Guten Tag Germany

How do we summarise 6 months of life and adventures into 1 post without turning it into a bedtime story? As many of our family & friends have kept up via Jelley’s Instagram already, we’ll (try) to keep this short and sweet. (*Disclaimer - this might be a long one...)

January

If there’s one way to make Frankfurt look like the cleanest, most efficient and quiet city in the world, it’s to teleport directly from Mumbai into this alternate universe. It was quite a contrast flying from India to Western Europe and Jelley also happened to arrive in Frankfurt during the coldest winter in years. Day one landing at Frankfurt Airport was a classic one, experiencing a train strike that there was no information on, resulting in a 20 minutes direct journey on the ‘S-Bahn’ (one of the train lines from the airport) turning into a train then tram, bus, then walk to reach her accommodation. A warm welcome to Frankfurt and the start of many memorable interactions with the infamous German train system called the Deutsche Bahn (DB). 

Jelley was feeling a little lonelier without Luke by her side, but she was excited in anticipation of the new experiences ahead and couldn’t wait to hit the ground running! Jelley had an exciting and mysterious challenge ahead of her as she prepared to understand and integrate into German life. Even though it was freezing weather and there was a mountain of German paperwork to deal with, her spirits remained high. The snowy, short, and dark days were a stark difference from Luke's life in India at that time, where he was facing scorching humid heat.

When leaving New Zealand in October of 2023, the intention had been to start working in April or May of 2024. There was definitely no plan to work another winter (our 3rd in a row) and our packing reflected this. Here Jelley was in winter, ill-equipped for the snowy streets of Frankfurt. She had a day to spare before her immigration appointment so she set off to buy some appropriate clothes for this cold climate! After a walk down the main shopping street, it became clear one of the long black ‘sleeping bag’ style jackets was going to be a worthwhile investment and would be worn daily for the next 8-13 weeks along with a trusty pair of boots. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!

There is always excitement and wonder in discovering the different customs of a completely new and unfamiliar country - especially for an extended stay. We have always found that the most interesting of these treasures can be found at the local supermarket. Jelley's favourite was the German bread slicing machine at the local Rewe (pronounced "hey-va" in German lol, not 'rue-wee'). The machine allows you to place a loaf of bread of any size into it and away it goes slicing it into perfect individually sliced pieces. German engineering! Jelley would often use the machine and look around in amazement to see if anyone else was as fascinated by this genius invention. Most of the time no one else cared. There were also a lot of Frankfurter sausages in jars which made her laugh every time given the location.

Next was Jelley's all important immigration meeting where she was to acquire her working permit. We could probably both write a novel on our experiences with the Ausländerbehörde (immigration office - yes it is hard to pronounce) and the Bürgeramt (city registration office - or what we like to call the "burger-mart" haha). The Ausländerbehörde was probably the most comical and least foreigner-friendly experience of them all. The office itself was located in a very unwelcoming part of the city which required multiple forms of transportation to reach. Luke's comparison on reflection after his own visit some months later was that the building could only be described as 'The Death Star' from Star Wars - given its remote location, uninviting appearance, and maze like corridors.

Jelley arrived 45 minutes early to her appointment to ensure she didn’t miss this crucial meeting. She had planned to start work the following Monday, and if her visa appointment wasn’t processed smoothly, this would be delayed. Upon arriving at the entrance way to 'The Death Star', two large security guards blocked the entrance way to the main entrance. Feeling confident in her punctuality, Jelley approached the men and showed her the confirmation email she had on her phone, but they began shouting something at her in German. Startled and confused she apologised and told them that she didn't speak German, to which they replied ‘fifteen minutes’ and shooed her away. Bear in mind, it was freezing and snowing outside, and 15 minutes later, she approached them again to be shouted at more, before reaching the conclusion perhaps she couldn't enter until 15 minutes before the appointment time.

