We ended up having a whirlwind tour of Germany – only 2 nights were planned for the country and we wanted to meet up with two different sets of people – my cousin Jeremy, his wife Sarah and child Liam (which I learned is my 1st cousin once removed) and our friends Andre and Amy whom we met in New Zealand on a boat!

Of course we couldn’t go to Germany without tasting some German wine.   So we got out our train map and looked up the wine regions in Germany, trying to come up with a route which would take us to my cousin’s house.  We came up with a train to Cochem (via Luxembourg… again…) which would allow us 4 hours in Cochem to tour and taste and still get us to Cologne early enough for Jer and Sarah to still be awake.

Cochem Castle

Cochem was amazing to see.  The castle was straight out of a fairy tale, set up on a hill, with round turrets and murals on the walls.  But we’ll get to that.  When we arrived at the train station, we walked around the bit of the town immediately adjacent, and found that that day there was a wine festival going on in the afternoon!  Of course, it was too early to do any drinking but there were many stands selling German treats.

Giant Pretzel

Currywurst!

The pretzel was enormous and AMAZING (I love pretzels so much) and the currywurst was really interesting – it was chopped up sausage with a sweet sauce and curry powder – they even had a machine that chopped the sausage!

After refreshing ourselves we decided to walk on up to the castle.  It was a small hill and pleasant to walk up, and the reward at the end was amazing!

View From the Top

There was a nice shop in the castle and great views all around, and then when we were done up there we began to walk down.  On the way we noticed a shop which was associated with the winery that makes wine from the vines right on the hill by the castle so we stopped in for a drink.

Wine Bar

The wines were really interesting – we didn’t find them to be our favorites but they were both tasty and in fact we each prefered what the other ordered!  Additionally the interior of the restaurant was really traditionally decorated and it gave the place a really neat feel.  We had a blast!

After we got down the wine was flowing at the festival so we tasted that and then got caught in a rainstorm on our way back to the station.  We didn’t care, though, because our day was so great!

Afterwards we went on to Cologne, where Jeremy and Sarah live with their son Liam.   Jeremy met us at the train station and we rode the tram and walked to their apartment to drop our bags.  They had prepared a double bed for us – we were really excited!  We got to hang out and chat with the three of them as well that evening – it had been a long time since I’d seen Jeremy and Sarah and I’d never seen Liam at all!  Hazel had also not met any of them.

Liam in the Rain Stroller

We went out the next day for some tourism and some good German food.  We went to a brauhaus that served the local beer –
Kölsch – which is a light ale suitable for consuming great quantities of.  In fact the tradition is that the servers continue pouring more beer until you put your coaster on top of your glass!  We didn’t drink too much but it was nice to taste it.  As for food, I had a boiled and smoked bit of pork with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, and Hazel had bratwurst with mashed potatoes.  We were both really happy with our meals – normally I am not too fond of sauerkraut but this kind was really nice and mild, staying far away from the really strong stench of USA tinned sauerkraut.

BrauHaus

Then we went and walked around town, stopping by the really enormous cathedral.  This cathedral is interesting because many of the windows were destroyed during the war and so they have commissioned artists to redo them, sometimes in a completely different style!

Cathedral Front Door

Modern Art Stained Glass

Unfortunately after that we had to start moving on so we said goodbye and hopped on a quick train to Bonn, to meet up with Andre and Amy.  Andre met us at the train station and we took a short tram ride and walked over to their flat.  It was a really nice place with a small but comfortable couch and room for us to share.  We didn’t really have the time or inclination to cook much, so after hanging about for a few drinks and chatting we went out to dinner for happy hour.  I had turkey schnitzel and it was delicious!  Also got to have some nice cocktails since they were cheap at the time.  It was all really good fun!

The Four of Us

The next day Amy had to work so Andre got to give us the tour of the town.  It’s a nice-sized town, which one can walk in a day, but which has nice history and sights including Beethoven’s house!

Beethoven

Other nice highlights included Andre’s university, and a beautiful park overlooking the Rhine which was formerly the site of a customs house – stop here and pay your taxes or be blown out of the water!

Bonn's Park

Of course we only had one night in Bonn so we really didn’t get to absorb too much of the city but it was really nice to see and to walk around.

Thanks to Jer, Sarah, Liam, Andre, and Amy for letting us stay this time around!  We really loved it!