My German homestay experience – seeing the ‘real’ Germany

When I was planning my trip, I put the feelers out there in an online community that I am a part of to see who might be interested in meeting up. One of the first people who put their hand up high was my online friend Tess, or the German variety being Thessi -  since I was with her in Germany, this is how I shall dub her throughout this entry. From the beginning when I was talking about coming to Europe, she said that if I was in her area she would love to meet. Not wanting to impose, at first I was planning to stay for a night in the closest big city to her. However the youth hostel was booked out, and when I told her that my only option would be to pay for a hotel, she invited me to stay with her family. I was a little wary simply because I didn’t want to impose but it turns out my worries were entirely ridiculous.

I played around with my plans, and finally made arrangements to stay for two nights. I arrived at midday, after surviving the hectic train ride from Frankfurt filled with football fans headed to a big game in Munich – as I referred to in my last entry. I had to struggle to fight my way out of the train; the moment I emerged I heard Thessi call out to me. We did our hugs and headed excitedly to the car. From the moment we started driving, I was so excited to be there. She lives in an outer suburb of a small town – so where she is, is like a little town, and she lives in the outskirts, right by the farms and the tiny narrow country roads. Her parents, who speak a small amount of English, greeted me in the driveway. From that moment until the moment that I left, the kindness of Thessi and her parents never failed to touch me. I was being given her brothers room and he was being sent to stay with his girlfriend (punishment, I know) which was a step up from a spot in the bathtub that I was originally promised! Lunch was in the process of being cooked, with what, to me, felt like a feast being presented for lunch. I am told that in Germany, often lunch will be the bigger meal of the day with the evening meal being more like what I consider to be lunch food.

My first real homecooked German meal.

Thessi’s mother is one of those real mother types, the ones who stuff you with food and check constantly if you need anything and bring umbrellas in case it rains on a blue blue blue sky day. I think she was genuinely excited to have an Australian in the house and to be able to show off German things and to share their culture and region. She came along on Saturday afternoon with Thessi and I and we went to Wurzburg, which is the closest big city to where they live. In Wurzburg we went to the Residenz Palace which have delightful gardens, wandered through the city centre looking at different sites, monuments, churches and the usual; and stopped for a break by the river at a restaurant where I got the fanciest iced coffee I have ever seen. When we got back from Wurzburg, Thessi took me to the grocery store so I could replenish my supply of toiletries. Dinner was a salad and what was kind of like an egg ham cheese slice thing, like a quiche sort of.

The Residenz Palace in Wurzburg, Germny

 Sunday morning was another feast, where every possible item of breakfast food was put on the table to select from. I gather this isn’t normal – it was more about wanting me to have choice in case I didn’t like what was served. I was able to do my laundry and leave it to dry in the sun – always a better option than having to hang around and keep your eye on the dryer at a hostel! Sunday we spent the afternoon in nearby Rothenburg, which is on the ‘Romance Road’ in Germany – basically it is identified as a strip of towns/cities which are pretty and have traditional German architecture preserved/not destroyed during the war. To get to Rothenburg, we drove on the autobahn (the motorway) where we drove at a top speed of 220km/h. Absolutely awesome and slightly terrifying! In particular, the terrifying part isn’t driving at that speed, but it is how quickly you have to slow down sometimes, because everyone doesn’t drive that fast – the average pace is more like 130 – 150km/h; you will come up behind slow cars and have to slow down quickly and wait for them to merge into the right lane so you can zip past.

The wide open road, cruising at 200km/h+

Rothenburg itself is just ridiculously picturesque. It does have an element of tourist kitsche, but the reality is that as travel and tourism becomes more accessible, cute picturesque towns all over the world will be taken over by a tourist market. Just wandering around Rothenburg is delightful. They have these famous all year around Christmas shops which we explored, and the famous ‘schneeball’ which is this sort of.... biscuity ball of yummy fun. I bought two to go right at the end and ate them on the bus to Prague/for dinner in Prague. We walked up 103 narrow rickety scary stairs to the top of one of the city wall towers, being treated to a spectacular view of the city. Late in the afternoon we went to a gorgeous little garden restaurant for coffee, which had this really fancy bathroom we were all amazed by – it’s interesting how despite cultural divides, individual hand towels, like actual towels, are something which everyone is amazed by.

Such amazing preservation of traditional style buildings

Rothenburg from above, after climbing 103 stairs.

The drive back on the autobahn, traffic came to a standstill, so as soon as we could we got off the autobahn and took the ‘scenic route’ through countryside and teeny villages, before getting back onto the autobahn where we could hit that top terrifying speed again.

Sunday night we went out for dinner at a traditional German restaurant with some family friends of Thessi’s parents. The first place we went to was closed – I am told this is normal in ‘the country’ for restaurants to just randomly alter their opening hours. We had success at the second restaurant. Thessi had to sit and translate the menu for me – none of this tourist cafe with an English menu! – and finally I just decided to get the bratwurst and have a real ‘German’ experience. Thessi did an amazing job with translating the necessary things – she didn’t try to sit and translate the whole conversation because frankly, that would’ve been tedious for her and I. But if someone said something particularly amusing or interesting she would translate. The parents friends were so lovely and nice and tried to include me and were asking questions about Australia, the differences with Germany and my travel plans. After dinner we went back to the parents friends place where we all had drinks , including a plum liqueur, a glass of champagne and it was insisted that I try ‘a little bit’ of German beer. I must admit, I tuned out a bit – it gets really strange sitting among conversation in another language for hours! But in the end there was laughter and I left feeling really positive about the experience.

Bratwurst and potato salad, at a real German restaurant

Monday, my departure day, came so quickly. Thessi and her mum took me around their town of Kitzingen. It may not quite have the same picturesque feeling of Rothenburg but it felt very authentic. They do have tourists through because the town is on the river Main and apparently tourist cruises go through departing from Frankfurt, but it isn’t overrun by that ‘catering’ to tourists vibe – there is a tourist info centre, one souvenir store, and occasionally signs are in English, but mostly, it felt like just a normal German town – how normal people live.

The leaning tower of... Kitzingen!

This is what I enjoyed most about my experience – I was touched that they wanted to take me out and show me other places, but it was the little things that I loved the most. I’ve been to Berlin and Munich in 2008, I’ve seen ‘tourist’ Germany and now I can say that I have seen ‘real’ Germany – as we kept saying, I was in a house with a ‘German cat’ and if we saw a duck in the pond, it is a ‘German’ duck.



A German cat who understands German, not English.



The farewell to Thessi’s parents at her house had me so teared up. I wanted to say so much to them, to thank them for their hospitality. They could’ve just let me be ‘Thessi’s friend’ and left us to our own devices but they took me into their lives, adopted me as a second daughter for a couple of days, and when you’re out travelling on your own there are no words to explain your gratitude to people for being so wonderful. The train station saying goodbye to Thessi was even more tearful and I am thankful I wasn’t surrounded by more Munich football fans because I could slink into the corner with my sunglasses on and cry!

From the moment that I arrived in her town of Kitzingen until the moment that I left, I felt so overwhelmed by the incredible hospitality that I was shown. It wasn’t me staying with a friend; it was me being invited into her life, into her family, and her family including me and going out of their way to show me a great time. I feel indebted both financially and just generally, to repay their kindness somehow. When backpacking, you meet all sorts of people, some leave a terrible impression on you. But sometimes you are touched by people who go above and beyond to make you feel welcome and to help you. These people are the ones who make travelling something that I love.