Rain, rain, go away!

Good old Gex.  We arrive just before dinner at the bus stop of the bottom of the hill, hand Sheyda the last of our six pretzels (train snacks), and drive up to the house where we drop our bags and head out for a nice twilight walk.  The warmth is a nice change from our visit in February.  And, it looks like they are setting up for a small fair in town.  It is interesting to see familiar carnival booths, games and rides with French twists.  When we get back to the house, we eat tomatoes (too tired to make a real supper) and then crash.

Friday - June 1
Weather: Sunny and warm, partly cloudy

Today, we sleep in.  Sheyda is at French class when we finally get up, but soon returns with some freshly made tabbouleh, hummus and pita bread which we eat outside, enjoying the view of the mountains in the distance.  Unfortunately, Mont Blanc is obscured by clouds.  It is the first nice day Andrew and I have seen in a while, so we opt for an outdoors activity.

Lake Divonne

After a lovely time in the sun at Lake Divonne, we make a run to the grocery store - always an adventure in Europe.  You have to weigh and label your own produce!  Totally didn't figure that out on our own.  It is a good thing Sheyda was there the first time we got to the check-out line and the cashier held up a baggie of fruit and started spouting French that we couldn't understand at all.  And then, there is the continual excitement of having to make visual guesses about things when you can't understand or can't quite make out the writing on the box.  And then, there's the simple joy of buying cheap Nutella.  And fresh baguettes.  And aisle after aisle of wine...

Andrew and I are exited about being able to cook again, and although Sheyda's kitchenette is small, we have grand plans.  But tonight, we satisfy a craving...for salad (goodbye Munich sausages!).  After dinner, Sheyda takes us to a friend's house where we have a cook out - well, actually, the seven girls sit around discussing Eurovision music and the two guys do the grilling.  We learn that the fair is part of a celebration called "La fête de l'oiseau" (the Bird Festival).  And since this is apparently THE biggest thing that happens in Gex, we all decide to go down and walk around the carnival.  I end up going on one of the rides too.  Nice long ride.  Threw me side to side, jerked me up and down, whirled me around in every direction, and spun me dry for a good 10 minutes.  And I only paid 3 euros because there was a group discount!  (Hello, State Fair, I think you can learn something from this tiny town of Gex!)

Saturday, June 2
Weather: Sunny, hot, clear
Dinner à la kitchenette: Chicken fajitas

Ah, day two of nice weather.  Andrew, Sheyda, her friend Marie, and I drive to Annecy for the day.  It was quite a crowded city, and in our attempts to find parking, we kind of end up in the bus lanes and have all kinds of horns honking at us.  Also got to see some teenagers being way too intimate on the lakeside - a scene we dubbed Public Displays of Fondling (PDF).

Simply put, gorgeous...the town, not the fondling.

Annecy

Lake Annecy

Sunday, June 3
Weather: Rainy
Dinner à la kitchenette: Shrimp fajitas with Nesquik & honey sopapillas

The deluge begins.  Although it is pleasant to listen to the pattering of raindrops through the open windows as you drowse into sleepfulness, it is less exciting when you want to be exploring somewhere outside!  After church, we stop at a cafe for pastries, espresso and juice.  We are enveloped by the warmth of freshly baked bread and the French language.  We linger.  And I miss the coffee shops in Raleigh.

We spend the rest of the day napping, lounging and playing music (guitar and djembe) and singing.  It has been a while since our last jam session!  The Simon family is away because it is the French Mother's Day (or is it Swiss?  They fall on different days), so we have the house to ourselves.  We sing at the top of our lungs, slam on the drum, and Andrew harmonizes as deeply as he can.

Monday, June 4
Weather: Scattered drizzles, gloomy clouds
Dinner à la kitchenette: Lentil fritters with tomato sauce and couscous

We do not let the weather keep us in today.  Restless, we decide to go hiking in the Jura mountains just behind where Sheyda lives.  We tried to plan a trail, but it didn't really work - despite the enormous map we are armed with.

