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.

Italian Dolomites with a German Twist

After only a day back home in Bonn, Jim and I were off for a week to the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy. We left very early Saturday morning so that we would hopefully avoid traffic and get to our destination in the afternoon.

This trip was a great way for me to get a vacation from my vacation to the States. After running around all over Denver, it was great to get away and relax without any sort of agenda or lists.

My planning for this trip was pretty much nonexistent. I had merely reserved a place before going to the States and knew nothing about the region. I discovered that this was a good thing. I had absolutely no expectations of what we should see or do and that made for a very relaxing trip. I have been informed that I tend to over plan a bit during our vacations. I generally have plans and then have back up plans to those plans.

The area we had chosen was called Südtirol (in German) or Alto Adige (in Italian). We originally wanted to be in the Alps after seeing how beautiful the mountains were on the way to Interlocken, but had a hard time finding a place to rent. However we figured that there would be fewer tourists and the food would be better in Italy than in Switzerland or Austria so it worked out in the end.

The area of Südtirol had at one time been part of Austria, but after WWI the region was given to Italy. The towns looked like they could have been anywhere in Austria and the people were blond and blue eyed. Almost everyone spoke German and all of the signs and menus were in both German and Italian which made things really easy for us since our German is definitely better than our Italian.

We rented an apartment in San Cassiano at Ciasa Antersies (www.ciasaantersies.it/home/index.php?lang=english). Our hosts were the cutest couple. They were engaged and had recently remodeled the whole place from a hotel to small little apartments. They were both so helpful. They recommended area restaurants, rides for Jim and hikes for me. Bettina lived in upstate NY for a while so had perfect English as well as Italian, German and French. I felt so inadequate with my pathetic German and mostly forgotten Spanish language skills.

After the long drive and unpacking process, we hunkered down for a night in with pasta (of course) and the new season of Weeds for a relaxing night.

The next day Jim was excited to get out on his bike and try out one of the rides our host had suggested. I brought my bike but after seeing the roads decided against riding. After not riding for a few weeks and suddenly having a few more inches around my middle, I decided that riding up and down 16% grade, windy mountain roads with crazy Italian drivers wasn’t the smartest idea.

I ended up going for a hike right from our hotel. The plan was to do about a 2-3 hour hike but it ended up being 4 ½ hours. I somehow got off of the very well marked trail system and came across another trail which I took instead of simply turning around. I ended up going up a very steep trail that took me above tree line. I was determined to get to the top of the mountain but after the trail turned into pretty loose scree so after losing my footing a few times, I realized that hiking an expert only trail by myself while 21 months preggers might not be a very good idea so I turned around and vowed to get to the top with Jim later in the week.

We were both pretty wrecked from our respective workouts so after relaxing a bit and getting cleaned up, we walked into San Cassiano and had dinner at a pizzeria.

On Monday morning, we woke up to a gray sky and a dismal weather forecast for rain. We decided to have a lazy morning in and then both went for a short run.

We planned to go to Bolzano for the day due to the rain. However, by the time we had gotten lunch in town it was already 2:30 so we were getting a pretty late start. As we started driving, we realized that the drive would be a lot longer than we anticipated even though Bolzano was only about 75km away. The roads were very windy and with the rain it was very slow going. After driving for 30 minutes we decided that we really needed a full day in Bolzano to make it worth the drive so we turned around.

We stopped in Corvara on the way home to stock up at a larger grocery store and then spent the rest of the rainy day in our apartment.

We got some cards from our hostess but after I beat Jim a few times in gin, he didn’t feel like playing anymore. I love playing cards and have tried to get Jim to play more often. I guess my technique of beating the crap out of him every time we play isn’t working. I may need to try a Las Vegas style strategy and let him win a few times to get the sweet taste of victory before going in for the kill.

The next day, we decided to give Bolzano another try. Jim went for a short 2 hour ride while I hiked and we set off for Bolzano. We had to go over 2 mountain passes to get to the autostrada which took over an hour. The signage for the autostrada was confusing so we ended up on a frontage road instead of the fast highway. Unfortunately, there were no on ramps all the way to Bolzano so the autostrada just taunted us from above while we were stuck on a slow windy road behind a bunch of trucks.

After finding parking, we stumbled upon the restaurant/hotel that I had researched so popped in to make a reservation for later that night. We got a coffee on the terrace and then headed out to explore the town.

Bolzano was a pretty small town of only 100,000. However, being Italy it still had some really great shopping. After seeing the restaurant, Jim felt underdressed in his t-shirt and jeans so we did some shopping for a new outfit.

Our next stop was the Museum of Archaeology to see Ötzi the Iceman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otzi). He was found in 1991 by some German hikers very near the Italian / Austrian border. He was from the Copper Age and was about 5,300 years old. The museum is really a mummy museum. It explains the various ways something can be mummified either artificially as part of a burial or naturally in a bog or a desert. It was a very interesting exhibit but by the third floor we were a bit “mummied out”.

We had dinner at Restaurant Laurin in a beautiful garden. Being Italy, they didn’t start serving dinner until 7:30 and the maître d wouldn’t seat us before but did seat another women. He was a little snooty and Jim was offended so dinner wasn’t off to a good start. However, we had an adorable waiter who was great and that made up for the earlier snub. We had a great dinner in their beautiful gardens and then drove back to San Cassiano.

