Weinachtsbaum Hunt 2009

Last year for Christmas we decided to get a live, potted tree so that we could use it again the next Christmas. Sadly, our little Christmas tree didn’t fair too well over the past year. It is slowly dying from the bottom up and now only has a few boughs of needles at the top. In my effort to be more green, I failed to consider my lack of a green thumb.

Since we were going to be here this year for Christmas, we needed to have a full sized tree and needed to get it early, before the baby came. So last weekend we set out for a Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. We went to a Christmas tree farm out in Pech.

Germans generally put up their Christmas trees much later than we do in the States. Some follow tradition and still wait until Christmas Eve to put up their tree. They pick out the tree in advance and tag it with their name in order to reserve it until Christmas Eve when they will come and cut it down.

We liked the idea of cutting down our own tree, but unfortunately we couldn’t find a skinny enough tree to fit in our apartment. They were all quite fat at the bottom and a bit Charlie Brownish. Not having shopped for a Christmas tree last year, I didn’t realize that this was the norm. In Germany, they don’t do much grooming of the trees. They look much more natural rather than the full, perfectly cone shaped trees in the States.

After thinking about the differences between the German and American cultures, it makes a lot of sense that Germans would go for the natural tree look. They eat natural and organic foods, take a more natural or holistic approach to medicine and even like to swim au natural. Whereas Americans want the perfect tree to go with their Botox, pill popping and preservative laden food lifestyle

I spent a day looking for Christmas trees at the various DYI stores in the area and decided that Knauber had the best tree selection. Jim and I went back that night and found a nice skinny tree. The best part about a more natural tree was that Jim could carry it all by himself.

While we decorated the tree Jim drank some Glögg (sweden's version of Gluhwein) that we had been given to us by some Swedish friends. Even though he was the one drinking, it was his clumsy wife who broke an ornament. Jim had just said that he thought too many of my ornaments were fragile. Of course, I disagreed with him and then seconds later dropped a hand painted ornament which shattered on the floor.

Successful 1st Turkey Day

Last Friday we celebrated Thanksgiving with a Swedish couple from Jim’s work. I decided that for my first time entertaining on Thanksgiving I’d invite a couple who didn’t know anything about the American Holiday. That way if anything didn’t turn out, they would have no idea what it was supposed to taste like or compare it to their great Aunt Bessie’s recipe. Plus we only have two additional chairs so our entertaining is generally limited to one other couple.

I decided to go the route of a turkey breast rather than the whole turkey. I figured that most people like the breast meat the most and with my tiny oven I’d have to have a rather small turkey. I also didn’t want to have another overcooked turkey like last year’s Thanksgiving attempt.

I brined the turkey in a salt and brown sugar solution at my mother’s recommendation, and it turned out beautifully. After brining, I slathered it with some herbs and put it in an oven bag to cook. I couldn’t believe how flavorful and moist it was, even the next day. I’d definitely recommend the brining technique.

The rest of the menu was pretty traditional and basic with sage stuffing, sweet potatoes topped with caramelized pecans, green beans with toasted almonds and a warm cranberry sauce but surprisingly everything turned out really well. I think it was the first time entertaining that I was pleased with everything I served.

I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie. My slice is generally slathered in so much whipping cream that you can’t even tell there is pie under there. So for dessert I decided to make a French Apple Tart from cooking light. It looked quite pro for the non baker that I am and was very tasty along with some vanilla ice cream.

All in all it was a successful Thanksgiving. Jim said that it was the best Thanksgiving he’d ever had. I’m not sure though if that was because I had a knife in my hand at the time or that he is smart enough to know that he should tell his very pregnant wife who has cooked and cleaned all day that it is the best food to ever touch his lips.

Quick Trip to Antwerp

We decided last Wednesday that we needed one last little trip before the baby arrives and settled on Antwerp. Jim had been there a few times in the past but it was still unchecked on my list of must see European cities.

Since it was such a last minute trip, I had some trouble finding a place to stay. All of the reasonably priced places recommended by trip advisor were already booked. We ended up in the docklands area north of the city at a gallery / guest house (www.waterfront-art.be).

The docklands area is in the process of gentrification so a number of trendy bars and restaurants have sprung up in the area. I was glad that we decided to stay in that up and coming area because we would have completely missed that part of town otherwise. However, our accommodation wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. The room was really cold and had an awful moldy smell to it which kept both of us from sleeping very well. For 115 euros a night, you expect to not have a moldy room.

We arrived late on Friday night around 10:00 and walked around the area looking for a spot to have a drink. A lot of the bars were packed and smoky but we finally found one that was a little lower key so Jim could get his Belgian beer fix and I could sit down in a smoke free environment.

The next morning after breakfast we set out to see the town in the bright sunshine. The weather had called for rain but we were lucky that the rain held off until we started our drive home that evening. Everything always looks so much better in the sunshine.

We walked toward the old part of the city and found some very cute streets along the way. In one square we found a large church which had a wedding going on and a statue across the way holding a can of Jupiler (a cheap Belgian beer). Maybe some liquid courage for the bride or groom?

Our first stop was the Grote Markt (main town square). The town hall is the largest building surrounding the plaza and people were gathering in front of it for civil service wedding ceremonies. At the center of the square is a large fountain which is unusual in that it doesn’t have a basin for the water. The water from the fountain simply seeps down through the cobblestones into the reservoir below.

Antwerp’s main cathedral (Cathedral of Our Lady) is just down the street from the main square. The cathedral houses a lot of paintings from Antwerp’s native son, Peter Paul Rubens. The cathedral had a special exhibit at the moment with 15 additional alter paintings commissioned by the various guilds of Antwerp. Each guild was responsible for commissioning paintings to adorn their alter. The closer to the main alter a guild was, the higher their standing in society. Generally the subject matter of the painting was related to the guild. So for example, the fish mongers had a biblical scene representing the Miraculous Draught of Fishes and the wine taverners had a party scene - The Wedding at Cana when Jesus turns water into wine.

After the Cathedral we stopped for a quick simple lunch of sandwiches and tea at a spot that looked to be full of locals. It was reasonably good but more importantly, cheap. We planned to have a nice dinner before heading back to Bonn that evening so we were looking for something pretty basic for lunch.

Our next destination was the diamond museum to see how diamonds were cut. We headed that way via the main shopping street Meir. The Meir has all of the big name European shops that you can find in any big European city so wasn’t too thrilling. Apparently for more unique shops one needs to head south of the Cathedral to Nationalestraat and Kammenstraat. Since neither one of us were really in a shopping mood, we skipped the good shopping district and just walked along the Meir to the Diamond Museum.

Along the way we stopped for some tasty ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s so the pregnant lady could get her ice cream fix.

We also found the diamond shop he visited the last time he was there to buy an engagement ring. I suggested in jest that a good way to erase that bad memory would be to buy me some jewelry from the same place and that husbands are supposed to buy their wives a present for giving birth. However, after looking at the prices, we both decided that buying diamonds right before having a baby probably wasn’t the most financially savvy thing to do.