The mist creeping over
the mountain toward us

This map is big enough
to be a blanket!

Andrew finds a tick in the first two minutes.  Sheyda freaks and throws the hood of her raincoat over her head so ticks won't fall on her.  We crawl under a fence into a cow pasture and spend some time enjoying the views, the wildflowers and frolicking among cow paddies.

View of Gex
(and you can see the Jet d'eau in the back)

Frolicking with Sheyda

Frolicking in the field with Andrew

View from the cow pasture

How about lunch?

Raindrops

Cool tree

That evening, after dinner, we all pile onto the futon and watch "Finding Nemo."  It is still raining outside.

Tuesday, June 5
Weather: Sunny, warm to hot

Andrew and I set off to explore Geneva...which is even more pleasant THIS time of year!!  When we walked over the bridge from the train station to the Old Town, we were not blown sideways by the freezing gusts.  This time, we could actually stop and enjoy the view.  The main attraction this visit is the Jet d'eau, a 460 foot tower of water pumped out of Lake Geneva at 130 gallons per second.  A jetty runs out into the lake beyond the Jet, and people run screaming through the heavy mist that falls back down from the sky.  The water is very cold as it beads on our skin.  At one angle, we can see rainbows hovering above the lake's surface.  Before heading back to Gex, we decide to go swimming in the lake.  It isn't a good sign that everyone on the "beach" is simply sunning.  No one is in the water.  And as soon as we wade in, we know why...our nerves seem to freeze in our feet.  The water is only 50 F.  We attempt three times to go swimming in the water, managing at least to submerge ourselves the third time around.  But we tread water for only a minute, at the most.  My body aches when I step back out onto the beach, as if my body is mid-thaw.

The Flower Clock

The Jet d'eau

The Jet d'eau returns to the lake

At the top of the Jet d'eau

Double rainbow

A little wet after running through
the Jet d'eau

That evening, we have dinner with Sheyda's host family on the patio.

Wednesday, June 6
Weather: Scattered showers
Dinner à la kitchenette: Omelet

Kind of a bust today.  We try to go to Gruyere, but the train tickets end up being twice as expensive as we thought.  So we hang out at the house with Sheyda, make a key lime pie for tomorrow night's dinner, and then go out downtown with Sheyda to have some wine with her au pair friends.

A note regarding the key lime pie: They don't sell graham crackers in France.  It is another adventure trying to make substitutions when you don't know what things taste like.  We end up using Speculoos.  And we decide that they are much better than graham crackers.  Another food souvenir to bring home.

Thursday, June 7
Weather: Warmish; windy; scattered sprinkles during the day; terrible storm in evening

Biking day!  We take the train to Lausanne and rent some bikes.  Then we have to bike out of the deep canyon that is the middle of town and then down the mountain that leads to the lakeside.  Well, that is some exaggeration, but that is what it felt like.  We spend some time horsing around Ouchy harbor before biking along the lake.  A picnic and a gelato later, we head back to Gex.

At Ouchy Harbor

I have a gorgeous friend :)

Jumping at the harbor

Woohoo, Andrew!

Pensive action

Andrew and I make pizza for the Simon family tonight to thank them for their hospitality.  Fiona has us going outside to play with her whenever we have a break in the preparation.  Then the storm comes.  And what a storm!  Darkness, torrents of rain, and powerful gales.  The power flickers a couple times and some small trees are blown over.  But we enjoy a cozy dinner inside, with Christophe discussing how safe it is in Gex - no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, no tidal waves, etc, etc.

Fiona comes down after dinner to play with us.  We start out with a pillow fight, but then she just ends up beating up Andrew.

