Your goose is cooked...in Cologne

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Geo: 50.9411, 6.95984

On Sunday, we got up late and then loaded the 7 of us into our car to drive to Cologne (Koln) for lunch. Jonathon explained that the German tradition is to gather with your family and/or friends for a roast goose dinner before Christmas. It was quite a long drive - over 1.5 hours, and lots of traffic as we arrived in Cologne. Steven and Jonathan went off to park the car, whilst we jumped out to look at the Dom. As we arrived, it was clear that Mass was on, and they were up to the Consecration, so we left Miranda to find the boys and joined Mass...funny how much you can follow, even when you don't speak any of the language.

We met the boys and went quickly to the restaurant on the Rhine, which was a famous traditional German place. Apparently, this is where Yeltsin and Clinton came for dinner, after they signed the accord that ended the Cold War. None of us knew quite what to expect but we ordered two full goose dinners for the 7 of us. We had a salad entree, then two courses of goose - they brought the whole goose to our table, and proceeded to carve it with much ceremony. Fair to say there was some trepidation as to whether some children would eat goose...all but one liked it, and he ate his own body weight in bread rolls! The first course was with a chestnut gravy, the second with a sweeter, berry sauce - both yummy.

After the long lunch, we went for a walk, past the Roman artefacts museum, into the Christmas Markets - wall-to-wall people, and I guess, more what I expected from the Christmas markets in the Alsace, which were nowhere near as busy. Some gluewihn, some Christmas decorations for the tree (Miranda found a kangaroo with pink fluffy bits, and a small statue of Stalin!!!!), some bread and bacon sort of treat for Matthew (the lovely girl serving at the stall had been a backpacker in Sydney for six months), and lots of laughter in a huge crowd of good humour.

Back to the Mill...thanks to Steven for driving each way....

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