The First Day

I know some of you purists out there that feel the need to think in a systematic, organized way are wondering why I am posting "Day ONE" when I already posted a post named Day Two. [Day Two link] Well...because it's my blog and I  can play fast and loose with the timeline...but in reality that post was referring to the day, I posted it...not what we did on day two.  The REAL Day Two post will be coming soon. 

So...to bring you up to speed,....when I first got into Germany, I landed in Frankfort at 11:45 AM  German time...but, of course, that is 4:45 AM Kansas City time.  I know some people struggle with jet lag but that has never been the case for me.  As  a regular member of Club Insomnia, being awake at 4:45 wouldn't be out of  the norm anyway. 

The Guest House where Hubby  was residing is  79 miles down the autobahn (or 127 Km if you prefer the metric system) away so we first had to get back to his place.  I might point out to those of you that haven't been to Germany before, you might want to brace yourself for a really fast commute.  While there are speed limits, no one ever uses them.  Hubby was going over 110  and people were passing us like we were sitting still.  I am fairly confident that some of them were calling us "pussies" but as I don't speak German..so I am not entirely certain of that. 

After dropping off my bags in his room, I was anxious to go see some Germany. Weissenthurm is a small little town with a couple of notable historical sights but on that first day, we went 6 miles to Andernach where hubby has been  working the last three months. 

I have been to quite a few German towns but Andernach  is one of the most interesting, quaint and charming towns along the Rhein in my opinion.  It is, also, one of the oldest towns in Germany having celebrated a "Bimillenary feast" in 1988.

A few other little facts....  First of all, the pronunciation isn't "Ander-nak".  It's something akin to "On-der-nuukk"...with the nuk part sounding like you are trying to clear your throat. 

Andernach is a town of about 30,000 people.  It sits on the left bank of the Rhein River and the people there have there own German dialect. The dialect is considered Low German.  One of the local residents that had a working knowledge of English told me that they can't understand the German (High German) spoken in other parts of Germany.  I was tempted to say "Welcome to my world...I can't understand any of you"  but I thought that might not make the best impression.    Their dialect, by the way is called Annenach.

Andernach was settled in 12 BC by the Romans.  The town is surrounded by the medieval remnants of the fortifications that surrounded the town.   There are also, the remains of a castle, a toll bastion, and a geyser. Yes, you read that correctly...there is the world's highest cold water geyser is in Andernach, Germany.



But back to our tour...One of our first stops was the Round Tower. 

The Round Tower is one of the original 5 towers, two gates and wall that acted as a fortress for the city. Construction of the tower began in 1440 and completed in 1443.  The French troops of Ludwig XIV tried to blow it up in 1689 but all he managed to do was knock a bit of a dent into it. Currently it is a museum open on weekends allowing visitors to walk up to the top.

Ludwig XIV dented it but didn't destroy it

climbing, climbing, climbing

view from the tippy-top of the tower

After leaving the tower we walked through a historic church and then toward the  the downtown area where there was a small Christmas Market and a pageant taking place.

Going through one of the old fortress gates toward the town square

Getting closer

Nearly There

Let's Eat,  Drink and Be Merry

This was a tiny little market compared to the ones we went to later in the week. At this point it's time to head back to Weissenthurm but we return to Andernach to see the castle, bastion and geyser.  Crabby Pant's Tour bus  will pick up where we left off on the next post...

To Be Continued...

The Travelogue Begins

I am going to do a series of posts about my recent trip but for today, I am going to back up a bit to talk about how this trip was different than a normal holiday.  As my husband is on a long term work assignment, lodging and travel is quite different than how we typically would do things had we gone to Germany as tourists.

Thought Number One:  Work is the Opposite of Vacation

On our last trip to Germany, we went as tourists.  Yes, an adventure strictly for fun and seeing the sites. Easy-peasy plan for 15 days based in Munich.  We had a good travel agent that booked out rooms at the Marriott, made rental car reservations and lined out some guided bus tours to Switzerland and Austria.  On that trip we went with a group of friends as well, so we had our own built in group of English speaking people.  In fact, one of our group had German parents and claimed she had a working knowledge of the German language.  Monica, as it turned out, didn't have it working enough to keep us from getting on  the wrong train out of Dachau.  Which brought about a language lesson that was pretty self explanatory i.e. "dumme Amerikaner"

BUT in preparation for this trip...not so easy-peasy.  If one is going to a foreign country to work, there are things to be reckoned with.  Housing, car insurance, medical insurance that will cover you in a foreign country, foreign currency, a charge card that doesn't pick your pocket on conversion fees, getting a Euro-based cell phone (or unlocking your U.S. phone and finding a carrier that will not send you to the poor house on media, text, and Internet roaming charges) and last but not least having the proper Visa to be in a foreign country. 

As far as Visas go.... I timed my visit to see my husband near the end of his Schengen Visa.
As a non-German, hubby is allowed to stay in Germany for 90 days within an 180 day time period. There are a number of visa rules in Europe,  but when people talk about the “90 day limit”, they are talking about restrictions of the Schengen Visa, which is the visa rule that governs 26 countries in Europe. It includes all the European Union except Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as a few non-EU countries.

So...if you plan on visiting Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,  Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, better keep the three month rule in mind. (gasping for breath)

As I was saying, my husband's 90 days were coming to an end and his job wasn't.  I needed to get my trip in before he was asked (do you suppose it is a request?)  to leave the country.  As it turned out he was not booted out on his keister but that is another story for another day.  (I will cover what Hubby had to do to stay past the 90 day mark in a later post but here is a link to give you a bit of how to ward off deportation if you are camped out in Europe illegally..How to Stay in Europe Legally After 90 Days. )

Mr. Germany is a little fussy about his 90 days "get out of here" rule.

Thought Number Two:  Making A Home Away from Home

As my husband's company (OK to be clear...his company is just him with me handling the day to day boring crap that comes across my desk) tends to work in rather small towns, it might not surprise you to know there aren't major hotel chains built just to accommodate him.  There is a web-site www.booking.com   that covers all the little hotels and German Guest Houses available.  As my husband was working primarily in the area of Andernach, Germany, he found a small hotel/guest house in Weissenthurm. (Sorry, my computer doesn't type German, so that isn't exactly right.)

So begins the list of plus and minuses.  The Rhein Hotel is a 10 room house that is kind of a cross between a very small hotel or a very large Bed and Breakfast. The family that lives there consists of Mama and Papa, their daughter and son-in-law, and 2 grandsons. Since none of them speak a lick of English, we aren't sure of anyone's name but it all worked out with smiles, hugs and nods. 

The same family has owned the little hotel for over 75 years.  One of the reasons, we booked a room in this particular hotel is that Mama, was very accommodating. They installed a DSL line so Hubby would have access to a computer while living there. A lot of the hotels in these less populated areas, either don't have Internet or you have to go to a common room to use it.

Rhein Hotel is a bit like going back in time in a quaint charming sort of way.  It sits right on the Rhein.  AND I MEAN right ON the Rhein.  Occasionally IN the Rhein.

In both 1993 and 1995 Mama and Papa had the river come in for a visit.

The walking trail along the Rhein from hotel room. The river is being good about keeping itself
out of the hotel today.

barges and passenger ships are constantly going by

So that is where, hubby was calling home for the first 90 days.  Crabby Pants will be taking you on a tour of the the small and not-so-small towns along the Rhein, the German Christmas Markets and Amsterdam, Netherlands in upcoming posts.

Next time, I will start with the local food and have more information and pictures from the area around Weissenthurm and Andernach .

To be continued.....

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