Tag Sechs

This morning we made French toast and poached eggs. Hilary’s kitchen is delightful, especially with the balcony open. And we’ve fallen in love with her Nespresso machine. I feel a little guilty, but she can recycle the capsules right in her normal recycling. In fact, I’m rather impressed by the recycling setup that seems to be everywhere. (mind you, people still litter. It’s not like they’re saints) One of the joys of traveling (or even weekends at home or camping) is the quality of breakfast. Michelle puts far more love in to breakfast than I do, but I love the results. During breakfast, we hammered out the plans for the day. Bonn (for Haribo gummies), Berg Elz, and back to Köln by dinner.

Next Hilary and I took the loaner car that her mechanic had given her (a POS Golf with a litany of electrical and mechanical problems) to rent a Passat. The exchange at the rental agency was ever so delicate. They all spoke excellent English, but add to that the intricate dance of trying to sell you on an SUV, or add trip insurance, or a GPS, or whatever. We left thinking we’d gotten out OK, but you never really know. The car was a drastic improvement over the loaner, but even an upgrade in size over Hilary’s Audi wagon. I drove the POS Golf home and relished the opportunity to drive a stick/diesel again. We got back, loaded up the Passat, and made off for Bonn to visit the Haribo store.

Bonn, a name largely forgotten but somewhat familiar to Americans, used to be the capitol of West Germany. By comparison to Köln, it’s a somewhat lame city. It did have a nice enough downtown, and we enjoyed picking from the walls of different types of gummy candy. Then we walked across the street to Lindt to get chocolates as well. As we walked back to the car, we realized we’d just bought a bunch of melty things that we were going to have to store in a black car for the rest of the day. We crammed all the chocolate in to the glove compartment where there’s an A/C vent, hoping the chocolate wouldn’t be ruined. Then we drove towards Berg Elz, winding around and feeling like maybe we were lost. There was some tension in the parking lot about the direction the trail to the castle went and the way the service road went. We wanted to take the bus/shuttle, but it appeared to not run that day. So we followed the trail further and further downhill. We were all a little concerned about the direction, but I had memories of arriving at the castle sweaty from our visit some 21 years ago. God, I’m that old already?

With the Haribo bear
Wall of Gummy
A woman's lot
#dofunshit
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More schnitzel
Hilary approaching Berg Elz

The Berg Elz (Castle Elz), is a picturesque castle nestled in a valley on a stone mound. By the time we arrived, we were starving, so we got lunch at the cafeteria. It was just fine. Schnitzel, salad, and spaghetti. Oh, and pomme frites, because they come with everything. But then we went upstairs to join a tour through the castle, which had a tremendous family history. It was a little odd looking at the place and knowing that the president our nation somehow elected really does live his life as if he were one of these royal families. It kind of put a sour taste on the tour for me, but I kept it to myself. The castle is just amazing and really looks like a place you could enjoy yourself. And I’m not just talking like a crazy 8 year old boy.

Inside Berg Elz
Freeds at Berg Elz
Berg Elz
Berg Eltz Bedrock

After the tour, we got some snacks then headed down the Mosel River valley towards Koblenz and the Rhine. We followed the Rhine north to Linz, where we felt we could find a reasonable dinner. You park out on the highway then walk in to the town. The cobble streets are small and the town is charming as all hell. And it was empty. The rain and I guess the Thursday evening meant the streets were quiet. We wandered for a while until we found a place that appealed to the adults. And it was Pfifferlinge season (chanterelle mushrooms) and Hilary is a huge fan. So all the specials included pfifferlinge. I got pork medallions with pfifferlinge sauce and pasta and it was excellent. We were thirsty enough that we sprung for 2 6 Euro bottles of still water. That’s still hard to justify coming from Bull Run water country. After dinner we wandered the charming streets and made our way back to the car for the remaining drive back to Köln.

Heavy Metal!
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in Linz

That evening, we packed for our trip to Bavaria, watched some more Brooklyn 99, and tended to Maddie’s dry skin. The girls slept outside again and slept right through a thunderstorm. The covered portion of the deck meant that they were well covered, but I pulled their mattress a little closer to the door. The air was wonderful.

