Last weekend in Duesseldorf

This was the first and only weekend I spent with Heidi because she had a trip to Vienna our first weenend in Germany, then I was gone to Paris and Amsterdam the following weekends. I am glad Heather and I had this time to spend with her.

On Saturday we went to Benrath Castle which is near where we lived. It was a lovely castle and we had to wear slipper things to protect the floor because parts of it were still original. It was interesting how it was built because from the front and back it looked like there were only 2 floors with 2 sets of windows, but there were actually 4 stories. The first and 3rd floors were seen, but the 2nd and attic levels only had windows to a center courtyard and these floors were for the servants. From the front you would never know that the servants lived there. Also, the staircase to the 3rd floor had almost invisible doors halfway up to the second floor so the guests would not even notice that a floor was missing. I thought it was fascinating. The entire tour was in German so I had to pay very close attention to understand what was going on. Luckily we had Heidi to translate stuff. I know Heather was very grateful for that. It was a lovely castle although completely crazy. It had apparently been built as an entertainment castle merely for hunting and relaxing, and it was only used once, EVER. I now understood more clearly why the people were resentful of the aristocracy. How could the rich build such a lavish building with lovely gardens for one day of fun while people were starving? I would have rebelled as well.

Heidi, Heather and I then went to a Bierboerse which is basically a beer trade fair. There was all sorts of beer available for tasting. We tried a monk beer, a beer brewed by Martin Luther and Guiness. I thought they actually got better as we went and the Guiness was not bad. Maybe it was like beer glasses, everything becomes better with a little alcohol. Anyway, it was a fun afternoon.

That night Heather and I went to Thomas' birthday party. Thomas is Heidi's son. He and his wife are both teachers, and teachers are well paid in Germany so they had a lovely place to live. They have an apartment high up and the view from their balcony was breathtaking. It was cool being at a party with adults probably in their late 20's early 30's and everyone being really nice and friendly. I really enjoyed being there and hearing everyone talking German. It really reminded me of family get togethers in South Africa where my extended family speaks German and I felt really at home. Although I sometimes had some trouble understanding everything it did not matter. I was enjoying myself completely. Thomas then insisted we try some of the drinks. We had tried Sangrea which was not bad with the fruit. We then tried black current liquor which was not bad. We then tried Ouzo which is clear and basically liquified licourish. It smelled and tasted just like it. EWW!! We then tried rum with honey which was not bad but my favorite was the black current liqour. That was really a nice evening.

The next day Heidi, Heather and I went to Aachen. On the way we saw the Brown coal mines and the view reminded me of a scene from the Matrix series. It was just huge areas of brown earth. I have a picture where a few pixels are actually a tour bus, and the mines take up the entire picture. They really are impressive. My Dad had told me about them and I am glad I was able to see them. As these mines move along the government relocates people, everything is destroyed and torn down and then after the mines have gone through the landscape is rebuilt and people can move back. It is quite a project.

In Aachen we saw the city hall and then saw where the remains of Charlamagne are kept. They are in a church which was built in 800's. It was very impressive. The main octaginal part was covered in mosaic while the additions built later were full of stained glass windows. Heidi said it was very clear the difference in when the parts were built. I thought it was interesting that Heidi had never been to Aachen, even though she lived so near by. She had been excited to take us there and I figured she took all her kids there, but we were the first. That made the trip even more special to me.

We then tried the spring water which apparently made people healthy. It was full of minerals. There was even a plaque next to the fountains with a list of people who had apparently been healed by this water. Heather noticed that the last name was from the late 1700's. Anyway we drank the water which SMELLED and tasted like rotten eggs. EWW. Oh well, maybe we will now have good health for a while. I figure we deserve something for drinking that stuff.

We also saw a statue which had moveable parts. The joints move and it was very entertaining. We enjoyed playing with the statue for a while. We then went to a wine tasting that was happening in the city. We tried two wines which were really nice. It was a really nice day and I think all three of us had a great time.

The strangest thing of that entire day was the weather. We were in Aachen for about 4 hours. In that time it was sunny, cloudy, poured, sunny, drizzlly, and cloudy again. It was hard to believe. People say in Texas just hang around and the weather will change. Not a chance. Go to Aachen, we had a cone of ice cream to wait out the rain and then when we were done the rain had almost finished and we continued on our way. It was very strange.

Sunday night I went to Koeln and visited my friend. She had been an exchange student to my high school here in Round Rock and became good friends with my sister. I got to know her as well. It was fun to have dinner with her and her friends, all of whom are similar to my age.

Monday was spent fighting with the computers trying to get pictures downloaded. That night Heidi cooked an amazing last dinner with pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, corn with mushrooms, and then dessert. It was lovely. We then sat in the living room and enjoyed some chocolate. After a while Heidi brought out some liquors and we tried those. I enjoyed the first fruit liquor. She then let us try something that was 40% alcohol. It was too strong for me, so she brought out a different drink that was 20% and was very sweet and nice. It was really a great evening.

Wow, okay so we did a lot that weekend. Now all that is left is Berlin. It is amazing how much we could do in only 5 weeks.