Travel with Debi: Adventures in Germany - Part 1

Gegenbach- isn't this amazingly beautiful?  From the buildings to the cobbles to the stone troughs that are used for flowers..

I won't even pretend to be a world traveler.  Somehow, the angst and worry I felt while transitioning from country to country, precludes me (in my mind) from being "seasoned".  I worry about new things that I do to a ridiculous degree.  No matter how many times I was told I would be fine, or I would ask myself what is the worst thing that could happen (um, yeah, you don't want to know what came up there) or pep talks from others or anything else did much to alleviate my worries.  I just had to go through it.  Fortunately I had many people who were patient and humored me both virtually and actually in real life- and now when I think about going through an airport I really do feel confident I can not get lost or miss a flight.  Train stations.....  I am not sure.  Paris made me very skeptical of train stations.  But I got through it and just made the train.  That can be a discussion for a later post.

Anyway, I am very proud of myself for pushing through and going on this trip.  I seriously considered (for a few seconds) canceling the trip about 3 days before I left.  I hope I did not drive all my friends crazy.  I want to thank a whole host of you for putting up with me- new things make me anxious.  But I still do them- which is sort of the travel version of clinging to trees in unusual places!

A vineyard adjacent to the castle

I guess the good thing is that I know I have these irrational fears, or I am over cautious, or I  (hold on this is a stunning revelation) might **overthink** things at times!  (some of you might stop laughing at me right this minute).  And in spite of it all I do it any way. Because I want the experiences.  It makes me think, it connects dots inside of knowledge and seeing and I get to go to museums and all the things that make life interesting for me.  And I love being in airplanes, especially the take off part.  It makes me smile like an idiot.  :D

How do I talk about Germany?  I have to preface this first of all with the statement that I stayed with a private family, in their home and I was treated so special and so well- they have no idea how much I adored being there.  In spite of a bit of a language barrier with my friend Anne-Sophie's parents, I did manage to have some conversation with them at times.  I felt so at home in that country- it felt so right.  It is beautiful and charming and I could translate a bit of German so I could understand some of what was going on around me.

Back story on Germany: when I was in grade school, my class was the last one to have German language starting in 4th grade.  It was a "specials" class as it would be called now.  I think the German teacher traveled to our school once a week or so. We had to take it in 4th, 5th and probably 6th grade with options after that.  I took it all the way to 12th grade.  For reasons that still are unreasonable to me, I was not allowed to go on the trip to Germany that everyone else in my German 5 class got to go on.  Since this was a while ago I won't air my grievances publicly but I was GYPPED you guys!!  GRRRRR  Anyway, I have a feeling for the German language and I ALWAYS wanted to go there. My uncle Bob, my dad's brother, visited Germany and Switzerland and perhaps Austria every couple years and had tales to tell and photos to show and his stories always held my interest.  So I did a Rosetta Stone course and brushed up a bit on the language (in a bit of a duh moment when I was attempting to learn Italiano, I picked up the German course as well.  Duh. Lol, I never do things the easy way- as in German for me is easy, Italian is decidedly NOT) and I was so so excited to land in Frankfurt.

Gengenbach

So I have discovered that airports sort of all look alike, so its not like you magically feel like you are in another country until you get out of there.  Except  in Iceland, that airport was different as it is kinda small.  Sort of like a parking lot for airplanes and you do a lot of your own stair climbing off and on the plane- in other words, there is no boarding bridge thingie.  Anywho, I was so relieved that I was able to get my bags quickly (thank you Icelandair) and find Anne-Sophie and Johann waiting for me.  The first thing I did was ride in a car for 2 hours to their house in Hohberg on the Autobahn.  I knew we were sort of on a freeway, and people were moving right along, but that particular realization didn't hit me until later- like later in days.  Lol.  I am not sure what I thought the autobahn was going to be, but that wasn't it.

I love how flowers were everywhere!

So the house I stayed in (I have to say this whole area was a postcard.) was a really cool big house that looks just like you think German houses look like - white with dark brown trim that looks nothing like US houses.  Which was awesome.  Anne-Sophie's dad has an office in the house on one end and there was lots of beautiful traditional looking furniture and a super cool creaky massive stair case and lovely little deck, a formal front entrance and a quirky little back entrance to the house.  It was full of so many interesting things, and I fell in love with the espresso maker.  I have to do some research and see what I can find.  I WANT ONE!!  And it is **ahembirthdaymonthcough* a good time for mid year gift giving!!! AMIRITE???

This was some fine kaffee this machine produced!

