More of Germany

After leaving Cochem the following morning the road to Trier seemed a long way away. Probably had something to do with the hangover from the debauchery of the night before! Oh well, you only live once and it's not really a habit of mine to party so much.

The wine region of the Mosel is famous for it's Riesling wines. The soil is full of slate which apparently adds to the taste. The higher on the mountain the grapes grow the better the wine and I can definitely attest to that. The grapes are handpicked but since it was rather late in the season I didn't see it.

Before getting to Trier we hit the twin towns of Bernkastel-Kuest with it's lovely Churches and pedestrian only zones filled with shops and cafes. Time for a little sustenance before the final push to Trier. You would think we were driving hundreds of miles but really, it was only 80 or so kilometers. The Mosel valley roads are one S and one little village after another. Things just take longer that way but they are way prettier than the autobahn.



Lots of little pretty gardens are a joy to see.






Lunch, and only coffee for me...



I'm starting to feel better, my cough is abating with the help of antibiotics which are readily available at any pharmacy without prescription in Greece.

Today we are heading to the travel agent to make the final arrangements for the cruise to Istanbul and the Greek Islands. Tomorrow if I can get on line I will post the pictures from Trier. It is a wonderful city, the oldest city in Germany.

I'm Still Here - Honest

If your wondering what the heck happened to me, the truth is, I'm sick. I came back to Athens from Germany with an incredibly bad cold that had me kind of bed bound the last couple of days. I did briefly make it to a beach yesterday only to fall asleep in the sun. Lucky for me the sun at the end of September isn't terribly strong so no sunburn.

I still don't have dependable Internet access and have found a little Internet cafe down the street from where we stay. It appears to be only dial up it's so slow, although the owner does try to tell me it's DSL. Why don't I believe him? I've been waiting about ten minutes to upload 6 photo's and I'm still waiting. On the other, Internet cafes are easier to find here than in Germany, go figure...

To continue the Germany adventure, from Koblenz we followed the River Mosel to what was to be our final destination of Trier. En route we of course got lost, which by the way, happened quite frequently. I have lots of photos of my friend pouring over the map trying to figure out were we where.



Seems we got a little lost and ended up in the Eifel Mountain instead of Cochem.





At the end of the first day we scored a small hotel in the town of Cochem. It was right on the river and offered a pretty view. After a dinner out we hit the Wine Cellar of our hotel for a little nightcap. It was decorated typically German, dark with lots of beer steins all around. After a few glasses of wine and some cognac, I got right into the spirit and a good time was had. If I recall I had a little trouble getting to the fourth floor of the hotel to go to bed.

This is before the Wine Celllar





On Tuesday, we continued our journey to Trier and I'm going to write more when I can.

The Father Rhein

That's what the Germans call the Rheine River and it is definitely imposing. It curves and wends its way through the countryside with castles and wine hills on it's banks. Quite a lovely drive and one I enjoyed immensely.

I am back in Athens but returned with a horrible cold and sore throat. It's going to take me a few days to recover. The weather was quite cold and damp in Germany in spite of the blue sky. Their climate is difficult, especially in the valleys where the damp settles.

The trip started down the mighty Rhein River.



It is a mighty river with so many castles on it's hillsides it's impossible to keep track. Of course Petra knew most of them but since I didn't have my little book handy wasn't able to write them all down.

We made a few stops at wine tasting restaurants en route and our first major stop was Ruedesheim a very touristy town with a population just under 10,000. The major attraction there is the Drosselgasse, which I'm told by my friend reminded her of Hong Kong. It is overloaded with advertising signs, restaurants, pubs and of course tourists.

This is one of the nice photos from Ruedesheim. (sorry, no umlauts)




From Ruedesheim we headed north to the city of Koblenz where the Rhein and the Mosel rivers meet. It is a pretty city carved into the slate mountainsides with lots of bicycle and hiking routes available. Not for me though, I found walking on the cobblestone streets enough of a challenge. Koblenz is also the city where the yearly festival called Rhine in Flames, which I'm told is quite spectacular.

