Here is a little recap of my first week in Bonn! It's been a real adventure getting to know a new country, language, and place to live. I think we are navigating it all really well. Enjoy some randomly captioned photos below!
Flying into Frankfurt and seeing the Rhine, the train ride from Frankfurt to Bonn followed the Rhine the whole way. Castles everywhere! I kept dozing off and probably missed some, but I saw at least 8!
This handsome man picked me up at the train station, grabbed me a bagel to eat and then showed me our apartment at the International Guesthouse.
Evening walks behind our apartment have been the best. There are lots of fields and paths and even Lil' Sebastian!
The day after I landed was Memorial Day so it was nice to have a day to settled in before I started working remotely. I explored our neighborhood and had my 2nd gelato in under 24 hours. This selfie was in celebration of finding said gelato, and not getting lost wandering the streets.
Our tiny tiny apartment! That's basically the whole thing right there folks. It's clean and comfy and well lit so I'm happy. :)
Paul and I met up when he was done with work and our friend Tanja showed us a great Noodle Bar in downtown Bonn, then we walked down to the Rhine. The weather in this picture shows what's it's been like a lot the past two weeks, lots of overcast skies and a little on the chilly side, but today it's starting to warm up!
The public transit here is great! It's quick, reliable and clean. This is one of the subway stops, a very greeeeen tunnel.
That Paul, working hard even after a 12 hour day at the museum...
This crazy cat comes and sits at our back windows sometimes. I don't like cats. I think I'm going to name him Saruman the White.
In the mornings before I work I like to go on a little adventure. This was my first day in downtown Bonn and I was thrilled to find this crepe stand. I may have been back a time or two since.
My first German meal I prepared! Finding groceries that I am used to and cooking in the tiniest kitchen hasn't been the easiest, but we are making it happen one Schnitzel at a time.
Paul, showing me around Museum Koenig (where he is working) and look - his picture is in an exhibit! Real scientist you guys.
Germany national holiday last Thursday meant a completely empty subway station for the Frandsens!
We stopped by and said hi to the Beethoven statue one day and I got stuck in between awkward poses. Paul goes crazy trying to take pictures of me because I won't hold still so I totally deserved it.
Lunch picnic date in the Rheinaue (a pretty park on the edge of the Rhine).
These weird decorated trees were one of my first impressions of Bonn. What were theyyy? I finally found out these are a May Day type thing. Basically a sign of affection from a boyfriend. They cut down a sapling and decorate it and hand a heart with their lovers name. Then they zip tie it to the girlfriend's apartment. It's weird but cute.
Paul was craving Pizza so we found Pizza Castle (a place he has passed on bike rides). It was actually very delicious.
So we were going to Belgium for the weekend so we rented a cheap rental car. But then they ran out of the cheap ones we rented so they upgraded us to this Audi TT convertible! Paul was thrilled. It was a really fun car to ride in!
Another sunset walk..
On the road to Belgium we spotted this unusual sight. Just cows on an overpass. I was amazed at how fast I was able to pull out my camera. It's like I was born for that moment.
The Tour of Belgium!!!
So I saw on Wednesday that my favorite cyclist in the world, Tom Bonnen, won stage 1 of the Tour of Belgium, so I said to Paul - why don't we go to Belgium this weekend? So we did! And we got to see Stages 4 and 5. It was really cool to see all the pros and see a beautiful country too. Here is Paul (after a recon of the course) at the Finish line of stage 4.
This stage was at the prettiest place - Lac de l'Eau d'Heure
We stayed the night in Liege. The city neat and very different from Germany cities. I loved this little allyway, can you see the building that connects the building?
The next day I met the one and only, Tom Boonen! And also got my shirt (with his face on it) signed.
We also saw Gilbert (blue sprint jersey winner), Tony Marting (overall GC winner), Griepel (the stage winner from the day before), and Eddy Merckx! Cycling legend, but whom we missed a photo of as he rode past as on his cruiser.
And later I found that we made it onto the Belgium Tour Facebook page. They perfectly captured my moment with Tom Bonnen (though it's in the background of this photo and tiny).
The race was cool and Belgium was beautiful. It was the perfect end of a great first week in Germany!
