The Rhine and Bremen

Guten Tag!

Yesterday was a day filled with hiking and beautiful landscapes. While I will admit the weather was anything but ideal (think... very gray, pretty chilly and cloudy) it turned out to be a wonderful time to get a look at the German countryside. Kirsten was nice enough (still can't get over it) to drive us Rhudesheim am Rhine (the actual town name is a complete guess. I cannot remember exactly where we went, but it was on the Rhine and very nice). We drove there and back different ways so we got to see alot of the woods and farms in between which was great. One of my favorite things about the way we're traveling is that I'm old enough to care about the landscape we go by (I'll admit that on past vacations Tatiana did not exactly appreciate the scenery) and we're doing alot of train travel so we can actually see things...

In the town we went to there are mad vineyards and apparently very good wine. We walked up the Brahms path (Brahms once came and visited and made a friend. There was a very long series of signs explaining the story of Brahms' visit in German that Kirsten occasionally translated for our edification. Basically he liked it there) through the vineyards and past some very yummy blackberry bushes. When we got to the top we saw a big statue of Germania that Kaiser Wilhelm I built (and Emily and I, thanks to our extensive european history know how, can explain who he is. great victory!) and a temple that was recently rebuilt because it was destroyed in WWII. The sight at the top was magnificent. The walk down was also pretty nice and more enjoyable than the walk up. We then went to a little ice cream place in town and had spagetti ice cream. What, you may ask, is this strange sounding delicacy? Its a hard ice cream in the form of spagetti noodles that forms a dome over a light whipped cream center. There is strawberry sauce (pomodoro in sweet form) and some "parmasean" white chocolate on top. We also had a coffee ice cream creation and vanilla with hot berry sauce.

After we drove back, we stopped at the local mountain. Again, names are not exactly rushing to me but I know that we went down it last time we visited (Mom/dad, if you remember please share...). We took a bus up and then walked down through the woods. It was very autumnal because of the fog and weather, but thats not a bad thing. It was great to have a chance to really talk to Kirsten, though I expect it must have been hard to carry on such a long discussion in English. We covered everything from education to adoption to immigration and its nice to have a different perspective and see how different countries and cultures deal with the issues. Wow, what a long run on sentence.

When we got back Lottie and Michael were home. They had just gotten back from repairing the house on Langeogh (sp?). We had potatoes with greensauce (which Sarah had reccomended. thanks!) and applewein (which is a Frankfurt specialty). Delish. Then (!!!!!) Lottie made apple pancakes (which I may have requested) that were better than I remember. Sigh, it was pretty perfect. Emily and I actually turned in after that- it was probably around 11 but because it gets dark so late it sneaks up on you. Right now its 8 but feels like 5 or 6.

This morning we caugt a train from Frankfurt to Hannover (unfortunately not the one in NH) and then to Bremen. Before we left Lottie showed me a great old photo of her playing ping pong with my dad when he visted way back when (for his sake I will not reveal the date of the photo, but he was college aged). Etta met us at the station in Bremen and we drove back to her house. I had fogotten to tell her I was a vegetarian.... ooooops... so I had a quite embarassing conversation. She was amazingly nice but I still feel bad. This afternoon we walked into Bremen and she showed us around. We saw the cathedral, the Rolond statue, the musicians of Bremen and went to a bleib cellar underneath the church. The "lead cellar" holds 8 bodies that were found during construction that had been very well preserved and date back to the 16th century. It was verrrry cool. We got to scope out the things we want to do tomorrow when we go in- the Beck's brewery, pancake lunch on a boat... then we stopped for cheese cake and apple strudel and walked back. I am sincerely hoping that all of the walking will somehow balance out all the desserts, but I know it doesn't work like that in real life. We're at Etta's now resting a bit before dinner. Bye!

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