This is pretty delayed, but you know what? I have been busy!
So earlier this year, I started bugging MMM about taking a trip to Germany to see all of my friends. He was reluctant but finally decided he was okay with it, so I started planning! If you know me at all, you should know that I thrive on plans and don't like doing things last minute! So I got our trip all planned out probably 2 months before we left.
We left a good friend at home with Thor while we headed down to Minneapolis to catch our flight. We decided to fly standby to Germany, but bought our return tickets. So far it's proved much harder to fly standby to the US than flying standby out of the US. Anyway. We made our international flight by the skin of our teeth, and were very fortunate to be able to sit next to each other! Neither of us slept so by the time we arrived we were truly exhausted!
We rented a car and started from the Frankfurt airport and drove up the Rhein. We stopped in a few small towns along the way to finding our hotel in Kaub am Rhein. Kaub really seemed like a ghost town! So many of the shops were closed by the afternoon, and we couldn't even find a legitimate grocery store! It was definitely interesting. One of the things I really thought was cool was how the city was built in layers. They had tiny staircases going from one level to the next. I honestly don't even know if cars could get to each layer.
I admit that we slept as soon as we got to our hotel. Jet lag isn't very fun! But we woke up ready to go the next day! And we drove to Remagen am Rhein where we stayed at a lovely hotel that had its own restaurant and had a worker who spoke English well enough to tell me what food was gluten free! The hotel was right on the Rhein river and had a ferry that took us to the slightly larger (read: tourist trap) town of Linz am Rhein where I looked for a grocery store with gluten free bread and other foods to no avail. (I was pretty discouraged about this at the time, but I did my best with what I had.)
We both really enjoyed Remagen and the scenery.
Day three we drove to Cologne. And let me just say this about driving. It is STRESSFUL! The Germany road signs are very different and the whole system is structured differently and at many points of the day we weren't even sure if we were heading the right direction, but miraculously we did make it to our hotel. We were both pretty tired still so we just stayed around the hotel. We did go for a walk and were caught in a downpour, which was....cold.
Day four we actually went into downtown Cologne and had our first stop at the El De Haus which was once a Gestapo headquarters. There was so much information there that we could have spent all day there. The basement was what interested me the most. It was used as a prison during the war.
Then we walked around the shopping district and even got to enjoy some live music!
There was a huge celebration at the cathedral of setting in a new bishop I think, so we had to wait awhile to get inside the church. It's size is truly amazing but it was so dark inside! Once we left we were in another downpour (yay us!) and decided just to go back to our hotel.
We went to a small nearby town and ate at a bar that had great atmosphere and not the best food.
The next day was my birthday! We went to the Hoffmanns house and relived my birthday from 5 years ago, except this time my friend made gluten free cake! Yay! It was so great to catch up with their family and to finally meet the newest member!
The next day we headed off with their gps to Bremen! It was a pretty good drive! We went to the old city and it was so quaint! Definitely one of my favorite places! And I got to see the Bremen Town Musicians statue!
Next we drove to the family I worked for and stayed one night there! It was so great to go back! The family situation has changed a lot so that was interesting. Before we left we ate lunch at the döner shop and talked to the guys! They remembered me from so long ago! That made me so happy.
We stopped in Hamburg briefly and I showed MMM St. Michealis church and we both agreed we liked it better than the cathedral in Cologne.
Our next stop was with my missionary friends! It was such a blessing to see them and catch up and hear the amazing things God is doing in their lives and in their ministry! MMM really enjoyed chopping wood for their heater (I'm not kidding, he really enjoys it!) and eating fresh grapes from their vines!
We got to attend their church and it was very encouraging! I am so glad for the time we spent with them.
Then it was back to the Hoffmanns! While there we went out to eat and MMM was finally able to get the typical large beer! He was very happy. At the end I drove down to Frankfurt with MMM, dropped him off at the airport and then took a train back to the Hoffmanns for a week! And what a week it was! Full of late (very late) night chats with Em and much laughter and a few tears. It was just the refreshing time I needed and I am so glad it worked out!!!
In the end I took another train down to Frankfurt and flew home! A full 24 hrs of travel later, I finally made it back to the house and slept a loooong time!
That was our trip in a nutshell!
