Chelsey Visits: Bonn Highlights and the Netherlands

My sister Chelsey was able to come visit us for about a week. We had such a fun week together!

 

The night she got here we went to a local pub for the first Germany World Cup game. It was fun to be around lots of Germans cheering while eating delicious food. 

Tuesday was spent at the Rhine Park doing paddle boats (and getting a great leg workout concurrently). Then visiting Paul at Museum Koenig and eating lunch at the BBQ in the gardens there.

 

Wednesday we went to Cologne (or Köln). The cathedral there is massive (it was the tallest building in the world until the Washington Monument in DC was built!). It is a special church and has been visited since the 1600s because it houses the relics of the Three Wise Men. Amazingly, the glass windows were preserved during WWII (buried in a bunker during the war years) and the cathedral wasn't destroyed (they think the ally pilots liked to use it's steeples as a useful landmark).

The city had a lot of other pretty sights and places to eat. We visited a museum that is in the building the Gestapo worked out of and held and tortured prisoners in. It was a moving experience to see the notes the prisoners of WWII had written on the walls of their cells.

 

Because of my work schedule, a lot of afternoons were spent at our place. This was probably good news for Chelsey's jet lag. Lots of chances for naps!

 

Thursday was a holiday, and we spent the day in Bonn. The streets were quiet because most shops are closed on holidays, but it was really fun to show Chelsey around my new town! We went to the Beethoven House (the home where Beethoven was born, now a museum), the Rathaus/Old Town Hall (which I made her pose on the steps of) and a few other Bonn highlights. That night for dinner we rode our bikes, got pizza, had a picnic, and even got caught in a bit of rain.

 

Sometimes... pictures taken by strangers on the street are... less than perfect.

 

Friday was our Castle Day.  We picked up our rental car for the weekend a few hours early and drove to Bad Godesburg to check out castle #1. It gave us such a neat view of Bonn, it was so fun to see my city from that new perspective and put pieces together of how neighborhoods/landmarks were in relation to each other. Totally worth the 1 Euro and leg power to climb to the top. So many stairs! We also stopped at a cafe for breakfast in Bad Godesburg and I got my FIRST EVER HEART in a cup. I'm always jealous of fancy coffee and finally it happened for my hot chocolate.

This stranger photographer did a much better photography job.

 

Castle #2 was Schloss Drachenburg! (Translation: DRAGON CASTLE)

It was built around the same time as Neuschwanstein Castle.

It was really pretty and the grounds were amazing too.

 

When no strangers are around to take a picture, self timer apps are helpful. Take two was much better but take one was so so much funnier.

The view of the Rhine was so pretty from the castle!

Saturday and Sunday were spent in the Netherlands!!!! 

We drove to Amsterdam and were blown away. We rented bikes and explored the city for two days. Paul was in heaven with the bike infrastruture and culture. I don't think he stopped smiling the whole time.

 We took a canal boat ride, visited the Rijkmuseum (Van Gogh's and Rembrandts!), ate some delicious Dutch Pancakes, went to the Flower market, and tried on some Wooden Shoes. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU WANT. On our drive home Sunday we stopped in Kinderdijk to see the beautiful 300 year old Windmills. 

We LOVED Holland.

The first place we rented bikes from only had 2, but they told us their other location where we could get another - just a short ride away. I felt kind of silly sidesaddling it up but we actually saw a ton of people hitching rides on the back of bikes over the next two days. 

My dream is to someday live on a houseboat in Amsterdam. Paul's in.

During our canal cruise we saw this fun wedding on the drawbridge! I couldn't believe the picture I was able to get and wish I knew the couple so I could send it to them.

This was the cutest sight! A little boy in a little boat behind a big real boat. They were pulling him in when I pulled out the camera, but it was really the best. 

 

This dance crew was SO funny and actually pretty talented!

"We are very professional! That's why we work on the street"

 

 

 

 

Kinderdijk!

 

Monday morning we had to say goodbye (thumbs down).

Thanks again for coming to visit Chelly!

Introducing Bonn! Plus, a weekend trip to Belgium.

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!

Germany/Switzerland Trip Fall 2013

It took me 7 months but I finally finished documenting our trip to Germany and Switzerland. 

Since other people's blogs and travel logs were so helpful to me in planning, here is our trip all in one place and in time-line order.

Dresden, Germany

Nürnburg, Germany

Füssen, Germany

Interlaken/Gimmelwald, Switzerland (Post 1, Post 2)

Zermatt, Switzerland (Post 1, Post 2)

Zürich, Switzerland 

We did all our transportation via train (the bahn.com website was extremely helpful) and our focus was on mountains and nature more so than cities. Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to share any knowledge if you are planning your own Germany/Swiss adventure (especially if it's to come visit us this summer!!!)

Auf wiedersehen!!!