The Bottomleys’ and Gaugers’ Trip to Germany, Poland, and Czech Republic: Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Catching up on the action since we left home on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day in New Hampshire. Blue sky, white puffy clouds, foliage still short of peak but utterly lovely, pleasant autumn temperature. As we stood waiting for the bus we wondered whether there were people in Germany getting ready to travel to New Hampshire to view our famed autumn foliage.

We have marvelous bus service into Boston, the result of being on the route of the bus that runs from Hanover every couple of hours, largely populated by Dartmouth students. It got us to the airport in plenty of time, nice lunch at Au Bon Pain, then through security. Easiest security experience ever! Shoes OK, belts OK, jackets OK, laptops in the case OK, metal detector but no x-ray. Don't know whether this is a real change in the rules or just experimental, but it was great.

Aimée and Steve met us there a short time later. They had been in the area for Steve's 50^th high school reunion in Quincy.

Easy flight to JFK in New York. Sue Anne had the window seat and followed the scenery along Boston Harbor, Narragansett Bay, Block Island, Long Island, and New York City.

An hour or so at JFK and we were on a verrrry long plane on the way to Frankfurt. Free wine, modest supper, even more modest breakfast. Didn't sleep too well.

Picked up rental car in Frankfurt. Our GPS was malfunctioning (it's OK now), but we followed the road signs up the side of the Rhein to Bingen. A stop at the tourist office pointed us to the Zollamt restaurant on the river. The name means customs house or toll house, and it refers to the time when the various ruling barons and the like imposed tolls on river traffic. Next to the restaurant was a crane used to unload ships. Dating back to the 1400s, it was operated by treadmill. We didn't learn whether the treadmill was operated by man or beast. Absolutely delicious lunch and view of the Rhine, the barges and tour boats going up and down the river, and the vineyards steep on the opposite shore.

Then on to our house in the small town of Ney (pronounced Nye) up in the hills on the west side of the Rhein. The owner met us there and showed us through all the details of the place. What a bargain! For $81 per night we got an entire house, nicely furnished, already stocked with coffee and 3 small bottles of champagne. We even have use of the children's playhouse in the back. Though we haven't tried it out yet.

A quick trip to the well stocked supermarket. Decided we needed peanut butter and jelly for lunchtime fixings but couldn't find the peanut butter. Asked a store employee. It went like this:

“Do you speak English?”

“Sure”

“Do you have peanut butter?”

[He shows us the peanut butter department.]

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I'd say he spoke fluent American!

Back home for a modest supper, early to bed, and late to rise. Then we hit the road up the west side of the Rhein to Koblenz. We had intended to stop and visit the city but missed a critical turn so kept on going. Turned left where the Mosel joins the Rhein and headed upriver toward Cochem, the home of our friend Andrea (who now lives in Atlanta). Stopped along the way for a delightful meal in the warm sun on the restaurant's terrace. Venison stew, whole trout (including the head), and pizza. Another meal overlooking a major river. Our tourist German language skills are coming back to us as we read menus and order the meals.

Took a tour through Cochem on both sides of the river in a small, multi-car, trolley type of setup. Narration in German through the PA system and in English through headphones. Hard to listen to both simultaneously. With the tour came a small, free glass of wine, and the souvenir glass was ours to keep.

Then a couple of pleasant hours of wondering through the shops in the pedestrian streets near the river. When in Germany I'm always on the lookout for name merchandise with daughter Karin's Germanic name on it—hard to find in the US—but the name seems to be fading from popularity and has easily been overtaken by that of other daughter Sarah—a name that didn't used to be seen here due to connections with registration of Jews prior to WW II.

Shops were closing by the time we left Cochem, and we never made it back to Koblenz, as we took a shortcut home. Quick stop at the supermarket, light meal at our house.

Off to Goslar in the Harz Mountains tomorrow, by way of Marburg and Hann Munden.