We found the Diamond museum but unfortunately they didn’t have live diamond cutters on the weekend so we were a little disappointed. We decided to visit the museum anyway. It is always fun to see the jewels and learn about the history of things. The exhibit was overall pretty disappointing. The jewels were actually replicas of the originals and a lot of the hands on parts about the way diamonds are made didn’t work. I wouldn’t recommend the museum to anyone visiting Antwerp. During the week you can see live diamond cutters at Diamond Land which is a huge diamond showroom. I would suggest that over the Diamond Museum.

On Saturdays, there is a huge market in Theaterplein which is supposed to be very interesting but it was already pretty late in the afternoon so we decided we’d try to see that on our next visit to Antwerp.

Jim wanted to find a chocolate shop he had been to 8 years ago on Carnotstraat. After walking about 5 minutes on Carnotstraat which is a very dirty street and in a seedy part of town, I was ready to give up the search but Jim was not. If you’ve read this blog before, I’m sure you can figure out how this ends.

After abandoning our search for the chocolate shop, we started to head back to the docklands area for dinner. I wanted to take the shortest possible route as my feet were killing me so it wasn’t a particularly scenic walk. At one point we actually ended up in the red light district which was just south of where we were staying. We had walked by the street in the morning and didn’t even notice it. However, I’m pretty sure no one was working at 10am on a Saturday morning so there wouldn’t have been anything to see.

I had read about Lux on the internet when I was researching food and drink options in the Harbor area. We decided to have dinner there and made a reservation for an hour later. Jim said he wanted to drop off some stuff at the car before dinner so we made our way there. In reality, he wanted to check on the car to make sure it was ok. We had been side swiped while parked the night before which Jim surprisingly took in stride.

On the walk over, Jim mistakenly made a comment that he thought I was walking so slowly on purpose. Of course, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that I was 37 weeks pregnant and had been on my feet for the last 7 hours walking all over Antwerp in a pair of boots which were cutting off my circulation. Jim realized his fatal error and spent the next hour apologizing to a very angry pregnant woman.

Thankfully, our dinner at Lux (www.luxantwerp.com) was so wonderful that I forgot all about being mad at him. We had a wonderful meal with great service in a really pleasant setting. I would definitely come back to Antwerp just to visit this restaurant. It was a great way to end our day in Antwerp.

Pregnancy German Style

I thought I’d document my pregnancy for a few of reasons.

1) I think it would be fun for our little girl to be able to read this when she is older to see what my pregnancy was like.
2) I’d also like to be able to compare this pregnancy with the next one.
3) I want to see how the entire German pregnancy / birthing experience might be different from where ever I am for number 2.

I first suspected that I might be pregnant during a weeklong cycling trip in Provence. Obviously, this put a damper on my ability to enjoy fine French wines and stinky soft cheeses. However, I was excited by the prospect of being pregnant and relieved that it only took us 3 months before one of Jim’s little guys scored. I was concerned that all of those years of tight Lycra bike shorts might have done some damage.

As soon as we got home from France, I peed on a stick to get confirmation that I was indeed pregnant. Since I bought the cheapo pregnancy tests from Wal-Mart, the first one wasn’t quite clear. However, it could have been operator error. I had already thrown out the directions so wasn’t sure how long I was supposed to wait for the little pink line or plus or whatever sign might signal a positive result. After about 3 other tests, I was pretty confident that I was pregnant so made an appointment with my doctor.

At my first appointment the doctor obviously confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. She did a wand ultrasound and I got my first picture of what looked more like a bean than a baby.

Most of my appointments so far have been similar to this first appointment. I arrive and am handed a plastic Dixie cup with my name written in marker. I then use the downstairs bathroom and place the cup on a tray out in the open with a bunch of other urine samples. I wait an hour before getting called into the hallway, then I am weighed and my blood pressure is taken as well as any blood samples for various tests. Then I go back in the hallway to wait for the doctor to call me in. She generally asks me how I’m -feeling, goes over any results of past tests and then I get an ultra-sound. I’ve been shown the baby at every appointment except one.

My first trimester was a breeze. After witnessing my sister’s terrible morning (excuse me, all day) sickness, I was quite worried about how sick I would be. However, I was lucky enough to dodge the morning sickness bullet and felt pretty normal other than my gargantuan itchy boobs. Save for some musty tasting mangos, I really had no food aversions and the only food cravings I experienced were for sweets. Thankfully, I was able to continue my normal work outs during that first three and a half months so despite my ice cream addiction I only gained about 4-5 pounds.

I was so thankful that I was neither sick nor fatigued because I had an enormous amount of travel planned for the first trimester. After returning from Provence, my mom and sister arrived for a two week visit. During those two weeks we went to Amsterdam, Bruges, Copenhagen, Cologne, Beilstein, Bruhl, Rothenburg, and finally Frankfurt. I had four days to recuperate from that travelling stint before Jim and I were off to Tuscany for a week. Finally, I ended my 1st trimester with a weekend in Stockholm.

15 Weeks

Jim has come with me to the more important ultra-sound appointments. His first visit to the gyno was entertaining for me. When we first got into the doctor’s office, he made sure he was far across the room. He wasn’t so sure about the leg stirrups and kept eyeing them suspiciously. However, as soon as the ultra sound started he was right next to me peppering the doctor with question after question. He was amazed by the fact that there was a real baby inside me. I’m not sure if he thought that I had been growing an alien or a puppy in there all this time, but seeing it made it very real for him.

The beginning of my second trimester was really more of the same. I felt pretty good and was able to continue biking, running, hiking and swimming.

I was able to continue wearing my regular clothes until about week 23 or 24. I didn’t really start to grow until I went home to the States in mid July around week 20.

I decided to stop riding my road bike at about week 23. It was becoming just too uncomfortable. About a week later, I had to cut down on my running as well. I ran 6 miles and found I was worn out the rest of the day so shortened my runs to 4 miles with breaks in between if I felt any discomfort or pain.

24 Weeks

In my 25th week, I was wearing maternity pants but still able to get away with some of my regular shirts. I’m not sure why I was in so much of a rush to start showing. I guess in the beginning, I wanted everyone to know that I was preggers. Now, I’m realizing that along with the big prego belly comes some discomfort and awkwardness.

In Germany, the doctor who you visit for all of your pre-natal exams is not the doctor who will deliver your baby. The doctors who will deliver the baby work only at the hospital and do only deliveries and other gynecological surgeries. It is almost more comforting to know that delivering babies is what they do day in and day out.

