Germany--Days 1-4

This has to be a 3 part series--we took over 500 pics in just 12 short days. That's a good thing though--here are the highlights, including where we went and what we ate. Turns out German food isn't bad--it's delicious, actually--if you know where to go.

I landed in Frankfurt and met Lancer in the airport. I made it on time, but my bag had other plans. No contacts, no swimsuit, no clothes. Thankfully, I wasn't wearing my usual travel "uniform" which is a velour tracksuit. Nobody wants to be J-Lo in Europe. I barely want to be her on the plane when I'm going for ultimate comfort. In any case, we filed the paperwork with Lufthansa, checked into the Westin, napped, and then did some sightseeing in Frankfurt.

They had this little open air market, which was cool. We walked around and ate some sausages.

Here I am in my awesome flannel shirt from the plane with no makeup on. Argh.

Had dinner at this AMAZING place in Frankfurt, the Black Star. Lancer had the lamb with a potato gratin, and I had Argentinian beef with rice. After dinner, we checked out the pool. I threw on a t-shirt and some boxers to swim in...but ended up on a pool chair fast asleep while Lancer took a sauna.

Our hotel

The next day, we did some more sightseeing in Frankfurt, and then went to the airport to find out where my bag was. Lance may or may not have sworn in German...I cannot verify this. They assured us the bag would be at our next destination...an old castle in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't holding my breath.

Hopped on the train to Kamp Bornhofen

LJ reminds me of Dobbie in this picture...hanging out the window, taking in the fresh air!

Showing off the famous Keen European walking shoes

Behold...the castle we were staying at! This is the dining room. We got in a little late, and amazingly, my bag made it!

The Rheine River at night

Our castle at night

Our cool room--note the jacket. It's the only time I wore it. The weather took an unbelievably good turn for us. It jumped 60-70 degrees--no rain, no snow, no cold. All summer sun. It was perfect. So much for my cute Wellies!

This is our castle in the daylight. No one was staying there besides us, so we got to sneak around the place and check it out all by ourselves.

We took the trail through the forest down to town, and then hopped on a train to Koblenz.

After we stayed there a few hours, we went to Rudesheim. It's a romantic little city in the heart of the Rheine Valley.

Hopped on an air tram to get a better view of the city

After the tram, we headed back down to town for shopping and dinner.

Lance got stalked by some weird dude who showed him some photos he had on him. After the weirdo went away, we asked a local lady where to eat, and she pointed the way to a little Bavarian-style place. It was delicious. We both got the creamy tomato soup (a German specialty) and then Lance got a traditional turkey schnitzel with salad & coleslaw, and I got a rumpsteak with a delicious herb butter.

The next morning, we settled in for breakfast at the castle. They served ham and cheese, bread & butter, oj and Nutella. I ate the butter and Nutella straight outta the containers. Whatevs--I can't eat bread. I need to get some vittles in somewhere.



We said goodbye to Klause, who packed up some bread for us to take with us on our journey.

It's weird--I can't sleep in cars and I can't sleep on planes. At all. However, I crashed on the train on the way to Cologne. I kind of recall the train whistle, but I slept through most of it. We arrived well rested.


After we checked into the Hyatt--which was right on the Rheine--we walked across the footbridge to the cathedral. It's amazing--I loved the traditional Gothic style.


Got stuck in a freak blizzard. Kidding. But we did get stuck in the middle of a giant pillowfight with thousands of people. Those are feathers all over the ground!

Went down to the shopping district. Lance bought some cologne and funny sunglasses he planned to wear when he shaved the creepy moustache he threatened.

Went back to the hotel to eat--it was great. They brought out a roasted head of garlic and some olive oil to start, and then we both got the pumpkin soup with pistachio oil.


After dinner, we went swimming and Lancer hit the sauna while I swam and hot-tubbed it. That wrapped up day four. Germany is amazing--it's so clean, orderly, and well-organized. The people were also sporting some serious mullets..but kind of a new, Euro mullet. It didn't look terrible--hard to believe. I made Lance take a picture of one--I will post it later.

All in all, the trip was off to a great start!