Friday, June 8
Weather: Gloomy, rainy, chilly
Dinner à la kitchenette: Leftover pizza

After being here all week, we head down the hill to explore Gex.  We go to a small bookstore and enjoy an espresso while planning our trip and soaking in the atmosphere of old books and French murmurs.  Then we head to the grocery store to get ingredients for some berry muffins.  The muffins turn out great.  Andrew, Sheyda, Fiona and I gobble up ten of them almost as soon as they are cool enough to touch.  Then Sheyda goes next door with Fiona to babysit the neighbors.  Once they are in bed, Fiona comes back over to play with us.  We have another pillow fight and then Andrew suddenly becomes some kind of amusement park ride - bouncing, tossing up in the air, and rocking back in forth.  At one point, he "breaks."  Fiona first tries to replace Andrew's batteries, then she puts coins in him, and then she simply starts to beat him up again.  We are about to play a board game when she is called up to bed.  Once Sheyda gets back, we start to pack up for our weekend trip to Nice!

Observations of München

Day 1 - May 27th

We arrive.  Stinky -- unkempt -- exhausted.

Hello, Munich!

Our first order of business is to check-in and take showers.  Second priority, get a pretzel to snack.  Finally, we head to a late Sunday evening Mass at the Frauenkirche.  Andrew is loving the German service.  I am nodding to sleep and jerking awake every minute.

Day 2 - May 28th
The next morning, as we walk through the city, we realize that it is undergoing a face-lift.  Many of the churches and important buildings are covered in renovation screen or wrapped in construction sheets.  We climb about 300 steps up the tower of St. Peter's which is the oldest recorded parish in Munich.

It is interesting to learn about how the city rebuilt itself after the Allies bombed the Nazi headquarters here at the end of World War II.  We read somewhere that apparently Hitler and his administration knew that the attack was coming and took pictures of monuments and churches and large artwork in order to preserve it for posterity.  Turns out that the photos also helped the city rebuild itself.

Spires of the Old Town Hall

The streets are full of street entertainers.  Music wafts at you from every side as you walk down the main pedestrian roads.

We set off to explore the English Gardens.  It is a huge public park just northeast of downtown Munich.  Our first stop is to see the surfers.  There is a spot where the artificial river changes from shallow and fast-moving to deep and slow-moving.  Andrew explains that this technique is called a hydraulic dump.  I am not sure what the scientific explanation is, but it looks to me like the water rolls back over on top of itself to cause a wave.

Several people in wetsuits are lined up with their surfboards waiting their turn.  Some of the surfers crash almost immediately after losing their balance and float down river to get out of the water and walk back to the line.  Others spent several minutes riding the wave.  Many do different tricks - twists, skids, and jumps.  Then they fall in the water and float down river as well, allowing the next person to take their turn.

Surfer spalshing others in line

Surfing the river

The other highlight we happen to stumble across at the park are the old men who are sunbathing.  They walk around with their hands on their hips, as if marking their territory with their nudeness.  I mean, literally, they are just letting it all hang out!

On our way out, we cross a bridge festooned with padlocks.  Initials and dates are scratched, sometimes etched, into the surface.  Sweethearts declaring their everlasting love.

Love locks on the bridge

Day 3  - May 29th
It is our first day of rain during this entire trip.  So we stay inside and walk through some museums.  The Munich City museum is crammed with information.  There are also two special exhibits - a display of puppets (just a tad creepy) and a study of the evolution of German political and advertising posters during the World War II era.


We spend the evening walking around downtown.  The clouds are dark in the sky.

Andrew in front of the New Town Hall

A putto killing a dragon
(representing hunger and famine)
A dome of the Frauenkirche in back

Day 4 - May 30th
Today, we wander again.  Quickly tour the contemporary artwork at the Museum Brandhorst.  Honestly, I think the most interesting part of the museum is the exterior.

Museum Brandhorst

Close up of the ceramic bars
covering the exterior

We then wander back to the English Garden and watch the surfing a little before heading to the biergarten in the center of the park.  We have managed to eat at least one pretzel (brezn) every day since we have arrived.  And we have been saving the best for last.

