We're sitting in an Internet cafe in Baden-Baden because our ipad isn't picking up the wifi network where we're staying (which is so frustrating!!) so it's going to be a quick update from the last few days.
Monday, September 19th
- Took boat from Koln to Bad Honningen down the Rhine River (after having to talk to two different people because the first person had no idea what we were trying to do and it freaked us out).
- School kids on the boat were going for their once a year trip and they were causing quite the noise.
- The trip was very slow moving (I don't know what I was expecting but this was super slow).
- It was a cloudy and cold day so not much time spent outside.
- There really wasn't much to see for the first four hours (and four hours without much to see is pretty long) but the next two were prettier.
- We realized after reading in our book that the other half of our trip (that we had originally planned but cancelled because it would have been too long on the boat) is supposed to be the best part... go figure. At least we saw some castles.
- Jeff thankfully had a sudoku to do to pass the time; I took pictures.
- We're not sure if it was worth it but it was an experience. A funny part was when I ordered "One beer" and Jeff said what kind he wanted and the server showed up with "One Beck" beer (awful stuff) AND Jeff's beer... lol We drank both but will be mindful next time when ordering!
- Arrived to Bad Honningen around 4pm. The boat landing was at a campground with trailers which was kind of neat.
- We found our guesthouse (after going to the wrong one first, even though it had the same name!).
- The owner was very kind, even though we had to mangle through Germanglish... We've definitely noticed a difference in Germany compared to the other countries regarding English; there just isn't that much! I'm slowly becoming a little more comfortable with it.
- Our room was adorable - definitely better than a hostel. We had nicely folded towels on our bed, candies, and face wipes. There was tea and coffee for us to use and breakfast the next morning was yummy. The owner even went out of his way to make breakfast for us at 7:15am instead of his usual 8:30am because we had to be on the boat again at 8:05am. He also sent us along with a little bag of water, candies, crackers, an apple and a carrot. :)
- Bad Honningen was a cute little town. We stopped for groceries that made up our dinner (cup of soups, 79 cent sausage, tortilla chips, salsa and beer... we're going to get scurvy). It was pretty funny.
- We hungout in our room that night and watched the Koln hockey game on t.v. One of the announcers sounded like he had an American accent but was speaking German, it was a little distracting and entertaining.
Tuesday, September 20th
- We were up at 6:45am to have breakfast and make our way back to the boat to finish our journey down the Rhine to Koblenz.
- It was a very cool morning.
- We took a different boat than the day before, it was smaller and had much fewer people. We were only on it for 2.5 hours.
- There were more castles and pretty scenery; I was constantly going to the top of the ship to take pictures. I think I got some good ones!
- Note: Germany is AWESOME for street signs! Once we arrived to Koblenz we were able to find our hotel without problem
- Even though we arrived three hours early we were able to drop off our bags to wander around until our room was ready.
- Walked through shopping district, outside malls and stores ("TK Maxx"... Not TJ.. lol).
- Visited the Deutsches Eck or the German Corner where the two big rivers (Rhine and Mosel) meet.
- Had lunch along the Rhine (packed sandwiches that we had made the night before).
- Our room was questionable at best. It was dark, old, smelled funny, the floor and my sheets were stained... I wasn't impressed and I'm pretty tolerant of questionable places; we both wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
- We really don't like doing the one night stays, it takes too much work and travel time to arrive and leave so fast - we barely get a chance to see anything but because of the Rhine trip we did it... three days in a row - No more!
- We have also found that not having internet is the biggest pain! You don't realize how much you rely on it until it's gone.
- We checked out and took the train from Koblenz to Baden-Baden (lots more castles to see along the way by train which was great) where we are now and spent the afternoon wandering around, getting more familiar with our surroundings as we'll be here for three nights. We'll be heading to the hot springs tomorrow which should be very relaxing; we're both looking forward to it.
Some Random thoughts-notes:
- Waited to get train to Cologne (Koln) and met someone with Canadian luggage tags so stopped to chat; unfortunately her tags were misleading as she lives in Seattle! Not fair to pretend to be Canadian!
- Saw a monk outside the Koln catherdral (in brown robe and sandals!) on a cell phone, with a backpack and luggage... funny.
- McDonalds is everywhere (and I tried the Snickers McFlurry... Not as good as I had hoped). Subway and Burger King also appear to be popular in Europe.
- I have already taken more than 1500 pictures (more than 4GB of memory... ) lol
- Bought apple juice, it was fizzy... uncool.
- There always seems to be sirens going - ambulance, fire, police, I don't know... but there is always noise. Bells toll too!
- Found the cheapest beer for 62 cents.
- Ordered (another) doner for dinner (that's four now I think) and the guy asked, "Chicken or the cow?".
- Trains are efficient if expensive (at least in Germany they seem to cost more). There is first and second class and if you don't reserve your seat you can get booted out of where you're sitting to find somewhere else to go if the seat owners show up. This happened to us.
- All the women here appear to wear scarves; I must pick myself up a new one as the one I've got with me is getting a lot of use!
- Cars seem to be on roads that really aren't roads - we are constantly looking for vehicles.
- There are bike lanes in most places we have visited - either identified by a picture of a bike or just a change in the ground brick colour.
- I have reinjured my old Karate injury on my foot... not fun, trying to stretch it out.
- Our ability to adapt to each place so quickly is quite amazing... I'm proud of us.
- I very much dislike doing my laundry in the sink (especially pants).
Will update sometime soon. Jeff wants on!
XOXOXO
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