A nice little weekend trip - Wuerzberg

After being back from the States for a few weeks, I started to get the urge to get outta Dodge. Not that Bonn isn’t nice but our weekends all look the same. I go grocery shopping and run other errands child free on Saturdays and Jim goes for a long bike ride on Sunday. So we decided to go to Wuerzburg for Valentine’s Day weekend. That way, we both can say that the trip is our present to each other and the fact that we didn’t get each other anything (not even cards) won’t seem so lame.

Wuerzburg had been on our list to see for a while. We had driven by the town on numerous trips down to Munich. We even stopped for dinner once on our drive back from Rothenburg with my mom and sister.

We left Friday night close to Sabine’s bedtime so she slept the entire way down to Wuerzburg. We stayed at Hotel Alter Kranen (Old Crane) which was a nice family run hotel that had the advantage of providing a free breakfast and had available parking. It was located along the River Main (pronounced like “mine”) and was named after the old crane that was located next to the river. The crane was originally constructed to lift large crates of Franconian wines onto boats and was human powered. The friendly lady at breakfast told us how the men would power the crane like hamsters on a wheel. She seemed to take great pleasure in comparing the men to hamsters - some marital discord perhaps?

First on our agenda was the Residenz Palace. It was billed as the Franconian Versailles. We had hoped to complete the tour while Sabine slept but the Residenz didn’t allow strollers. We decided that waking a sleeping baby to go into a museum was a bad idea so we decided to return when she woke up and catch the 3:00 English tour.

In the meantime, we stopped for some cappuccinos and did some shopping. Every time Jim and I shop together, he has the best luck finding things whereas I seem to have some really bad shopping mojo when I’m with him. This trip he found two really great jackets that were both on sale and my lone purchase of the trip was a box of tampons.

Our next stop was the old bridge to check out the views of the Marienberg Fortress on the hill across the river from Wuerzburg. The Fortress was the original home of the Prince-Bishops before they moved into town and began living in the Residenz.

We noticed that there was a nice restaurant in a converted mill on the bridge called Alte Mainmühle. We made a reservation for lunch and took Sabine back to the hotel to give her some freedom from the stroller for about 40 minutes before we had to be back at the restaurant.

Lunch was very good. I can definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Wuerzberg. It would be a great place to have lunch in the summer as they have a deck overlooking the river and the Marienberg Fortress. Sabine did pretty well at the restaurant and she seemed to really enjoy my whitefish with lentils and balsamic reduction (too much actually, I didn’t like having to share so much of my delicious lunch).

After lunch we headed back to the Residenz for our tour. Thankfully the museum had strollers that you could use in place of your stroller so we weren’t forced to try to hold a wriggling 14 month old while walking through the Residenz.

According to the tour the palace is famous for two reasons. First it contains the largest fresco in Europe. It was painted by Giovanni Tiepolo so the Residenz is a popular tourist stop for Italians. They are generally not too happy that he happened to paint his largest fresco in Wuerzberg and not in Italy somewhere. He apparently finished the fresco in record time, allegedly because he thought it was too cold, dark and gray in Germany and wanted to get back to his sun-kissed homeland.

The second reason that the Residenz is well known is the fact that it was the first building that Johann Balthasar Neumann ever built. He was actually never trained as an architect but it was his hobby. His work was criticized by other architects who claimed that his domes would never last. However, the domed sections of the building were the only ones to survive the WWII bombs and the remainder of the Residenz had to be reconstructed. The cost of one of the more elaborate rooms was 3 million euro.

Unfortunately, they didn't allow pictures so I didn't get any good photos of the Residenz. Wikipedia has a few pictures of the Residenz if you are interested to see what it looks like.

After our tour we wandered around the gardens and then went in search of wine. If we were going to have to be back in the hotel room at Sabine’s bedtime, we figured we might as well enjoy a bottle of wine in our hotel bed while watching a DVD on our computer.

We found a great little winebar/ shop right on the old bridge cleverly called Main Wein (pronounced Mine Vine in German) after the Main River. We sampled a few red wines while Sabine slept and bought a few Franconian reds to take with us.

We didn't want to press our luck after having a nice lunch so for dinner we were looking for something fast. We stumbled across a Pakistani place that had a buffet and decided that would be our best option. Like her father, Sabine is a big fan of tandoori chicken.

Although we had planned to drink wine and watch a DVD in the room, by the time we got Sabine to bed we were tired ourselves so we just went to bed extremely early.

The next morning was quite foggy and a bit rainy. We went out for a coffee to see if it would clear up before we headed up to the Marienburg fortress. We considered walking up to the fortress but fast way up had stairs. The meandering route through the vinyards was a 3 hour round trip and would have been nice on a beautiful day but the weather was cold and drizzly.