Unfortunately, that left finding a hospital completely up to us. My doctor wrote down 4 names of hospitals on a sticky note but her assistance stopped there. All of the area hospitals have one or two informational evenings every month for expectant mothers and fathers. We visited 3 of those hospitals. When you can’t understand a word the doctors are saying, it makes for a long, boring evening. However, we did get a tour of the maternity ward to see the birthing rooms and nursery. By our last tour, we got smart and brought some reading material and sat in the back.

28 Weeks

On one of the tours of a hospital we saw a very, very pregnant woman outside on one of the available decks for the maternity ward smoking a cigarette while leaning against a gigantic, no possible way you can miss it, No Smoking sign. The woman was fully decked out in her maternity support hose and a pair of floppy old slippers puffing away her contractions. Not surprisingly, our tour guide neglected to say anything about this but allowed us to go check out the deck for ourselves. There was so much wrong with that vision that we tried to capture it in a photo, but unfortunately couldn’t get the shot without being too obvious.

In Germany, midwives play a major role in the birth. All of the hospitals have midwives and you have the option of having a midwife before, during and after the birth. Before the birth, the midwife will come to your house and bring her equipment with her for any fetal monitoring that needs to be done in the last stages of pregnancy. Some midwives will also perform acupuncture which is supposed to help speed up labor and reduce the amount of pain during labor. They also often teach the birthing classes and post natal exercise classes.

With midwives at every birth here in Germany, there are far fewer C-sections and more natural births. Germans are generally in favor of less intervention and going a more natural route. I just hope that if I need the epidural I can get it. According to someone from Jim’s office, when his wife asked for the epidural the nurses and doctors seemed to be horrified and made her feel guilty about it.

33 Weeks

You can also have your midwife assist you after the birth. She will come to your house every day after the baby is born for a week and then less regularly in the following weeks to answer any questions you might have, weigh the baby to make sure it is gaining weight and that the mother is recuperating.

Thankfully, I have a few friends who have delivered babies here so have gotten a lot of information from them. They let me know that you don’t get a hospital gown during the labor which I hadn’t even considered. I will need to bring my own nightgown or outfit to wear for the delivery unless I want to be naked as the day I was born. Granted modesty might not be an issue I’m all that concerned about when I’m squeezing a baby out of my you know what. The hospital also doesn’t provide towels which I thought strange. However I’ve never actually stayed in the hospital in the US, so I don’t really know if they have towels there either.

I had my first appointment with the midwife last week. She came to do a “birthing” class with us in English. It was pretty disappointing. She answered a few questions we had, gave us a list of things we need for the baby and also did the first acupuncture session but overall it wasn’t that helpful. When I asked her about breathing techniques she said that deep breathing was all I needed to do. I guess I was looking for something a little more structured and informational.

It was interesting to see the list of “must haves” for the baby in Germany. A sleep sack was number 1 on the recommended list. Germans go the route of a sleep sack rather than swaddling babies. Also on my list was a cherry stone pillow and fennel tea for the baby to ease gas pains rather than using gas drops. There was actually no medicine at all on the list of things I should get.

36 Weeks

I am now in my last 4 weeks of pregnancy but have decided to post this bad boy now as I will most likely be consumed with getting everything ready for the baby in the next few weeks and won’t have time to blog.

I will do another blog on the end of my pregnancy and birthing experience after we come home from the hospital. Although I have a feeling that it will be quite delayed as we get used to our new role as parents.

Back to Belgium for Chocolate, Waffles and Beer

I planned another quick trip to Bruges for the weekend of Oct. 30th with Jim's parents. Jim’s dad was here for that weekend and his parents had never seen Bruges. I also figured that since I have been there 2 other times in the past year, it would be an easy, low stress trip since I already knew my way around.

The plan was to meet them in Bruges since they would be coming from spending a few days in Paris. Unfortunately, their trip took a bit longer than expected when they ran into some trouble during a small detour.

Sylvia’s quest to see just about every Catholic Church ever erected led them to a sketchy neighborhood in Paris called the Arrondissement of Saint Denis (named after the Saint Denis Basilica). According to the legend, St. Denis was a bishop who was beheaded at Montmartre and then picked his head up and walked two miles. The Basilica was then built in his honor.

They decided to visit the church last minute so didn’t let their friends in Paris or Jim know their plan because both would have advised against going to that specific neighborhood.

Jim and Sylvia had some difficulty finding the Basilica with their GPS and after three laps of the area had finally given up on visiting the church. However, their visit to the Saint Denis Arrondissement was extended by a few hours. While stopped in traffic, two men approached the car, shattered the back seat window with a large rock and reached in to grab Sylvia’s fanny pack which was sitting on the back seat. Thankfully they weren’t hurt but only shaken up. There were some students in the area who were very helpful and could speak some English.

After an hour, the police finally showed up and drove the car to the nearest police station to start the 3 hour process of filling out the police report. I guess being Americans, driving an Italian car that they rented in Germany and not speaking French added some confusion to the whole process.

So the moral of this story is either 1) that you should stay away from sketchy neighborhoods while travelling, 2) if you’ve seen one church you’ve seen them all, or 3) that you should never own a fanny pack.

We arrived in Bruges after 9:30 due to traffic near Brussels. Since it was so late we simply stopped for a quick bite at a burger and frites spot near the hotel and Jim was able to get his Bicky sauce fix. Bicky sauce is a Belgian creation that is used like ketchup and reminds me of the Big Mac special sauce.

We weren’t able to reserve a B&B for the two nights we were there because everything was booked up for the holiday weekend. We ended up in a small hotel (Gulden Vlies – www.guldenvlies.be) that was about a 10 minute walk from the center of town. It worked out quite well due to the free parking across the street so was really convenient for our late arrival. I’d definitely stay there again.

The next morning after breakfast we set out for the town and hit most of the main sights before lunch– the two main churches and the main square. We ended up having lunch at a pita place that my mom, Stacy and I had eaten at when we were in Bruges in the spring. It was even better this time around.

After lunch we went in search of a chocolate shop to satisfy Sylvia’s sweet tooth and then did a little shopping. I got the perfect shot of Sylvia in front of another chocolate shop.

We headed back down to the Begijnhof and stopped for a beer at the Half Moon Brewery and a Belgian waffle for Sylvia along the way. We all agreed that the Dutch waffles in Maastricht were better.

The weather turned rainy while we were at the Begijnhof so Jim and I headed back to the hotel while Jim and Sylvia entertained themselves by looking for more churches and getting lost.

That night for dinner we had reservations for Tom’s Diner. Jim and I had a great meal there when we visited Bruges the first time. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to our expectations on our second visit. Jim and I have decided that the dining gods have been against us lately. I consider it fortuitous since we soon won’t be dining out at nice restaurants with a new baby. It is better not to have the memory of great meals fresh in our minds.

The next day we headed to Ghent so Jim and Sylvia could see where Jim lived for two summers. Once again we did a drive by of Kiekenstraat where Jim lived. He took pictures of three or four different apartments figuring that one of those was the right one.

