We must be nearing the very end of our
trip because we are breaking down, and by that I mean our stuff is
all breaking. So far both strollers are broken, but still usable. S's
has a rip in the seat fabric and E's snack tray snapped off, both are
strollers we purchased specifically for this vacation. My
(expensive!) and oh so comfortable shoes, also purchased special for
the trip, have broken. The strap is now being held together by duct
tape. Our umbrella will no longer stay closed on it's own, and when
the Velcro strap slips it pops open at unexpected times, and this
morning the strap to my purse broke (which has also been repaired via
duct tape). So our stuff might be broken down, but we are all still
having a fabulous time!
Yesterday was the last night of our
Germany blitz and I can't wait to come back and see more. We have
spent the last few nights on the Rhine river, and have been exploring
it as well as the adjacent Mosel river valley. It is gorgeous here!
Looks like a fairy tale, which is only emphasized by the fact that
every tiny town is shadowed by a huge medieval castle. In fact, we
were lucky enough to spend 2 nights in a real castle turned hostel.
(Also our first ever hostel experience, which was great. We had a
private room and bathroom, sparse but very clean. For less than 50
euros per night we had a great room, an unbeilable view and breakfast
included.) “Our castle” as S calls it, actual name Burg Stahleck
was once the capital of Germany for a few years in the 1200's.
Our time in the river valley has gone
so quickly and once again, we are wishing for more time to explore.
We spent quite a bit of time in Trier, which has some excellent Roman
ruins, including a huge still fully intacted Roman building. It has
been in continous use since then, which has perserved it. What was
once a thrown room for the emperor is now a protestant basilica. We
also saw the Porta Negra gate house, which is a huge fully intact
piece of the old Roman wall. In addition Trier is home to the oldest
Christan church in Germany. It is also a very cute downtown area with
great little cafes and shopping.
We enjoyed a great boat ride down the
Rhine, looking at all the cute towns and castle spotting, then we
toured Burg Eltz. We ended the evening in a new city (Cologne) and
viewed their enormousus gothic cathedralal, so pretty. Cologne is
not a pretty town. It was almost completely destroyed during WWII and
the buildings were thrown-up quickly. However, the revitalization is
underway in a major way, construction is everywhere, and you can
tell, this is a town that has money. People dress very well. The
taxis are BMW's with full leather seats and luxury upgrades, and
store like Gucci and Prada line the streets.
This morning we woke-up and went to
Cologne's chocolate museum. S loved it. They had chocolate history,
South American chocolate artifacts and a full working display on how
to make chocolate, complete with samples. After a quick lunch (gotta
love Subway) we drove to Aachen, home to a very old church, one
Charlemagne built, around 800. It has been added to over the years,
but the original still stands and it's ceilings are filled with
gorgeous tile mosaics. It also holds the crypt of Charlemagne, as
well as some very important church relics (among them “the”
swaddling clothes from Christ), if your into that sort of thing.
We then drove to Amsterdam, and of
course there were plenty of issues getting checked-in to our
apartment, but finally we are in and all very ready for bed. Had a
lovely blitz of Germany, but now we are excited and ready to tackle
Amsterdam!
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