While waiting outside, she was approached by a group of other immigrants, including Ukrainian refugees, desperate for information on how to even get an appointment in the first place. They had been in the country for 3 months without any luck, and no one willing to help. It was a sad situation and Jelley felt helpless and guilty for somehow getting her appointment and visa processed at a faster pace.

Once allowed in, she entered the building and was greeted with an empty reception desk with boxes of paper piled up and no sign of life. It felt like everyone had lost their jobs in covid and never returned to this post-apocalyptic building. With no one around to help, it was every foreigner for themselves and she, and countless other clueless aliens, tried to desperately navigate the ‘system’ of locating their appointment room. After scanning a QR code, it became apparent she had to find a specific waiting room somewhere in the building; however, there was no signage reflecting the name of this area. It felt like a twisted game of "hide and go visa" or something.

After walking around 5 floors of the building and the clock quickly ticking down to her appointment time, she realised she needed to cross an external skybridge to another building. Fortunately, she followed her nose and found the right room just in time for the appointment. Once actually meeting a human who worked there, the paperwork was processed easily and she received her trusty temporary workers permit (aka the most valuable piece of paper which must be carried with you at all times). It was a huge relief for Jelley to have this piece of paper and was an important hurdle to complete. The adventure wasn’t over there though, as the building complex was just as confusing to exit as it was to enter. After about half an hour of wandering, she found a lone soul worker in the basement and asked for assistance of how to get out of this place! Deadpan, he replied, "Oh no, once you enter this building, you can never leave". Turns out the German bureaucrats do have a sense of humour after all! With this experience behind her, Jelley carefully documented the correct steps and path to take through the maze so that Luke and anyone else needing this appointment would have an easier time navigating the 'system'.

Most core memories from the first days of living in Frankfurt were being shouted at a lot, and mostly in the supermarket or at immigration appointments! Jelley was always being spoken to directly in German (a language which she can't speak a word of). This always took her by surprise. In Nepal and India, it was obvious that she was a tourist, but here in Germany, not quite so obvious! It was a naive realisation that even though many Germans can speak English, they do just speak primarily in German during their day-to-day lives (obviously). Unfortunately, one of the most important words for ‘sorry’ or ‘excuse me’ was one of the more difficult ones to master, but once learnt, was used on a daily basis! Entschuldigung!

We were SO lucky to have made an immediate local Frankfurt friend, Anita, just 3 weeks earlier on our tour through India, who really took Jelley under her wing and introduced her to Frankfurt. Throughout our entire time in Frankfurt, Anita was an incredible source of support in helping us navigate anything and everything that didn’t make sense, including walking and cycling touring, many kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) dates, and trying to make sense of the very confusing 7-bin recycling system (seriously - 7 bins!).

While Anita shared many fun facts about the endless museums of the city and more about the famous poet Goethe, the fact we seemed to remember the most was that Frankfurt is the only city in Germany with skyscrapers, known as Mainhatten! Every other city in Germany (and much of Europe) has worked hard to maintain its character by enforcing building restrictions for the highest point of the city being the steeple of the town cathedral. As one of the most bombed and destroyed cities in WW2, Frankfurt rebuilt upwards, and kept just a small part of the historic centre, what is known as ‘the new old town’, Romerburg, which was rebuilt in the exact same character. Frankfurt's nickname, ‘Mainhatten’, is therefore play on words combining the 'Main' (the name of the river that runs through Frankfurt) and Manhattan in New York City. Frankfurt is also the financial hub of Europe, making the nickname especially apt.

Taking the DeutscheBahn (DB) train to work was an total novelty at the start, especially since there is no such option at home in Christchurch. However, that novelty quickly faded as we began to understand that German train efficiency is #fakenews and we lost many a breathing minute of our lives waiting on platforms, or worse, trapped on trains and unsure if a 30 minute commute would turn into 90. We have so many wild stories to tell every time we took the train, including Luke getting trapped in darkness for what felt like hours, the horrors of the Hauptbhanhof, colleagues falling down platforms and Jelley ending up almost in another state entirely due to a simple error.

