I haven’t seen Sieglinde since she came to visit me in Paris 17 years ago. We’d lost touch for most of that time. I’m glad we got it together again and were able to meet up. She picked me up in Recklinghausen where she was visiting a friend and then we drove to Köln together, stopping first in Ratingen to visit her sister Tabea and family. They live in the house that they all grew up in. As we drove up the street the memory of it came back. We spent a little bit of time there when we were little and traveling with our mother. And of course the pond is still in the backyard. Our mothers are cousins and our grandmothers are sisters. It’s a neat connection. I haven’t seen Tabea since we were little and somehow it was almost like time hadn’t really passed. Perhaps knowing many of the same stories keeps that connection. They were all very amused by my story telling, especially that of the Schemeit Revolution but also about my adventures. They asked many questions. And wanted more details. Sieglinde lives in the upstairs apartment of her grandparent’s house. It’s a great little apartment. A little one bedroom, a little bigger than mine was. I felt very comfortable there. Sieglinde and I got along very well. We are very alike I think in many ways. I apparently got her on to her Paris and France obsession in the 90s. She ended up spending a year and a half there. She’s more of an adventure girl than me too I think. Her pictures and stories of her Israel and Morocco adventures sound and look amazing. I also met her friend Yosef. She’s been seeing him for a couple of years. He’s a very good cook. He made us a lovely meal on Sunday night. He came to Germany from Iran several years ago. It was very interesting to talk to him especially about growing up Muslim and later converting to Christianity. It sounded a little bit like my brother’s story, just the other way around.
The Christmas market in Köln was so beautiful. The cathedral as a backdrop is so gorgeous. It’s beautifully picturesque. All the little booths are neatly organized and beautifully decorated. The different smells and sounds are heavenly. There’s a special atmosphere, especially around the food and drink booths
where people come after work to grab something quick to eat and to drink Glühwein. We did too. We hung out there for a bit and went to see a movie later. The movie was a bit odd. We had a scare afterwards when Sieglinde couldn’t find her car keys anywhere. And the movie theatre was very quickly turning out its lights. Luckily we had parked right out front so we could catch the last worker lady on her way out. The keys were on the movie room floor. On Tuesday we decorated gingerbread houses for the children she looks after. And in the evening we met up again and had dinner with Yosef too at an old seafarer’s pub right on the Rein. They play up the medieval pub idea a bit for the tourists. My dinner wasn’t that great but the atmosphere was nice. 
On Friday I went into Frankfurt to meet with Sieglinde’s uncle and his partner Antje. I remember when Siegfried came to visit us in Toronto 30 years ago. It was interesting to see him again. I recognized him right away. He looks very Knorr. Many of his features are like my grandmothers. It was a quick little visit. The three of us zipped through the old section of Frankfurt, of course another Christmas market. Their old town square has been beautifully rebuilt post-war in the old style again. Beautiful backdrop too for the market. More Glühwein and then we had a quick bite to eat at a nice restaurant before I had to head back to pick up the car to get to my Oratorio dress rehearsal in time.
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