Blogs from Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe - page 15

Our last day has arrived. We got up at 0530 to get ready, say goodbyes and be on time for our early van pickup. We’ll really miss our days with Aunt Eva and getting to spend time in person with Mom and Jerry. Our family in Germany is very gracious with their time, their energy, their ideas for excursions. and of course, their food and wine (!). They are truly what make our trips very special. We are a few years older and maybe our adventures now are a little more modest than our 2005 New Zealand glacier hiking, whale watching, and forest hikes. Despite that, we hope you found some fun trailing along with us. It was a great, low-key trip that focused more on visiting and that was exactly what we all needed. Hey, ... read more

Today we set out to visit a “Burg” in Southern Germany. Britta and Osse took us to Burg Berwartstein. Berwartstein "Castle" belongs to a category of rock castles that were part of Palatinate defenses during the Middle Ages. Stairs, passages and rooms are carved out of rock to form a complete living system which was essential to defending the castle. There’s a good story about one of the original owners, the Knight (Ritter) Hans Trapp. He was given Berwartstein as a fiefdom and became a robber baron. Kind of like Robin Hood but he kept the money, stealing from travelers and fighting with the monks in Wissembourg who felt he should not have the castle. His symbol was a raven, which is known for taking shiny things like rings. His legend grew with children in France ... read more

Today, Brian and Amy went to the “Luisenpark” in Mannheim. This is a big, beautiful park with flowers, gardens and animals. Very much like Central Park in New York City. It was too hard to bike there because it’s big city driving and you had to find a bridge to cross the Rhine. We took a taxi which cost a little more Euro compared to the bus/train but the convenience and speed couldn’t be beat (next time, we’ll learn the public transit system and buy day passes!). We lucked out with the weather. It warmed up just enough and the sun came out often. We walked through sculptures, roamed all kinds of gardens, saw the Chinese pagoda, visited all the animals (penguins for Amy and snakes for Brian!), played in the playgrounds, and even spent some ... read more

We awoke today to chilly rain which did not support today's main events - shopping in Frankenthal or a longer bike ride. Instead, Brian went for a run (it was actually very pleasant) and Amy did her knee and neck exercises (physical therapy). Today was also a good day for Brian to catch up on his reading - dog aggression. Did you expect something else? When the weather finally cleared, Brian and Amy went for a walk around town and did a little work (just a little - we've been very good so far). By that time it was.....wine-thirty. A break for a quick story..... For today's wine snack, we ate some salami from the Wurstmarkt (see pic) but there's a story behind the salami. Amy spotted said salami hanging in a booth and Brian decided ... read more

Today is designed to be a quiet day. We caught up and posted the blog. Today we included some pictures of Aunt Eva’s garden so you can see her beautiful flowers. Brian went for a run, Jerry walked loops around the park while Amy did her exercises there. We went for a trip to the REWE, better known as the “R-store” to track down some Cola-light (better known as Diet Coke). Brian was going through withdrawals. He also managed to locate some microwave popcorn. On our walk around the neighborhood, we found an interesting Mini-Cooper. Maybe our green one is too boring. The gnome liked the skull design. He’s also discovered he likes wine very much. He thinks having lots of it may help with his search for a girlfriend. Aunt Eva made “lecker” (tasty) Chinese ... read more