One novelty that never wore off was the office being based in the middle of a forest! It was really magical, especially as the snow settled on Jelley’s first day at work. Situated next to the main football (soccer) stadium in the former offices of the German National Football Association (or 'DFB', one of many new acronyms), there was plenty of wildlife to be spotted and walks to be enjoyed as the seasons changed from winter to spring to summer. Jelley got particularly good at finding the ‘Bambis’ - the name our European colleagues referred to for the local deer. The creepiest animal nearly stepped on was what she thought was a snake, but it was actually a ‘slow worm’ - similar to a lizard but the legs and arms can never grow out. 

February

Jelley was over the moon when her first guest arrived. It was Luke! After his solo adventures in India, he was also very relieved to be in a more ‘western' environment. Although it wasn’t quite as cold as when Jelley arrived, it was still a contrast and also quite the culture shock for him when he first arrived in Frankfurt.

No sooner had Luke arrived, then Jelley left! Jelley was on the train to Paris for an on-the-ground introduction to UEFA’s events, leaving Luke to get acclimatised to Frankfurt. It was worth it for Jelley to travel to Europe so quickly to have this work trip and understand more of what she was going to be delivering at her job for the next 6 months. This was also Jelley’s first ever time in Paris, and on the last day with an hour to spare even made it out for a short walk past a couple of famous landmarks.

Jelley left for Paris with a deadline looming to move out of her temporary first-month apartment when she was away. The temporary apartment had been perfect for one person, but was not feasible for two people to live in, especially not for 6 months! Finding an apartment in a new city is always a challenge. However, finding somewhere to live in a new country, on a short-term lease, and in a completely different language is a whole different challenge. We tried to view this not as a chore, but like an episode of ‘HouseHunters International’.

With the deadline fast approaching, we searched every apartment leasing website we could find, using Google Translate to help us navigate the listings. Luke attended several viewings, but many flats were unfurnished, and some were missing entire kitchens, even when there was clearly space for one! It seemed strange - who wants to buy and install an oven, custom cabinets and fridge for a short-term stay? Just another quirk of German rentals. We also encountered a few obvious scams, which we made sure to avoid.

Eventually, we hit the jackpot with a beautiful two-bedroom, top-floor apartment in the lovely neighborhood of Grüneburg (northern Frankfurt). Jelley’s luck played a big role—while enjoying a sunny day of outdoor drinking at the famous Kleinmarkthalle, she met a colleague who was moving out of the apartment the next week. That chance encounter led to an introduction to her landlord, securing us our new place. Yay!

When we first viewed it, we thought it was a little excessive and expensive given the uncertainty of how long Luke could stay in Germany without a confirmed job and visa. But we decided to take a bit of a gamble and signed the lease. Hindsight 2020, this was absolutely the right decision. It was fully furnished with furniture, sheets, towels, pots/pans, and even a kitchen (lol)! It also had a spare bedroom so we could host guests (a novelty for us considering we are so used to being other people's guests!). We felt so incredibly blessed to to call this place home in Frankfurt. Our landlord was so helpful and generous, the location was perfect, and the extra bonus was having a delicious Italian restaurant on the ground floor of our building! Every day we woke up, we could not believe our luck as to how well this apartment had worked out for us. Especially considering some of the horror stories we had heard from some of our other flat-hunting colleagues. The only cons of the flat were that we had to walk up 5 flights of stairs every day, and the insufferable heat in the peak of summer, but the pros far outweighed these small inconveniences!

In those first weeks together, everything felt fresh and exciting. We made the most of our weekends, whenever Jelley wasn’t working, by exploring Frankfurt and the surrounding areas. One of the most quintessentially German experiences in February was Carnival. We had no idea what to expect, and it definitely caught us by surprise. Given that Sundays in Germany are usually reserved for rest—where even vacuuming, putting out glass recycling, and grocery shopping are off-limits—this lively celebration was the exact opposite!