So one of my favorite things about Europe is how you get to leave your windows open and there are no bugs sucking your bodily fluids totally dry.  It was amazing- no mosquitos or june bugs or moths or what have you fluttering in and driving you crazy. No screens.  Magical I tell you.  Also interesting is the fact that where I was in Germany (The south- west corner) is geographically farther north than we are in latitude and their weather is so much more mild- both in summer and winter.  It must be something with the mountains - or a mysterious climate thing.  There are japanese maples every where and sweartogod types of palm trees.  How does this work??  I have to do some research into the reasons behind this but haven't yet.  I can't stop for now and read about it because these posts take a ridiculous amount of time to write and edit.  I think the personal commentary is more fun than, first we did this and then we ate that and then we went to bed.  right?  Well, it is for me. :)

Oh my this is a sleepy Debi

So a little of the we did this and ate that business, lest I forget- the first day that I was there I hadn't slept in god knows how long- someone could figure it out for me, or I guess I could if I shut my eyes and concentrated, but it was a long time.  Ok, hang on.  - _ - From 6 am Tuesday CST to 8 pm Wednesday, which would be (minus  the 7 hours) 2 pm Wednesday our time-  for a grand total of 32 hours....  huh.  no wonder I could barely keep my eyes open.  Anyway, after getting there and being introduced to the family and seeing the house and putting my stuff away and finding a lovely stash of chocolate in my room and all this wonderfulness that made me feel so much at home, we went out to eat at a little restaurant in a nearby town.  I had wine- which was wonderful- and risotto- and some peach wine and I believe there was good bread and I was almost incoherent by that time.  I tried really hard to figure out the conversation, but after about 45 min my brain gave in and quit. So I attempted to go to sleep about 8 and woke up in a panic about 10:30.  I had to solve some blanket issues, as in I needed a lighter one, and then I was able to relax and stay asleep for a while.  Talk about being thrown off your game.  Your body doesn't know what the heck is going on- do you sleep, do you stay awake, is it time for pretzels again??  lol.

Ice cream with Johann!

The nonfunctioning waterwheel behind the Backeri 

A pathetic aside about pretzels.  Our supermarket must have known I was wanting pretzel buns badly (she says in her deluded way) and I found some on the bread rack.  I stared wistfully and didn't bother to buy them (after some poking at them through the plastic) that they just weren't worth my money.  I knew that was disappointment wrapped in plastic on a tray.

Schloß Ortenberg

An example of the beautiful roses that were literally everywhere

Anyway, The next day, chances are good it was Thursday, I was introduced to the luxury of freshly ground and brewed espresso.  And the pretzel affair began.  And we took our time and I sat out on the back porch and walked around a little and generally acclimated myself in a leisurely way.  We went to pick up Johann from school and then we did our first little day trip to a BEAUTIFUL nearby town for ice cream!  It was so good- gelato style!  AND they have this crazy thing called spaghetti ice-cream. (Spaghettieis)  I did not have it, but I could kick myself for not.  It is vanilla ice-cream that  is extruded to look like spaghetti and the toppings arranged so it looks like sauce  and parmesan cheese- I kid you NOT! The bowls are huge, which is why I didn't have it, that is more like dessert for supper situation.  It was awesome.  We walked around and it was so incredible - so beautiful.  The houses and shops were so "German" and there were beautiful parks and all sorts of interesting places to see.  We stopped and got bread at a "Backeri", Johann got to play at a park,  and then we went to my first castle!!  This castle is literally a few miles - less than 5 is my guess- from Anne's house.  This particular castle is partly old/refurbished and partly recently rebuilt to house a hostel.  You can't get to all of the buildings because they are open only for the guests, but you can get into parts of it- including a spiral stair case that leads up!  And it opens up to a spectacular view of the vineyards that are plentiful in this part of Germany.  I asked her about the Black Forest and she realized that really they live right by it.  Literally you can see it out the windows of her house it is so close.  The forest is on the big hills there....  I'm still speechless over it all.

Some cannon balls- used for protection I take

Some of the breathtaking view from above

This part of the Schloß has been reconstructed and is the hostel 

Anyway I was in a castle and it was pretty cool.  I have pictures and they are adequate and all, but i found that I was really enjoying the company and the looking and the being very much thrown off balance and I am sort of disappointed with how they have turned out.  I am very critical of my own photos, so this is no big surprise.  But here some are anyway.  I have so much more, but I will stop here.

I have a thing for doors...

Beautiful stone work- the grindstone or gristmill or whatever its called is pretty interesting 

It is already the 13 of July- birthday month is almost half over.  I have done a pretty good job catching up on my flower gardens, putting my house back in order, doing some nice cooking with great produce....  even went to Bayfield with the MA on July 4!  So it has been an enjoyable summer so far- and a LOT left to go. Don't let anyone tell you other wise!  ;)  And find all the joy, all the time.

The vineyard

 A little backstory on the castle- it was built in the 11th century and then destroyed and rebuilt a few times through the years.  In the early 1900's it was rebuilt and used for various things.  In the 1940's I believe it started being used as a hostel.  There is all sorts of info about it here

The little fountain that wasn't running

Who ever looked out these windows?

A view of the castle from the road