Pretzels the size of my face!

O München, land of liter-sized beers.
This is pretty much how we looked walking back to our hostel.

Seen on the side of a portable toilet

Midnight Serenade

Our second morning in Cochem: during breakfast, the B&B lady wants to make sure we are leaving today.

"Tomorrow," we say. "Three nights."

No, she says.  You have to leave today.  Two nights.

Clearly there was a miscommunication.  A language barrier issue?

We hurry back to our room to pack up our backpacks which have somehow managed to throw up all over the place in only one day.  And then we leave, trapped between nothing and a train ticket to Munich for the next morning.

Once more to the tourist information booth.  Is there accommodation available for the night?  We just need one night...actually, we really just need a place to get rid of these backpacks.  We call at least four places; everything is still full.  The day is passing away.  We will figure it out later...or we will just hobo it tonight.  It will end up saving us money, right?

We have already planned to hike the Burg Eltz castle today.  So now, to stow our packs somewhere.  Turns out the luggage storage place listed in our guidebook doesn't exist anymore.  Fine, then we just hike around all day with our packs on.  No big deal.

15-minute train ride to small village of Moselkern.  2-hour hike through the woods to the castle.  Gorgeous woods.  Thankfully, mostly shady.  We are able to store our luggage behind the desk at the castle.  We take the tour through the castle.  Take pictures; enjoy the view; eat some lunch.  Rest.  Hoist our packs onto our backs once more.  2-hour hike back to Moselkern.

Beginning of the day:
ready to hike and still happy!

This dragon breathes water, not fire

Burg Eltz

The inner courtyard of the Burg Eltz

We have the whole night ahead of us.  I decide we should go to Trier.  After stowing our luggage at Trier’s train station, we wander from the Porta Nigra, around the cathedral, to the Roman baths, and the coliseum.  We can't get in anywhere, but it is wonderful to stroll without our backpacks.  And the sun is setting, throwing a gorgeous orange glow onto everything.

Porta Nigra

Cathedral of Saint Peter

Crucifixion scene on the Cathedral
(weirdly proportioned?)

Roman baths

Sunset on the bricks

We leave on the last train out at about half past midnight.  Arrive back in Cochem at 1:30 in the morning.  We go down to the river, throw our packs on the benches, sit down and lean back to look at all the stars speckling the darkness.

We are getting cold.  The dew is dampening our bags.  But it seems nicer here than in the train station…at least for the moment.  The pubs start closing.  People wander back to their RVs, campsites and hotels.  One man crosses the bridge, singing in German at the top of his lungs.  We can track his path through town by his voice.  And then for a few moments, his voice disappears, and he must be inside his hotel.  But then he must be on a balcony…or maybe he opened his window…because his voice booms out again, resonating across the river towards us.  His song is interrupted only by a few drunken giggles, chuckles.

It seems like he sings for hours, but time is passing slowly tonight.

Eventually, we decide it MUST be warmer in the train station.  Away from the water and the breeze.  But then, when the sun seems to be coming up, we decide maybe it’s warmer back outside.  So we go back to the river and watch a faded sunrise.  And it isn’t warmer so we go back to the train station.  It is 4 AM.  The earliest trains will be passing through soon.  But ours does not leave for another 6 hours.

In a corner, we sit down against a wall, huddled together.  I read while Andrew sleeps and then when my head starts jerking up and down and sideways, I elbow him awake and it is my turn to sleep.  And then I think we both snooze.

Of all nights to not have a bed -- it has to be the night we just spent lugging our packs all over creation.

People start coming into the train station, and it is harder to sleep.  We eventually stand up, pacing back and forth, hopping up and down.  Mainly, I think, we are trying to warm up.  But we are bored too, impatient for our train.  I begin listening to the music on my iPod.  Out on the platform, I start dancing to the music.  Tapping my feet, hopping, jumping, turning, wriggling.  Andrew laughs at me.