From Koblenz we headed west along the Mosel Tal (valley) to the nearest small town for lunch. Koblenz was a bit hectic for me.

Now I'm off to bed for a little more rest, I really need to shake this cold, we have more big travel plans.

Time To Leave - Back To Athens

Tomorrow is my last day in Germany and it's going to be a buy one. First thing in the morning is the market, then a quick tour through town on a bus just to refresh my memory, some more shopping, lunch and then a last goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle. Since they are in their 80's it's possible I might not see them again.

I have so many wonderful experiences from this trip and over 500 photo's to be edited it will take a little while to tell them all. Tonight over wine, my friend Petra and I reconstructed the trip and sorted through them with map at our side to figure out all the little towns. We met some wonderful people on the way who will also be mentioned.

So since I don' t have DSL, my friend doesn' t have a photo program and I really was having too much fun to search for an Internet cafe it will all wait until next week when I' m back in Athens. I do promise to post before I head out on the next leg of this trip to parts unknown as yet. Maybe Turkey or maybe the Peloponnese region of Greece. We shall see...

A Sign of Life

Yes guys, I'm alive...it's just a little difficult finding Internet access on the road. It took us 2 days to drive 250 KM and I'm sure most Americans and Canadians couldn't possibly understand that. I drive that to the cottage most weekends in under three hours, but what the heck, this is Germany and we just simply meander through the small villages and take our time.







We are in the Town of Trier which was a Roman city at one time and the architectural influence is visible everywhere. But, before I write about Trier I am going to post some pictures from my home town of Wiesbanden and of the trip through the Mosel Tal (valley). First we followed the river Rhein to Koblenz and then we followed the Mosel to Trier. We crossed that river numerous times and the wine mountains were always visible to us. Fabulous scenery and I will post more pictures and load them into flickr.

I don't know exactly when I can post again, were heading to Luxembourg tomorrow...

A Little Update - No Photo's

I thankfully arrived in Germany last night from Athens and it's been busy ever since. Since I hadn't seen my friend for 4 years we had a lot of catching up to do and by two am and 2 bottles of wine later we finally made it to bed. My best sleep in two weeks I have to say, there is something about a German bed.

This morning we walked to the center of Wiesbaden where the Saturday market day was in progress. After our shopping we met a friend for lunch and spent the entire afternoon sitting at an outdoor patio, people watching and drinking more wine of course. This is wine country, the province of Rheine Hessen, famous for the stuff, what can I say.

I did take lots of photos but can't show them to you. My friend can't find her WEP code for her DSL to make my laptop work and her ancient computer doesn't have a photo program. So, it will have to wait until I find an Internet cafe or find her a photo program to download.

Tomorrow is family day where I visit with my aunt, uncle and cousins and Monday we start our road trip to Trier and the Mosel Tal district of Germany.

Did I mention that this is weird to type, the German keyboard has letters reversed?

More on that later....

Some More Pictures

The migraine is thankfully gone today, internet is working again so a couple more pictures from Monday's excursion. The scenery is so lovely it was hard to choose and I could have taken more photo's if I wasn't hanging on for dear life. I'm not a good sailor I'm afraid...







I was just in the process of posting this when I lost my connection. Today is the first day I have internet so here it is.

Tomorrow I leave for a week in Germany and I will try to post from here whenever I can find a connection, I like the free ones...

Just Some Observations

I'm trying to stay very positive about this beautiful country, but some days it's hard. Today, I am suffering from a pretty bad migraine and wish I had some Lipton's Chicken Noodle soup to ease my tummy. Unfortunately the little corner store doesn't carry things like that and the food that my sister in law sent over today is inedible for me. She did some fish in sauce and beans and normally I would try to eat it but today it nauseated me just to look at.

My sweetie just went out to score a loaf of bread but since it's already six in the evening here they were sold out. I have no cooking utensils to speak of, one pot and tiny frying pan are all that's available to me. I might boil a couple of potatoes and scramble some eggs. Being in the crappy mood I'm in I told him I was going to starve to death in Greece. He was hurt...