The main square was undergoing a huge construction project so Ghent wasn’t as charming as our last visit. The gray skies and rain didn’t help either.

We wandered around the main square and canals before grabbing a quick lunch at a deli-style restaurant. Sylvia couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get one last Belgian waffle with ice cream and dark chocolate sauce. And what self respecting chocoholic could order anything other than a hot chocolate to top off her waffle lunch?

Benelux Skike Championships 2009

Last year Jim found a way to continue his cross country skiing obsession without snow. He bought a pair of Skikes. Skikes are a cross between cross country skiing and in line skating. Most cross country skiing aficionados in the US use roller skis during the summer months. Skikes differ from roller skis in that they have brakes so are much safer and can go off road on dirt / rocky terrain. Skikes were only created about 3-4 years ago so it is still quite a new sport and hasn’t hit the US yet.

After taking a few bad spills on pavement last winter on his brand new Skikes, they ended up in the corner of our storage unit in exchange for his bike.

However, about 2 weeks ago Jim was surfing the internet and found a race in the Netherlands. He decided that although he hadn’t skiked in last 8 months, it would be a good idea to compete in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) Skike 2009 Championships. So Jim dusted off his Skikes and did some panic training for the next two weeks.

The race was last Sunday so we piled into the car and set off for the Netherlands once again. We had some difficulty finding the race. The website had given only GPS coordinates for the start and our GPS of course kept trying to take us on pedestrian/ bike only dirt trails to get there. After about 5 wrong turns we finally found the event.

Due to the fact that this is quite a new sport, the turn out for the race wasn’t huge which is probably good. I had visions of an incredibly chaotic mass start with poles flying and Jim ending up in the emergency room.

Thankfully they had a time trial before the race so they had the racers line up according to the results in the time trial. Jim finished 6th in the time trial so was up in the front for the start.

The race was great for spectators because it was 3 laps rather than an out and back so we could see how Jim was doing during the race. He ended up finishing 7th or 8th. We miscounted the laps (yes, I know, three laps shouldn't be all that confusing. Can you have baby brain before the baby is actually born?) so actually missed his finish. Since we couldn’t really understand anything at the awards ceremony, we weren’t sure what his time was or where he officially placed. He did however, make the local news. http://www.l1.nl:80/content/4184582

We took a picture with the winner of the race. He was a really nice guy. He came over to talk with Jim and to thank him for coming. The guy was a former Dutch national cross country skier who now lived in Austria and was somehow involved in the organization of the race.

Hoensbroek Castle

Last weekend we took Jim’s mom to the Hoensbroek Castle (http://www.kasteelhoensbroek.nl/) in the Netherlands. She’s now been to the land of the Dutch 3 separate times in the first 10 days she was here. We ended up going up to Maastricht the weekend before with her and then twice more this past weekend. I guess we just love the Netherlands. I think it might be a combination of their sing song language (sounds a little like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets), that everyone speaks English or the fact that the Dutch are just very happy, friendly, people with good taste in clothing and food.

Hoensbroek Castle was the largest castle between the rivers Meuse and Rhine and had 40 rooms open for viewing. Oddly, the castle was set right in the middle of a residential area so there were normal houses right across the street.

The castle is very kid friendly. They have a bunch of games as you walk into the first courtyard. Kids (or adults) can play a ring toss, try to walk on stilts, and play other kid’s games from the time period. They also have some sort of a mystery hunt for kids taking them through the castle and its secret passages while they are dressed up as knights and maidens.

As with many of the sights in Europe, the system for leading visitors through a tour of the castle was somewhat confusing and unorganized. We had difficulty finding our way so ended up simply wandering the castle in no particular order. The guidebook we had was a bit dry so we also read through the laminated information cards for the kids in each room. I found those a lot more interesting than the adult version. I’m not sure what that says about me.

Italy - Round 3

Our trip to Italy this time around was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I should really start this blog quoting Charles Dickens “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” We spent a week in the Amalfi coast and had some pretty high expectations of our last trip sans baby. I think we both hoped the area would be a lot like Cinque Terre where we were married.

The trip started out well. We flew into Naples on TUIfly. It was our first time on that airline and we were surprised how pleasant the flight was. We even got fed on our two hour flight and didn’t have to pay to check our baggage. After almost exclusively flying German Wings where you have to pay for a drink, to reserve a seat and to check 1 bag, I felt like we were in business class.

Upon arrival we unfortunately missed the 4:30 bus to Sorrento which Jim of course reminded me wouldn’t have happened had we not checked our luggage. We have an ongoing dispute regarding the checking of luggage. At the end of this trip we decided that we would have saved about 3 hours if we hadn’t checked our baggage. This is by no means a victory for Jim’s cause. To have checked our baggage we would have had to do laundry at least once or twice during the trip because the size of the bags they allow you to carry on are minute and realistically fit a pair of shoes, toiletries and 2 outfits. According to my tally, we are still in a dead heat on the question of to check or not to check.

Since we had about 90 minutes to kill before the next bus, we sat outside the airport at a café. It was the perfect temperature for sitting at an outdoor café and a good strong Italian coffee or glass of wine would have made it perfect. I unfortunately ordered aqua.

The bus trip to Sorrento was over 90 minutes on incredibly congested 2 lane roads hugging the coastline. The road dropped off steeply to the water and the bus would beep around the hairpin turns to warn oncoming traffic to get outta da way.

We managed to find our accommodation without too much trouble. I had checked Trip Advisor earlier in the week and found that some very disparaging reviews of the place had recently been posted. Unfortunately by that time it was too late to cancel without losing our money. So walking into the place I already had some reservations.

Our “B&B” was located in an old apartment complex and was a single apartment which had been converted into three separate rooms with cheap modern décor. Our room was the blue room and had a lovely view of the train tracks below our window. On line of course there was no mention of train tracks right outside the window and Emily must have used some tricky photography because the rooms looked huge on her website.

We both felt a little dejected by our first impressions of Sorrento. It was a busy, tourist laden, congested city that didn’t have the same quaint charm of Cinque Terre. As it was so late by that point, we decided to grab a pizza for dinner at a rundown spot around the corner with a T.V. blaring a soccer match.

The next morning after a restless sleep, we were served our “breakfast” which was a couple of packaged croissants and a coffee which we had to eat in bed because there was no breakfast table in the room (not particularly comfortable when you are 7 ½ months pregnant). Thankfully, we had a mini fridge in the room so we were able to go grocery shopping for some fruit, yogurt, juice and muesli so we told Emily to skip the breakfast for the rest of the week. I didn’t want to waste my caffeine intake on her paltry espresso.

We set out for the tourist information office and to get Jim a proper coffee which I hoped would put him in a better mood. Someone, I’m not mentioning any names here, doesn’t do well without much sleep (a fact which is getting more and more concerning the closer I get to giving birth). The tourist information office was closed so we decided to come back the next day.