And then we are on the train.  Groceries from yesterday are our breakfast.  And then sleep, as the train joggles and sways.

The Mosel Valley

When we actually NEED to, we manage to wake up to our alarm.  We had done laundry and packed the night before and now we head out the door, loaded with snacks from Aunt Dodie, the makings of our breakfast.  The early morning air is chilly, dewy even.  We've timed it perfectly to catch the bus.  and there is no traffic yet - still too early.

Two trains from Den Haag to Luxembourg City.  Just a cursory glance explains why this tiny country has somehow managed to avoid being absorbed into nearby powers.  A city, surrounded by high fortifications...on a plateau standing in the center of a valley.

We stow our packs at the train station and set out on a brief exploration of the city.  We go into the fortifications.  They are awesome. We climb at least six spiral staircases, some up AND down.  Most of the staircases were in the part of the fortifications where apparently mines were planted that would self-destruct the fortifications in case of defeat. We also try to explore some off-the-path tunnels, but we don´t have a flashlight and it quickly gets too difficult to navigate with only the flash on the camera.  In one part of the fortifications, water droplets have condensed on the ceiling.  Andrew and I stand on our tiptoes and blow them off the rock and they shower onto the floor.

Luxembourg City

The fortifications

Andrew on one of many
spiral staircases

Water droplets on the ceiling

After the fortifications, there is still time for lunch, so we enjoy an Orange Fanta, Magnum ice cream bar and a torpedo sandwich. Andrew says that he feels very European; he has been wanting one of those sandwiches for a very long time after seeing everyone else with one.

* * * * *

Only one train to get to Cochem.  Andrew dozes as I watch the landscape stream past.  Eventually, I begin to recognize the Germany.  Clusters of houses amid fields and forests.  The tractors are parked right in town where the farmers live.  The dreamy, droopy evergreens - lighter green of new growth highlighting the tips of the dark green branches.

We arrive in Cochem at 8 PM.  we have no reservations, only the names and addresses of a couple bed and breakfasts.  We walk to three.  They are all full.  Someone mentions that there is a church holiday on Monday, so this weekend is busy.

Uh-oh.

At the tourist info office, we call four more places.  Full.  One man is downright rude, tells us to go somewhere else because Cochem is too popular.  Finally, though, we call another place and they are free for all three nights.  We practically sprint up the steep hill, packs bouncing on our backs, to the B&B.

Lovely shower.  Pleasant evening walk around town.  Make-shift dinner of the snacks from Aunt Dodie.  Grateful collapse into bed.

* * * * *

Cochem is split by the Mosel River.  A castle perches above and vineyards line the valley's slopes.  We rent bikes and then board a river boat that takes us about an hour upstream.  RV campsites dotted the shore of the river.  More vineyards; more small towns.

Cochem

On the river cruise

When we get off at Beilstein, we lock our bikes up and then stroll through the village.  On the wall of one of the buildings, there is a column of dates which mark some of the highest winter floods.  Some of them would have been twice as deep as Andrew is tall...AND we were already a significant distance from the river's shore.  All throughout the town, grapevines are used as ornamental plants.

We hike up the hill to the ruins of a castle, but we decide not to pay to go in and look at them.  Honestly, I am disappointed by the ruins.  It's picturesqueness is negated by the gates, turnstiles, and flags they have flying from the towers.  It looks too commercial; it barely seems like a ruin.  We spend some time looking down into the Valley before heading back down to our bikes.

Beilstein

Looking down at the river bend

Grapevine decor

We pedal the hour back to Cochem along the river.  We bike a little past Cochem and then back.  No matter which direction we ride, the wind is always blowing into our faces.  The day ends with a picnic dinner on the waterfront.  I tell the birds that it isn't natural for them to come so close to humans to look for food.

Biking along the Mosel River