Life: Idiotropic

Last Monday, May 1st we decided to take a leisurely trip with Mom and Jeff down to Trier, the oldest city in Germany. It got its start as a Roman city and still boasts plenty of evidence of its past with an impressive Roman gate, Roman baths, and other historical places. We were excited to go there to see it and to spend some time on the Mosel River, some of Germany's most beautiful wine country.

The drive from here was only about 90 minutes on the autobahn through Belgium and down to Trier. The weather was good, but overcast and following the signs to the Porta Negra made getting to the center of Trier very easy. Parking was easy too and when we came above ground from the parking lot, we were literally right across the street facing the impressively large Porta Negra, the original Roman gate which opened up to a beautiful large square just a few blocks down that had two old churches and a lot of beautiful buildings. The buildings around it were beautiful, of course, as they always are. There was a lovely fountain with cherubs and animals. Many outdoor cafes had tables and chairs spilling outside for their patrons. A lot of the shops had fancy lettering with the date above the door of when that business began. Some had been there for over 300 years. We ate at a little cafe there. It was very nice - not spectacular food, but good enough and the atmosphere is great. Luci and Elise got restless during lunch there, so I took them on a little walk when we were done while the others relaxed at the square. Luci insisted on opening up the umbrella even though there was no rain and Elise thought that was a great idea too, so I walked around with them - both huddling together under one big umbrella. A nice German stopped and sung "rain, rain, go away" in German to them. It was very sweet.

Ice cream shops are all the rage here now, so like other cities I've been to, Trier also had a lot of ice cream shops - mostly gelato - and people were walking all over holding ice cream cones. McDonalds is on one corner of the square - obviously it hasn't been there for 300 years. It was a bit disappointing to see that it had a foothold there, but at least the building that housed it was old and beautiful and the only outward signage were little golden arches subtly lining the upstairs windows. The church that we saw there sat behind one side of the square with an entrance on the square - a beautifully detailed arched doorway leading to a short passageway to the church. In that passageway you could look up and see windows - windows of ordinary people who lived in the apartments above the shops in the square. It amazes me to think that you could wake up and see all that in the morning... to be a part of that every day. Seeing laundry hanging out to dry in a place like that seems funny, but heartwarming as well. The history is real and bold when walking through places like that, so seeing real life takes the edge off a little. It's nice to see it all a little less like a history book and a little more like life in action.

After lunch and a little walk it was time to go and the rain made that ever more clear. The umbrella got used, but not by me, so I got soaked and we all scurried from awning to awning as we could to get back to the car. It was about 4 when we left and started our trek up river to Burg Pyrmont, the castle above the inn where we were staying.

The bed and breakfast was only supposed to be 45 minutes away via the autobahn, but we decided to take the 3+ hour scenic tour up the river. The Mosel river is windy - like a slithering snake tightly winding back and forth. It's narrower than the Columbia, yet still quite impressive in parts. Along both sides most of the way are extremely steep hills covered in precisely placed grape vines. The Mosel is wine country and it is amazing. The hills that these grapes are grown seem too steep to ski down, yet people have to tend the grapes constantly. Small stairs are built in to some places and in others rickety metal chairs ride up and down narrow metal tracks - a chair lift of sorts - bringing people safely to the grapes. Every few kilometers we'd find ourselves in another quaint town. Some were bigger than others, but they all had style. Narrow cobbled streets, tall tighly packed old houses - and everything neat, tidy, and very clean. Every once in a while we would look up and see a castle or a ruin up on a hill overlooking the river. It was all just perfect. The only imperfection is that even with a few shortcuts, that windy river takes a long time to get up.

We didn't have the address of the bed and breakfast where we had reservations. We only knew that it was under Burg Pyrmont near Burg Eltz. We got near Cochem and entered Burg Pyrmont into our GPS. It took us away from the river, up winding roads, up on top of the plateau. From there, you'd never know that a river was nearby in the valley below. It was slightly rolling hills all around and nothing but green fields, a few trees, and little villages popping out from behind the hills here and there. It seemed as if we were lost. From our vantage, we couldn't see anything remotely like a castle and yet we were supposed to arrive in 5 minutes. Through fields, around curves, and there would be a village, totally unexpected - just there as if it were make-believe. And then we started to descend slightly and we followed the sign to Burg Pyrmont, then in a clump of trees we saw it - a very beautiful castle. We continued just a little and then saw our place - a very nice half-timbered house just below the castle. The parking lot was full, but we got checked in and made dinner reservations. We took the girls on a walk to get their wiggles out. There is a waterfall right next to the B&B and walking trails both to Burg Pyrmont above and to Burg Eltz (I think it is about a 2 hour walk to that castle). The location was perfect - great for a wedding or special celebration. The rooms were small, but nice. The service was perfect. And, dinner - wow! The best German food I'd eaten here. We all stuffed ourselves on duck and lamb and wurst and potatoes. We'll definitely go back.

The next morning we were served a very nice German breakfast at our Inn. Here, breakfast is actually a verb. You can go breakfasting or breakfast together. A variety of breads and rolls are served with slices cheeses and meats for open faced sandwhiches. Jams and butters and liverwurst are also served. They had musli at the Inn too and we all stuffed ourselves. Arianna and Tiara loved the liverwurst.

From there we headed across the high fields through a few very nice little towns to Burg Eltz. I'd heard that Eltz was nice, but I had no idea what I'd see. We got to the parking lot and still saw nothing and had no idea what to look for... so we parked and all started walking. It was deceptively warm. Our jackets all got peeled off fairly quickly. We got down a little hill to the trail head and saw, below us, the most amazing castle I've ever seen. It truly looked like something out of a movie. To our right was a little ruin, to our left, the trail curved steeply down and you could see the little river below with trees all around. And in front was this magestic and perfect castle, resting in the middle of this valley, perfectly framed by trees. There really is no way to describe it enough. It was like walking into a fairytale. The path down was steep with a few switchbacks and ever few meters there was a stone carving set into the side of the cliff that depicted a scene from the life of Christ. We got to the castle and went inside to the courtyard. It was completely opened up in the center like we were in the middle of a tiny little city corner with high apartments all around. We took the tour so we could see part of the castle. It was in German, so I didn't get much, looking around was interesting. One room was completely painted - all walls and the ceiling - with a simple but beautiful floral pattern. The bathrooms were simply little pots sitting in a closet - and so tiny. The steep stone stairs wound in very narrow enclosed passageways. I think half of the U.S. population would be too big to fit in there. Of course the tapestries and furniture were beautiful, but what struck me most was that above each fireplace was a tapestry hung around the mantel like a one would hang bedskirt. Anyway, we'll go back there. Next time I want to hike it. The trails around that area are very pretty.

After the castle, we were hungry, so we drove back to the Mosel and had lunch at a little village there. The food was good and the lady working there was very sweet to the kids. The location was nice. We were by the river on one side and could look up on the hill on the other to see some old ruins. A train station was there too, but the trains were amazingly quiet. We drove down afterwards to Cochem, a larger city on the river. It has a beautiful castle above it too. Kirk and Tiara played chess at a park there by the water. A lot of parks here have large chess boards painted on the ground and then have bins with 2 foot chess pieces in them. It's really neat. My mom and I walked down into the town with the three little people in search of ice cream and wine. Cochem is a bit tourisy with it's little shops and restaurants all lined up with tables and umbrellas and then a nice green band by the water, but we really enjoyed being there. I would have liked more time to explore, but we had to get home, so another 90 minute drive and our little Mosel adventure was over.