Europe, September, Week Two: Germany!

After a lovely week in the Czech Republic, my parents, my aunt, and I flew to Germany for a week in Cologne (Köln in German) for my mom’s bi-annual work conference (same reason we were able to travel to China two years ago and Australia two years before that. She has the best job ever!). 

Cologne is famous for its huge cathedral in the center of town. We all were able to take a quick tour of the inside and we went back a couple of times to explore at our leisure as well. For being your typical old-school Catholic cathedral, this one is pretty amazing. The scale is unbelievable! My dad and I were in awe of the size of the columns supporting the ceiling at the back of the cathedral; they had the girth of a very old tree from the Red Wood Forests, at least! Absolutely massive and beautiful. 

My dad and I walked through the Chocolate Museum (and bought lots of chocolate, of course), as well as a great art museum whose very German name I forget, but it had a wonderful collection of everything from medieval religious works to Baroque to Impressionist.  On Wednesday, there was a day trip for all of the guests of the conference to visit the Dragon Castle near Kolnigswinter, which was a classic 19^th century castle built by an egomaniac that was never actually lived in, haha. We also toured a winery in the Ahr Valley and enjoyed a wonderful tasting. I bought one bottle and wish I could have packed some more! They had some tasty and unique red wines.

A sweet (har har) Kit-Kat bench at the Chocolate Museum!

Castle #1! The Dragon's Castle

With my Mom at the Dragon's Castle!

While my mom was at work and my aunt was exploring the city during the week, my dad and I went on a few day trips out of town. My parents, my sister, and I had been to Germany once before when I was about 7. Unfortunately, I was just young enough not to remember much of anything, so my dad and I revisited two of his favorite places; the town of Bacharach and the castle Burg Eltz! We took the train down the Rhine and Mosel rivers into Bacharach on Tuesday and had a fantastic time walking around the city, hiking up one side of the valley to the huge old castle (old as in from the 1100s) that is now a hostel (I’d love to stay there!), and up an ancient guard tower in a vineyard on the other side of the small valley in which the town sits. Bacharach is an adorable village. Very quiet and quaint, but a real treat to explore and enjoy. My dad and I even had lunch where we had eaten dinner way back in the day when we visited the first time. It's great to finally be able to remember such a beautiful place! :)

Me with a sign for the village at the top of the hill near the castle (#2 of the trip), and some views of town and the vineyard right next to one of the old guard towers. 

My awesome Papa in cute little Bacharach's main town square.

Our next day trip was to the town of Cochem on the Rhine river, and then to Burg Eltz. We had never been to Cochem before and we buzzed through town pretty quickly, since our main goal was to visit Burg Eltz, but we were able to take a tour of the beautiful castle at the top of town in Cochem. Our tour guide was a ridiculously adorable and SUPER German older woman who added lots of flourishes and theatrics to the 50-minute tour. The castle and tour were a fun surprise in a city that was new to us.

Castle #3 in Cochem and a view of the Rhine from a castle balcony.

Our tour guide at Cochem Castle.

Right after the end of the tour, we grabbed a quick lunch and ran back to the Cochem train station and had perfect timing to catch the train to Moselkern, which is the town closest to Burg Eltz. After arriving, we set out immediately for the castle. It was a beautiful 5 kilometer hike through the German forests to the castle, and we made it in time for the last English tour of the day. This castle was another one we had visited when I was young, and this one actually seemed familar! It's a great spot. It's both my dad AND Rick Steves' favorite castle in all of Europe, so you know it's going to be a good spot! It's actually the homes of three related families crammed onto one outcropping in the woods. Needless to say, it's very twisty and turny on the inside and the tour gave you a good sense of the castle's maze-like qualities. After the tour, we had just enough time for a hot chocolate and a piece of Black Forest Cake before we had to literally jog back on the trail to make it to the train back to Cologne in time.

One of the hundreds of beautiful objects in Burg Eltz' treasury.

Burg Eltz!

I had such a great time exploring with my dad on our day trips! He is the best travel buddy and always plans out all of our trips and adventures to a T. He's the greatest! I'm so lucky that we were able to spend such good time together before my big adventure in France.

In addition to lots of running around during the day, there were lots of swanky dinners and receptions for my mom's work conference, so we enjoyed some delicious food. Too much schnitzel and apple strudel and Kolsch beer, but everything we had was really tasty. 

The end of the week was the end of my journey in Europe with my parents. I had a very emotional goodbye with my parents when I left on Saturday morning. My dad escorted me to the airport, and then I flew off to Zurich, Switzerland to meet up with Kris for the next week's travel adventure. A week in Italy will be the next post's subject! :)