Tag Fünf

Hilary’s apartment is on Beethoven Park and is some fancy, award winning architectural/community darling. It really was a substantial development with massive underground parking and storage, lovely courtyards with ponds, carp (er, Koi), and turtles. Her apartment itself is quite roomy with a fantastic deck/patio that looks out towards the park. It was so nice and the weather was warm enough that the girls spent the night outside. In the morning, we scrambled some eggs, bacon, and sautéed some kale from Hilary’s balcony. Breakfast included excitement about what the first day would hold, but also required some calculation about how we’d work a trip in the the mechanic. During the drive from Amsterdam to Köln, the front right wheel wobbled during acceleration. Just a few days prior, Hilary had the vehicle in to get the tires changed and the mechanic had noticed some leakage from the from CV joint. Rather than repairing it, they just put the wheel on. So she had them look at the boot but apparently they didn’t find any issues.

Am Beethoven Park

Well, we were going to drive across Germany in 2 days, so we were a little less comfortable with the shape of the front wheel. So Hilary took the car back to the mechanic (who didn’t speak English, but the daughter who worked in the accounting dept did, so they texted back and forth). It was and continued to be a frustrating experience. We learned but didn’t use the phrase “am der Name eherumführen), which roughly translates to being jerked around (by the nose). So with no confidence in the mechanic, we decided to rent a car for our trip.

During all this, Michelle, the girls and I went to Beethoven Park and played at a playground. The girls had a good time but had some difficulty communicating with the children, some of whom were naked. The girls had a blast though as they tend to do when there’s a playground around. Afterwards, we headed to the neighborhood Rewe to get some picnic items (and beer) and we took the train to Media Park, a large city playground with nearly abandoned equipment. The kids had a blast on the gigantic slide and unique and complex swing set. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and watched a group of adult (men) who seemed to be walking back from lunch stop to watch one of their coworkers take the giant slide. We assumed there was beer at their lunch.

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Hilary sliding
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Dom through a bridge head

We wandered a little further along the parkway to a massive swing set that had two pivots and two swings, but both were connected by cable. So to swing, you had to cooperate with the other swinger. It was challenging and somewhat frustrating, and if you jumped from the swing, the whole motion collapsed on the other swinger. But by this time, we were all hot, and the girls needed to use a bathroom. Which there are so very few of in Europe. So we meandered in to a nearby Saturn electronics superstore. We took turns pretending to shop while the kids used the bathroom. The store was fun in that “it’s familiar but different” way, and Maddie really enjoyed pretending like we were shopping. She even went so far as to make up statements like “I was looking for one of these!” Ham.

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Hamburger Straß
Futurama mural in Köln

Next we wandered through town towards der Dom. We went through the old part of the town with castle walls and gates, stopped in a comic book store, looked at fanciful dress shops (for Carnival), and found an Asian market that Hilary was thrilled about because they had tons of ingredients she hadn’t been able to find anywhere else. We continued our walk, and Hilary had gone through considerable effort to try and get us there without seeing der Dom until we were right there. And it was worth it. We turned around the corner and were caught off guard by the presence of the gothic cathedral. It is massive. We wandered around it, trying to take in the scale of the building. There was scaffolding on the north tower which made everyone sick thinking about how scary it would be to work on the suspended platform that high off the ground.

Der Dom with the Freeds
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Girls and aunt Hilary
Locks
Der Dom

Around the cathedral was bustling with tourists. Everyone trying to find a break in the crowds for the perfect picture. We went inside and MG lit a candle for Barley. We were too late to climb the tower so we wandered over to the bridge to see the locks and a view of the Rhine river. This city is quite gorgeous and I already regret having dedicated so little time there. But the kids were starting to crash from being tired and hungry so we made double time over to Peter’s, a beerhall that served their own Kölsch. By the time our drinks arrived, the girls were spiraling and finally crashed. We had to force them to eat some food, and after some gnashing of teeth, they both perked up. I got the pork knuckle, which was massive. And it was delicious. We shared a variety of pork dishes, including schnitzel, pork medallions, wieners, and we were able to find some vegetables (doused in cream) as well. The food was great, the server prompt, and the Kölsch was delicious. This was also the girls’ first experience in Germany of having a bathroom attendant. They were confused but eventually managed to use the bathroom and leave a tip.

der Dom and clouds
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Counting Kölsch at Peters
Dinner at Peters

After dinner, we (I) waddled out on to the old town square to enjoy the active energy of the evening. The girls had rebounded and were doing piggy-back rides through the square. The grounds were being prepared for the Cologne Gay Pride festival that was happening in 2 days. The girls got some gelato and we continued to wander through the charming square until we could catch a train back to Hilary’s apartment. Once we arrived at home, the girls were nearly ready for bed and insisted that they sleep outside again. We gladly allowed them to, and Hilary introduced us to Brooklyn 99, which streamed in English with German titles on Netflix there.