We took a train to Oberursel (which brought hysterics to the office Monday morning as Jelley tried and failed to pronounce the name!). What we experienced was the most wholesome day, as every member of the town’s community old and young dressed up, ate sausages and actively participated in the parade through the town streets. It was like a Santa Parade on steroids, with no real theme - one group would be a kids marching band, the next a rowdy float with beer kegs and German techno music throwing candy extremely hard at the crowds. Everyone was having a blast, from the youngest to the oldest! A quintessentially German event. There are far larger Carnivale events in Germany, including the most known in nearby Mainz (with huge political floats) and the larger city of Cologne, but we loved this super local experience in Oberursel.

Frankfurt was also not far from Karlsruhe - our buddy Nial’s home in recent times. The last  time we saw Nial was 18 months earlier while hiking the Peaks of the Balkans, and we farewelled over an excessively large brownie in Shkodër, Albania. This felt like a lifetime ago! It was great to have a familiar face nearby, and we had a great time exploring his hometown, eating more new foods, drinking German beers, and sharing in many laughs about the peculiarities of being a foreigner living in Germany.

At this point, Luke was still unsure about his future in Germany. He had to be cautious about the amount of time he was in Europe with the 90-day Schengen rule. So, when Jelley found a $250 round-trip flight to Boston via Iceland, he jumped at the chance to visit some friends for a week. Boston was, of course, home to many of his closest pals. Luke got to meet Gannon's newest family member, Kayce, surprise Jackson during a lecture at MIT, as well as see his friends Emma and Michael! Total whirlwind!

One of the highlights of the trip was Luke’s first experience ice fishing. Gannon invited him up to his in-laws' cabin in New Hampshire, where they headed out to a frozen lake where the extended family lived. Luke had assumed ice fishing would be a simple excursion—dig a hole and drop a line—but he quickly learned it was far more elaborate and epic. Gannon's in-laws were seasoned experts, arriving fully prepared with snowmobiles, ice skates, hockey sticks, and small heated cabins for comfort while fishing. They even had a BBQ going right on the ice, which was an unexpected and exciting touch. It was the perfect winter adventure, filled with fun, great company, and the chance to reconnect with Gannon in a stunning, snowy landscape! Special shout out to Gannon who is one of the few people that we know actually reads these posts haha.

One of the many fun parts of working short contracts on global events is the friends you make along the way, and paths that cross again when you least expect it. Our fellow American and event globetrotter, Lauren who had also worked in the Auckland office for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, also just started with the same event in Germany! In fact, she even started working the exact same day as Jelley and they shared the initial onboarding week together. Although based in another city, we tried to align our busy schedules to explore new places together, and picked the funniest place on the map as our first adventure -  Worms 🪱 . We chose it for no reason other than the name. We were slightly disappointed to be reminded that the W is pronounced like a V so it sounded more like ‘Verms’ than ‘Worms’, but we still giggled every time we saw the sign! Lauren did actually know a fair bit about the history of this town along the Rhine River, including its importance to Lutheranism, with the imperial Diet of Worms of 1521 in many respects the culmination of the first phase of the Luther’s Reformation. LOL

March

Luke was back in Frankfurt again, and we continued our sightseeing together during the short winter days, which were very slowly getting longer. Some highlights included Wiesbaden (a spa town similar to Saratoga Springs), walks in neighbouring villages through castle ruins with Jelley’s workmates, a river cruise on the River Main (pronounced Mine not Main) and general exploring around Frankfurt am Main. Speaking of ‘Main’, this caused a lot of confusion with every train stop looking like it was the ‘main station’ but it was referring to Frankfurt am Main, as in ‘Frankfurt on the Main river’. It's pronounced 'mine' instead of 'main'. So confusing!

The very early signs of spring were making their way into the city with daffodils blooming - having switched hemispheres, this felt a little strange since it felt like yesterday we were with the daffodils in Christchurch! We took a quick weekend excursion to Munich with Lauren & more of her international event buddies, for St Patrick’s day. Jelley had been to Munich during a cold Christmas markets trip in 2022, but had been super sick and spent most of that time in bed, and we were excited to experience this highly rated city together.

