Day 7: Sunday February 14th.
We'll Sleep When We're Dead.
We thought that we'd had some early mornings this week, but nothing quite compared to the feeling of our REM sleep being interrupted when the phone rang at 3am on Sunday. Our 6am departure time meant we needed to be at the airport no later than 4:30, and though the Hilton was located right across the road, there were still a few last-minute items to be packed. Courtenay's purchases at the tack store in Flyinge made for some forceful organisation of our already over-stuffed, overweight suitcases. We managed to compress everything enough to keep the zippers from breaking, but just barely! With five more days and a couple of tack stores to go, we realised that we - or at least Courtenay - would need to find some more luggage in the near future!


turning in the Ford Focus, aka "Death Trap"

Our flight from Copenhagen departed on time, despite the wintery conditions. Courtenay mentioned to me that she had yet to receive confirmation of our hotel reservation from Evi Strasser, our contact in Germany. Not the type of people to stress small details like accomodation, we shrugged our shoulders and hoped to be able to reach someone upon our landing in Frankfurt.
After a slightly extended fight as we waited for snow to be cleared off the runway, we landed in Germany before 10am. While waiting to claim our luggage, Courtenay remarked that I looked like the walking dead, and that she was a little afraid of me. I told her that she was wise to fear me, as in my sleep-deprived state I was liable to behave irrationally. We gathered our bags and proceeded to our car rental kiosk, where we ended up with a BMW SUV, primarily based on the dimensions of our luggage! The four-wheel drive also put us at ease, having our recent experiences in the Focus permanently branded into our memories.
Luckily we reached Evi's phone immediately, and got our co-ordinates so as to request directions from Carmen the GPS. Poor Carmen took a tumble as we were struggling with mounting her on the window of the BMW. When we asked for directions, she couldn't even figure out what country we were in! Poor Carmen, turns out her SIM card had been jostled loose. After a few minutes of very stressful button-pushing and cussing, we figured this out and soon she was back to herself. We breathed a sigh of relief and followed her directions to the hotel Evi had recommended, noting that Carmen's German accent was far more authentic than her Swedish had been. We reached our hotel around 10:30am, tortured by the inviting beds which we had to resist for the time being. Hotel Christinenhof is a very charming family-owned business, located aside a barn which is home to some world-class driving horses.
After a quick change of clothes we proceeded to the golf club at Neuhof, where Evi told us we would find her.



It seemed strange to us that the barn would be on the same property as a golf club, but it really is a beautiful facility, with it's brick and cobblestones providing old-world charm. Conrad Schumacher owns the facility, where Evi trains alongside Ellen Bontje. After parking at the golf club, we found our way to the arena where we met with Evi and her groom, Stephanie. Evi greeted us as if she'd known us forever, our Canadian residency providing some common ground.



First we saw Evi's outstanding Grand Prix gelding, Action Tyme. She rode him for us and demonstrated all the Grand Prix movements, highlighted especially by his expressive passage and dynamic extended trot. Action lives up to his name, as Courtenay felt when she rode him and tested a bit of all the movements. Next Stephanie brought out Dancing Tyme, a younger up- and- coming black gelding. Evi hopped up and Dancing also earned his moniker, displaying flamboyant movement in all three gaits, and showing off his talent for flying changes.



When we finished in the barn, we went up to the bakery and restaurant for a hot cuppa and some lunch. After only a few hours of being in Germany, it became clear that the climate here is much like ours back home on the West Coast. Although the temperature was similar to that which we had in Sweden, the humidity chilled us to the bone immediately. We passed a couple of hours in the cozy bakery, sharing a table with some strangers who carried on with their own conversations in German. Evi shared with us some of her experiences on the international scene, her lively sense of humor providing some much-needed comic relief to the normally conservative world of dressage. Partway through our meal, I jumped as a woman entered with two large Shepherd-cross dogs, dropping their leashes and allowing them to visit the patrons at her table! Stephanie explained to us that in Germany, dogs are permitted in the restaurants. We experienced this again at dinner, finding it a great novelty when the gentleman next to us brought his Boston Terrier on his lap!
Thankfully, we were able to get back to our hotel room relatively early, with already having had a break in the afternoon to shower and unpack a few things.



Evi mentioned that we could take in the Carnivale in town, which is sort of like a month-long Halloween-style celebration on the streets and in the businesses throughout town. With our current state of exhaustion, we opted to retire after dinner. This meant that we would actually get a decent sleep, giving our bodies the chance they needed to recuperate from the constant sleep deficit we are always fighting. This evening would leave us refreshed and ready to tackle Monday's expedition through Germany and Holland. We drifted to sleep, dreaming of one-tempis, piaffe, passage... and breakfast.