We decided to have a low key day in Sorrento rather than battle the tourist crowds on the buses and boats going to other towns. After doing some grocery shopping, we headed to Marina Grande for some lunch. We had a long leisurely lunch at Delfinos. It was located at the end of the marina on a long pier over the water. It was a picture perfect location with a great breeze off the sea and put both of us in a great mood. We decided that our vacation was finally coming around.

I ordered the seafood risotto which was full of squid, octopus, clams and mussels while Jim ordered the local specialty – Gnocchi alla Sorrento (gnocchi in a tomato sauce with melted mozzarella). Both dishes were great and the ½ bottle of wine Jim had put him in a very relaxed mood.

After seeing that I was pregnant our waitress gave us little Catholic miraculous medals of the Immaculate Conception to protect our family and help us be good parents. She must hand them out to a lot of people because she had a tin of these medals in her pocket. It felt like a very Italian gesture which the cynic in me figured was probably the desired effect. However, being on vacation I decided to give my
cynicism a rest, and gave our waitress a big tip instead as the rest of the wait staff had also been quite entertaining.

After lunch, we wandered around town looking for a shop selling hiking maps but didn’t have any luck. We did however find lots of limencello, ugly plates decorated with lemons and I love Sorrento t-shirts.

We attempted to find a hiking path without a map using only the description in our lonely planet book. However, after walking uphill on busy roads for about 30 minutes, we decided to cut our losses and go back to the room for a nap.

That evening we ventured out and were surprised to find the town just as vibrant as it had been on Saturday night. Most of the retail shops were open even though they hadn’t been open during the day. I think the shops have realized that the tourists leave on day trips during the daytime and then return in the evening to shop and eat. During the week a lot of shops would close for the afternoon and open up again from 5-10 at night.

After having such a large lunch, we decided to have a low cost dinner and get a quick pizza at Da Franco’s. The restaurant is very casual with cafeteria like tables and benches. They serve their drinks in plastic Dixie sized cups and the pizza is served in tin pans with wax paper. They can get away with a complete lack of ambiance because their pizza is so good. We ended up eating there 3 times during our trip.

On Monday, we decided to take the boat to Positano. When planning this trip I mistakenly forgot about Jim’s motion sickness on boats and buses which was going to be our main mode of transportation for the week. Oops! Since all of the seats outside were taken, Jim had to stand at the back of the boat for the entire journey. I went out to check on him once and for the first time during my pregnancy someone offered me their seat.

Positano looked a lot more like Cinque Terre and was set into a ravine with houses built up high on each side of the steep hills. The beach was a pebble beach with no sand and was lined with brightly colored umbrellas and lounge chairs that one could rent for the day.

Our first agenda was lunch. We walked the waterfront to evaluate our options and settled on a Rick Steve’s recommendation – La Cambusa. It was quite hot so I ordered a Salat Nizzardo Jim ordered the seafood pasta which was simple but very good.

After lunch we wandered the narrow, steep pedestrian only streets of which there were only a few and did a little window shopping. There wasn’t much to do in the town besides that so after a refreshing lemon granita and a 5 euro pareo purchase, we went back down to the beach to take the boat home.

We had some time to kill before catching the next boats so we decided to put our feet in the water to cool off a bit. The water felt amazing and we regretted not bringing our swim suits.

We were able to get rock star seats on the top deck of the boat for the 90 minute ride back to Sorrento. It was a slower boat so was more relaxing. Jim even fell asleep in his lounge chair on the ride home while I took pictures of the coast.

On Tuesday, we had planned to go to Capri. However, after another sleepless night and feeling the water in Positano, we decided to have a beach day. We went to Marina del Cantone which was a tiny little marina on the other side of the Sorrento Peninsula and off the tourist circuit. We had to take a bus there and although it was only about 20k away, it took an hour to get there. The roads are so narrow and curvy that it wasn’t a pleasant drive for Jim. We were amazed with the skill of these bus drivers. In some instances we had only a centimeter between us and another huge bus.

Marina del Cantone was a tiny marina with one hotel and about 6 restaurants. We rented beach chairs and an umbrella for the day. It was another pebble beach so you needed to have a sun lounger to be comfortable. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the fact that there was no sand to get between your toes and in other nooks and crannies.

Unlike Positano, this marina didn’t have large ferries and boats coming into port so it was much more tranquil. Since it wasn’t peak tourist season, a lot of the restaurants were closed. For lunch we settled on a small place lining the beach which looked to be the only restaurant with customers. We didn’t have high expectations but were pleasantly surprised. We got the best seafood of our trip at that restaurant. The mussels were huge and I assume caught that morning.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and sunning ourselves and caught the 5:00 bus back to Sorrento. About half way through the ride, a group of about 20 teenage girls filled the bus with their non-stop chatter. Jim and I both looked at each other thinking the same thing; we are going to have one of these soon and hopefully we will be able to survive our daughter’s teenage years.

Once in Sorrento, we couldn’t wait to get off the hot, noisy bus and take a cool shower back at our hotel. Sadly in my rush to get off the bus and away from the noisy girls, I left the camera on the bus. However, I didn’t realize it until that night when I went to charge the camera and it wasn’t in the room.

That night after dinner at a disappointing tourist trap we wandered around town and solved a smelly mystery. During our walks in Sorrento we kept encountering the smell of dog poop even if there wasn’t any in the vicinity. We realized that it was a berry on a low palm tree. Watch out Franken Berry Crunch, there’s a new breakfast cereal in town – Poo Berry Stench. Now the only remaining mystery was why our hotel fridge smelled of mothballs.

Wednesday morning our first priority was getting our camera back. We were doubtful that anyone would have returned it since we were in Italy and in a very touristy spot. Surprisingly though when we asked the people at the bus station, they made a call and were able to track it down. Apparently a woman in St. Agata had found a camera the night before so we got on a bus to St. Agata which was about 40 minutes away to meet her. We were so elated that we had found the camera and would have all of our pictures from the trip so far. However, when we met the woman she handed us a camera which wasn’t ours. Disheartened we took the bus back to Sorrento. It was bad enough to have lost the camera in the first place but now we felt like we had lost it a second time.

We decided to go to Pompeii for the afternoon after wasting our entire morning chasing after the camera since it was only a 30 minute train ride away. We should have eaten before getting to Pompeii because as soon as we got off the train, we were bombarded with men trying to get us to eat at the little restaurants lined up outside the site of Pompeii. One guy wouldn’t leave us alone, insisting that we look at the menu while he kept repeating, “look, look, you must look at the quality.” Sadly, they weren’t even able to make the pictures of their food look appetizing so we looked but didn’t stop.

We decided to wander down the road to see if there were any better choices. There weren’t. We ended up getting a terrible pizza and eating it along the side of the road.