We decided to check out the area around the University and look for a restaurant for lunch. As it was Sunday, all the shops were closed and the area around the University was quite dead. We ended up finding a great playground for Sabine to play on for a while before lunch.

We had a relaxing lunch at a little Italian place where the Italian waiters and other guests all fawned over Sabine before driving up to the Marienberg Fortress.

The Fortress has been converted into two separate museums. We simply walked around the fortress and took in the great views of Wuerzberg while Sabine ran around tiring herself out before the 2 hour drive back home.

Wuerzberg was a great little town. Of course we found ourselves saying that it would be so much prettier in the summer. Why is it that we always take these small trips during the dead of winter?

I think the Residenz was the highlight of the city for both Jim and me but Sabine was more excited by the shower in the hotel room. Her favorite game was climbing into the shower and being separated from us by the glass shower doors.

Weekend in Münster

Last weekend we headed up to Münster which is about 90 minutes north east of Bonn. Münster is a compact little town of 250,000. It has a young, vibrant feel to it due to the University. It reminded me a bit of Fribourg in that regard but architecturally looked more like Bruges.

Unfortunately Münster suffered considerable damage from the war. However, since the city decided to rebuild it exactly as it had been, the Altstadt (old town) still looks like it did from the 30s.

After we found parking on Saturday morning, we sought out a spot for lunch. Mokka D’Or was a recommendation by Lonely Planet. The restaurant was down a little alley which we would have never found without the address. The menu was almost exclusively all pizzas so we decided to both get pizzas and we weren’t disappointed. They were probably the best pizzas we’ve had since we were in the Amalfi Coast. Jim got an Arrabiata pizza and I got their specialty pizza with truffle sauce, bresaola, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and arugula. After 2 espressos we hit the town to wander around.

Our first stop was the big Saturday market which was set up in the shadow of the Dom St. Paul in the Prizipalmarkt. The majority of the vendors were food related. We didn’t want to get lured in by the cheese vendors so we got out of the crowds for a visit inside the Dom.

The cathedral was rebuilt after the war but it wasn’t an exact replica so didn’t have the same ornate design it once had. The best part about the church was an astronomical clock from the 16th century. The clock was removed from the church during the war so wasn’t damaged. The church used the clock to ascertain the dates of religious holidays. It is interesting to see ways in which the church at one time embraced science and technology. Now science and religion seem to be at opposite spectrums.

Of course we lit a few candles which I always enjoy for a few reasons. 1) It’s a great way to lighten your wallet and get rid of all those 1 and 2 cent pieces and 2) Jim always manages to burn himself and the cursing that ensues is always entertaining.

The other interesting aspect of the church was a gigantic statue of St. Christopher who is the patron saint of travelers; currently my favorite saint. St. Anthony, the finder of lost things, and I are still on the outs since the lost camera incident in Sorrento last year. I think the statue was so different from others I’ve seen in churches because of the sheer size of the statue and the fact that he had a real wood walking stick in his hand. The church must have stripped a tree of its leaves and placed in the statue’s hand.

After the cathedral, we did a little loop around the city stopping in stores and churches that interested us. When Sabine needed to eat, we stopped at Café Sieben for a coffee. The café sat along the green, tree lined bike path that circumvented the city.

Münster is an incredibly bike friendly town with bike paths all over the city and into the surrounding countryside known as Münsterland. I’d love to go back when Sabine can be in the bike carrier next summer and tour around visiting some of the 100 castles in the area.

We next walked to the Münster Schloss to walk through the gardens. The building itself is now part of the university so is closed to the public. We stumbled across a free botanic garden which was a pleasant surprise. We strolled through the garden while Jim held Sabine and pointed out plants. We quickly realized the danger of having Sabine feel any of the plants. She has mastered the ability to grasp things but we are still working on letting go so there were a few molested trees and plants along the way.

From the gardens we walked a few kilometers to the Aasee which is an artificial lake built to reduce the risk of flooding in the city of Münster. It was a beautiful day so there were lots of people by the water at the surrounding restaurants and tons of students barbequing in the nearby park. We stopped for a Flammkuchen (essentially the German version of pizza so we had pizza for lunch and dinner) and a beer by the water.

As the temperature started to drop we walked back to the Altstadt in search of gelato for dessert. We found a place in the mall which had the best gelato I’ve had outside of Italy. Thankfully for my hips and butt, they don’t have gelato this good in Bonn.

We made a quick stop at Starbucks to feed Sabine before heading to the hotel. I’m slowly breaking down Jim’s resistance to the ubiquitous coffee shop. Their seats are just so much more comfortable for breastfeeding and they are almost always open.

