Germany! My First Few Days

As promised, the scoop on what I've been up to lately: 

My first day in Germany was a jet-lagged blur. I stumbled off the plane, cursing my luck at being seated in front of a child who, judging by their enthusiasm and persistence in kicking the back of my chair, is a budding soccer prodigy, and somehow found my way to baggage claim. I fell asleep standing up no less than three times while waiting for my black behemoth of a suitcase to appear on the belt. Thank the universe the signs in the Frankfurt airport are written in English, as well as German, otherwise I doubt I would have found my aunt and her friend waiting for me near the exit. 

Determined not to let me succumb to my exhaustion until a reasonable bedtime, my aunt dragged me to the grocery store as soon as my bags hit the floor in her front hall. We went up and down every aisle, she quizzing me endlessly on my food likes and dislikes, and me shuffling along, occasionally producing a coherent response. 

We returned to her house, and I was then permitted to unpack my suitcase, given a dire warning not to take a nap. My suitcase empty, we then headed to an Italian restaurant, where I ordered by pointing at the Specials board and hoping for the best. The bubbles in my Mineralwasser perked up my brain ever so slightly, and I was able to enjoy about half of my mussels-and-shrimp spaghetti before I began to doze off right there at the table. Soon after, we headed back to my aunt's house, and I finally, finally went to bed.

After a solid night's sleep, I awoke ready to storm some castles. We headed down the Rhine towards the town of Bacharach, hitting Burg Rheinstein along the way. 

My favorite part of this castle was the narrow staircase to the tower...it looked like it was ready to crumble away in places, or rust through with one wrong step, but conquering that thing paid off when I got to the tower. What a view! Not only of the rest of the castle, but also of the Rhein.

After Rheinstein, we headed to Rheinfels, the ruins of a castle a little further along the river. Though it was harder for me to picture people actually living there, it was a blast and a half wandering through the passageways and along the high walls. My aunt and I even braved a few of the roomier tunnels (me and small underground places don't mix).

After a lunch of Wurstsalat and Flammkuche, we headed to the woodburning shop in Bacharach for souvenirs. My family comes to this shop every time we come to Germany; the lady who works there recognized my aunt when we walked in. They chatted while I browsed, and I am proud to report that I understood about 95% of their small talk!

We made a quick pit-stop for Eis on the way out of town, then headed off in search of another castle.

After a slight detour (in which we made a wrong turn and nearly backed off the side of a cliff while trying to correct our error), we arrived at Burg Reichenstein.

This castle was the most museum-like of them all, but it was a good one to end with, because it was relatively small, and we were pretty tired of walking by this point. The highlight of Burg Reichenstein was easily the abundance of antler décor.

Classic.

Friday was a lazy day spent wandering around the town of Bad Kreuznach and the surrounding parks. I also partook of my first Spaghettieis!

On Saturday, we ventured to Rüdesheim, where we took a cable car over a hill of vineyards to see the famous Niederwalddenkmal statue, which was built after a victory over the French in 1871, in honor of the unification of Germany. Aside from another spectacular view of the Rhine, there wasn't much else to see up there, so we took the cable car back down to the town, and did some Christmas shopping. (Only 3 and 1/2 months to go!) The shop we went to is Buddy the Elf's paradise: every day is Christmas there.

We then sat at a café for ice cream. As we were finishing up, a wandering group of musicians strolled up the road and set up shop directly in front of us. We'd inadvertently chosen front-row seats for the impromptu concert; members of the band made use of the extra chairs at our table throughout the performance.

 

Sunday and Monday were two more lazy days, the highlights of which include breakfast at the bakery, long walks with my aunt's dogs through the woods and the vineyards, and hiking to Rotenfels (the highest point in the area around Bad Kreuznach). And lots of good food.

Tuesday morning, my aunt and I made the trek to the Rosengarten in Zweibrücken. (And by "made the trek," I mean she drove for an hour and a half while I navigated. And by "navigated," I mean I plugged the address into the GPS and then fell asleep for the rest of the ride.)

Despite the sign at the gate warning that it had been a bad year, weather-wise, for roses, the gardens were gorgeous. I got a little snap-happy, and did my best to take a picture of every flower in the garden for the first twenty minutes or so, before I calmed down and actually took the time to smell the roses, as they say.

What a gorgeous place. Next time, I'll come back at peak season.

Stay tuned for details of my spontaneous trip to Frankfurt!