Catch Up

So much to tell, so little time before I get frustrated with uploading pictures and give up. Where to begin? N and I had our first real weekend of exploring the countryside around us, and now I wish that he was on extended summer vacation with me so we could go someplace every day.

On Friday night we had a few people over for pizzas and cake, which was fun. We ended up playing Scattergories with Matt and Laurie, and they were amazed at how annoying it is to play a board game with N. For example, we were playing with the letter "E" and one of the categories was "Things you find in Las Vegas." N put "elcoholics." Needless to say, the rest of the players did not allow that answer, and most of his other ones were also disqualified. Welcome to my life, daily.

Much later that night we got a call from some people who were at the Niersbach pub, just a few blocks from the Aframes. They promised that if we showed up, we would not be disappointed. We were not. They were all camped out in the back, in the secret German bowling alley. There is one door, one table, and one lane of nine pin there. It was entertaining, to say the least, and I predict at least one more night spent there before we leave Niersbach for Bruch. The bowling is much harder here- one very narrow lane that widens a bit towards the pins. It took me quite a while to get the hang of things. Pictures later.

Saturday we visited Cochem, a city on the Mosel River about an hour away from Niersbach. Reichsburg Cochem, the castle, was built in 1000 AD and later destroyed by French soldiers and rebuilt by a rich guy from Berlin. It's high on a hill overlooking the town and the river, which is beautiful. http://www.burg-cochem.de/e_frame.html

We took a tour and saw about 10 rooms in the reconstructed castle. There were secret passageways, a room with weapons, a witches tower, the usual. One of my favorite parts was the Hunters' Room. An impressive boar's head and numerous trophies lined the wall, but the best part were the tankards on the table. These big cup-like things held the amount of wine that one monk was allowed to drink per day- 5 liters! Niiiiiiiiice.

After Cochem we made a little detour in Trittenheim, which was having a wine festival. It's another picturesque village on the river, surrounded by vineyards. We were there a little early, so things hadn't really started up, but there were several bands, a festival princess, and as much currywurst as you could handle. The wine, like most of the whites produced around here, is very sweet, especially if you order the "half-dry" variety. We ended up having dinner in Trier, the oldest German town. There were many people out strolling and having ice cream, so the people watching was fantastic.

Thanks for the many birthday wishes! It's great to have such a wonderful group of family and friends.