Day Tripping With Dave

Dave was in Switzerland for work, and had finished early. He was there to oversee a project with one of his company's products, but ended up not having to do much. He was there more as a symbol of support from headquarters so his role was simple. With a couple days before his flight home, he headed north and picked me up on his way to Köln.

 First stop: Starbucks. As much as I didn't want to to there, Dave needed internet and this is the most reliable spot. I bought us chai lates, and Dave checked his work mail. The woman working there had no idea how the internet worked, so Dave got help from some students who were working upstairs.

One of Dave's reasons for heading north from Switzerland was to have dinner with a guy he works with who lives in Köln (Cologne in English.) On our way there, we were cruising just below 200 kmph. I told Dave we had to hit 200, so when a good straight piece of autobahn came he punched it. The BMW had no trouble at that speed, but he could feel the wind pushing the car around a bit more than he liked, so we slowed back down to 160 kmph (100 mph.) We cruised anywhere between 80 and 90 mph most of the time and still had people coming up on our bumper. 

 We met Dave's buddies from work right here. Pretty sweet meeting spot, right? Dave spent a couple months in Belgium with a program from work, and he knows a guy doing the same thing there now. We me with him, a guy from China, and Dave's boss and his wife. We had a typical German meal, and had a good time talking about cultures, and who was the prettiest girl in the program. Dave's company sends people to their main office in Belgium to get more training, and encourage international travel for work. Dave can chat it up at a dinner table pretty well. We had a good time, until Dave tried to take care of the bill and was told no credit cards are accepted. He was doing a nice thing by picking up the tab, but was thwarted at the last minute by restaurant rules. I guess this place has too many tourists with foreign cards that they stopped accepting them. We got the cash together and it worked out fine. Just a funny situation, and everyone laughed about it.

I did some research for places to see between Köln and Darmstadt. Schlösser Brühl (Brühl Castle) had a good rating on the travel sight so it made it onto my list. The garden was cool, but the building wasn't that old, and we were really looking for castles. The pictures online were awesome, but we hit it on a gloomy day, and the tours didn't start for a while. Dave wasn't impressed, and I wasn't all that thrilled either.

We stayed just past our 20 minute limit on free parking and had trouble leaving the parking lot. I couldn't figure out how to pay even with the English option. The machine wouldn't take the ticket or my money. I pressed the help button and got a German voice on the other end. In my poorly broken German I tried to explain that I couldn't pay. After some German words were exchanged, which may or may not have made any sense, the gate lifted and we left.

 Next stop: Bonn, Germany
Godesburg is on top of a hill overlooking the city of Bonn. I originally added this stop because it has a really nice market, but no on Thursdays. It's probably jam packed with people during Christmas and on farmer's market days. Today it was very mellow, so we just walked around. We found a cool church and saw a woman in the zone. Eyes closed, hands in the Turning The Wheel of Dharma position. She was worshiping her own way in this place of God. I'm sure God doesn't care which book you read because they're all devoted to Him. Who cares if it's a Catholic or Christian church. She was doing her thing, so we kept it quiet.

When we saw this from town as we walked around, I wasn't expecting a modern restaurant. Godesburg was a fortress built in the 13th century around 1210. It's not only a historical site, but the location of a restaurant AND hotel. Before the fortress was established long ago, it was a Roman then Frankish cult site. No tourists were here, just some employees setting up the place for an event. We walked into this tower but nobody was there. I could see that someone usually sites at its base collecting fees and distributing info. I told a guy milling about that I wanted to go up. He said 2€ each, which was what the sign said. I paid for Dave and myself, and we ascended the narrow stairs. I got excited to see these arrowslits. I can imagine the guy standing here firing arrows at intruders. Maybe it never had intruders, but it's fun to imagine.

 Creepy narrow stairway? Dude, we're going up until we hit a locked door or the roof. Keep going.

 We did hit the ceiling. We went up as far as we could until a stairway led to the ceiling and a closed hatch. We almost turned around, but Dave climbed the stairs to check if it was locked. It wasn't! He pushed it open and we climbed out into the sunlight and were greeted with 360 degree views of the city.

 Here is what the layout used to be before it was nearly demolished in 1583 during the Sewer War against the Cologne-based Elector Gebhard Truchseß zu Waldburg.  Sure. I just copied that from the official site.

 There is a cemetery below so I had to check it out. This headstone, if you could call it that, is pretty bit and depicts some creepy stuff. It looks like people are trying to escape the clutches of another world. Some are on the outside trying to reach in. Maybe it's people's family trying to bridge the gap between life and those who have transitioned to the afterlife.

 On the road again. We followed the Rhein River south. The journey took longer than necessary, but the views were so much prettier than on the autobahn. I caught Dave checking out the girl driving the car in front of us. She must have seen him in her mirror lowering his glasses to take a look, because when we passed her she waved to us. She AND they guy riding shotgun gave us a big smile and waved. We waved too. Good times. She swerved a bit when she looked at us and waved, which made us all laugh a bit. Stupid girls.

Next stop: Marksburg Castle. The drive up was pretty sweet. It's the only castle along the Rhein that wasn't destroyed and has been lived in for the past 700 years. It's located upon a hill overlooking the town of Braubach. Construction began in the 12th century, and the keep (an area for everything essential for living) was improved upon, and expanded in the years after by a rotating roster of owners.

These shields represent the different groups over the centuries who have lived here, and who have added to the structure. Lords of Eppstien. Count Eberhard II of Katzenelnbogen. Landgraves of Hesse. Duchy of Nassau. In 1866 it was taken over by Prussia and turned into apartments. In 1900 Kaiser Wilhelm II helped purchase the property for 1,000 franks. Now it's run by the German Castles Association.

Just to the right of this image there was a group of scientists/archaeologists/historians digging up the ground. I could only think of Indiana Jones looking for past treasure. 

 This is the walkway that was dug up. I found this image online. The roof at the end is where the cannons are. The square room on the right is the bridge overlooking the second entrance to the castle. There were a few entrances to pass through so invading armies/people had extra difficulty getting in.

This is the view from the artillery deck. These cannons shoot far, and with the elevation comes extra reach.

 Beer was consumed more than water due to fear of bacteria. No refrigerator? No problem. The people would load up underground storage areas with blocks of ice from the river and cover with layers of straw. The blocks of ice harvested in the winter would hopefully last throughout summer.

 This was an added display of the changing styles of body armor.

There are English tours, but we weren't lucky enough to get there on time. Or we were too early. Either way, we got a tour in German but had a book in English to help supplement what our tour guide was saying.

 This is the dining room. We were told that the table top would be in another room until eating time. All the food would be cooked and prepped in another room then loaded onto the table. Then the table would be brought in already set and ready to go.

 Need to use the shitter? Here you go. That hole leads to open air and down the ground quite a few feet below. Rain would wash away the refuse. Just hope rain comes frequently. I bet there was a nasty stink during the summer when it doesn't rain much.

The countryside is so gorgeous. We drove along rolling hills and large expanses of grass and mustard. I wanted to stop and take some pics.... so we did.