Let Them Eat Cake
The blue skies, rolling green hills and colorful flower boxes of Germany were a breath of fresh air compared to the unfamiliar, muted landscapes of Dubai, Tanzania and Beijing. I physically relaxed in a way I hadn’t realized I was on guard before.
People ride bikes (with bells and baskets!) along pedestrian paths to work and to the market. Ladies in colorful summer dresses and high heels wheel about without helmets, their hair flowing in the breeze like an 80s shampoo commercial. Church bells ring on the quarter hour. Even the cows wear bells around their necks. It’s completely charming.
Germany was our tour of Voges relatives: 10 families in 10 days. It’s clear they adore Jens, the favored nephew coming home to the motherland. It felt really good to be home with family instead of at a hotel. It’s light until 10 pm this far north and the boys stayed up late playing tag, soccer and Pokémon Go with their second cousins. Everyone is happy.
We were welcomed at every home with cake: lemon cake, cherry cake, banana cake, boysenberry cake, chocolate cake… They call it “coffee,” but let’s be honest, it’s an excuse to eat cake in the afternoon. You don’t even have to eat something healthy first – this whole extra meal is dedicated to dessert! I love this! We need to import this tradition to America.
We toured several churches, museums, monuments and castles. Jens did not understand my desire to visit a castle. I explained that every girl wants to be a princess, and growing up in America, we don’t have any royalty or castles to lend hope to our fantasy. The boys didn’t care for the castles, until we arrived at the armory with the cache of medieval weapons. The castles we visited didn’t have dungeons, but I’m sure they would have liked that too.
We easily crossed the border into Switzerland and France several times without checkpoints. Sometimes we wouldn’t even realize we had crossed again until my phone chimed to tell me I was out of network with my German SIM card. Why can’t all counties get along, so we can open our borders like this?
You can come visit my country and I will welcome you with cake.
4 thoughts on “Let Them Eat Cake”
Yes! That “coffee” in the afternoon is so special. We recently visited friends near Frankfort and after a gondola ride through the vineyards we stopped for the most wonderful “coffee” before getting on a return trip via boat on the Rhine. It is a magical place. Glad you have had such a wonderful time with Jens’ family. Glad your travels aren’t over so we can continue hearing about them. Love you.
You are soooo right! Listen to this story about our cake time as a meal of the day. About 20 years ago, before my dearest husband got to know the American culture, I needed to make a phone call to the States on a Sunday. Our time late in the evening, America around 3:30 pm in the afternoon. After calculating what time it was over there, he looked at me and said: “no Silke, you cannot call now, you would interfere with coffee (and cake) time, that would not be polite”. It took me a while to convince him that only we Germans have this lovely tradition.
It sounds like you had a full dose of our cakes, yummmmy!
Guten Tag! It sounds wonderful! and looks so inviting – and must be all of that. With all the “walking – walking – walking” you all did, you can afford to eat the cake each day – lucky you! How good to have “family” to enjoy it with. I baked a fresh apple pie today, wish you all were here to enjoy it with us.
Wish I was there with you in Germany. The one other place in the world where I thought of buying land especially southern Germany. What a great place to view. One eve I went into a small Germany town and heard a German band concert. Hans Dieter Paul group was playing and it was a foggy night and I was taken back into time. What a great experience to be there and hear the band playing in the distance.