Knut, Soenke’s unmarried best friend, turned 30 on October 23rd. Now, in the US, this might be considered a “big” birthday, needing a more-boisterous-than-usual celebration, but in north Germany there are extra special ramifications. Why? Because a) he’s 30, and b) he’s unmarried…

Possibly qualifying as “truth is stranger than fiction”, here is the tradition applicable to poor Knut: he must don a really goofy costume, join all his friends and a case of beer at the nearest town hall (”Rathaus”), allow his friends to dump sawdust all over the town hall entrance steps, then be presented with a big broom to clean it all up - to the jeers and cheers of his friends, and the gawking and entertainment of passerbys. (I’m not making this up.) And to top it all off, in order to break the spell of being “single” , he has to - in costume - find a virgin and convince her to give him a kiss. As you can imagine, this presents all sorts of issues.

Sadly, we were unable to attend any such event , because it MUST take place on the DAY of the victim’s birthday, and this was a Thursday in Knut’s case (some of us work…). And tragically, his friends did not require to do this in our absence. Saskia - Knut’s girlfriend - was benevolent enough to plan him a surprise birthday dinner at the local “Brauhaus” instead, much to Knut’s great relief (Saskia will be getting an extra-special Christmas present this year from Knut, as you can well imagine).

But the Crawford-Einfeldt team of three did manage to jet down on a Friday evening to spend a weekend celebrating Knut’s age and entertaining the Sophster. We did a thorough inspection of Knut & Saskia’s new apartment - tres tres chic! - and were totally impressed by their hospitality, including a baby bed for Sophie and even a car seat!

But possibly the highlight of the weekend was the breakfast spread at their pad. We are talking 7 different kinds of cheese, 14 varieties of fruit, at least 20 fresh broetchen of all shapes and sizes, several types of salami and other coldcuts, smoked salmon, jelly, and honey sprinkled with fresh rosemary. It took us about 3 hours just to eat breakfast. In the words of Saskia, “my parents always celebrated breakfast, so we do this every weekend!” And then, Soenke slipped into the next room, and booked our flights down to Cologne for the next 6 weekends…..

But really, we did do other stuff besides eat. We paid a visit to the Cologne zoo & aquarium, where Sophie practiced her newfound walking skills (very, very slowly….). We headed into town and met friends. We visited the escalators in the city center (per Sophie’s request). We ate great sushi. We drank great wine.

I have to admit, it was a little hard to come home after all that pampering. Knut & Saskia - the connsumate “DINKs”, even sent a wistful email a day after our departure, saying something like “your family’s departure, with all the toys and chaos, left a little vacuum in our apartment! It’s so quiet and empty now…”. So hmmm, HMMMM, what does that mean for Knut & Saskia’s future???? [either a) they’ll have a baby, or b) they’ll invite us down a lot!]

Please enjoy our pictoral dialogue of this great weekend…
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Sophie’s thrilling arrival in Cologne airport:

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The snazzy eating area at Chez Knut/Saskia (we spent a LOT of time at this table…):

Off to the zoo!

Giant Koelsch frog…real or not????

Knut & Saskia’s future:

Us, minus one, who was busy…

…drinking milk!

A contemplative primate:

Saskia assists our new walker:

Off to the aquarium - a favorite of the little one among us:

We found Nemo!

Departure explorations at the Cologne airport:

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