Pompeii was absolutely massive and didn’t have a very ordered route through the site. They simply let you move through the site on your own which was a little overwhelming. We tried to follow along with the information booklet but after struggling to find the numbers corresponding to the descriptions in our little booklet, we decided to just wander around. I think that we were both a bit depressed after the morning’s disappointment so our hearts weren’t really into sightseeing. After about 2 hours in the heat battling the crowds of tourists, we called it a day and headed back to Sorrento.

We went back to Da Franco’s and had some more excellent pizza in an environment that doesn’t cater to tourists and doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t.

On Thursday we were again going to go to Capri but we didn’t get an early start. Plus after battling the crowds at Pompeii we weren’t inclined to go to another tourist trap so we decided to go back to Marina del Cantone for another relaxing beach day. The weather unfortunately turned cloudy after our late lunch so we left earlier than planned to avoid the rain.

On Friday, we awoke to pouring rain so had a lazy morning while planning our options for the day. We decided to go to Capri even though the Blue Grotto would be closed due to the inclement weather. I hoped that there might be fewer tourists than if the weather wasn’t as sunny and nice as it had been the rest of the week.

When we got to the Marina Grande, we took the funicular up to Capri. The town was pretty similar to how Rick described it in his book; a paradise for anyone who can afford to drop 500 euro on a night in a swanky hotel or 4,000 euro on a new Prada purse. I guess day tripping tourists just like to see what they are missing by not being famous or rich. Personally window shopping isn’t all that fun when you know that anything you see is completely out of your reach. It makes you feel a bit impoverished when you compare your Target outfit to that of the Gucci attired woman next to you. I guess that is probably one of the reasons I never look at those star magazines like People. How does looking at beautiful people with amazing clothing and a seemingly endless source of income make you feel better about your own life?

We wandered the streets of Capri and then made our way to the Gardini di Augusto. The garden was perched on a huge cliff with views of the sea below and the limestone rocks which rise steeply out of the water near the island.

Since it was already late in the day we decided to skip Anacapri and do a hike that was suggested in the Lonely Planet. We walked from Capri to the Arco Naturale which was a beautiful natural rock arch. It reminded me a lot of the arches in Moab except that there was crystal blue water in the background rather than dry red desert landscape.

The way down from the arch was a long, very steep set of stairs which wasn’t very forgiving on my knees and joints. However, the views we were rewarded with made it worth it. The trail was lush and almost completely devoid of people. We passed a cave that had been a temple for Nymphs as well as a villa where a Bridgette Bardot movie was filmed. Although we had low expectations of Capri, that hike turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Unfortunately my sad little disposable camera wasn’t quite able to capture the true beauty of the place.

That night to celebrate our anniversary we had reservations at the best restaurant in Sorrento – Il Buco. We were seated next to a wedding party from Australia so it was a nice reminder of our own destination wedding.

We figured that this might be our last really nice meal for a long time so we splurged and got the five course gourmet menu. It was a delicious way to celebrate our marriage, and we both left the restaurant fat and happy.

On our last day in Sorrento, we decided to do a hike on the Sorrento Peninsula. We took a short bus ride up to Termini and after getting some coffee and a snack, set off for Campanella del Punto. The point was supposed to have the best views of Capri.

The trail was at first actually a narrow road through some olive and lemon orchards but then turned into an old, uneven cobbled path. As we walked through the olive tree groves, Jim tried one of the olives and discovered that there is a reason every olive you’ve ever eaten has been cured; they are bitter little suckers!

It was quite a hot day so after we had worked up a sweat on our hike; we went in search of a beach. We were able to find one on the map that wasn’t too far away. The trail down to the beach was quite steep and difficult to navigate so we hoped that the beach would be fairly deserted.

When we arrived at the secluded little bay we were happy to see that the beach was completely empty. Since we were all alone we decided to forgo the swim suits and go skinny dipping a la our wedding night in Portovenere.

The waves in this bay were much larger than on the other side of the Peninsula so we were cautious not to swim out too far. After a second swim, we got dressed and explored some of the caves nearby. Thankfully, I was able to convince Jim not to jump off a cliff into the water

The hike back up was a bit torturous and hot but we took it nice and slow for the pregnant lady.

Back in Termini we refreshed ourselves with ice cream bars and lots of water while waiting for the next bus to Sorrento.

While we were waiting, we witnessed a funeral procession ending at the very same church we had seen a wedding at earlier in the day. It was interesting to see the circle of life Italian style.

On our last morning in Sorrento, we went for a coffee before heading to the airport.

All in all, we had a pretty good trip. The highlights were our two days in Marina del Cantone, and the hikes in Capri and on the Sorrento Peninsula. We realized that for us a vacation means being close to nature and a bit off the beaten track.

Oktoberfest Take Two

Jim’s company had their regional management meeting in Munich during the opening weekend of Oktoberfest and spouses were invited. Although I wasn’t too excited to attend Oktoberfest while pregnant, I really like Munich so wasn’t about to pass up a 4 day weekend there.

We arrived early Thursday midday. Jim went off to meetings while I went on a tour organized by Orica. The tour was mediocre compared to the one Michael had given us the year before. However, I did get to see the Cuvillies Theater in the Munich Residence which I had not seen before. It is an elaborate theater done in the Rococo style which I love so much. Thankfully, they had removed the interior of the theater during WWII so although the structure of the theater was destroyed, they were able to recreate the theater using the original interior décor.

That evening we had a work dinner and the head of the region gave all of the spouses a gift to thank them for their support which I thought was quite nice. The gift was a porcelain dish which wasn’t really my style but after visiting the Porcelain factory located on the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace, I had a much better appreciation for the artistry it took to create the dish.

When I found out that we were visiting a porcelain factory, I thought I’d skip it and go to Dachau instead. However, after discovering that it was actually located on the palace grounds, I changed my mind. I’m a sucker for palaces and castles. In the end, I was glad that I did. I had no idea how much effort goes into making porcelain and the factory grounds were quite peaceful. We also had time to tour the carriage house of the palace which I enjoyed.

After lunch I headed to Dachau with Charlotte and Andie. I’m not sure what I was expecting out of this visit, but I was surprised that it wasn’t a more emotional experience. Not that I left skipping and whistling, however, I expected a few tears especially in my hormonal state. Possibly it is because I have already learned so much about the concentration camps through other sources so I didn’t discover anything new or that the Dachau prisoners were comprised of 2/3 political prisoners and 1/3 Jews. It may have also had to do with how the information was presented. I found the movie to be much more evocative than the placards throughout the museum which detailed the history of the camp throughout its operation. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the crematorium before the museum was closing which might have been a more sombering experience.

That evening we had a dinner at the Ratskeller which is right in Marienplatz and looks like a traditional German beer hall. It had all of the traditional German options as well as a few steaks so I opted for the Lady Steak which was smaller and came with a salad. The waiters found it entertaining that Jim also ordered the Lady Steak.

