Unfortunately Brian had to return to work (his first day back since being TAMI'ed and returning from his TDY). He had a bad day. But, Heather and I made the most of it. We traveled to Mandersheid. Walked through the German countryside to 2 castle ruins. We were all alone at the first castle ruins and only saw a handful of people at the second. It was so amazing. We were able to join my and Heather's 2 loves. Mine: walking through the German countryside and Heather's: castle ruins. That evening we took Heather to our favorite restaurant, Torschanke's. The food was delicious! Torschanke's is in Dudeldorf, about 7 km away from Speicher (our town). The restaurant is attached to the gate into town. This gate still has scratches from Patton's tanks.
Manderscheid:
Dudeldorf:
Our favorite restaurant
Scrapes from Patton's tanks
A closer look
Heather and I took a walk (with the pups) though the German countryside. We then went with Brian to Trier by train. We walked around downtown, showed her the Dom and some other sites and enjoyed another great meal.
For pictures of Trier go to our old blog (http://courtberlak.blog.com).
Day 8
Heather and I traveled to Cochem, a town along the Mosel river. We hiked up to the castle and took a tour in German. We didn't know what they were saying. I figured it didn't matter because you used to be able to tour the castle unaccompanied and now it is by tour guide only. I think they just made up some stuff for the tour guide to say so that they could keep an eye on you. About 5 km away from Cochem is another town on the Mosel, Beilstein. We first heard about this town from our landlords during Meg's visit. When we went in Nov it was a ghost town, almost litterraly. We didn't see a single person the entire time we were there. Not the case this visit. The town was booming. People everywhere! I kept taking pictures of all the people to show Meg & Brian. We walked through the town and then took a small hike up to the castle ruins. We were sadly dissapointed. We paid 2 euro to see ruins that had been turned into a restaurant!!! We were a little upset and decided some wine would help calm us down. We drove to Kurt Hain in Piesport. Our Aggie Muster was held there this year and we had had some great wine, so I thought it would be fun to do a wine tasting there. Heather wanted to go because Kurt is her husband's name, silly girl. We tasted a bunch of great wine, I loved everything we tried. We made our selections and headed back for my softball game.
Heather and I traveled to Cochem, a town along the Mosel river. We hiked up to the castle and took a tour in German. We didn't know what they were saying. I figured it didn't matter because you used to be able to tour the castle unaccompanied and now it is by tour guide only. I think they just made up some stuff for the tour guide to say so that they could keep an eye on you. About 5 km away from Cochem is another town on the Mosel, Beilstein. We first heard about this town from our landlords during Meg's visit. When we went in Nov it was a ghost town, almost litterraly. We didn't see a single person the entire time we were there. Not the case this visit. The town was booming. People everywhere! I kept taking pictures of all the people to show Meg & Brian. We walked through the town and then took a small hike up to the castle ruins. We were sadly dissapointed. We paid 2 euro to see ruins that had been turned into a restaurant!!! We were a little upset and decided some wine would help calm us down. We drove to Kurt Hain in Piesport. Our Aggie Muster was held there this year and we had had some great wine, so I thought it would be fun to do a wine tasting there. Heather wanted to go because Kurt is her husband's name, silly girl. We tasted a bunch of great wine, I loved everything we tried. We made our selections and headed back for my softball game.
Cochem:
View of the castle from below
View of Cochem from top
Beilstein:
Heather making her way through an arch way
Inside the church
Piesport:
Kurt Hain
Day 9
One of my favorite things Heather and I did was a visit to the Bernard-Massard in Luxembourg. Heather actually read about Bernard-Massard, a producer of sparkling wine (legally they can not say champaign). We got up early to be at Bernard-Massard at 9:30 AM. We thought we had a tour reserved for that time, but sadly they had not received our on-line request and were all booked up. A very nice guy that worked there offered to give us a very fast tour before his next tour at 9:45 AM. We were thrilled. He wasn't kidding about fast. I was litterrally running in parts of the tour. After the tour was our tasting. We were done with the tour at 9:50 AM, meaning we started drinking before 10 AM! We each got 3 glasses to taste so we decided to get 6 different wines and share. No more words are needed, the pictures do the talking. From Luxembourg we traveled to yet another wine tasting in Wehlen. Tasted wine... bought wine... We then went to my favorite town along the Mosel, Bernkastle. During Happy Mosel we had stopped in Bernkastle and spent some time but Heather and I wanted to explore some more and go to the Berkastle castle ruins. Most hike up to the castle, but we had heard rumors that you could drive and after all of our drinking we weren't feeling up to a hike. We asked around and found a back road that took us almost to the castle. We hiked maybe 5 minutes and were at the ruins. Again the ruins had been turned into a restaurant. We were not as dissapointed given we didn't pay and we drove. We headed home to pack. Packing was a chore to get Heather's 25 bottles into her checked luggage with the weight allowance. We tried and tried, but sadly she had to leave some wine behind. It was off to bed, because we had to leave at 4 AM to get her to Brussels for her morning flight the next day.
One of my favorite things Heather and I did was a visit to the Bernard-Massard in Luxembourg. Heather actually read about Bernard-Massard, a producer of sparkling wine (legally they can not say champaign). We got up early to be at Bernard-Massard at 9:30 AM. We thought we had a tour reserved for that time, but sadly they had not received our on-line request and were all booked up. A very nice guy that worked there offered to give us a very fast tour before his next tour at 9:45 AM. We were thrilled. He wasn't kidding about fast. I was litterrally running in parts of the tour. After the tour was our tasting. We were done with the tour at 9:50 AM, meaning we started drinking before 10 AM! We each got 3 glasses to taste so we decided to get 6 different wines and share. No more words are needed, the pictures do the talking. From Luxembourg we traveled to yet another wine tasting in Wehlen. Tasted wine... bought wine... We then went to my favorite town along the Mosel, Bernkastle. During Happy Mosel we had stopped in Bernkastle and spent some time but Heather and I wanted to explore some more and go to the Berkastle castle ruins. Most hike up to the castle, but we had heard rumors that you could drive and after all of our drinking we weren't feeling up to a hike. We asked around and found a back road that took us almost to the castle. We hiked maybe 5 minutes and were at the ruins. Again the ruins had been turned into a restaurant. We were not as dissapointed given we didn't pay and we drove. We headed home to pack. Packing was a chore to get Heather's 25 bottles into her checked luggage with the weight allowance. We tried and tried, but sadly she had to leave some wine behind. It was off to bed, because we had to leave at 4 AM to get her to Brussels for her morning flight the next day.
Bernard-Massard
View from the top
Tables & Chairs from the restaurant
Trying to get crafty with the camera
The building is leaning!
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