The hotels in the altstadt of Munster were all pretty pricey so I found a cheap hotel about 15 minutes away. The hotel was right off of the highway so I figured it would be a time saver and easy to find. Unfortunately gas stations and truck stops are also located right off the highway so our hotel room looked out on a parking lot full of trucks and the florescent lights of the truck stop. Oddly enough the lights were pleasing in a strange way. Our room was basked in a green glow that night which reminded me of being in a pool at night. Sabine, however, didn’t seem to like it and woke up five times that night so our family and the 10 truckers staying there didn’t get any sleep that night.

After our sleepless night we enjoyed our brotchens and coffee amid a few truckers’ glares in our direction. Our relaxing breakfast came to a swift end when Sabine managed to poop all over her father.

After checking out of the hotel, we drove to Ludinghausen to visit Burg Vischering.

This castle was from the 13th century complete with drawbridges and surrounded by a moat. We didn’t go into the museum. I guess people involved in 13th century construction didn’t think about making things stroller friendly. We simply walked around the path on the banks of the moat to see the castle from all angles.

Our next castle was completely different. We drove a short way to Schloss Nordkirchen which was billed as a German Versailles. This castle is now part of the state college so the only part that is accessible is the restaurant / café. We stopped for a coffee at the café before venturing out into the beautiful gardens where Sabine got her first introduction to grass.

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.

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.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber or Renaissance Fair?

Thankfully my sister again has some notes from their last weekend here in Germany so this blog entry is courtesy of Stacy.

We arrived in Rothenburg on Saturday only to realize we didn’t get the memo that costumes were required for entry into the walled city. We literally had to fight crowds of merry men and women gathering on street corners singing songs, playing medieval flutes and drums or walking carts loaded up with animals, carpets and dirty-looking children. We eventually found our hotel (Hotel Spitzweg) and it was impossibly cute, just like the town. Our room was a suite with two bedrooms and a huge bathroom. Jim thought that perhaps he stayed here as a child with his parents (although after reading Alison’s blog entries, it seems Jim has a lot of these moments that don’t turn out to be accurate).

We unpacked the car and took off to investigate the cute town. After mere moments the sun came out and Alison and Jim went back to the hotel to grab sunglasses only for the sun to disappear once again. We walked around exploring the nooks and crannies and happened upon a little medieval market with people selling clothing (that you would only want to wear if you were attending the renaissance festival) jewelry and beer in vessels. We decided to have a snack called a Flammkuchen which a flatbread with bacon, cheese and green onions.

That evening we gathered in the main square for the much recommended and very entertaining walking tour led by Rothenburg's medieval "Night Watchman." A thousand years of history is packed between the cobbles. I made Alison take a picture with him, but alas her eyes were closed. He told a number of interesting historic ancetodotes including one of the town’s survival during WWI. In March 1945 in World War II, Nazi soldiers were stationed in Rothenburg to defend it. On March 31, allied bombs were dropped over Rothenburg by 16 planes, killing 39 people and destroying 306 houses, six public buildings, nine watchtowers, and over 2,000 feet (610 m) of the wall. The U.S Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg from his mother’s visit many years prior, so he ordered US Army Generals not use artillery in taking Rothenburg. The local military commander ignored the order of Adolf Hitler for all towns to fight to the end and gave up the town, thereby saving it from total destruction by artillery. McCloy was named Honorable Protectorate of Rothenburg. After the war, the residents of the city quickly repaired the bombing damage. Donations for the rebuilding were received from all over the world. The rebuilt walls feature commemorative bricks with donor’s names.

After the tour the town was really quiet and peaceful. We stopped into an Italian restaurant and enjoyed some okay Italian food and some fine Franconian wine.

The next morning we packed up the car and after breakfast drove to park outside the city walls. Our host had warned us that the city was going to be closed to car traffic that day until 6. Sunday was a big celebration day with parades and music and (somewhat disturbing) canon firings. The town filled up to capacity within hours and we were glad we got an early start to walk the wall without too much of a crowd. Along the way we stopped at the Medieval Torture museum which had great English descriptions and an amazing collection of historical legal documents, and grisly torture instruments.

For lunch we decided to let mom try her precious currywurst, the one sausage to rule them all. After looking for a few restaurants that had moved or were closed we settled on a popular sausage stand that had a line going out the door. Unfortunately, the famed currywurst did not live up to the hype for our mother.

After our sausage filled lunch, we went to tour the Christmas museum which was oddly empty except for us. Walking through the museum, I was surprised to discover how many of our Christmas traditions come from Germany. The tradition of bringing in a fir tree and decorating it with ornaments originated in Germany. The museum had a great collection of old ornaments, Christmas Cards, advent calendars and nativity scenes. Being crazy about Christmas, my mom, sister and I loved it, but Jim didn’t share our enthusiasm. The description of the exhibit talked about some Nazi era ornaments and care packages sent to soldiers during WWII. I think he was expecting more war related items.