We were rained out and into a beer hall for the first day but shared a lot of laughter and stories reminiscing on past events with likeminded people. A total highlight of our Munich trip was Olimpiapark, the original stadium and wider facilities and park that were used for the 1972 Olympic Games. It was inspiring to see the legacy still in place, and we especially enjoyed a very affordable audiotour through the stadium, which is still used today for huge concerts and events. We walked up to the highest point of the city, which is not the steeple of the cathedral, but the Olimpiapark hill, created as a legacy park for the Olympic Games atop of a huge pile of rubble from buildings cleared after WW2.

The uncertainty about Luke’s ability to stay in Germany was finally resolved in a positive way when he was offered a job with EURO2024 – in the same Frankfurt office as Jelley! We are incredibly grateful that we kept faith that things would work out, and now we no longer had to consider spending the next four months on opposite sides of the world. During the waiting period, Luke used his time to study and earn a project management certification, which was a great accomplishment. Now, for the second time in our careers, we would be ‘dear colleagues,’ and it was exciting to be sharing this journey in Germany together.

Easter came early in 2024, and we were grateful for the ‘forced holiday’ time that the whole company was required to take for an extended break. If we couldn’t guarantee a hot sunny destination, then we may as well embrace the true cold and go far, far north. This is what led us to Rovaniemi, Finland. But first, we were off to the UK for some overdue catchups with some of our best friends living there. It was so great to see Vic & Andrew again and stay potentially for the last time in their London lounge, as they were preparing to move back to NZ later in the year. We did a tour of the British Parliament and then went to a West End show with Vic, Andrew, Greer & her sister. We decided to venture off and try a completely different and unknown show. All we can say is that the ‘Hills of California’ have nothing to do with any hills or indeed California. There were a few catchy songs but not sure we’d recommend that one (sorry Greer).

After months of daily refreshing the website, Jelley managed to get highly sought after tickets to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour, a little bit outside of London. It was INCREDIBLE and far more impressive than Hobbiton in New Zealand. Even Luke, not a huge Harry Potter fan like Jelley, was blown away with the scale, detail and entertainment of the studio tour. We would highly recommend trying to get to this if you have even the slightest interest in Harry Potter! Jelley still regrets not buying a wand ... the wand chooses the wizard, the wizard doesn’t choose the wand.

We then took a train north to squeeze in a quick visit to Ipswich, home of Jelley’s ‘work wife’, Claire from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. We haven’t actually counted, but it’s extremely likely Jelley & Claire spent more days together in 2022 than Jelley & Luke did. It was so cool to see her hometown and enjoy the best food at the famous Greyhound pub. We shared a lot of laughter and a few tears while remembering the absolute highlights and absolute lowlights from that year we experienced together. We were really grateful to reconnect and reflect, and it felt like no time had passed. 

Reunited with Greer again, we took a short flight north to Lapland, in the Arctic Circle of Finland. We arrived to find snowy streets just as we had imagined, and the river was nearly frozen over, with brave snowmobilers crossing in the safe areas. We were hopeful of witnessing the famous Northern Lights and had three possible nights where the stars—or magnetic forces—might align to make that dream a reality.

Luckily there was plenty to do during the days to keep us entertained in between monitoring the aurora forecasts (northern lights). We were so close to Santa Claus’s village, and couldn’t resist feeling like kids for the day, hanging out with his reindeer, having a hot cocoa in floating snow and meeting the big man himself. We were a tiny bit disappointed with his lack of enthusiasm, but given it was Easter and not Christmas we were visiting, we couldn’t really blame him.

A completely new experience for all of us was trying out husky dog sledding, something none of us had ever imagined doing. We were driven about an hour north of Rovaniemi, deeper within the arctic circle. The atmosphere was magical, with towering trees weighed down by snow and a crispness in the air that felt truly Arctic.

