Germany Trip Part 1
I'm back from the trip around Germany with Katy and her husband, Matt. They were great travel companions and it was fun to show them around Germany, including some of the places I've lived in. Plus, it was great to spend time with a friend I don't nearly see enough.
We started out in Berlin. I picked the two of them up from the airport and they were understandably totally pooped from 2 days of traveling to get here. They also came during the last leg of Europe's intense heat wave, and got to experience life without air conditioning. But after a cold shower and warm meal, we were off to our first destination: a biergarten. The next couple of days we took in the sights of Berlin and enjoyed the warm evenings outside at cafes and cocktail bars. We were also joined by my friend Jesse, who popped into Berlin from his nearby math conference.
On Sunday we all headed out of Berlin - Jesse back to his conference, and Katy, Matt, and I with the ICE train to Cologne. No trip in Germany is complete without a train ride, and the ICE train is the fastest - and air conditioned. We got great seats - one seat facing forward, two backwards, and a table in between. However, poor Katy gets motion sickness easily, and even a seat facing forward in the relatively smooth ICE train was pushing it. After a nice nap, though, she was feeling fine and I was the one feeling sick to my stomach! So we switched sides so I could ride facing forward and we were all happy again.
We arrived Cologne and found the little hotel they were to stay at and I made my way back on to Bonn, Cologne's sister city, and Matthias' hometown, so I could stay at his family's house for the night. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as it sounds, as his family is going through some hard times; his grandma, 86, was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and is in the hospital, and through the stress, his grandpa, 92, suffered high blood pressure and was admitted to another hospital.
Understandably, the family was very upset over the state of health of the grandparents. However, his visiting melodramatic and hectic aunt was not helping the situation, and was apparently appalled Matthias would even suggest having his gf (of 2.5 yrs. no less) spend the night with the family in such a tizzy.
It had been planned for over a week that I was to come and unfortunately I was informed of the change once I had arrived in Cologne. As much as I would've been fine in finding a different accommodation, I was not happy about having to find a new place to sleep for the night so last minute. Matthias was able to calm them down, however, and it ended up being fine that I stayed. The whole thing made me feel kind of weird being there, like maybe they thought I was a difficult girlfriend making a scene about having to stay there.
Of course that is the last thing I wanted, and I never expect special treatment. But as a result I decided to make myself scarce once I got to their house. Instead of going into the the living room to say hi where they were all discussing the situation, I went straight downstairs so they wouldn't feel like they had inquire how I was or do anything for me. Matthias also didn't go into talk to them (he was also tired of all the stress).
It ended up working out fine and I didn't see them at all. The next morning they were gone by the time Matthias and I left to drive to Koblenz, a neighboring Rhine River city, where we were meeting up with Katy and Matt. From there the three of us were going to continue south by taking a Rhine River cruise and stopping in the Rhine Village, Bacharach, for the night.
After a slight scare that we'd miss the only ship going to Bacharach that day because Katy and Matt were M.I.A., they showed up in the last minute after having train delay. We rushed off to the ticket stand down by the Rhine and ended up having to run about 20 minutes to the dock where the ship was about to leave. We made it just in time, and found great seats on the deck in the shade. It was perfect weather for a Rhine cruise - sunny with a slight breeze. However, what I thought was a 2 hour ride turned into 4 1/2 hrs. upon closer inspection of the brochure schedule. Luckily it was a very pleasant day and we just sat back and relaxed as we passed castle after castle.
Once we arrived in Bacharach, we started out probably the least pleasant part of the trip - the hike up the mountain to the old castle turned youth hostel - complete with all our luggage. Katy and Matt had travel backpacks, and though strenuous, made it up pretty well. I had a medium-sized suitcase and it was a little harder to drag it up the mountain, up the millions of wood/dirt stairs, but we made it finally, albeit very sweaty.
But the view from the top of the mountain was again worth it (I'd been up there 2x before), and we had an amazing panoramic from our room overlooking the Rhine and village of Bacharach below. After some picture taking and a quick refreshing, we were ready to make our way back down the mountain into the village for dinner.
The way down was great and Katy and Matt were blown away (as I also am every time) by the adorable, fairy-tale-like village of Bacharach. We found a great 'home-cooking' place, with schnitzel and spaetzle and enjoyed the perfect evening outside at our table with a nice view of the old, colorful buildings, some dating back to the 1500s. We decided to top the evening off by getting dessert in another locale, where Katy ordered her first coffee ever to go with the cake, and she liked it!
Back up the mountain, we slept like rocks in our hostel, but were rudely awakened by the alarm reminding me that we had to be checked out by 9am (oops..forgot to mention that to them earlier!). We scrambled to get ready but then sat down for the hostel breakfast before one last trip down the mountain and through the village for some pictures. Then it was on to Freiburg in the Black Forest.
After several train rides and waiting for train connections, we finally made it to Freiburg in the evening. To be continued....(I need a break!)
