Today was a very low key day. Jamie woke up at 5am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so Nashon got up to keep her company for a few hours before we went back to sleep. It appears we’re still a bit jet lagged, as we didn’t get up till 11am. We tried to check in (finally), but no one was there. Jamie wasn’t feeling super great, so we hung around the apartment for awhile before leaving. We did finally get checked in, ordered our fresh rolls for delivery each morning this week, and headed to the grocery store. We have discovered that many of the local stores and eateries here don’t take credit cards unless it’s the “local German card” as was explained to us. So we limited what we bought to just dinner today and shampoo for tomorrow, because the security deposit at the apartment was cash only, and almost all the cash we had on us. We took a quick detour on the way home to let Jamie swing on the swings in the park behind the apartment. Nashon also ran to the bank today to get more cash while Jamie stayed home and took a nap. After he got back he made a really nice dinner of pork chops and rice (they don’t sell chicken in the market either!!). We took a nice walk around the gardens at sunset and discovered that German ducks can speak English (quack!!). Nashon thinks the “exotic birds” here are pretty. We tried the bakery for some strudel. Sadly, the bakery was closed so we came home to eat leftovers instead. J That really about does it for today. We have a big day planned tomorrow including a few train rides, a few castles, and a pharmacy museum?

Today we woke up (though still tired) to enjoy the nice shower at the big hotel again, and walked down to the breakfast that was included with the room. The trouble was that the menu was in German, and the buffet had yogurt, and cheese (things Jamie can’t eat). So Nashon had yogurt with some fruit, and Jamie had fruit. Not the most appetizing or filling breakfast as you can imagine. We walked back over to the resort to try and check in again, but turns out there is no manager present on Sundays either. We DID manage to figure out how to call the resort (got to dial a + before the number), and the manager buzzed us in from wherever he was. He directed us to our paperwork and room key, and said “come back tomorrow to check in” when he returns to the office.

We hiked the kilometer back to the big hotel to pick up our stuff (which they were kindly storing behind their bar), and found a shortcut back to our timeshare. After dropping off our things, we set out in search of the small town and food (Jamie was really hungry). We passed a Catholic church (with the bells calling people to Sunday mass) which was built in 1496, and managed to find a small restaurant where we could decipher some of the menu. Nashon ordered Tomatoes, mozzarella and baguette, and Jamie had spaghetti with pesto sauce. After lunch, Germany was looking better. We wanted to go to the market to buy food for breakfasts and dinner, but in this small town of 2500 people the stores are all closed on Sundays. We bought bread and jam from the “tank station” instead. We have noticed that while most of the people here speak enough English to help us out, Nashon tried to “fake it” by agreeing to whatever they say. This drives Jamie crazy since she has a hard time knowing things (like what’s in the food), if they continue to think that we speak German!!!

The afternoon was pretty uneventful. After a nice nap listening to the kids playing in the park behind our apartment, we decided to go find the market for tomorrow, and check out the train schedule. The walk from the train station last night was much shorter during the day when we could utilize public walks through the big park rather than a street map. We found the Penny Market, and found what time the trains leave to head back to Neustadt (where we will catch trains to go look at castles). We also discovered another travel center that we plan on visiting tomorrow to talk about trains again, and planning the rest of our week here. The trouble with this small town, is that it appears everyone goes home about 7pm. We found a few places open to eat, but most were bars with lots of alcohol and little actual food. We ended up back at the historic restaurant we had lunch at, where the waitress laughed when we showed up again. We have decided we really like this place, because the waitress is very nice. At dinner, she helped us decipher parts of the menu, and informed us that in the 12 pages of food, they had nothing made with chicken. Do Germans even eat chicken? We both ended up with some version of steak and potatoes (Nashon exclaimed: “I am home!”). The pasta that Jamie ate earlier in the day (with parmesan cheese on it) chose dinner time to be rejected, so we ate dinner and went right home. The rest of the evening (we got home about 9pm) was spent curled up on the couch watching CNN (only tv channel in English), and curling (the newest entertaining sport that we started watching last December in Canada), and an early bedtime.

We’re here! Or there or somewhere depending on your frame of reference, in Deidesheim, Germany.

We stopped for dinner at the airport in Frankfurt. We ordered ‘meatloaf’ because it was something on the menu we recognized. What they call meatloaf is pressed and sliced Spam. Large, thick sliced of Spam. Ewww.

Two planes, three trains and a one kilometer walk ended with us in front of our ‘hotel’ at 10pm. It turns out that at 10pm there isn’t a manager on site. There also isn’t a manager listed on the call buttons outside the building. After 90 minutes in the chilly night air, we finally gave up contacting anyone and went searching for an open hotel.

This is a small town. 2500 people. Without google maps we would have been out of luck. I love international phone networks and smartphones.

We stayed at a nice place down the road. Showers were had, feet were relieved, sleep was taken. All-in-all it was good, except the part about doing this at midnight while hauling bags on foot.

Sunday has been nice. We’ve gotten checked in at our regular hotel, seen parts of the city, generally recovered from jetlag and late arrival.

The Catholic church in town was built in 1494. Nice.