After the museum, Mom and Stacy did some marathon ornament shopping, while Jim and I waited outside at a café.

We decided to climb the city hall tower for some great views of the city before filling up on some more Flammkuchen and heading to Frankfurt. We decided to take the scenic route to Frankfurt along the Romantic Road which weaved through picturesque German villages and countryside. We got lost a few times due to construction and finally stopped at a gas station so that we (we being Stacy and me because Jim is vehemently opposed to asking for directions) could ask for directions.

Headed in the right direction, we stopped in Wurzburg for a tasting of Franconian wine and a late snack. I’d like to go back to the city for a longer visit because it looked really charming. Unfortunately, it was already late so the palace which is considered the Franconian Versailles was already closed for the day along with most of the other sites.

We ended our 2 week tour of Northern Europe in a Ibis Hotel about 5 minutes from the airport and across from a strip mall. Scenic it was not but it was very convenient for an early flight the next day.

Monschau, Germany

On Friday, I went to a little German town bordering Belgium called Monschau. A few of the wives at Jim's company organized the outing.

Monschau is located within the Eifel National Park and in the Hohe Eifel or High Eifel. So although there was no snow in Bonn, we were able to drive about 90 minutes to a quaint snow covered little town.

As it was a Friday and the middle of winter, the town was not really busy. However, in the spring, summer and fall this sleepy little town is packed with Belgian, French and German tourists.


Two rivers converge in the town so there are a number of canals running through the town. During the more temporate seasons, the canals are lined with flower boxes.

We basically walked around the small center of town and stopped for a bite to eat at a little bakery / cafe. I made the mistake of ordering Pfanne Kuchen which I though was Flamm Kuchen. I thought I was ordering the German version of the Tarte Flambee which is a thin crust pizza with fresh cheese and onions or bacon but instead got a bacon pancake, big difference!

There are a lot of hiking trails in the area so it would be a great little spot to stop for a Kaffee and Kuchen after a long hike. I'll have to come back with Jim sometime this spring.

There is also a good Christmas market here which I'll have to remember for next year.

Maria Laach

This past Saturday we thought it would be a good idea to combine our workout with a little sightseeing. We headed to Maria Laach which is a Romanesque church built in the 11th century. It is now a Benedictine abbey with 55 monks who earn a living by running the nearby hotel and selling their organic apples and houseplants along with other products produced by monks elsewhere in Europe.

The outside of the church was a gorgeous example of Romanesque architecture but the inside was surprisingly a little plain. It unfortunately had lost most of the original décor in the 1800s. However, I would expect it to have a lot less ornate decoration than a Catholic church, since it is run by monks. I think that is their thing, no bling.

The abbey is situated on a volcanic lake (Laacher See) and is nestled in the forest with hiking and horse trails all around the lake.

After we checked out the church, we decided to take a hike. Unlike most hiking areas in German, there was actually a main map that outlined 6 different trails of varying levels of length and difficulty. We, of course, went for the longest and most difficult trail – 21 kilometers.

We were hopeful that the trail would be well marked after seeing a central map. Ah, how naïve we are. Things started out well, but quickly disinigrated. We found ourselves at an intersection with three different trail options and a sign that had fallen off of the tree. Since we were unable to discern from which tree the sign had fallen, we figured we had a 1 in 3 chance of choosing the right path. Oddly a lot of the trails were marked when there wasn’t any intersecting trail but when you had a number of different options there was no sign to be found. However, it was better than any other hiking trails in the Bonn area. Although a few wrong turns and some back tracking ended up in a slightly longer hike.

During our hike, we couldn’t help notice how many hunting tree stands there were in the forest. It seems quite odd to have hunters set up along hiking trails. I’ll have to remember not to wear my antler hat and leather coat when hiking next fall.

I think these trails would be beautiful with the fall colors. We will have to go back to do some trail running in the fall or spring. Jim wants to do a marathon in the spring so we may be back soon to do some long runs there.

Daytripping in Dusseldorf

After discovering Robert's Bistro on our last trip to Dusseldorf, I have been jonesing for another great dinner and to see Dusseldorf by day.

We decided Saturday would be a good day to go so that we could do a little shopping, sightseeing and eating. We started out visiting our friend's bike shop to catch up with them and check out their store. Shockingly, we left the store without any major purchases. Although I think Jim was trying to figure out a way to justify buying a new helmet, but even he couldn't work out a logical argument so knew it was futile to try to convince me.

We decided to park the car near Robert's Bistro which is located along the Rhine river in the Medienhafen (harbor) area. This area has recently changed from an industrial looking harbor to a more modern warehouse district with some very cool architecture. Frank Gehry is the architect of a number of buildings in the Medienhafen but my favorite was the Neuer Zollhof building to the left.