Yesterday we were expecting the plumber to hook up the solar panels and hot water tank and maybe fix the toilet. Stavros the brother in law arrived with a hundred pounds of meat (seems like) and the barbeque was started. The entire family arrived in due course and by the time all was said and done, the plumber no longer felt like working. Interesting way of life here and maybe it's only this family, I haven't a clue. Did I mention that the plumber did the cooking?







Later that afternoon Stavros took us out on his fishing boat and some swimming. Now my brother in law is a strange character who I haven't quite figured out. It's a language issue. Most of the time he comes across as gruff, chauvinistic and always complaining so when he does something nice he surprises me. Yesterday in the water, when I got tired (that's the fybromyalgia) and couldn't go further, he swam over, took my hand and made sure I got back to the boat. I was wearing a lifejacket but the currents were pulling me in a different direction.








The water was full of Jellyfish, I'm told they sting. They were the weirdest thing I'd ever seen.



When we got back to the marina he insisted on hosing me down including washing my hair. I was shocked, the water was cold and everyone on board was laughing at me. Good thing no one knows how to use my camera, or understands my swear words (except Steve) it was down right funny.

The scenery was splendid. More pictures tomorrow, my internet connection has slowed to a crawl.

Nursing a Hangover

I don't think I've had one of those since my 30's and I'm not even sure why, I hardly drank. I didn't much care for the wine served at last night's wedding so I couldn't figure out why my head felt like it should be separated from my shoulders today, but it did.

Steve made me walk up five flights of stairs for the view. It was worth it, even though it was a long climb on circular stairs that made me somewhat dizzy and nauseous.

Here then are the pics of the view.

The front view...



The back view...



Street scene for Teddy...




Can you make out the sailboats?



Don't you wish you lived here?

Pavement Cracks

One of my favourite songs is by Annie Lennox and it's called Pavement Cracks. I'm not sure this is what she was referring too though...





This is not unusual, in fact I ran into a few sidewalks that were worse last night but it was too dark to take a picture.

A couple of days ago while talking to the offspring he asked If I felt safe enough to go for a walk at night. In terms of being safe from people sure, said I...but the sidewalks, nope, not on my own. My husband is constantly holding on to me to make sure I don't fall. The other danger I face, being over six food tall, are the low hanging trees. I now tend to walk with my head down to avoid the cracks and end up being bonked in the head by an olive tree.

The glaring difference here is that because property taxes are relatively low compared to North America, the municipalities are not responsible for the sidewalks. Each property owner puts in and maintains his own and I suppose if they break and crumble they don't want to spend the money to fix them. Seems no one forces them to do so either.

I'm just really going to watch my step here...

Another Productive Day - Sort of!

This post is a bit heavy on pictures, I have been requested by the offspring to take more photo's so that's what I did today and I'll post a couple. For the rest go to the flickr page on the sidebar and look under Greece 2007.



There was an attempt made to repair the toilet today and what would take a plumber half hour back home to change the flapper, you know the inside of the toilet tank, took my BIL and plumber over two hours, between glasses of Ouzo and still it's not working. Oh well, tomorrow nothing will get done, there is a wedding to go to, Sunday I doubt it so maybe Monday. BIL has also promised us hot water for Monday.



More photo's on Sunday...

Oh Joy - DSL Works

At the new digs there is no DSL and I did not expect it. I turn my laptop on mostly to empty the camera of pictures. This morning though, it detected a network and joy spread across my face when I realized I could get online. Not a secure network and possibly it's not legal to use it, I don't know, but it's there.

I will take this opportunity though to make a quick post and read the news online from home. I was saddened to hear that Luciano Pavarotti has died even though it was expected. Last week when they sent him home from hospital after suffering pneumonia I kind of knew. Pancreatic cancer is usually fatal. It is sad, I loved his voice and the world may never hear a voice like his again.

