Five OA members, Gray, Isabella, Walter, Anne, and Amanda, and one friend, Graham, flew into Frankfurt in the late afternoon on Friday, 1 st December. Hanne met us there and transported us to the Michelstädter Hof, then onto Erbach to see the Christmas market and meet up with Detlef and other SLV members. It started to snow as we left the minibus which made the beautiful stalls and thousands of lights in the square in front of the Schloss even more magical. We had a table booked at the Erbacher Brauhaus so there was only time for a quick look round before heading there, where unfortunately, we had to wait about an hour and a half for our meals as the place was
heaving. However, the beer was good as always.
On Saturday, we woke up to a light covering of snow. Eva collected us from the hotel and drove us through picturesque snowy forests to St. Kilian’s Distillers in Rüdenau, where we were guided around by Dorothea with Amanda ably translating. Seven whiskies later and after a quick tune on the pipes from Graham, we were off to the pretty town of Miltenberg. It was too cold to linger around the stalls so we went for a delicious lunch in the nearest café, then back out for a glühwein before heading back along the river to the minibus. In the evening, we walked through the crowded Christmas market in Michelstadt to the Schwarzer Adler, where Detlef treated us to dinner on behalf of the SLV and Lothar and Graham entertained us on the pipes.
We met more members and friends of the SLV, including Oliver Grobeis, Deputy Landrat, for brunch on the Sunday morning at Midde Noi. It was difficult to choose from the huge selection on the menu (Verlorenes Ei im Glas, anyone?) but we managed somehow. We were pleasantly surprised when the owner of the café, having found out she had Scottish visitors, sang a lovely Christmas song to us. We then strolled around the wonderful market and visited the model railway exhibition and craft fair before having a late lunch in the Grüner Baum to set us up for the “A Scottish Christmas” concert in the evening. This was held in the Evangelische Martinskirche in Beerfelden, a lovely venue. We were very impressed with Lagana, especially with Juliane Schöne, who stood in for their usual singer with only three days notice to learn the songs and arrangements, and Thomas Wandt, who is also pipe-major with Clan Pipers Frankfurt. It was perhaps a little strange to see Irish dancing but the Uniceltics were very entertaining, especially as we had front row seats. Also on the front row was former Landrat and good friend to the twinning link, Horst Schnur.
Monday was a free day. Amanda went by train to Aschaffenberg while the rest of us booked a table for dinner, wandered around the shops, and had a coffee and strudel in the Midde Noi. Gray and Isabella then left to meet up with Karl-Heinz and Sigrun who took them to a light show in Bad König, and as the snow began falling in earnest, Walter, Graham and I had a lunch of Gulasch Suppe in the Rathausbräu, before meeting Martina and her son, Fynn, for coffee in the Träumerei. Then it was back to the hotel to pack before heading to the Gut Stubb for dinner with Patrick Eckert and family and Klaus Horcacher (Spielmannszug Orchestra, Christian and Olga (who had come over with
the Youth Group one year), and several other friends, eighteen of us altogether.
It was a very early start on Tuesday morning so that Eva could get us to the airport in time for our flight which was delayed, of course, but as a result of the time difference, we arrived back in Edinburgh at lunchtime.
Falkirk Twinning 