On Saturday, we went for a run in the Englisher Garden which is the largest city park in Europe. It was nice to be able to get some fresh air before heading to Oktoberfest and the hot, smoky tents. We only stayed at Oktoberfest for about 2 hours before leaving. It was too smoky and hot for me and Jim was angry that every other table but ours got the food they had ordered. He was jonsing for an Oktoberfest ½ chicken so we finally left the tent and bought one outside. We both came to the conclusion that there isn’t anything really special about these rotisserie chickens; we had simply been much drunker last year when we ate them.

We decided to spend the afternoon shopping instead of boozing it up at Oktoberfest. Jim made a few purchases but I discovered that shopping while you are pregnant isn’t all that much fun because you are limited to shoes and accessories.

We had dinner with Charlotte and Ian that evening at Prinz Myshkin which was an upscale vegetarian restaurant and our back up choice to a Thai place that ended up being closed. Apparently the staff at the Thai place wanted to go to Oktoberfest along with everyone else in the city so closed early. The restaurant was pretty good and a nice break from all of the German restaurants we’d been to over the rest of the trip.

On Sunday, we had the day to ourselves. We met up with Michael for breakfast and headed to the art museum. We went to see the Neue Pinakothek which was a great museum. I wished we had more time to see the entire museum but about half way through we realized we better get back to the hotel to make our flight.

German Elections

The German federal elections take place at the end of this month, and I know almost nothing about the candidates. It feels so strange not to be familiar with the candidates and their platforms. However, I don’t watch local news, read a German newspaper or have any German friends so it makes sense that I would be in the dark on the ins and outs of German politics. Also considering that I can’t vote here and the elections will have very little bearing on my day to day life, it would be an exercise of futility to spend the time learning about the candidates. Nevertheless, it makes me feel a bit like an outsider in Bonn.

There are political posters all over the city. If (like a large section of the American population) I based my vote on the physical appearance of a candidate, I know exactly who I wouldn’t vote for. I would have eliminated a lot of people based solely on their pathetic posters. I don’t have a lot of confidence in a candidate who isn’t smart enough to surround himself with people who can put out a decent political poster in which the candidate doesn’t have a heavy drinker’s red nose, grey teeth and pasty white skin or have a pose that makes him look like a complete idiot. I mean how hard is it to use a few Crest Whitening strips and some self tanner?

I saw one poster the other day that is a complete copy of the Rosie the Riveter poster from the 40s when women began working in factories to take the place of men who had left for the war.

Another political candidate actually compared her cleavage with that of Angela Merkel’s saying that they have more to offer! I’m not sure what if anything saggy old boobs will do for German politics but she obviously things it gives her a leg (or should I say boob) up on the competition.

Namenstag (Names Day)

I recently discovered a new holiday. Europeans celebrate their Name Day just like they would celebrate a birthday. Birthdays tend to be more intimate affairs with just immediate family while your Name Day is more widely celebrated. Logistically this makes sense. Obviously more people can remember your first name whereas they might not be able to remember your birth date.

Common first names are assigned to a particular day and are generally based on religious figures with that same name. For example, someone with the name Peter or some derivative of Peter would have their Name Day on the day that St. Peter died.

Today's Name day names are Ingrid and Emmerich. So Happy Name Day to anyone with those unfortunate names. If we name our little girl Sabine, her name day would be August 29th.

Chateaus and Breakfast Cookies

About 6 months ago we received a book about the castles along the river Meuse. We finally picked one out of the book last Saturday to visit.

We chose one near Liege so that we could combine some sightseeing with a visit to Carrefour. Our stockpile of French breakfast cookies had reached dangerously low levels (thanks in part to me). In the past I had been critical of the breakfast cookie. Just because you put the word breakfast in front of the word cookie doesn’t change the fact that it is still a cookie you are eating at breakfast. Although the box does try to reassure you that these cookies are indeed part of a healthy breakfast --- when eaten with a yogurt, fruit and some other healthy stuff. I’m waiting for them to come out with some breakfast ice cream.

Of the 200 or so castles that line the river Meuse, many of them are still private residences or have been turned into hotels or restaurants. We chose to visit the Chateau de Jehay which was about 20 minutes outside of Liege.

The castle was surrounded by a large moat and had a very unique design. There were large blocks of sandstone in the wall which were intended to prevent a breach in the castle wall by enemy cannons.

In 1978 the castle was sold to the Province of Liege. The Van den Steen family had owned it since the 17th century. Much of the tour was about the last owner, Guy Van den Steen. He had been a painter and a sculptor as well as a champion skier who had a penchant for fast cars. Jim was a fan of his sculptures as you can see from the picture below.

During the time we were touring the 10 interior rooms which were on display and the surrounding gardens, we saw 2 wedding parties taking photographs at the castle. I’m sure that anyone getting married in the vicinity of the castle must come there to take pictures. The landscaping and the castle exterior are absolutely gorgeous.

Singing with the Swedes

Last Saturday night we were invited to dinner by one of Jim’s coworkers. They are a very entertaining Swedish couple who like most Swedes know how to have a good time.

They had us over for a traditional Swedish summer meal. During the month of August people in Sweden have crayfish parties called Kräftskiva. Traditionally the month of August was the beginning of the crayfish harvest in Sweden. However, the parties were so popular that there are no longer crayfish in Sweden but they stick to tradition and still have them in August. The Swedish now export their crayfish from Louisiana, China or Turkey.

The gist of these crayfish parties as far as I can tell are that you must wear a crayfish paper hat (like a kid’s birthday hat), hang some smiling moon paper lanterns, eat a bunch of chilled crayfish cooked with dill and salt, drink copious amounts of schnapps (probably the most important element to these parties) and sing Swedish drinking songs.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any video of Christer singing the drinking songs because he did it so well. However, thanks to the wonder of YouTube, I found a clip of our favorite Swedish drinking song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvnBgCgetrw

Beach Volleyball in Bonn

Last weekend was the annual Smart Beach Volleyball tournament in downtown Bonn. I had seen this event last summer right after we moved into our apartment. Although I knew that we’d been here now for a year, it didn’t hit home until I saw this tournament for the second time.

The best part about this event was watching them set up a few days before the weekend. There were truckloads of sand dumped into Münsterplatz to transform the cobblestoned square into a beach. The huge piles of sand created a dune like sand scape in the middle of the city. It was essentially one giant sandbox for kids. They were having so much fun playing in the dunes that I was even tempted to kick off my sandals and join them. I saw a few kids trying to have a sand ball fight (with marginal success) in some of the wetter sand. Seeing the kids have so much fun, it made me sad to think that in the litigious US kids would never be allowed to tumble around in the sand for fear that someone would get hurt and sue the city or the event promoters.

On the day of the tournament, the weather was absolutely perfect for beach volleyball. It was in the high 80s without a cloud in the sky. It was so hot in fact that we were only able to watch for a few minutes before moving on.

