Day Trip to Koblenz

Yesterday we took another day trip about an hour south of Cologne with Will’s coworker, Luis. He is only in Germany for three more weeks and wants to see as much as possible. Our main mission for this weekend was to find a castle and we succeeded!

We first went to a town named Koblenz, which is at the confluence of the Rhine River with the Moselle. The two rivers meet and form a triangle that is similar to “The Point” in Pittsburgh. We felt right at home! We rode in a cable car from one side of river the to the Ehrenbreitstein fortress that overlooks this point. The fortress was constructed by the Prussians in the 1800s to defend the area from French invasion. 

Afterwards, we continued our search for a castle and ended up at Marksburg Castle, which was only about ten minutes away. An English tour was offered in the afternoon and we made it just in time. The castle was built in the 1100s and is the only Rhine castle to have not been destroyed and rebuilt. The tour was really fascinating and the views were beautiful!

More information can be found on both of these places here:

http://www.diefestungehrenbreitstein.de/

http://www.marksburg.de/english/frame.htm

One last interesting story… While we were waiting for the English tour at the castle, a guy came up to Will (who was wearing a Pitt t-shirt) and said that he also went to Pitt, graduating a few years ahead of us. It’s a small world!!

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Pittsburghers in a mini-Pittsburgh

Koblenz

Marksburg Castle

View from Marksburg Castle

Miscellaneous Photos

These picturess do not necessarily go together or go in any chronological order, but there just some interesting photos I've taken around town.

Mülheim Bridge

Köln Hauptbahnhof

Kölner Dom

Windmills along the highway

Sunset in Mülheim

City Gates

Shipwrecked Boat

Flower Shop

City Crest

City Skyline

Moving Day

Our shipment of furniture arrived on Monday after about five weeks in transit. We were so excited to get some real furniture because for most of the time that we had been in the apartment, we didn’t even have a place to sit.

The movers arrived early on Monday morning and began unloading boxes upon boxes. Several of Will’s friends also stopped by to help us unpack, which was very much appreciated! They were also able to order pizza (in German, of course) so that we all would be able to have lunch.

In addition to all of our furniture that we had had in Pittsburgh, we had also shipped several unopened boxes of IKEA furniture. Although we were not expecting it, the movers said that they would assemble all of the IKEA furniture themselves. They didn't even need to read the instructions--they just knew how to build each piece! They were not able to finish everything on Monday, so they came back on Tuesday as well. 

German apartments are meant to be very customizable to the taste of each tenant. Usually a new apartment is completely bare, without light fixtures and most of time time, even without a kitchen. Luckily Will was able to find an apartment that already had a kitchen installed, so we did not have to worry about that. The movers also put up all of the light fixtures for us. After seeing how much work it took them, I’m convinced it would have taken us months to do everything ourselves.

By about Friday we had gotten just about everything unpacked and put in its proper place. The apartment still needs a little bit of “pizzazz” and decoration, but for now, we're pretty much settled in.

Unloading

Bedroom with new wardrobe

Bathroom

Living Room

Living Room/Office 

Breakfast Bar

Kitchen

Dining Room 

Balcony

Katze Vermisst!

Well, we’ve had our first mini-crisis in Germany…

Our shipment from the US was delivered on Monday (more on that later!) and we’ve been slowly unpacking and putting things away. Last night, we were putting clothes away in the bedroom.  All of the windows in the apartment are actually full-sized doors that can be tilted open from the top or opened the whole way as a normal door. There are, however, no screens. This week it has been in the high 70s so I opened the door the whole way as we were working.

Sophie, the adventurer, saw this as her opportunity to explore the Rhineland and JUMPED out of the second floor window. We heard a thump and thought, “That couldn’t be Sophie!” When we looked out the window, a man below said, “She jumped and ran THAT way!” 

We bounded down the stairs, nearly knocking over a neighbor, but by the time we got outside the man who saw Sophie jump was gone. We walked in the direction that he mentioned but didn’t see her anywhere. We were really scared because there is currently construction beside our apartment since they are building a new courtyard. We thought for sure Sophie must be hiding somewhere in the piles of construction supplies.

We searched all through the construction site and through the adjacent apartment complexes, but there was no sign of Sophie. It began to get dark and Will started calling some of his German friends to find out how to write a “Lost Cat” notice in German. Just as we were about to give up for the night (three hours into the search) and I was copying down the German translation, Will took one last lap around the apartment building and construction site. Lo and behold, Sophie poked her head out from the yard of the apartment directly below us. It turned out that as we were crawling around in the dirt, she was lounging in the grass probably having a good laugh at us.

Will grabbed her and we brought her back inside as quickly as possible. She was completely unfazed and we were a frazzled, dirty, smelly mess. I’m not sure what motivated her to jump: a stroll along the Rhine or an after-dinner espresso with the downstairs neighbors, but we know that we will NOT be opening the windows completely anymore! Lesson learned.

Window from where she jumped

Construction site where we thought she was

Yard where she actually was

All that adventuring is tiring!

Hiking Trip to Eifel National Park

We survived the first week! The week itself was pretty uneventful. Will went to work during the day and I tried to organize things around the apartment. Most evenings were spent shopping for things needed for the apartment: coffee table, microwave, etc. The rest of our furniture is to be delivered tomorrow, so we will finally have chairs to sit on!

Couch and Coffee Table

Yesterday, one of Will’s coworkers, Stefan, invited us (and another coworker, Luis)to his home about an hour outside of the city. Once we got there, he and his family took us to the Eifel National Park for hiking and a picnic. I wouldn’t really say we are “outdoorsy” kind of people, but we survived the 6-kilometer hike. After the picnic lunch, we walked a historical section of the park that was built in the 1930s to train German soldiers for WWII. You couldn’t go inside, but we we able to see the barracks, cinema/recreation center, and the hospital buildings. Stefan explained that the goal was to reclaim that area from its past as a military training facility and turn it into a national park that could be enjoyed by all people. They still wanted visitors to be able to reflect on the historical aspect, but also add another dimension with more family-friendly and positive experiences. More information can be found here: Eifel National Park

After the hike, we returned to Stefan’s home for a cookout and a soccer game between Luis and Stefan's son. I was just a spectator for the soccer match! It was a very nice day overall!

Hiking Trail

Scenic Overlook

Military Training Facility

Vogelsang Forum

Windmills on the ride home