Road Trip!
My apologies for the lack of posts in the last weeks. Dave and I have had less free time as he has worked on translating his CV into German, and I have prepared a presentation of my project (also in German...aagh!). Fortunately, we've been able to take the weekends off, and we've visited three countries outside Germany over the past week.
Last Saturday Dave and I rented a little economy car and hit the Autobahn. Dave was happy to have his freedom to drive again, although he would have preferred his old six-speed Acura to the four-banger Lancia that we had rented. We weren't quite sure what the rules of the road are in Germany, so Dave drove conservatively as BMW after Audi after VW whipped by us in the left lane going about 200 km/h. The Lancia seemed to like going no faster than 140 (150 downhill).
Our first stop Saturday was to see Burg Eltz, a great medieval castle that's been held in the same family for over 300 generations and is in wonderful condition. It was the first tour given in German that I mostly understood! Next we took the car and drove along the meandering Mosel river, stopping to taste wine along the way (well, I tasted wine...the drunk-driving limit in Germany is a lot lower than it is in the US and we didn't take any chances with Dave drinking). I learned that my favorite kind of Riesling is called "lieblig" or sweet white wine. We ended our trek in Trier, an old roman city with some fantastic ruins.
Sunday morning we got a later start, but held onto the ambition of driving all the way to Brugge in Belgium, a medieval city near the North Sea coast. Thanks to a bad map, distance miscalculations, and a few bad rainstorms, it took us about 4 hours to get there. The first thing we did was order some Belgian beer to reward Dave so it could work its way through his system before the return drive.
We walked around the beautiful town, eating pommes frites (me with mayo, Dave with hot sauce). looking at canals, buildings, and churches. One highlight was that the Church of the Precious Blood had its original relic of the Blood of Christ "available for veneration," so we were able to see a 1,000 year old relic from the second crusade. We treated ourselves to a carriage ride around town with some of our leftover wedding gifts (thanks to you, family and friends, for an extended honeymoon!).
The drive home went much faster due to lighted highways in Beligum and Holland and a more efficient route.
This weekend we followed the example of another Buka couple and took the train to Metz, on the western side of Lorraine in France. More on that trip soon!
My apologies for the lack of posts in the last weeks. Dave and I have had less free time as he has worked on translating his CV into German, and I have prepared a presentation of my project (also in German...aagh!). Fortunately, we've been able to take the weekends off, and we've visited three countries outside Germany over the past week.
Last Saturday Dave and I rented a little economy car and hit the Autobahn. Dave was happy to have his freedom to drive again, although he would have preferred his old six-speed Acura to the four-banger Lancia that we had rented. We weren't quite sure what the rules of the road are in Germany, so Dave drove conservatively as BMW after Audi after VW whipped by us in the left lane going about 200 km/h. The Lancia seemed to like going no faster than 140 (150 downhill).
Our first stop Saturday was to see Burg Eltz, a great medieval castle that's been held in the same family for over 300 generations and is in wonderful condition. It was the first tour given in German that I mostly understood! Next we took the car and drove along the meandering Mosel river, stopping to taste wine along the way (well, I tasted wine...the drunk-driving limit in Germany is a lot lower than it is in the US and we didn't take any chances with Dave drinking). I learned that my favorite kind of Riesling is called "lieblig" or sweet white wine. We ended our trek in Trier, an old roman city with some fantastic ruins.
Sunday morning we got a later start, but held onto the ambition of driving all the way to Brugge in Belgium, a medieval city near the North Sea coast. Thanks to a bad map, distance miscalculations, and a few bad rainstorms, it took us about 4 hours to get there. The first thing we did was order some Belgian beer to reward Dave so it could work its way through his system before the return drive.
We walked around the beautiful town, eating pommes frites (me with mayo, Dave with hot sauce). looking at canals, buildings, and churches. One highlight was that the Church of the Precious Blood had its original relic of the Blood of Christ "available for veneration," so we were able to see a 1,000 year old relic from the second crusade. We treated ourselves to a carriage ride around town with some of our leftover wedding gifts (thanks to you, family and friends, for an extended honeymoon!).
The drive home went much faster due to lighted highways in Beligum and Holland and a more efficient route.
This weekend we followed the example of another Buka couple and took the train to Metz, on the western side of Lorraine in France. More on that trip soon!
posted by Erin at 10:12 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Dave! WE MISS YOU! It's not the same without your razor-sharp wit.
Hope all is well with you two.
Love, Cathy Breslow
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