Too Much to tell!

So after a night in Koblenz we took the train to Trier. On the train, my uncle made me sit next to a random girl. Her name is Saskia and she goes to University in Mainz. She was so nice and we talked almost the entire ride, which was a little over an hour. She's studying to be a doctor and we exchanged emails. Even though at the time I was SO embarrassed that my uncle practically forced me on her, it was so nice to talk to her and you can never have too many contacts! 

The hotel in Trier was beautiful! I got my own room which was up about 3 sets of stairs. Dragging my suitcase up them was quite the challenge, I was getting quite discouraged until I found my room at the end of the hallway. I definitely lucked out, it had a kitchenette, bathroom, office area, living area and a bedroom. The views were beautiful and I felt like a princess in a castle. We stayed there for three nights, two nights were for the bike tour. 

These are pictures from the hotel Eurener Hof in Trier

(download)

We went and explored Trier a little and it was old and beautiful. It is the oldest city in Germany and was founded in 6 BC. The next day we met our tour guides Luuk and Axel at breakfast. They are both from the Netherlands and were so different from each other that they fit perfectly. We waited for the other family to arrive and then we went to downtown Trier and took a tour. It was a long tour, about two hours but I learned so much and it was beautiful. We saw the Pointe Nigra as well as the Roman baths. The history in Trier is so rich, I would love to go back and really explore! We all had a wonderful (but long) dinner at the hotel. It started at 7 and didn't end until 11. It was four courses and absolutely delicious! 

The other family was American too, from DC and turned out to be a perfect fit with us. I'm beginning to realize I'm going to have to be a little more concise in my thoughts, so I guess for more information you're just going to have to email me and ask. I'm keeping a travel journal so I definitely have more to tell!

 

Basically, through the week we took four bike rides that added up to be almost 200 miles! My bottom is still a little sore, but I'm so happy that I did it! It was such an amazing tour and I honestly do not think there is a better way to have seen the Mosel River Valley. We learned so much about each little down we stopped in or stayed in and our families grew close pretty quickly, a 2 km "steep uphill" to a tower looking over the valley can do that to people. 

We went on tours and went wine tasting all while making amazing memories with people we met just two days before. The Mosel area is absolutely beautiful and at times I just wanted to stop riding and stare. It is so completely different from home, I could never have imagined. 

Our guides were so knowledgable about Germany, but aside from that we all enjoyed learning about the Netherlands. Axel was very professional, but knew when to let go a little and so interesting to talk to. He studied philosophy but has a passion for history that was amazing, especially for me! We even ran into his old history professor and life mentor in a museum! What are the chances of that? He gave me a lot of tips about studying abroad and has definitely made an impact on me. Luuk was a little different, but in a good way. He was a little more laid back, but took his job seriously. When he rode with us we'd always talk about the Netherlands and his home. He always seemed to pop up just when we needed him, like on the last day when Andy, Ryan, Emily, Susannah and I all got a little lost in Koblenz. He weaved us in and out of pedestrian traffic to our safe arrival at our beautiful Hotel Mercure. 

One of the days it rained, and not only rained, but hailed. I had no jacket on just a tank top and shorts and it was FREEZING! We rode through anyway, and it turned out to be really fun because we would never have rode in that type of weather back home! 

The week flew by, I can't even believe it's over and I'm going to miss the Savage family, thank goodness for Facebook! 

Since then, we got on the train to Frankfurt to get the rental car. That was quite the adventure. They didn't have the car we ordered and the one they gave us didn't fit our bags. We had to rent a larger one, which is kind of like a boat and a little too advanced for all of us to figure out. It took us about 5 minutes to figure out how to start it, and it was definitely a group effort! 

We then drove to Rothenburg, which was a beautiful city still behind it's medieval walls. We took the Nightwatchman Tour and it was excellent! So much history and I'm really glad that it was able to be preserved and didn't get bombed during the war (thanks to an American). 

Today, we got a little bit of a late start but we went to Nuremburg and saw Zeppelinfield and the Indoctrination site at the Nazi part headquarters. It is now a museum, and so interesting and scary how real it is. Of course it has always been real, but when you are actually at the location, it is something so completely different and the scariness of it all is significantly elevated. After Nuremburg we drove to Inglostadt which is where we are now. 

Inglostadt is definitely not where we should be, and we have been struggling all day here. Dave and I needed to do laundry, so we went to a laundry mat, on the wrong side of town. It is apparently the hang out for some people and it was a little seedy to say the least. This is all after my uncle thought he was driving the wrong way on the street so he pulled into a construction zone only to realize it was all ok. There have definitely been a few close calls today, but so many laughs along the way! It's been such a long day, we were just needing some good ol' American fast food! Good thing there was a Burger King near by!

The one good thing about Inglostadt...they have a Liebigstraße!