Guten tag from Düsseldorf!

I was a little sad to leave India but I LOVE GERMANY!!! I arrived in Düsseldorf at 10:30 am and Kristen, David, and little Emma met me at the airport. We took the train back to their apartment, which is so adorable. It's nice how you can take the train & streetcars to get pretty much anywhere.

It's been over 5 years since I last saw Kristen (at Stephanie and Ben's wedding) so we had fun catching up today! She and David are here as missionaries and will be living in Germany for 3 years.

Despite the cold and drizzly weather, we walked all over the place today (including down to the Rhein) and I really enjoyed taking in the sights. I had a very yummy bratwurst and some equally delicious German chocolate. Then I saw a Starbucks, yay!!! Brittany thinks I am addicted, but I'm not... it was just strange not ever having it as an option in India.

The only problem here is that people can't tell I don't speak German just by looking at me so I just smile and say "sorry". At least in India, they'd take one look at me and do their best to speak English. I downloaded some basic German lessons on my iPod, but I don't remember anything except "danke" and "guten tag". I also learned the word for "airplane" because they repeat it like a million times on Lufthansa flights, so for the record, my favorite German word is "flugzeug" (literally "fly-thing"). Very fun to say.

Tomorrow we are going to go to church, then tour a castle here in Düsseldorf, and possibly take a train to Cologne. Stay tuned for more pics! Sorry these are kind of blurry!


Hooray! I missed you, my grande chais!


Emma, Kristen, and me


She was so happy in her stroller!


The slightly twisted steeple of St. Lambertus church was an accident caused by builders using damp timbers!