kept saying, "No way! That's impossible." I think all moms either exaggerate their kids accomplishments, or they really don't remember so they just make stuff up. (My mother claims I was potty-trained at less than a year old, and that's highly doubtful.)

Astrid sat through dinner with us and was very good, but we knew we were pushing it with the late hour, so after our dinner we headed back to our hotel, said goodnight and made plans to see each other in the morning.