Adventures in Europe: Frankfurt, Germany

Yesterday morning I awoke in my castle and breakfasted in its basement.

Then I headed south along the highway between the Rhine and the hills, including two more hilltop castles. 

Terrorists had attacked Paris overnight, with well over a hundred people dead, so that was disconcerting, but did not seem to be having any serious impacts on the Frankfurt area.

I returned the car to the original Enterprise location.  Much to my relief, they did not notice the scratches/dent on the bumper, which had looked more and more minor by the day.  I had put just over 1600 kilometres on the car.

This time I simply rode the tram the whole way from Enterprise to the central train station, where I checked into my hotel.  The Frankfurt Hostel did not have a room, so I had booked a couple blocks away at the Hotel Carlton.  Roughly a block or two from the train station, the neighborhood around these accommodations is really sketchy.  I think it is officially Frankfurt's red light district, but as unsavoury as this aspect is, it is the blatant hard drug use on the sidewalks all around that disturbs me far more.  Nonetheless, my "favourite" Turkish restaurant is just down the street from the worst of it, and I went there for iskender, my favourite dish as a child in Turkey. Amazingly, it was as delicious as I remembered from the last time I ate it, twenty years ago.

I didn't do much that afternoon, except for shop for advent calendars for my little nieces.  It seemed almost every store had their own versions, so there were nearly countless options.

Everything seemed business as usual as I walked around, but in front of the "euro" monument there were a couple of undercover security guys, with the largest bulletproof vests I'd ever seen, and large guns.  

As dusk fell the train station was lit up in the French tricolour, and this attracted an awful lot of attention from passers-by.

Meanwhile, in front of my hotel, four or five or even six cop vehicles pulled up, shut down all but one lane, and began stopping cars as they were going through.

It looked like it might have been just a routine weekend check stop, but it crossed my mind that it might have been connected to Paris too, since police were conducting raids in Brussels and Munich, and maybe elsewhere, simultaneously.

I had a light dinner from the grocery store across the street, including some of the famous apple wine.

This morning after breakfast I packed up and caught the S-bahn to the airport for my Icelandair flight to Reykjavik.  This time as we landed there was still daylight, which allowed for a spectacular view of the island.  I did not have a window seat, but made sure to lean as far as I could to take in the view.  "Iceland" seemed a very apt name for the land I was seeing, but it was very beautiful.

It made me regret I that I had not booked one of the "free stopovers" Icelandair advertises.  Next time

Then again, once in the airport, the price of my grilled cheese sandwich, bottle of beer, and bottle of water (~$17) made me glad I had been traveling in the land of four euro donairs.

Adventures in Europe: Trier and Bacharach, Germany

From Luxembourg I headed southeast into Germany and the city of Trier.  I was unconvinced that I would want to stop in Trier, but I decided I would at least drive by the famous Roman gate known as Porta Nigra.

The gate was more impressive than I had expected, and then, voila, a street side parking spot was open just up the block, so I pulled in and parked as expertly as if I was driving an automatic.  I threw a few coins into the meter and wound it to give me 52.5 minutes (at 20 cents for 7.5 minutes).  I still assumed there would not be much I would want to see, a mistake I'm obviously making consistently pretty much everywhere I go.

I walked back down the block and snapped pictures of the gate, then pondered whether or not to pay 3 euros to go inside.

If I had more time, I certainly would have, but instead I walked down the pedestrian street towards the city square.

I bought myself my favourite German duo: coffee and pastry from a cafe for 3 euros.  I cannot get over how little this costs, and how enormous and fancy and delicious these pastries are.

Then I wandered into the cathedral, skeptical that Trier could possibly have a cathedral all that interesting.

Wrong again.

It dates back 1500+ years, and is enormous.

I threw 50 cents into the box and took a brochure guide.  Of course with only a few minutes left on my parking meter, I had to hurry, but I had time to see the cathedral's most famous relic, apparently some robe that Christ wore, which is now carefully preserved in an air conditioned chest.

I got back to the car and began my pastry, but it was too big to finish so I only ate half and put the rest in the back seat for later.

I continued eastward towards the Rhine and a little place called Bacharach.  Nestled between some incredible hills and the Rhine, the village is quite something.

Best of all it has an amazing castle above it, called Burg Stahleck, which is now a hostel, and where I have a room.

I got here in time to scamper around the castle and hike down to the village before dusk.

I thought Trail Inn was underrated, but Burg Stahleck is something else entirely.  It is one of the coolest places I have ever stayed, for sure.

Adventures in Luxembourg: Petite Suisse

I woke up, showered, appreciated the heated bathroom floor, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

The most lovely spread yet awaited me, and I began having a hard time believing this hotel was the same I had booked via a very poor website for 35 euros.  It turns out that Trail Inn is a gem of a place in disguise.

It even has a bike garage!

I ate two sandwiches piled high with cheese, salami, prosciutto, and tomato; apple sauce; a chocolate croissant; two bowls of yogurt with fresh kiwis; several glasses of grapefruit juice; a hard boiled egg; and nearly polished off the pot of coffee the server put on my table.  I was stuffed, but there was plenty more on the buffet table, including a blender for smoothie preparing.

After breakfast I drove down the highway back into the forest.

I found a spot to park so that I could hike along a trail I had identified on a map as ideal.

It was cool and very grey, but not raining, so I set off down the trail to hike for a bit over an hour.

I put on a toque and gloves, but huffing and puffing through the leaves and over the rocks made those unnecessary quickly.