Upon arrival, we met our team of huskies—rambunctious, energetic, and eager to get moving. There was a Spanish family that also joined us for the adventure and were going to be driving their own sled. Our husky dog guide gave us all a very (very) brief crash course on how to steer and control the sleds, which was a little more technical than we expected. Balancing the sled, how to brake, and managing the turns through the snowy trail all required its own set of maneuvers which was pretty intimidating at the start. The instructor emphasised the importance of leaning on the turns so as to avoid tipping over. Yikes!

Luke took the first turn driving, with Jelley and Greer sat in front of him. One of the guides led the way on a snowmobile, setting the pace for the dogs and was there to monitor everything just in case. As soon as we started moving, the rush of adrenaline hit! The sled glided smoothly across the snow, powered entirely by the strength of the dogs, and the feeling was so exhilarating. We had six dogs pulling the sled, with one especially lively dog in the back, bouncing around out of sync with the others.

Luke quickly got the hang of steering and braking, and soon we were navigating the sled like seasoned mushers. We paused for a short break in the forest, where Greer took over the reins, and she did a fantastic job driving. The entire experience was thrilling—a special way to connect with nature in such a remote part of the world. It truly felt like something straight out of a winter postcard!

After sledding, we were allowed to enter the kennel to pet some of the dogs. However, the owner set strict rules for interacting with them since they weren’t your typical domesticated pets; these dogs were effectively wolves, and highly skilled animals. He advised us to only pet them if they approached us and warned against making direct eye contact, as it could provoke them. This was quite intimidating, especially with the larger dogs that looked like they could easily overpower a person. Fortunately, most of them turned out to be friendly. The owner had around 30 dogs on his property, which was nuts, and equated to A LOT of meat in dog food every day.

The next day, we went on a lovely guided snow hike to Ruskea Virta, located in Korouoma Nature Reserve. Our small group was made up of friendly Europeans, and we were all outfitted in full snow gear, which felt a bit silly but came in handy when it started snowing. The hike led us along a scenic trail to several breathtaking frozen waterfalls. Along the way, the boys had fun sliding down a few snow chutes, adding some extra excitement. The frozen waterfalls were absolutely stunning, and the snow-covered landscape made it feel like a true winter wonderland. We even got to roast some marshmallows which was a special treat! A long way from Northern Queensland for Greer!

To witness the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, three key factors need to align: the solar wind (or as we jokingly called it, a 'solar fart'), a magnetic field, and an atmosphere. Unfortunately, none of these came together during our time in Rovaniemi and there were no tours running. Determined to catch even a glimpse of this phenomenon, on our final night, we took a walk to the outskirts of town and waited in the freezing cold. Luck was on our side, and we did see a faint, mesmerizing display of the lights dancing above. It was brief but magical, leaving us both satisfied and wanting more as we departed Lapland and headed south by train to Helsinki.

After a fantastic time in Rovaniemi, we took a train south to Finland’s capital, Helsinki. We were especially excited to reunite with our dear local friends, Linda and Kaisa, whom we had met back in 2018 when they lived in New Zealand. They had been flatmates of a friend, and Luke had even helped them get jobs at the YMCA in Christchurch. We shared many fun adventures back then, including an unforgettable ‘Finnish Christmas,’ so we were thrilled to catch up in their home country after all these years.

Linda and Kaisa planned an amazing couple of days for us in Helsinki, starting with local treats by the waterfront and a walk through the city's historic landmarks. Later, we hopped in the car for a special roadtrip outside the city to the beautiful Porkkala Peninsula. We did a short hike where the girls prepared a Finnish barbeque for us on the waterfront, including homemade doughnuts similar to churros, yum! Finland is the birthplace of sauna - with a population of 5.5million people, there are estimated to be 3 million saunas. Linda and Kaisa very kindly had booked a traditional sauna for us exclusively, complete with a small jetty to jump into the iced over Baltic Sea in between sessions (a Finnish rite of passage apparently). Jelley was not convinced, as she’s not generally a fan of being extremely hot nor extremely cold, but surprisingly enjoyed the experience. It was so unique to be able to experience this as the locals do in a secret spot, rather than head down to the local shared tourist saunas, and this was the highlight in this incredible country for us!

