Eifel

My trip back to Cologne on Saturday was interesting. A group of us sat along the river and drank beer, but then I started to feel classy with a capital "K," so I stopped and left the drinking to the boys. Then, after an entire day of dry weather, the slow rain started to come back. And once again, I was freezing. However, one good thing did come out of this trip: I found a shopping heaven, stores everywhere! Even I, a professional shopper, was a little bit overwhelmed: so many people, so many stores and so little time. Unfortunately for me, I ended up in lots of guys shoes stores and sports stores (I was outnumbered and didn't want to get lost!). Around 7 we hopped on a train home, which I was, of course, nervous it was the wrong one, so I was constantly stressed the whole way home. But, luckily I was not the one who picked the train and we got home safe and sound in time to watch the Champion League Finals game (it's soccer, for those of us who don't know anything about soccer) at a local Irish pub.

***Mom, Dad, don't worry I was home early from the bar, we had a big (and early) day on Sunday.

Our trip to Eifel (a low mountainous region) started with a trip to a very old and beautiful Catholic church, Maria Laach, where the monks still sing in Gregorian Chant. It was a very cool experience, although, they did use a lot of incense, so I coughed... a lot.

After Maria Laach, we traveled to Schloss Bürresheim. The construction of this castle started in the early 1500s and was used until after the French Revolution, then sold to the public of Germany. Unfortunately, the tour guide didn't allow any pictures of the inside of the castle, but here are some pictures of the outside and the view!

Could you imagine seeing this outside your window everyday?

For lunch, we went to a small town called Mayan, and I had my first Schnitzel. I LOVED it! It was like chicken fried chicken, just substituted with pork, just awesome! After lunch, we headed to a  low mountainous region to work off that greasy Schnitzel. The town we visited is called Monreal. This town is known for being the most picturesque city in all of Germany, and I must agree, it is beautiful. 

On the top of a hill was an abandoned castle that has a huge tower overlooking the entire region. I finally got to "climb a castle," something I have been looking forward to on this trip for months now. When I say, "climb a castle," I mean it quite literally. The path up to it was very steep, I was at a slope where my hands almost deemed necessary. When I finally got to the tower I was out of breath, and once again, my hands really wanted to help me up those steep stairs. But I prevailed and got to see one of the most gorgeous views! 

almost halfway up, not feeling that tired, that's about to change. 

Today, there were no castles or hikes or crazy drunk soccer fans. However, the sun did come out! For the last week it has been rainy off and on and sooooo cold, and being from Texas, come May, I am ready for 100 degrees and sunny! But today was perfect, the sun was shining bright and I'm sure it got to be around 68 degrees. It was just what the doctor ordered. Also, I got my train ticket to Paris for next weekend, I can't wait!

Tomorrow we head to Trier, then Wednesday is Aachen, Thursday is a free day, and then Friday is our Rhine Cruise (so pumped).

Tschüss!