Last Epic German Road Trip Day 3: Cologne

We reached Cologne on Easter Sunday, which was fitting for the city whose most iconic sight to see is a cathedral. We wandered around the city a bit, got to the Cathedral a little bit before Mass ended so had to wait to enter. The incense was overpowering so Terry and the kids beat a hasty retreat back to the fresh air. I followed a little while later.  We tried to take another look at the mosaic floor from the Roman-German Museum but it was covered. It was the introduction to the Roman theme of the trip - I constantly forget how much the Romans were around Europe. 

We also wandered into another church, obviously less imposing but simultaneously more accessible. We also saw a Ferris wheel across the river, so we wandered over the bridge and discovered a fair. It was only in town a few weeks, which would be why I didn't remember it from previous trips. The kids enjoyed the ride, then we introduced our friends to the deliciousness that is candied nuts - ubiquitous in Europe but not so common in the USA. 

We also introduced our friends to kolsch, which I enjoy more than Terry, but when in Cologne ...

Last Epic German Road Trip Day 2: Kloster Eberbach and Schloss Johannisberg

For our second day trip, we hit the wineries. The weather was absolutely stunning, which was a wonderful reason to wander among the vines at a couple of local-ish wineries and taste some of the fruits of the vine. Pretty much everyone who drinks wine and is part of the Consulate community recommends Kloster Eberbach and I see why. It's a very well established and smooth running establishment. We tried a few wines at the tasting counter and in the end did make a purchase.

Next up was another winery just up the road. Schloss Johannisberg is a schloss, but one is not allowed into the actual palace looking part. The shop, wine tasting, cafe and vineyard are all open for wandering though and had some spectacular views.

Last Epic German Road Trip Day 1: Rudesheim and boat cruise

We brought in reinforcements for our last epic road trip - good friends who came to visit. It meant the kids never had to sit with each other in the car (yay!) but also meant we did a tiny bit of revisiting.

On their first full day in town, we hit Rudesheim for a day trip. Once again we rode the cable car and chair lift, although our hiking route in between was a bit more direct. You can see a LOT of vineyards from the chair lift.

Then, instead of taking the river cruise back to Rudesheim, we went farther up the river. This was unchartered territory for everyone. We saw Bacharach, St. Goar, the Loreley Gorge, and about a million castles along the river. I had read many of the places were especially nice to view from the river, so we disembarked after, rather than in, one of the allegedly more interesting towns. Big mistake. There was absolutely nothing there, just an extra half hour wait for the train back to town. 

We ended on a high note, however, when we revisited the restaurant we'd eaten in during our first trip and Terry got to order the pork in brandy sauce, made with the special local brandy. Then we went home and everyone collapsed.

This castle is actually built to look like a boat! You can see the prow and the general boat shape

Bingen forest

About an hour from Frankfurt is a forest. I mean, there's forests a whole lot closer too. But one small stretch of this forest contains trees that have faces carved into them - according to Atlas Obscura, 66 to be exact. 

Atlas Obscura refers to Stockschleifern, but other references are to Steckeschlääferklamm. I don't understand why they do not have the same name and I definitely blame my inability to find the parking lot on my first try on the confusion of names. When Google Maps told me I had reached my destination, while I was clearly on a one-lane road without shoulders and about to enter "no actual road" zone, I knew that I had perhaps lay my trust inappropriately. Lucky for me, there was a van packed on the side of the road and a few people wrestling with equipment, and when I asked where Steckeschlääferklamm was, they pointed a short distance back the way I had come and said I could park there and the entrance was across the street from that.

A while into our hike I saw the group again, working on a new sculpture in a length of tree trunk. Cool!

Turns out, you can go home again. Or at least stand outside and peek through the gates, Part 2

Day 3 - Can you go home again?  We first ran out to Ta'Qali to see how expensive the house signs really are, now that we finally came up with a name for the cabin that we all liked. Turns out that they are removing all the old Quantas huts and making pretty little stone buildings, so there is a ton of construction and it was hard to find Bristow Pottery (where everyone we knew back when got their signs) and also that they cost a lot more than we cared to pay for an upgraded 1950s hunting shack. Then off to the new Embassy (well, 8 years new or so, but they broke ground when we were there and we never saw it) for a tour by an old friend and seeing a lot of old faces in a very fancy new surroundings. I love that they created shade for the car parks by putting up solar panels. Solar in a country with 330 days of sunshine is just a no-brainer.