My little hike included caves from whence millstones used to be mined;

and a gorge remembered as the home of wolves back in the old days.

Back at the car, I spent a few minutes climbing a long staircase through some enormous rocks to get to a lookout high above the highway.

Notice one of Luxembourg's public transit buses, even serving this remote part of the country!

Adventures in Europe: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

From Bouillon I drove an hour east into Luxembourg and the outskirts of Luxembourg City, where I parked the car in a large park and ride parkade and caught a bus into the city.  Luxembourg's public transit system is shockingly good, and cheap: I bought a 2 euro ticket that was good anywhere in the country for two hours; for 4 euros you can get a day pass that is literally good on public transit countrywide! 

Despite its excellent transit system (which included free WiFi!) I managed to get off the bus too early, so had to walk a few more blocks than I would have liked.  Again, I was trying to hurry, so this was frustrating.  I wanted to be able to use the same transit ticket on the way back to the park and ride.  Silly me, I thought there would not be much to see in Luxembourg City.

After some lunch and the purchase of a postcard, I went to the Luxembourg Tourist Office and got a guide for what is known as the Wenzel Circular Walk, which I had read about on another travel blog.

This is a 5.5 kilometre walk that takes visitors past and through and over some of Luxembourg's old (and less old) fortifications.

Given the time constraints I put on myself I did this loop in less than an hour, so needless to say I did not enjoy it fully.

It was still a really incredible experience, however, and gave me a good taste for Luxembourg's history.

Luxembourg City felt much larger, even cosmopolitan, than I expected, and yet still managed to feel romantic and historic.

I boarded the bus with two minutes of validity left on my bus ticket.  I don't know if that was good enough to let me ride with it, but I did anyway.

Back in the car I drove the remarkably busy and complicated freeways out of the city and into the region of Luxembourg known as Petite Suisse, or Little Switzerland.

Suddenly I went from conventional highway to the middle of a huge forest.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

I had hoped to do some hiking this afternoon, but since I had stayed in Bouillon longer than intended I was running out of time.  I did pull over in one spot where the rock formations were particular striking and spent about ten minutes clambering around.

I pulled into Berdorf, the little village I am staying in at 16:00, and as usual it was already getting dark.  I knew trying to hike was silly, but I put on my running shoes and ran out of the village and onto a forest trail for a bit to make sure I made the most of the last scraps of sunlight.

My hotel is called Trail Inn, and its website is terrible.  The price was right, however, and I liked its location, so I put a lot of effort into booking it.  It is far nicer than I expected; the bathroom even has a heated floor!

I went all out on dinner in the hotel's restaurant, and ate bratwurst with something resembling pasta and shredded brussel sprouts in a cream sauce, with apple strudel and ice cream for dessert.  It was delicious and a real treat.  I generally disapprove of people photographing their food, but I surreptitiously snapped a picture of my entree as a souvenir.

Adventures in Europe: Bouillon and the Ardennes, Belgium

This morning after breakfast in the veranda of my hostel, with the view of the castle and town below almost entirely obscured in the mist, I drove uphill further and into the Ardennes forest in search of a lookout tower I had read about.

The tower proved harder to find than I had hoped, and I had given up and drove down into town to wait for the castle to open at 10:00.  But from the streets of the town I finally spotted the tower, and managed to find it on my map.  I headed back uphill into the forest and followed the road that I expected to lead me to the tower.

Eventually the road went from pavement to stones covered in wet, orange and red and brown leaves, and finally, the car could not take it any more and the engine screamed at me for trying.  But now I had myself in a predicament, because I was heading steeply uphill on a very narrow road, and the car refused to go forward anymore.  Moreover, the smell of burning clutch was overwhelming, so I was not eager to try some complicated turn around maneuver.  I was not even entirely confident the emergency brake would hold me given the hill's steepness and slickness.  Instead I simply put the car in neutral and let it roll backwards.  The car has a rearview camera and numerous sensors, and the road was thankfully deserted, so this ended up working fine.  But it was certainly a nerve wracking 100 metres or so.  Once the road widened I turned around and parked the car half in the ditch.  The smell was awful when I opened the door, and I felt a strange feeling of sympathy and guilt for this car that I apparently am becoming attached to.

Anyway, I left her to settle down and walked up the road on foot.

The tower was probably another kilometre at least past the furthest point I had gotten to with the car.  The road passed a pasture with cattle, who looked at me indifferently;

a field where reforestation attempts were evident;

and then passed through the forest itself, with incredibly high trees, that were mostly just trunk for the majority of the way up.

Eventually I came through the forest and into the clearing where the tower was.

I was quite impressed with it.

It is four stories tall, and has lookouts on each level.

I climbed one by one.  Obviously it was built to look out over Bouillon, and it does offer an amazing view of the town and the castle, although mist or fog still obscured the view.

But it also provided a great view of the entire valley, and the forest behind it, as well.

After enjoying the tower, I walked back down to the car, and drove to the castle.

It was about 10:30 when I got there, and I was the first visitor of the day, so I had it completely to myself for about twenty minutes.

The castle has number signs spread out throughout to guide you through the castle and ensure you see everything.

It's quite well done.

The castle has clearly been restored, because it is in incredible shape, and I could go almost everywhere, including up on the walls and in the towers and down in the basement.

I was planning to hurry because I wanted to get going to Luxembourg, but I spent almost an hour in the castle--even though the sign said a visit takes 45 minutes!

Unfortunately, they do a falconry display multiple times daily in the summer, but not in the "winter."

I could hear the falcons though, and they sounded like they wanted to be displayed . . .