Across the big pond

Papa asked me to spend Christmas with him. Well, when your Papa asks -- what else can you say but yes?
I left on December 18th from Knoxville at 11:00 in the morning and arrived the next day at 11:00am in Germany. I kept telling friends that I had to take a plane, a train, a bus and a donkey to get to my home town. Most people here said wide eyed: "Really?" and believed the part about the donkey, much to my amusement. Little did I know that I was not that far from the truth. Papa met me in Frankfurt at the airport, with tickets for the bullet train in hand. We had a little time before the train left, so we had a bite to eat. Ahhhh -- German Wienerle! Beats hot dogs hands down any time. Anyhow, we got on the train, I've forgotten how pleasant riding the rail system can be, made it to Freiburg in a couple of hours, where we had to wait for the regional train. Of course we had a beer while we waited. I had been traveling for a long while by then and was pretty tired and punchy. We got on the regional train, when Papa remarked "I left my bicycle at the train station!" Oh-oh.
I knew what that meant! There would be no bus ride home. We would have to walk with my hefty suit case, back pack and bicycle from the train station to home. It's a good mile and a half. So we arrived in my home town, Papa hefts my 50 Kilo suit case onto his bicycle and proceeds to push the bike (aka the steel donkey!) along. The weight gave him momentum and he clips along at a pretty good pace, me in tow with my back pack on wheels, and an ever widening gap between him and me. And it was bitter cold, and I was not exactly dressed for a trek like that. We arrived about a half hour later at Papa's place, me huffing and puffing, and shaking my head. That's my Papa! Heavens forbid he would ask someone for a ride!
But when we got there, there was a nice hot cup of tea for me and a "chraettimann" waiting. Papa had not forgotten how much I liked this local Christmas treat, a slightly sweet bread that you can only get at Christmastime. Made me smile all over. My Papa!