I originally wanted to visit a few museums and check out the Schloss Benrath which is about 10k from Dusseldorf. However, our late start to the day altered our plans a bit so we decided to just explore the Altstadt and then head over to the high end shopping street of Koenigsallee.

After walking for about 30 minutes and seeing the area get increasingly more industrial, we discovered that we had been walking in the wrong direction. It was rainy and a bit chilly so I had been in a hurry to get moving and didn't take the time to orient myself. We were making great time though, just in the wrong direction. Luckily, the city is quite compact so we were still able to see a lot of the city in the 2 hours of daylight that we had left after getting lost.

We visited St. Lambertuskirche and Andreaskirche in the altstadt. Both churches had elaborate nativity scenes surrounded by evergreens. Each church probably had at least 20-30 trees around the nativity. Andreaskirche reminded me a lot of the Frauenkirche in Munich with its white ornate stucco ceilings but on a much smaller scale.

After wandering around the Alstadt and having a currywurst at the market, we decided to head over to Koenigsallee. Koenigsallee is a gorgeous street with a canal, lined with trees running through the middle of it. It has all of the glitz and glamour of high end shopping in Paris or London. Dusseldorf is now my favorite place to get my big city, urban living fix.

We headed back to Robert's Bistro around 6:30, hoping to miss the crowds. It was still packed with people but we were lucky enough to get one of the last 2 spots at a long table.Unfortunately, the restaurant hadn't acquired any more ambiance since our last visit. It still had cafeteria seating, florescent lighting and the non-existent decor that I remembered, but the lamb was just as delicious as the last time.

I am excited to come back to Dusseldorf when the leaves are back on the trees and the sun has decided to come out of hibernation. I think it will be a beautiful city in the spring and can't wait to go back.

Skiing (or more appropriately not skiing) in Sauerland

I am finally back from my escapades State side, and it is so nice to be back in my own home. While I had a great trip visiting friends and family, living out of a suitcase for three weeks starts to get a bit old.

I was lucky enough to come home to 3 sunny days right in a row, which really made the transition from sunny Denver, Colorado to Bonn, Germany a little easier. I also came home to snow on the ground which is unusual for Bonn. According to Jim's coworkers, this has been the coldest winter Europe has seen in a very long time.

Since we didn't know when we'd see snow again, we decided on Sunday to investigate some cross country skiing areas in Sauerland about 2 hours west of Bonn. Of course, to get me to agree to go, Jim told me it was only an hour from here (a bit sneaky of him).

The drive to the ski area in the morning was absolutely beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun made the snow covered trees and hills sparkle. The drive took us through some small towns which made it much more pleasant than driving up I-70 in Colorado.

We arrived in Schmallenberg around 12:00, and it looked like a perfect day to ski. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the ski pass was only 5 euro. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long to find out why it was so cheap. The skate skiing area was a 2k track, crowded with inexperienced skiers. All of the other trails were for classic cross country skiing only. After about 4 times around the track, Jim and I were both ready to find a different place to ski. Jim had done some research on Nordic skiing in the area and thought there was another place not too far.

So we loaded up the car and continued on our quest to find a good skate skiing spot. We decided to go to Willigen. We didn't have an address to plug into the GPS for the ski area, but we figured that once we got to the town, we would see some signs. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. We finally decided to go to the tourist area to see if there was an address there. As it was Sunday, the tourist office was of course closed, but we were able to pick up some maps of the ski trails.

Even with the maps of the trails it wasn't very clear where the ski center was. We saw a sign for a Craft (skiing and cycling clothing brand) shop so decided to stop there and ask someone where the ski area was. After driving up a narrow, residential road, we found the shop which was part of some one's house. The door was wide open so we walked in but there was no one there. I'm not sure why the door was open especially because the shop had an open door right into their home so anyone could have walked in and walked off with a lot of expensive clothing and gear.

Back in the car again, we put the ski jump address into the GPS since one of the starting points looked like it was in that vicinity. After parking the car and hiking up a hill for 30 minutes, we were able to find the ski jump and what looked like some groomed trails, with hikers on them but no skiers. From the top of the hill at the ski jump we saw some skiers below on the trails so decided to get back in the car to drive around in that area.

Finally, after about 3 hours since the last ski area, we found the entrance to the ski trails. There was no center and apparently no cost to get on the trails. By this point, it was 4:00 and I had given up on skiing. I wanted to get on the road because we had heard traffic would be bad, and I was also concerned about the fact that it would be dark soon. My experience in Germany with hiking trails is that they aren't marked so figured the same would be true of skiing trails. Jim, however, was not dissuaded and wanted to check out the trails to see if it made sense to come back here.