Unfortunately, I erased the pictures that I took of the event but maybe you can imagine the picture of the Münsterplatz below filled with sand while Beethoven’s statue presides above.

One thing that confuses me about beach volleyball is the attire. Why is it that the women essentially wear a bikini while the men wear long shorts down to their knees? These poor women have to stand with their back to the fans while getting a sandy wedgy.

If I remember correctly, the next event in Bonn after the beach volleyball tournament is the wine festival. Sadly, that won’t be as fun for me this year.

Leadfoot v. Johnny Law

Jim received his first speeding ticket last week. We were driving back from a hike in the Eifel over a month ago when we saw the telltale flash. In Germany, police officers don’t waste their time pulling people over for speeding. Unfortunately, unlike France where there are warning signs for the speed cameras, the German police use hidden cameras.

We had heard that by law you received your ticket by mail within two weeks. So after two weeks, we thought we were in the clear. Unfortunately, our elation was premature.

Surprisingly the ticket was only 20 euro. In the U.S. parking tickets can be more than that. We know someone here in Bonn who got a 60 euro ticket on their bike so we were shocked by our 20 euro speeding ticket.

It’s ironic that Jim never got a speeding ticket in the U.S. where there are speed limits everywhere but got one instead in the land of the autobahn.

Euro Toilets - 101

All of the toilets here in Europe are wall mounted toilets. The the tank is actually built into the wall. This gives the bathroom a streamlined look and saves on space which is necessary in smaller European bathrooms. It also makes cleaning the bathroom easier. You can easily get under the toilet to clean the floor and there is less actual toilet to clean which is always a good thing.

The prevailing brand seems to be Geberit throughout all of Europe. They all have a two button flushing system. At first this confused me. I was unsure of which button to use and why there were two different buttons. After thinking about the two main uses for the toilet, I’ve concluded that the big button is for big jobs and the little button is for little jobs or a button each for number 1 or number 2.

Overall, I prefer the look of the European toilets and the environmentally friendly flushing system. However, recently our toilet has been running more often which has started me thinking about what happens when you have a problem with your toilet? Do they have to tear down the wall to fix it? It seems like an awfully labor intensive process to fix something simple like a broken ballcock. Do the Euro toilets even have a ballcock? Odds are that the mechanics of the toilet are different. Maybe they have something really cool that I don’t even know about?

Yes, this blog has officially got to pot and yes, I couldn’t resist the temptation to use the word ballcock three times during the course of this posting.

Neuschwanstein Disappoints

On our trip home from the Dolomites, we decided to swing by Neuschwanstein Castle. It wasn’t too out of the way and has been on my list of things to see in Germany. Jim had already seen it years ago with his family but couldn’t remember too much about it.

Trusty Rick recommended that we buy our tickets in advance during peak tourist season so I had reserved an entry time of 1:00. Unfortunately we didn’t get going as early as we should have and hit traffic. I called to let them know we were running late and it wasn’t a problem to push back our entry time.

However, we still were running late and once we had parked the car I was anxious to get to the ticket office and even more anxious to find a bathroom. Jim, of course, was taking forever leaving the car because he was worried about leaving our bikes in the car. He put his sandwich on top of the car to gather his things and a bee discovered it and seemed to like Tyrolean speck (ham) as much as Jim. While he was fighting the bee for his Sammie, his pregnant wife badly in need of the bathroom was shouting at him, “Abandon the sandwich, abandon the sandwich” with the same intensity of someone caught in the midst of enemy crossfire with comrades falling all around. Jim found this hilarious so it has now become a catch phrase in our household.

We found the more challenging hike up to the castle with some difficulty and had time to hike up to the Marien Bridge for a quick picture before our entry time.

The Marien Bridge was absolutely packed with people but after seeing so many pictures of the castle I wanted to get my own perfect picture of this fairytale castle. Much to our dismay, after braving the hordes of tourists (some quite stinky and sweaty from the hike up) we were presented with a less than desirable shot as the entire side of the castle facing the bridge was covered in scaffolding.

The castle itself was very ornate. Just about every surface of the rooms was adorned in some way. It made me think that Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria might have taken some decorating tips from Liberace; it was a little over the top.

The entire castle was meant to pay homage to Wagner’s work. Unfortunately the music room which was intended for his operatic works was never used by King Ludwig, however, now there are yearly concerts performed in that room.

The highlights of the castle, however, are eclipsed by the shameless commercialism, which regrettably, permeates what is otherwise an unforgettable fairytale setting. The efforts of the castle’s management to make this a positive experience is underwhelming. It’s clear they have no intention of attracting return visitors or that there is any thought given to the overall impression visitors take away from the site.

The guides herd tourists through a maze of rope-lines before entering the castle. Upon entry, with 70 others visitors, the guides give curt descriptions of the rooms while the tourists are packed elbow-to-elbow. There’s no time to linger to look at any art or other curiosities; another guide immediately ushers the stragglers into the next room. There’s no respect for the fact that most of the visitors traveled many thousands of kilometers to see this place. For those with the misfortune of being at the back of the group, the descriptions are barely audible. Descriptions usually begin before all of the group members even enter the room. Apparently, the whole thing is subject to very strict timelines and it’s all about revenue. They’ll gladly sell you a 20 euro poster of the photo everyone wants to take from the Marien bridge (but isn’t able to) and 8 euro currywurst, which costs 3-4 euro everywhere else in Germany.

To exit the castle, visitors are required to walk through no less than two gift shops, which serve as traffic bottlenecks to the hordes seeking to make a swift exit so they can join the queue at another attraction at the castle.

If you come to Germany in the summer, this castle is not worth the trouble. Go to Burg Eltz. Neuschwanstein looks great from the outside. It graces the pages of many European photo books and, from the outside, it is in an idyllic setting. Most people don’t realize, however, that the castle isn’t that old and was never completed or lived-in for any meaningful period. If you’re looking for a medieval experience, avoid this one or come in the fall/winter to avoid the crowds.

On the drive from Bavaria to Bonn, we made some tactical errors by heeding the advice of our GPS and were initiated into a German summer holiday traffic tradition: The Stau. GPS is intended to spot traffic jams and route you around them. Ours merely stated the obvious when we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a stau (traffic jam) of epic proportions.

In hindsight, we should have decided to travel in the middle of the night. We didn’t expect that every car in Germany and the Netherlands would be on the A3 at the same time. Camper vans, trailers, long-haul trucks and millions of Germans and Hollanders returning from the beaches of the Mediterranean or the mountains of Austria converged on the same roadway. What should have taken 6 hours at the most, quickly deteriorated into a 12 hour ordeal of endless stau on the autobahns of Germany. So much for the unrestricted sections where you can drive as fast as you want. The Ultimate Driving Machine was reduced to the Ultimate Idling Machine for several hours.

The stau finally broke up at around midnight. We finally made it back to Bonn at around 1:00. Next time, we’re organizing our road trips from mid-week to mid-week.