Today we are going to find a beach, just the two of us and have some downtime. Tomorrow we are going to a wedding that neither of wants to go to but BIL signed us up for. Neither Steve or I really enjoy these types of events any more unless it's family, and this isn't. But we will dress up, smile and try to enjoy ourselves. We do know that the food will be great.

Greek hospitality is wonderful and my in-laws couldn't be nice to me. On a sad note, my mother in law is much frailer than I remember her. She so badly wants to come to Canada with us but her doctor has forbidden her to make such a trip. She also wouldn't be insured there and getting any kind of travel insurance would be impossible...sigh

The weather is gorgeous for me at least. It feels like it's around 25c, which is my kind of temperature, although my sister in law find it cold. I guess it's what you get used to.

We Have A Home!

This is were I hang my hat... Things are looking up. I finally get to unpack our suitcases, repack for the Germany leg of my trip and find missing stuff. I finally located my Ipod charger and can have some music. Life is great.



It's not perfect of course, nothing ever is but it's private and gives me a chance to recharge my batteries from the "Greek Family Overload". There is a great patio where I can read, get some knitting done and just generally chill out.



We have a large bachelor pad with a couple of twin beds, a kitchenette and a small bathroom roughly 3 feet by 3 feet. At the moment the toilet is broken and there is no hot water. These things though will be resolved in the next day or so, I hope.



Yesterday, very briefly I had an unsecured Internet connection from somewhere in the neighbourhood but today it's non existent. So we took the bus to the family's house so I could make a posting. I was also having phone issues whereby I couldn't make any calls out. My nephew forgot to load the card into the phone! If the instructions weren't written in Greek I could have done it myself but they weren't and I couldn't so another reason for visiting family tonight.

I am having a little difficulty fitting into the Greek lifestyle when it comes to meals and afternoon naps. I like my main meal at night and they eat in the afternoon. When I'm ready to go to sleep they come visit or go out. I hope I can get used to it soon.

My First Impressions - Second Time Around

This is not my first visit to Greece, I was here in the fall of 1997. Not much has changed since then from the little I've seen so far. Maybe that's unfair since I've only been here two days but the things that stand out now and stood out then was the incessant noise. You just simply can't get away from it. The one that bothers me the most is the constant barking of dogs. Not only are there a lot of strays wandering the streets but dog owners chain their dogs up outside and they bark at anything that moves or even breathes.

There are two such dogs outside our bedroom door and sleeping has become a challenge even with earplugs.
Different country, different rules I guess. If a neighbour of mine did that we'd be on the phone to the Humane Society or by-law office but here it is okay.

So here I am ten years later, same house, same barking, although I suspect the dogs are not the same ones...some things do change I guess.

Greetings From Athens

The absolutely weirdest thing happened when I turned on blogger today, it's all in Greek. Good thing I know where most of the publishing crap lives so hopefully I can make this work. If there is anybody out there who can tell me how to switch this back to English, now would be the time to leave a coment, please. Failing that I'm going to have have to ask my blogger friend here in Athens to help me out.

So a little about the trip first. We duly appeared at the airport at noon on Sunday for a 2 pm direct flight to Athens. Upon arrival we discovered that Olympic Airlines had changed the flight to a 5 pm departure and no one told us. Kind of dumb of me not to phone before we left but I had so many things to remember to do at home I forgot, sigh... The 5 pm departure turned into 7:30 in the end and by the time we were air bound I was already exhausted. The flight itself was uneventful, the food not particularly good and as expected the cabin crew weren't very friendly. This is the one airline I hate flying on but it's the only direct to Athens.

As expected it was very very hot here and if I looked kind of spaced out in the below photo it's because I am. I am trying to stay awake, though it's difficult. My brother in law took my blood pressure and down right freaked out it was so high but this morning after a good night's sleep I feel human again. Today we are off to Ikea to shop for the house we will be calling home for the next 7 weeks with bare essentials, like a bed...need one of those. The other essential today is to get my cell phone working. The weather is cooperating today and it's warm, sunny with a nice breeze. Tomorrow, it's the beach...