The plan was to meet back at the car in 45 minutes. I decided that hanging out in the cold car wasn't appealing so went for a hike on some of the trails which weren't groomed for skiing. When I got back to the car 45 minutes later, Jim wasn't there. After about 40 more minutes, I started to get quite worried as it was getting dark and much colder. I figured that Jim's aversion to back tracking had caused him to get lost. When Jim finally arrived at the car, he was pretty shaken up. He had gotten lost and somehow had found the ski jump. He figured his only option was to take off his skis and walk down the jump. That proved to be more difficult than he anticipated in his ski boots on an icy, slick staircase. After falling about 100 feet down the jump, and possibly ruining his skis, he finally got back to the car. At that point, he was more than ready to hang up his skies for the season. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm not convinced.

Winter Wonderland

On Sunday, Jim and I went to Hohe Acht, the highest mountain in the Eifel National Park, for a hike. Jim recently biked through the area and thought it would be a great place for a hike.

In Bonn, the weather wasn’t particularly good, overcast and wet so I wasn’t too excited about hiking through the mud. However, as we drove into the Eifel, the rain turned to sleet and then finally snow. By the time we arrived at Hohe Acht the ground was covered in snow.

When we first arrived in Germany, my Nordic skiing obsessed husband asked everyone he knew about the winter and whether or not there was snow. The answer was always the same – it rains most of the winter and snows a few times but doesn’t collect on the ground.

So far our experience has been quite different. I’ve seen it snow in Bonn three times already and last Sunday, while it rained in Bonn, we enjoyed a winter wonderland only an hour away.

Bike racing on steroids

So for our first Saturday in Bonn in a long time, what do we do? We drive up to Dortmund, of course. Saturday night, Jim and I went up to Dortmund to watch Colby (Jim’s friend) compete in a 6 day track bike race.

I’ve never been to a track bike race so it was interesting to see what it was all about. The track is on a 45% angle at the corners. From what I was able to gather, this is a team sport with two people on a team. The riders go at full speed – 75k an hour and trade off every couple of laps. Because the track bikes have no breaks and only one gear, the riders grab the hand of their teammate and sling them into the group of racers to get them up to speed when they switch places. Surprisingly, there weren’t any crashes while we were watching. I was getting dizzy just watching them zip around the track.

According to Colby, the significance of 6 days of racing comes from years ago when the race actually was a 6 day nonstop race. Apparently when racers started dying, they scaled back the races to 6 hours or so.
Track bike racing is like a bike race on steroids. I haven’t ever been to a monster truck rally, but I got the feeling that it might be a lot like a track bike race. You have your cheesy motivating 80s music - like the soundtrack to Top Gun along with lots of flashing lights. There was even a band in the middle of the track with lots of VIPs hanging out.

There were a lot of other venues set up in the same arena in conjunction with the bike race. They had different rooms with a laser light show, disco, live music and rooms of food and drink vendors all as part of this 6 day race. My guess is there isn’t a whole lot going on in Dortmund so this becomes a major event.

Colby and his teammate were the only Americans in the race. I don’t think track bike racing is as popular in the US as it is here. Here, the star German rider (Erik Zabel) is treated like a rock star.

One of the events was a Derney race. I’m not sure who came up with this one, but I’m guessing there were some head injuries involved. A Derney bike is a motorized pacing bike. The rider puts his wheel up to a metal bar on the pacing bike so that he eliminates drag and can go even faster. The best part about this race is watching the two guys who won take their victory lap. I don’t think the gray haired, slightly chubby guy who drove the Derney motorbike is much of a cyclist so it was pretty comical watching him take a lap on a regular bicycle.

Heidelburg, Frankfurt, Brussels, Colmar, Trier, Beilstein, Paris - Whew, I'm tired!

Sunday, September 21st

The next morning we left Munich to head to Heidelburg. We definitely didn't have enough time to see everything in Munich but it will have to wait until next year at Oktoberfest.

Once in Heidelburg, Beth and I walked around trying to find a good place to eat. As is typical for me, we couldn’t find a restaurant that we liked but ended up so famished that we resigned ourselves to eating at the Heidelburg equivalent to TGIFridays. We had some mediocre pizzas and went for a glass of wine elsewhere.

Outside of the disappointing restaurant scene, Heidelburg was a pleasant surprise. Jim hadn’t liked it when he was there for work, and according to Mr. Rick “Back Door” Steves, it was a lowlight of the region. I, however, thought the old town had some very pretty baroque architecture. I liked the red tiled roofs of the old town and beautiful villas on the other side of the river (Neckar).

Monday, September 21st

The next morning, we hiked up to the castle which was beautiful but very noisy with the ongoing restoration. In the castle was a huge wine barrel called the Grosses Fass which held 836,000 gallons! I wouldn't mind having one of those in my house.

