10. The Parent Trap

So, me being the lucky boy I am, got a visit from my parents. My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year (congratulate them if you see them), and decided to take a trip to France to celebrate. My dad buys all of his business purchases with his areoplan credit card, and has accumulated so many points over the years that we can basically fly anywhere for free. So, they took advantage.

And had a wonderful time.

Now, when they found out that I’d be in Frankfurt, just a hop, skip, and jump away from Cannes, they figured they’d extend their trip to come and see me. How nice! We had a great time together. It’s always nice to spend some quality time with parents, and mine are so much fun. We did a lot in the short time we were together (3 days), and confirmed my earlier thought that my Dad and I should be on the Amazing Race.

We took a drive around Hofheim and surrounding area when I met up with them on Friday, which was nice because I still hadn’t seen much of it. The next day was my Mom’s birthday, so we drove to Cologne. This was my third time in Cologne in a week... not that I’m complaining! It was World Children’s Day, or something like that, so the city was packed with little German children with balloons and candy. There was also an Antique market right next to the clowns and Kinder-disco, and the antique collectors did not look impressed.

I can now say that I understand the enjoyment of antiques. Did I mention that I’m gay.

I also need to say that driving on the Autobahn is the greatest! We were going 160, and cars were honking at us to go faster. Ah, Deutschland.

The next day, we checked out the world’s largest car show, it’s in Franfurt for two weeks. It was amazing. Having a father who owns an auto body shop, I’ve always had an interest in cars... and the car show was almost overwhelming. The 350,000 Euro convertible Bentley was my favourite :) They also had the debut of Chinese made cars. I think they still have to do some work. The display cars had dents in them, and my dad said that if he had given someone back their car, with the paintjob the Chinese cars had, he would have a very unhappy customer on this hands.

But it’s good to see the Chinese are still on their way to taking over the world, one industry at a time.

We also stopped by IKEA to furnish my apartment. I had never been to IKEA, and I can now say I also understand the IKEA fanatacism. It’s so cheap, and stylish!! My whole place is now properly IKEA-ised, and I also have two plants to keep me company.

In closing, I Love My Parents.