We ‘Finn-ished’ our time in Finland with a ferry trip over to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Suomenlinna. An island fortress, we enjoyed walking around on the brisk but sunny day and learning more about Finland’s unique position in the world and some of its history with Russia and Sweden.

April

Spring had truly sprung by the time we returned to Frankfurt, and it was so refreshing to see the flowers start to come through on the knobbly trees throughout the city. We really felt the change in seasons, and the days were getting noticeably longer after daylight savings started. This was our first summer in a year and half so we were delighted to make the most of the warmer weather in Frankfurt.

Luke made another quick trip back to the U.S. for his buddy’s bachelor party, this time in California. It was considerably further than Boston and a long way to go for an extended weekend. Unfortunately, we were going to miss yet another very close friend’s wedding this summer due to clashes with the work/sport event calendar, so Luke was extra thankful to at least make it for this Bachelor Party in the beautiful California nature. It’s really important for us to nurture meaningful connections whether in close proximity or afar, and while we miss a lot of big life moments, we aim to keep the quality in the moments we can make. It was also a valuable opportunity for Luke to catch up with his family.

April was our month of hosting guests! This was such a novelty and a special experience for us, as so often we are ‘those friends’ who turn up for a couch or floor to crash on, and recently haven’t had a home of our own to be able to return the favour. Living in Frankfurt changed this, and during our few months living here we had managed to craft the perfect 24 hours itinerary in Frankfurt! The general itinerary is as follows:

• Sunset walk along the Main river, watch the sunset with a drink by the riverside

• Dinner in the neighborhood of Sachsenhausen with schnitzel and green sauce, and applewein. Bonus if we walk past the spitting Frau Rascher or have some particularly rowdy neighbouring tables at our restaurant of choice.

• Saturday morning homecooked breakfast.

• Inner city walking tour through all our favourite sites (Romerburg in the new/old town, Kiwis bar, Kleinmarkthalle, the bull & the bear statue, the Euro sign, along the Main river)

• Walk through our cute neighbourhood, including Gruneburg park. Bonus if we find a cafe for kaffee und kuchen with the special Frankfurter cake

• Avoid Hauptbahnhof (the central train station) at all possible costs.

The 24 hour itinerary proved a real hit and we tried a different schnitzel & green sauce restaurant each time! We were really proud to showcase our home city to such important people and had a lot of fun. It was great to return some karma from the many times we have stayed at different places. 

With Greer, we then took a train up to the city of Hamburg in Northern Germany. Turns out it is quite far by train, and the journey took close to 6 hours. Hamburg was raved about as the best city in Germany by our local colleagues (placing Munich in a close second place). We were curious to learn more, and experience Hamburg for ourselves. A port city at the North of the country, it immediately had a different feel to it than the more traditional German towns. We had surprisingly good weather in the city notorious for its wind & rain. It was good, but perhaps a bit far for just one night and we’d definitely rank Munich higher than Hamburg on our own list. 

When Vic & Andrew came to visit, we took a short train South to the romantic university town of Heidelberg. It is said to be one of the top day trips in Germany, and we were lucky to be living so close! We had been saving this for a visit with one of our ‘guest groups’ during warmer weather, and Vic & Andrew were the lucky ones to join us. The town was beautiful as promised, with its main feature the historic castle along the river. Although it was a little touristic, it was easy enough to get away from the crowds and enjoy the serene setting. We even stood upon the world’s largest wine barrel, but sadly did not sample any.

Jelley made a quick trip to Zurich in April for a weekend to support her Uncle who had travelled from NZ to race in the marathon there. The weather was horrendous, filled with snow and hail, so not optimal conditions, but great to catch up after many, many years. Chris was also travelling through Germany for the first time after his race, and came to stay a night in Frankfurt with us - this schnitzel & green sauce was perhaps our favourite of all we tried at Zum Eichkatzerl (which translates to 'The Squirrel').