We started out in Berlin. I picked the two of them up from the airport and they were understandably totally pooped from 2 days of traveling to get here. They also came during the last leg of Europe's intense heat wave, and got to experience life without air conditioning. But after a cold shower and warm meal, we were off to our first destination: a biergarten. The next couple of days we took in the sights of Berlin and enjoyed the warm evenings outside at cafes and cocktail bars. We were also joined by my friend Jesse, who popped into Berlin from his nearby math conference.
On Sunday we all headed out of Berlin - Jesse back to his conference, and Katy, Matt, and I with the ICE train to Cologne. No trip in Germany is complete without a train ride, and the ICE train is the fastest - and air conditioned. We got great seats - one seat facing forward, two backwards, and a table in between. However, poor Katy gets motion sickness easily, and even a seat facing forward in the relatively smooth ICE train was pushing it. After a nice nap, though, she was feeling fine and I was the one feeling sick to my stomach! So we switched sides so I could ride facing forward and we were all happy again.
We arrived Cologne and found the little hotel they were to stay at and I made my way back on to Bonn, Cologne's sister city, and Matthias' hometown, so I could stay at his family's house for the night. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as it sounds, as his family is going through some hard times; his grandma, 86, was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and is in the hospital, and through the stress, his grandpa, 92, suffered high blood pressure and was admitted to another hospital.
Understandably, the family was very upset over the state of health of the grandparents. However, his visiting melodramatic and hectic aunt was not helping the situation, and was apparently appalled Matthias would even suggest having his gf (of 2.5 yrs. no less) spend the night with the family in such a tizzy.
It had been planned for over a week that I was to come and unfortunately I was informed of the change once I had arrived in Cologne. As much as I would've been fine in finding a different accommodation, I was not happy about having to find a new place to sleep for the night so last minute. Matthias was able to calm them down, however, and it ended up being fine that I stayed. The whole thing made me feel kind of weird being there, like maybe they thought I was a difficult girlfriend making a scene about having to stay there.
Of course that is the last thing I wanted, and I never expect special treatment. But as a result I decided to make myself scarce once I got to their house. Instead of going into the the living room to say hi where they were all discussing the situation, I went straight downstairs so they wouldn't feel like they had inquire how I was or do anything for me. Matthias also didn't go into talk to them (he was also tired of all the stress).
It ended up working out fine and I didn't see them at all. The next morning they were gone by the time Matthias and I left to drive to Koblenz, a neighboring Rhine River city, where we were meeting up with Katy and Matt. From there the three of us were going to continue south by taking a Rhine River cruise and stopping in the Rhine Village, Bacharach, for the night.
After a slight scare that we'd miss the only ship going to Bacharach that day because Katy and Matt were M.I.A., they showed up in the last minute after having train delay. We rushed off to the ticket stand down by the Rhine and ended up having to run about 20 minutes to the dock where the ship was about to leave. We made it just in time, and found great seats on the deck in the shade. It was perfect weather for a Rhine cruise - sunny with a slight breeze. However, what I thought was a 2 hour ride turned into 4 1/2 hrs. upon closer inspection of the brochure schedule. Luckily it was a very pleasant day and we just sat back and relaxed as we passed castle after castle.
Once we arrived in Bacharach, we started out probably the least pleasant part of the trip - the hike up the mountain to the old castle turned youth hostel - complete with all our luggage. Katy and Matt had travel backpacks, and though strenuous, made it up pretty well. I had a medium-sized suitcase and it was a little harder to drag it up the mountain, up the millions of wood/dirt stairs, but we made it finally, albeit very sweaty.
But the view from the top of the mountain was again worth it (I'd been up there 2x before), and we had an amazing panoramic from our room overlooking the Rhine and village of Bacharach below. After some picture taking and a quick refreshing, we were ready to make our way back down the mountain into the village for dinner.
The way down was great and Katy and Matt were blown away (as I also am every time) by the adorable, fairy-tale-like village of Bacharach. We found a great 'home-cooking' place, with schnitzel and spaetzle and enjoyed the perfect evening outside at our table with a nice view of the old, colorful buildings, some dating back to the 1500s. We decided to top the evening off by getting dessert in another locale, where Katy ordered her first coffee ever to go with the cake, and she liked it!
Back up the mountain, we slept like rocks in our hostel, but were rudely awakened by the alarm reminding me that we had to be checked out by 9am (oops..forgot to mention that to them earlier!). We scrambled to get ready but then sat down for the hostel breakfast before one last trip down the mountain and through the village for some pictures. Then it was on to Freiburg in the Black Forest.
After several train rides and waiting for train connections, we finally made it to Freiburg in the evening. To be continued....(I need a break!)
posted by Heidi at 5:23 AM
1 Comments:
Heidi,
sounds like fun and once again another adventure!! we'll you officially missed my wedding but i forgive you! We'll have to catch up soon. miss ya girl....any new future plans??
talk soon
love jen
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