We wandered around the grounds behind the castle looking for the Schlosshof which according to the Lonely Planet was supposed to produce an audible gasp from tourists. Since we hadn’t yet gasped, we figured we hadn’t seen it. We finally figured out what the Lonely Planet was talking about and it was indeed quite nice but not what we expected. Why is it when something is built up, you are always disappointed with reality, but when your expectations are low, you are pleasantly surprised?

Around lunchtime we took the train to Frankfurt. Beth’s flight was early the next morning so we decided to spend the night there. I can't say I would otherwise ever plan a trip to Frankfurt. It is really just a big city without much charm.

We decided to take the metro to the hotel which was quite confusing. After about 45 aggravating minutes, we were on our way to the Courtyard Marriot. Beth was able to get a free hotel room with her points.

After going against the concierge’s recommendation that we check out the food court, we found a great seafood restaurant downtown with heat lamps so that we were able to sit outside. It was one of the best meals that I’ve had in Germany and a great way to end Beth’s trip.

Brussels – Tuesday, Sept. 22nd – Friday, Sept. 25th

I took the train with Beth to the airport and then headed home to Bonn. I literally unpacked and repacked and Jim and I were off to Brussels for a CLE (continuing legal education).

The first night there, Jim and I went to the Grand Place and then

the main touristy restaurant area nearby for mussels. Although it wasn’t what I had pictured, the mussels ended up being the best we had in Brussels.

The CLE conference was at the Hilton which was in the swankiest area of Brussels. We were surrounded by high end shops and even saw some red carpet events at a few while we were there. After staying at relatively cheap bed and breakfasts over the last few months, I was feeling like a high roller at the Hilton.

We had a great view of the city from our room. I tried taking a picture of our view at night, but forgot about the reflection so only managed to take some nudie shots of myself rather than the sunset over Brussels.

The next three days I spent wandering around Brussels seeing the sights and of course looking for restaurants. I liked Brussels even though a certain Mr. Rick Steves didn’t consider it important enough to include in his Europe Travel guide.

After spending a few days in Brussels, I am looking forward to a trip to Bruges which I have heard is even more charming than Brussels.

Colmar – Oct. 3 – 5th

Friday was a German holiday so Jim had the day off. Even though we were a little travel weary, we decided to celebrate our 1st anniversary in Colmar. Colmar is a cute little town in the Alsace region of France. The area of Alsace has been part of France and Germany at various times in history so it looks like a little German town with its half timbered houses but sounds like France. There is a definite blend of cultures here which is noticeable from the cuisine. The tart flambée and quiche lorraine is all French, but there is also a fair amount of sauerkraut and sausages.

Our first night in Colmar, we went to Les Maison des Tetes for our anniversary dinner. It was a restaurant recommended by Gourmet Magazine. We had a great dinner of foie gras, escargot, fish and great wine -thanks to Orica! Jim's going away present was dinner in any European city.

The next day, we wandered around Colmar hoping the weather would turn around so that we could go out for a bikeride. We went to the Unter Linden museum which is one of the most popular small museums in Europe. We walked through the Petite Venice and then stopped for some tarte flambée for lunch.

Tarte flambee is like a little pizza with a very thin crust topped with lots of cheese and bacon. I’ve decided it might be one of my favorite foods. Luckily, I’ve just discovered it here in a few German grocery stores.

After lunch the sun came out so we set out for a ride in the foothills of the Vogues Mountains. It turned out to be a beautiful fall day with crisp air and sunshine.

For dinner, we decided to check out a nearby small town – Eguisheim. We wandered around looking for a restaurant and found out that we had just missed a wine festival that ended that day. I’d love to go back next summer to check out some of the wine festivals and do some touring of vineyards.

Colmar and the surrounding small towns are part of the Alsace Wine Route which weaves its way just west of Strasbourg south down to Thann. There are over 100 small medieval villages along the wine route and each one has a number of different vineyards surrounding the town. The grapes in the area are almost all used for white wine with the exception of Pinot Noir.

On our last day in Colmar, we were already planning another trip.

Sylvia’s Visit – Oct. 6th – 28th

Jim’s mother arrived in Germany the next day. The only thing we had planned for her trip was a long weekend in Paris.

Her first week here was low key. We did a lot of walking around town, and she helped me get organized as my closets, futon, shoe rack and kitchen island finally arrived.

The first weekend we did a day trip to Trier which is a town on the Mosel River right on the border of Luxemburg. Trier is the oldest city in Germany. It was founded around 16 B.C. by the Romans. We walked around the town taking in the sights. The Porta Nigra is a Roman city gate from the 2nd century. The Trier cathedral is the oldest Christian church in Germany. It houses the Holy Robe of Christ, the sandal of St. Andrew and a nail from the Crucifixion. We also walked through the Gardens of the Electors Palace which was beautiful.

