You know those trips that start out so awful you almost turn around and go home, but then they turn out AMAZING? Luckily we had one of those last weekend!
So when I'm saying it started out awful, I'm talking awful. Awful as in it began the day after our "Thanksgiving in London" fete that started out awesome and then disintegrated into power outages (thanks fuse), red wine spills on white carpet, kiddos nearly choking, kiddos nearly giving themselves concussions falling off stairs, kiddos needing to be hauled off and spanked TWICE (that one was mine).
But bright and early the next morning we were heading off to Germany . . .
But bright and early the next morning we were heading off to Germany . . .
. . . for a trip I had been planning for weeks and was (previously) so excited about. So the house was destroyed, we were all exhausted, and the reason for Ro's crankiness? My apologies to future Ro who will probably someday come across this, here's hoping her high school friends won't . . . but anyway, girlfriend was constipated with a capital C. We had upped the fruit, upped the juice, cut out the dairy, but it had been days and she literally got BACK PAINS in the CAB on the WAY to St. Pancras for our train at like 7 o'clock in the morning. It was one of those forks in the road when you have to decide whether to be the responsible parent who turns back and takes her to a doctor (could it be a kidney thing??) or the one who forges ahead and ultimately finds herself buying suppositories from a Belgian pharmacist in Brussels who barely spoke any English. Don't judge, I've never been to Germany before and didn't want to miss out! Add to that the fact that our rental car in Brussels ended up costing twice as much as we had anticipated, Vin had to put down two different forms of payment as deposit (I am never surprising Vin with a nice rental car again), fancy car started beeping at us in Spanish but our guide book was in Flemish (??? I can't make this shit up), we had absolutely no cell or wi-fi service and then realized we had forgotten to write down the phone number AND the actual address to our holiday flat (once again, don't judge-- we had just hosted Thanksgiving at our house the night before for goodness' sake!) . . . yeah, we were off to a fantastic start.
But at this point Vin was determined to make it all work, driving through Belgium and Germany without knowing any of the traffic rules or languages, finally making it to our town and then dashing off into the night and cold rain on a fool's mission to hopefully find someone who spoke English who could help him find wi-fi and email to track down our hosts . . . well shout out to Matty because it turns out Vin randomly ran into a US AIR FORCE guy and his wife who were so willing to help! When he came back to the car, he was grinning like a fool because it had somehow all worked out. Hallelujah.
And when we walked into our little town and into our place, WOW. We were staying in a small village called Bernkastle-Kues on the Mosel River (known for its Reisling-- not my favorite wine but the Bernkastle Doctor brand was fantastic) and our flat was literally on the medieval market square. The building was constructed in 1644 but the owners had done an incredible renovation job that kept the antique charm intact with modern conveniences as well. The apartment was literally next door to the region's largest advent calendar, another historic building where each window represented a different number and scene (we were able to watch the opening ceremonies comfortably from our living room window on the 1st and 2nd of December!). It was all so worth all the trouble and angst it took to get there.
But at this point Vin was determined to make it all work, driving through Belgium and Germany without knowing any of the traffic rules or languages, finally making it to our town and then dashing off into the night and cold rain on a fool's mission to hopefully find someone who spoke English who could help him find wi-fi and email to track down our hosts . . . well shout out to Matty because it turns out Vin randomly ran into a US AIR FORCE guy and his wife who were so willing to help! When he came back to the car, he was grinning like a fool because it had somehow all worked out. Hallelujah.
And when we walked into our little town and into our place, WOW. We were staying in a small village called Bernkastle-Kues on the Mosel River (known for its Reisling-- not my favorite wine but the Bernkastle Doctor brand was fantastic) and our flat was literally on the medieval market square. The building was constructed in 1644 but the owners had done an incredible renovation job that kept the antique charm intact with modern conveniences as well. The apartment was literally next door to the region's largest advent calendar, another historic building where each window represented a different number and scene (we were able to watch the opening ceremonies comfortably from our living room window on the 1st and 2nd of December!). It was all so worth all the trouble and angst it took to get there.
That first night we got the 4 P's we were hoping would turn our trip around: Our Place, Pay (we had to find an ATM to get the euros for our flat), a Poop for LV (thank you Belgian suppository!), and a Pint (Germany kicks British ass when it comes to beer). The next day dawned bright and crisp and beautiful, with Vin fetching coffee and donuts from the bakery below our apartment. That was actually my birthday so it ended with a trip to the market and then the most wonderful Belgian waffles for my birthday cake. :) The rest of the trip went so smoothly for the most part, despite Ro's sudden fear of a knight statue and a blow-up Santa! Ha. We also headed to Trier to see the impressive Roman ruins and even got to visit Aachen and see Aachen Cathedral (yowsa).
And the markets . . . well let's just say we ate and drank our way through those. The mulled wine and sweets were so perfect to warm ourselves up. And the schnitzel! Ok, I'm not going down the food path, but let's just say our last dinner at a restaurant called Doctor Weinstube was one of the most fantastic memories I will take with me from this crazy journey. Coming out of the cold into a warm, gorgeous 17th-century half-timbered building, drinking the local Reisling, eating an incredible dinner (who knew a dish of mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut would be OFF THE CHARTS?), enjoying our daughter who couldn't keep from singing Christmas carols at the top of her little lungs . . . all in all, a trip to remember. Well, after the parts we would rather forget. ;)
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