May, June & July

The intense work started in May, especially for Jelley with an intense week of onboarding for her on-site team members. The final preparations for this month-long tournament were really ramping up, and mostly consumed every second of our lives for these 10 weeks. We did manage to enjoy 1 of the 4 public holidays of May, and escaped the grind for one quality weekend together. We really maximised this time and went to both Würzburg & Rothenburg ob der Tauber, just a short train journey over the border in the state of Bavaria. This trip was a close second to Carnival as our most German weekend yet!

Our visit to Würzburg was particularly memorable. Though much of the town was heavily bombed during World War II, the Würzburg Residence narrowly escaped destruction by just a few days. This grand palace is home to the world’s largest ceiling fresco, spanning about 600 square meters. The Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built in the 18th century and served as the home of the Würzburg prince-bishops. Wandering through the town was a delight, and we especially enjoyed our stay in a charming riverside village nearby, which featured another beautifully preserved Residence.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber felt like stepping straight into a history book. Or maybe a fairytale? This medieval town, surrounded by well-preserved stone walls, has remained nearly unchanged for centuries. Originally built as a fortified town in the Middle Ages, Rothenburg's walls were designed to protect it from invaders, and they still encircle the town today. Its half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, and gothic architecture make it one of the most picturesque towns in Germany.

By chance, we arrived just in time for a festive German parade! The streets were filled with locals in traditional costumes, singing old German songs. Initially, we didn’t think much of it, as Germany often offers quirky surprises like this. But as we turned another corner, saw the parade in full swing and after a quick google, we realized it was the annual "Master Draught" celebration underway! The "Master Draught" commemorates a key event in Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s history during the Thirty Years' War in 1631. According to legend, the town was besieged, and the mayor, facing execution, was given one chance to save the city. He succeeded by drinking over three liters of wine in a single gulp, impressing the enemy commander and sparing Rothenburg from destruction. Each year during Pentecost, this dramatic moment is reenacted by over 100 actors in a parade where locals dress up in costumes reenacting the events of 1631 including drinking lots and lots of wine. The locals were fully committed to the characters and it was super fun to witness.

As if Jelley wasn’t busy enough at work for the Euros, 3 weeks before that tournament she took on a secondment to work with the the Europa Conference League Final in Athens to lead a small team at the VIP Hotel. Another football event she’d never heard of!  It was a really neat opportunity, and again very useful to apply the knowledge and systems acquired here to the Euros model. There was also the chance to pop up to the Acropolis for sunset with a colleague after all of the guests had departed for the airport on the final day, which was really cool and a reminder of the beauty and history of the area. We were truly grateful for this chance to live in and experience Europe in a unique way - it was such a long way from home.

Well, EURO2024 came and went. A month of football (soccer) and 51 matches across 10 cities the football-mad country of Germany, what more to say? Despite working for the same company in the same building, Luke and Jelley probably spent the equivalent of just one match together this month! We poured our hearts into our work during this time, and as we reflect on this month, we can’t help but feel overwhelmingly positive about the experience, largely thanks to the incredible people we had the pleasure of working with. Our colleagues truly became family over this time as we shared many birthdays, anniversaries and even a colleague's wedding together over this intense time!

Although we were both primarily based at the tournament coordination center in Frankfurt, our location next to the stadium allowed us some opportunities to experience the event firsthand. Luke also traveled to Düsseldorf to work onsite during the quarterfinals, while Jelley moved to Berlin for a week to help deliver the final match of the tournament. It was an epic conclusion to an exciting month of hard work.

After the tournament was over, and we both returned home to Frankfurt and had some time to sleep and decompress before entering a new transition period. It was time to shift (both physically and mentally!) from work life back to travel life, which is where the next part of our story begins.

Until then,

 - A Kiwi and A Cali

P.S. We never actually heard anyone use the phrase Guten Tag!