Before driving back to Bonn, we stopped for lunch at a Rick Steve’s recommended restaurant – Zum Domstein. It was supposed to have Roman dishes in the basement dining room but they seemed to be your standard German fare to me, but I have no idea what kind of food the Romans. I guess I was expecting a more Italian flair.

Jim did a fair amount of traveling for work while Sylvia was here so we took that time to do some little day trips near Bonn.

We took the train up to Cologne one day to see the Cathedral and the Chocolate Museum.

Another day we took the U-Bahn to Konigswinter and hiked up to Burg Drachenfels and the Schloss Drachenburg. The hike was the best part of the trip. Although it was a cloudy day, the very steep hike up through the forest was beautiful with lots of fall color.

One of the most surprising discoveries during Sylvia’s visit was Bruhl. Bruhl is located between Cologne and Bonn and has one of the most beautiful castles I have seen yet. Schloss Augustusburg was incredibly ornate with frescoes, countless marble columns and beautiful gardens. We unfortunately didn’t have time to visit the hunting lodge before they closed, but I know I will be back again with our next visitors.

Somehow I read the train map incorrectly so we got on the wrong train going to Bruhl. Bruhl is only 10 minutes away, but I managed to make it an hour and a half journey. We ended up back in Cologne before I realized that I might have made an error. Even though Sylvia’s sense of direction is comically bad, she can read a train map better than I can.

Our next weekend, we decided to go back to the Mosel Valley and spent the night at a tiny little town called Beilstein. Jim biked down while Sylvia and I drove, stopping at the Birkenstock outlet on the way down.

We stayed at Hotel Haus Lipman. The owner of the hotel was incredibly accommodating which is notable because customer service in Germany is a very different thing than customer service in the US. The hotel was supposed to be a medieval mansion. We needed a three person bedroom so ended up in a different building. However, the heating system might have been medieval in our room because it didn't work. Now I know why they shut the hotel down from Nov. to April. BRRR!

While Sylvia and I waited for Jim to get to Beilstein (he got a little lost on the way down), we visited the Beilstein castle. The castle itself isn’t much to look at but the views of the Mosel are what drive people to hike up the steep climb.

The next day, we stopped at Burg Eltz on the way back to Bonn. Burg Eltz is nestled in the forest along a stream so has a very fairytale feel to it. Jim and Sylvia took a tour of the castle which I have already done so I hiked around the grounds. It was another beautiful fall day. I have decided that fall is definitely the best season in Germany.

The following week Jim was headed to Russia so Sylvia and I used the car to drive to Aachen. Aachen is another great day trip from Bonn. The cathedral is the main attraction in Aachen. It is very different from most that we have seen in Europe. It has a main area which is an octagon rather than the typical cross formation of so many gothic cathedrals and has a mosaic ceiling.

Paris - Oct. 24-27

The last weekend of Sylvia’s trip we went to Paris. We stayed with some family friends of theirs, just outside of Paris. Our first day in Paris was spent at the D’Orsay Museum which houses the largest collection of Impressionists. We only were able to cover the top floor before the mueseum started to get really crowded. We decided that after a few hours we were museum’ed out.

We met up with Jim for lunch and tried to find the great steak tartar place we had been to the last time we were in Paris. After an hour of searching, we finally found it or rather Sylvia found it. Unfortunately it was closed so we ended up at a brassiere and had Croque Monsieur sammies because we were all so hungry.

In the afternoon, we visited Notre Dame which was really crowded. We actually had to stand in line to get in. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I was disappointed by the cathedral. I think I like the cathedral in Cologne better than Notre Dame.

On Sunday, Sylvia and I went to Versailles while Jim biked with some friends. For anyone going to Versailles, I would recommend getting tickets ahead of time. We had to stand out in the cold for about an hour and a half to get tickets. Sylvia of course made friends with a Korean couple on their honeymoon behind us. I came back from getting us hot chocolate and she already knew their life story.

Jim and I had been to Versailles the last time we were in Paris but we didn’t go inside. The interior of Versailles is amazing. We saw the kid’s apartments first which wasn’t that impressive but the audio guide gives a lot more information than they do in the main rooms of the palace mainly because they are less crowded. There was a Jeff Koons exhibit in the main place rooms which seemed out of place. I think I just don’t really “get” modern art. I’m not so sure what a statue of Michael Jackson and his monkey – Bubbles has to do with French elite class extravagance. Oh wait, maybe I’m on to something there.

After the weekend was over, I decided that I really like visiting the smaller towns better than large cities. I know I have to experience some of the world's greatest cities, but I'd like to spend more time in the nooks and crannies of Europe.