The next day Jim went for another ride while I explored the other side of the valley. I hiked up to a high Alpine meadow up to Utia Pralongia. All over this region, there are chair lifts and restaurants that service skiers during the winter. There were tons of people up there sunning themselves and eating lunch. It was a great place for kids who might not be able to handle the steep hike up. They could ride the chair lift and still get rewarded with gorgeous 360 degree mountain views.

Back in San Cassiano, there was a festival with a band and the streets were lined with craft and food vendors. We bought some local cheeses and then went to dinner at a grill that was recommended to us. The special was thyme encrusted venison and it was amazingly tender.

On Thursday, Jim decided he’d beat himself up enough on the bike and we went for an 8 hour hike. We went back up the same trail that I was forced to abandon on Monday. The hike was one of the most amazing hikes I’ve ever done.

The terrain was so varied throughout the hike that it felt like we were in completely different areas. The hike started out in a dense forest which then became just shrubs before going above tree line where there was no vegetation and just scree. At the top of the climb, we were in a huge bowl that had an eerie moonscape feel to it with a smooth windblown and weather beaten rock surface. As we descended farther down there were increasingly more and more tufts of green grass sprouting through the rock until we came to a grass basin with a small herd of cows munching lazily with their bells echoing through the alpine plateau. Jim and I were both completely at a loss for how those cows made it to that high point. There must have been an easier way up because the cows could never have climbed up the way we had just come.

Thankfully, the trail went by a restaurant that was originally a shelter for people herding their cows over the pass. We hadn’t packed enough food or water for the hike so we stopped for lunch and filled up our camelback.

We passed a number of alpine lakes before descending down through the Col de Locia back to San Cassiano. Much to our dismay, the parking lot where the trail ended was not the end of our hike. We were still a few miles from San Cassiano so we refreshed ourselves with some ice cream bars and continued on our way.

After such an epic hike, we were both so exhausted and couldn’t do much more than read in bed before heading down to town for some pizza and schulter which is a half moon ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta cheese in a parmesan and butter sauce typical of the region.

On our last day in Alto Adige we went to the nearby ski town of Corvara for an amazing lunch at La Perla (http://www.hotel-laperla.it/gallery-view-alta-badia-e.htm) and then wandered around the town checking out the various shops.

We had an amazingly relaxing week in the mountains with great food and friendly people. We were sad to be leaving the next day. I’d recommend this area to anyone looking for a low key, relatively inexpensive mountain location which isn’t overrun with tourists.

Visit to the States

Since I wouldn’t be able to go home this Christmas due to the squatter inside my belly, I decided to go back to the States for two weeks to see family and friends and also to do a little shopping for baby stuff.

My first week was spent in Wisconsin up at my parent’s cabin on a lake. The second week was spent in Colorado minus a few days driving across the country with my sister and her three small children. I figured that I’d get a free ride to Denver as well as a crash course in parenting.

The main lesson I learned was that if you have to drive more than 2 hours with children, make sure you have a DVD player in the car. The parent who first thought of bringing a DVD player into the car was truly brilliant. Actually, I was quite surprised that the trip went so well. I guess it helped that we were in a vehicle the size of my living room and my sister has good kids.

One of the things I love about going home is getting the chance to eat all of the foods that I can’t get here in Europe. I made sure to thoroughly gorge myself on corn tortillas, green chilies and fish tacos. The Mexican food options in Germany pale in comparison to the variety you can get in the States. I also continued my obsession with ice cream and got my fill of flavors that I can’t find here in Germany. (A note to those of you who were concerned that I wasn’t gaining enough weight in the first 5 months of my pregnancy, you need not worry!)

Unfortunately the weather up in the north woods of Wisconsin didn’t cooperate. It was generally in the high 60s or low 70s so we really didn’t spend any time in the water. We took a lot of walks, played games and did a lot of cooking and eating.

My nephew, Cole, started a 2 square competition and we all discovered a new side of our mother – the cut throat 2 square queen. Who knew my sweet mother could be so ruthless? She’s the Serena Williams of 2 square and had us all running from one side to the other with her killer corner shots.

Cole was also a big fan of baseball. However, I quickly discovered why no one wanted to be the pitcher. Cole can really hit! After the waffle ball skimmed my head, I started the technique of pitching and then promptly spinning around and ducking down to protect important body parts like my head.

Thankfully, I was able to relax and rest up in the north woods of Wisconsin before embarking on the baby shopping mania which consumed my entire time in Denver. Who knew that something so small needed so much stuff? This poor baby is going to have to sleep outside on the balcony because once I put all this stuff in her room, there won’t be any more room for her.

My time in Denver was far too short and being there reminded me why I loved it so much in the first place. I really miss the mountains (not that I got to spend any time there but I could see them from the Babies R Us parking lot.) I also really miss the huge selection of restaurants. Bonn doesn’t have a huge variety of quality restaurants. There are a few decent Italian places and a token Thai place but that is about it for a non German food lover like me. The grocery stores were also an eye opening experience. Compared to the tiny grocery stores I frequent in Bonn with their narrow aisles, unpredictable product availability, and fruit fly infested produce sections, I felt like every grocery store I went into was a high end Whole Foods. Even the Wauwatosa Pick N Save seemed glamorous.

Of course, besides the mountains, good restaurants and clean grocery stores, what I miss the most about Denver is getting to see my family and friends and it was great to spend a little bit of time with them. My friends threw me a great, low-key baby shower, and I got to have a couple really nice meals with friends and family.

On the way home, I got a nice surprise on my flight (no, I didn't get bumped up to business class). I got to feel the baby kicking for the first time. I think she was actually kicking in response to the bad airline food but I can't be sure.