After that visit it was time for lunch and the "trip home". We first went to the parking lot of the local grocery store, where I used to buy all my produce from the lady with the truck. (this is a stock photo to get an idea of these produce trucks). She used to give Alex a banana to snack on while I made my selections and my weekly or more frequent trips were a big part of my Maltese experience.


There was a truck still in the parking lot, but manned by someone who was clearly no relation. My heart sank a bit but we resolved to buy something there for old times' sake before we left. Then off  for pastizzi and other pies for lunch!  When we discovered the place we used to go to was still there and the cost of all the food we bought - the best meal we had eaten so far - was a fraction of even the  cost of the doner we ate the day before, we kicked ourselves for not eating more meals this way.  Thus fortified, we went back in time. Or rather, we walked past our old house. As we passed it, they had the front and back doors opened so I could see down the long, wide hallway that led from one to the other. We could see a tiny slice of the back yard and were reminded of how lovely the garden was. Then on to another one of our favorite spots in the country, San Anton Gardens.

The house where we had lived was one block from the Gardens and Alex and I had spent untold hours there in the shady green and relative coolness. There are ducks and swans in the various ponds, and red-eared sliders - the kind of turtle Terry used to have.  There's a small zoo-ish enclosure - all birds - to one side and a garden clock.  One of the side ponds now houses a pair of black swans who were mesmerizing to watch, especially noting the clutch of eggs the mom swan kept wandering back over towards (in their little shelter in the middle of the pond) when people came too close. Near the main pond is now a peacock and two hens. When we got to the main pond there were all the ducks and the white swans, but no turtles. We started to lament ever having tried to look backward. Then as we were leaving we decided to pop over to the third pond/fountain and there they were. All of them. Reminiscent of Yertle the Turtle's pond except with less fascism. Very survival of the  fittest, though, as we watched one particular turtle try to get out of the chilly water to sun himself and be constantly thwarted by other turtles either in his way or, in their own efforts to get up, pushing or kicking him back down. We all cheered when he finally got clear just before we headed out.

Returning to the car, we noted a different person manning the produce cart and he looked more likely to be a relative of the woman I remember so fondly. I asked him and it turned out he was her nephew, and he had been helping her for enough years he must have been one of the young men I remembered some times being there!

By then we were waffling on what to do next, whether to return to the apartment for a rest or hit one more spot. Going for gold, we decided to take the kids to the northwest coast where we missed the exact spot we were looking for and thus ended on a rocky, craggy part with much sharper points on all the rocks. Did not deter the kids, who by the end of the hour were soaking wet and thrillingly happy.

Epic Road Trip, Part Last: Dresden

From Wroclaw we returned one final time to Germany. Dresden has been on the top of Terry's "to visit" list since reading Slaughterhouse 5 and this road trip had us passing right through it.

First up: a visit to the "Kunsthof Passage" or "Art Courtyard Passage". Everyone was less impressed than I thought they would be but in truth, there wasn't actually all that much to do there. We had some fun looking for hidden animals in the one courtyard, and wandered around all the others too. The water one was fun because it had rained relatively recently, so there was still water trickling through some of the piping and running out at the bottom.

We had a relatively quick stop at the Frauenkirche - the "woman's church" - which was more rounded, softer, pinker with less gold than the average massive church. I get why it's got the name but it still irked me for some reason. Is everything pink considered the feminine version?

We thought we had booked the Slaughterhouse 5 tour, but it turns out the tour guide who runs it is a complete flake and he just never showed up. We had a suspicion (as of that morning, anyway) that this might happen and we had our backup plan in place.

We bought our tickets for the Green Vault and then wandered around the outside of the Zwinger Palace. It was a beautiful day and there were plenty of statues, fountains, trees and other sights to check out. There is a little cafe in the outdoor area and we sat down for some refreshment ... then baked in the sun until we decided the indoor part would be a better bet.Calmed down, cooled off and calorie-d up, we headed into the museum.

The Green Vault is in one section of the museum and tickets are (1) separate from tickets to any other part of the museum and (2) strictly time controlled. Knowing the kids' attention spans, we only got tickets to the Green Vault but someday I would like to see the rest of the museum. This was also our first experience with the magic that is the audio guide. I don't really know why but with the audio guide pacing them a bit, the kids were entertained and engaged - to the point of coming over to Terry or me excited with some piece of information and dragging us over to one piece of art they had just learned about. This way, we were able to peruse the exhibits at our leisure - a first with kids in tow! - and absorbed almost 2 hours of the afternoon. The exhibits were pretty spectacular.