Day 3 Auto & Teknik Museum Sinsheiem

After two days in Wiesbaden, we decided to take the train to Sinsheiem so we could visit the Auto & Teknik Museum — aka PLANES.  It was an entertaining trip as we discovered how to use the rail passes (which have given us a great sense of independence and freedom), how to open the train doors (which ARE NOT automatic) and discovered the perks of first class (definitely worth the splurge if you are going long distances). On the second leg of the three part trip we experience a delay that even surprised the locals — animals on the tracks.  The announcement was in German but we are pretty sure they said “unicorns”.  After an hour of waiting we finished the remaining 12 minute of that ride and connected in Heidelburg for the museum. 

Rick was in heaven the minute he spotted planes from the train.  

There was cake again for lunch.  Since it is the only kind of lunch we’ve had in Germany, it might be a permanent thing. 

We had a farewell dinner in Wiesbaden with old friends. We ended on a high note with the best Spundekas (very close to what we call pimento cheese) thus far. Again, the men ate steaks and potatoes.  I ate kasespatzle which is basically homemade noodles and cheese with onions.  We definitely ended our stay in Wiesbaden on a high note.  The woman who owned the place had worked there for 18 years before taking it over and she took so much pride in her work. 

HIGHLIGHTS

JULIA: It was endearing to see Ricardo enamored by the museum; it was pure joy and contagious.  Dinner was at a small local restaurant and it was the best meal yet. We stayed well after they had closed, sharing stories with the owner who had just gotten married that week. 

RICARDO: Definitely the museum. It was impressive to see how much stuff they have.  It was nice to see two super-sonic transports, one from the Soviet Union (Tupolev Tu-144) next to the Anglo-Franco Concorde. Both types have been long retired. And the fact that you could take a train right there and see those two plane from the station was amazing. 

DAY 2 - The Rhine Rever Valley

Gluten tag!

I’m still working on adding picture. Our internet is very spotty.

We went on a drive through the Rhine River Valley today.  It was amusing to drive along the river through quaint little towns. Along the way, our host (and driver) Michael, told us stories about landmarks and castles on both sides of the Rhine.  There was the Maus Tower (there was a famine in that town due to a infestation of insects.  The bishop hoarded a lot of food in the tower and did not share it with the people. He locked the door to keep them out and eventually, the starving mice/maus of the town raided the tower ate the food AND the bishop).  There was the Lorelei sculpture (she was a beautiful girl who lived along the river. Men would stare at her as they navigated the river. Distracted, they often crashed into the river rocks and died).. There were many more castles and many more stories.  We stopped along the way we at Germania, to check out a monument celebrating Germany’s victory over France. Afterwards, we took a gondolier down the mountainside to meet back up with Michael and Marcelo and continue to Marksburg (the only castle along the Rhine that has never been destroyed or heavily damaged since it was built).  It is unknown when the castle was originally constructed but it appears in records starting in the early 1200s.  We learned two interesting things at the castle:

  1. The castle bathroom on the top floor of the castle was originally a small room at the back of the house.  The “toilet” did not have a bowl, all of the refuse just spilled out onto the street and was washed away when it rained. 

  2. The common military salute is a hold over from when knights would raise their helmet visors in honor/recognition of high-ranking officials.  

The drive back as the sun set was just as lovely although we did have a bit of a delay.  As we were driving I could see several emergency vehicle lights ahead of us.  The traffic never really stopped, we just slowly wound along the river bank.  After about 15-20 minutes, the traffic started to pick up speed. As we passed the emergency vehicles we realized they were an escort for what appeared to be competitive long-distance, roller bladers - like 100+ people decked out in Spandex and protective gear. We all had a laugh.

We had dinner a few meters from Wiesbaden.  The men ate steak. The vegetarian option was a “potato burger” which was actually sautéed chanterelles, a slice of tomato and a sliced boiled egg slathered in an indiscernible tasting white condiment sauce between two hash brown patties instead of bread. Thus far, the German’s are very creative in their vegetarian offerings. For dessert I decided to be brave and order a local favorite — walnut ice cream with egg liquor.  I didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised to realize the egg liquor was eggnog.  The two were a delicious combo that Ricardo flatly rejected. 

Julia - Michael being such an informative tour guide was a real treat. I also enjoyed dinner because it was such a nice time and the entire time we were there we could see the glow of the Bismarck castle across the Rhine and up the hillside.

Ricardo - Seeing my great-great-great (maybe 4x great) uncle, Otto von Bismarck) referenced in the Germaine monument

Day 1 - Wiesbaden

It has been a long day.  We left New York, had a 2-hour nap after our overnight flight and fought to stay awake as we walked around Wiesbaden with Ricardo’s childhood friend from Brazil, Paulo, their friend Marcelo and his husband Michael.

We went to the Wiesbaden Biennel 2018. I was amused that the two main exhibits were event spaces — a “shopping arcade” (grocery store) in a posh opera hall and an “autokino”  (drive-in movie theater) inside a concert hall that was ultimately forced to rework their installation when the state told them that they could not have real cars inside a building due to health/insurance concerns.  Now they have a ramp for people to drive their cars into the concert hall; however, the concert hall is now filled with antique cars that do not have engines or fuel in order to address the state’s safety concerns.  So people now buy tickets to go sit in the staged cars rather than driving in their own cars.

We went out for an authentic German dinner. I had gazpacho for an appetizer and we shared a German snack similar to pimento cheese that was served with soft pretzels.  For the entree, the guys all ate barbaric plates of mystery meat, potato dumplings, sauerkraut and rice. My vegetarian option was a dish called “Green Sauce” which consisted of three hard boiled eggs cut in half, three small potatoes that were peeled, boiled and cut in half all served on top of a plate covered with green sauce.  I was expecting something similar to pesto but it was more like a creamy chimichurri sauce. There was beer and some Apfelwein (hard cider mixed served either “pure” with 50% water or “sweet” mixed with lemonade) followed by homemade schnapps. A good time was had by all


HIGHLIGHTS

Julia - Sorting out our rail pass and Wiesbaden train tickets was a huge accomplishment.  One of my highlights was Rick figuring out how to read the train stop notifications so we knew where we were on the ride to Wiesbaden. When we arrived, we ate at the station and despite our hunger an fatigue, passed up all the American options and ate a commuter breakfast option (I had a brie sandwich and Rick ate a sliced chicken breakfast roll).  Of course, the real highlight was meeting Rick’s friends and immediately feeling like my friendship circle had expanded. Paulo, Marcelo and Michael are lovely and we had great conversation as we walked and talked and ate and drank.

Ricardo - Just being here and seeing Paulo again after so many years.


**Photos to follow once we have enough internet power to post media**

GERMANY

We left NYC on Thursday and arrived in Frankfurt at 23;40 EST or 5:40 local time.  We’ve been here less than 12 hours and are absolutely wiped out. More tonight after we’ve actually gone out and seen Wiesbaden.  What I can say now though is that this is our very first trip abroad and so far so good except for this portrait that’s hanging on the wall facing our bed.