Guten Tag!

Actually I must start speaking French soon as my exam's coming up, but as I've just got back from Germany I think I can stay in German mode whilst I do a quick summary.
I had so much fun!
On Saturday morning, we were out of the house and travelling to Stansted by 3am. We took a flight to Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and were met at this lovely but very small (by which I mean two rooms) airport by a friend of Renate, who speaks perfect English as he married an Englishwoman and also lived in both England and Canada! It was really nice to get off the plane and hear this English voice going, "Renate's friends?"
Diether took us to Renate's parents' house, where we were staying. It's amazing! It was probably 3 times as big as our house; we only saw half of it! And it was spotless as well - complete with terraces, vegetable garden, the lot. We all stayed in Renate's old room. Anyway, her mum met us at the door (she speaks very little English) then we met Renate's sister Barbara who luckily for us can speak English. Her father can't speak any, and I'm not sure if her brother Florian can or not but he looked very fazed when we all clattered up the stairs and were introduced to him! He shook all our hands then escaped quickly; it made me laugh.
Anyway, we unpacked and went downstairs where they'd laid out a sandwich lunch for us - and by sandwiches, they were really posh ones you get at buffet dinner parties. Her mum apologised that she was busy, because she was making all 5 layers of Renate's wedding cake! And each one a different flavour! And it was incredible, honestly, I wish I could do it justice with my description but I can't.
By the way, this post is going on for a long time yet! After we'd changed, we were taken to the church wedding in - wait for it - the back of Renate's uncle and aunt's camper van! It was great fun. At the wedding we met Liz, who was Dieter's wife, and they very generously translated for us throughout the service. Renate looked absolutely stunning. She was in an off-white almost beigy dress, and it had a crumpled effect. They had no bridesmaid or best man which was interesting - also, the wedding ring goes on the right hand. There were lots of musical pieces as well, but it was quite similar to an English wedding. And the priest was so funny; he didn't stop smiling for one minute!
After the wedding we saw Renate amidst lots of screaming which was lovely, then were taken in the camper van to the reception. They served cake, and we took one piece each then came and sat back down while all the German piled about 5 slices on their plates then told us we must eat more than that! So as the cake seemed to be all that was going to be served we took a little more and got very full. German cake is incredible.
We were sitting next to this lovely German girl called Christiane, who speaks fluent English and was translating for us. In German weddings, they have a programme of small sketches or plays which people put on. It was really fun actually. The youth group made up a rap/song and some of the boys put on fake beards and stuff to make themselves look like Renate's husband Michael. But after a couple of these sketches they announced they were about to serve dinner! A salad course, a main course and dessert. So much food! And the Germans don't really queue, which we found out after having stood there like lemons for about half an hour! There were lots more sketches including an amazing hiphop style dance, a very weird German Little Red Riding Hood (Rotkäpchen) which we didn't quite get - Germans have a very slapstick sense of humour and we were exhausted by that point! We'd been up for 21 hours, on 3 hours sleep! But then Renate's brother offered (or probably more accurately, was told to offer) us a lift back to their parents house, which we gratefully accepted as all that was left was hours of dancing and we were having difficulty standing! So we got driven back, this time sitting in the back of one of those assasin-type vans!
On Sunday, our first adventure was at breakfast when we trying to politely not eat the German stodge breakfast we were given but were forced into seats and had to escape by running up the stairs when no-one was looking! Then we met up with Renate, who to our amazement had decided that she and Michi should spend the first day of their married life with us. We looked round Baden-Baden, then met up with Michi and his friend Markus (aka Rotkäpchen) to look round Straßbourg. So off we went to France! We looked round the cathedral and the old part of the town and tried their speciality Flammkuchen, at a café with the funniest waiter you have ever seen. We were all 6 of us in hysterics! He was so camp it was unbelievable. Anyway, it gave us a chance to practice our French too.
So, then we went off to the airport, said goodbye to Renate and Michi (who I think was quite scared of us!) and went to the departure lounge. After half an hour they said there'd be a 2 hour delay. Another half an hour and they said the flight was cancelled. I kid you not. So, 11pm at night, we were stranded in Germany, not allowed to stay at the airport. Hmm. So we prayed hard and rang up Renate's parents who very generously said they'd come and get us. When Manfriend (her father) came, we were so grateful it's unbelievable - by this time it was gone midnight - but our limited German was very severely tested! He told us he was glad we'd rung and they were both very welcoming; it was just slightly different to our plan! But to be honest, in hindsight I'm actually quite glad the flight was cancelled as we had a chance to actually get to know Renate's parents instead of just using their house - and also, it was an adventure!
And we got scheduled free of charge on a flight back the next morning - when they told us the cancellation was due to a falcon getting ingested into the engine of the plane. Yuck.
Anyway sorry for the ridiculously long essay, I have to go now to do frantic revision!
xx