The German Experience

This is the Mosel River Valley in Germany. It is well known for its wine. It also reminds me of Cincinnati, with the hills and the river. We stayed in Traben-Trarbach which is the next picture.


T-T is two villages that was incorporated into one city/town. I don't think it qualified as a city to the Germans because of its age, which is hilarious because there were buildings that dated back to the 1500's.

We spent a day and a half here with our good hosts, Dietrich and Ingeborg. I found this lovely couple through couchsurfing dot com. Couchsurfing is a site that allows those with accounts to contact others with accounts in the hopes of securing a place to stay in their particular part of the world. You can offer a couch, pull out bed or even entire guest room (if you have it, which they did). You can type in the area in which you are visiting and (hopefully) a number of hosts come up. You then read their profiles and select someone who may have similar interests. We chose this couple because they seemed low key and not into partying. (Most users are in their twenties.) Dietrich even volunteered to pick us up at the airport. On the way to T-T, he gave us a tour of the area and mini history lesson. We visited 2 castle ruins which overlooked the city and then walked around the town a bit. We even visited a friend who owns a winery. All this before lunch. Dietrich then proceeded to take us to his house. This is when it got interesting. You see, Dietrich is an Ayurvedic Doctor at a five star resort spa. (This is not on his profile.) So we pull into the gated community with thermal spas and tennis courts. We unload our stuff and go to the hotel for lunch and a short tour. Now is a good time to mention that this is only our second day in Europe so we are still a little jet lagged not to mention, it had probably been a day or two since I showered. Considering we packed very little, I was wearing (and I think Kent was too) zip off pants and a lime green t-shirt. Not five star material. But hey, I'll never see these people again right?!! So here we are having lunch with other employees of the resort. A few spoke english so we could converse a little. (Plus mein deutsch est zehr gut.)

The whole Germany experience was amazing and we couldn't have been happier with our guests. They were both delightful and insightful to all things German. The next day, they treated us with a traditional German breakfast and a very nice dinner before we flew off. We also enjoyed a bike ride in the afternoon. We visited another town where they had a friend who just opened a natural foods store. (we bought chocolate, the natural kind)

Dietrich and Ingeborg on the ferry we took on our bike ride. The ferry only takes bikes (and people) across the Mosel River. I think it cost 1 euro.

We would love to explore the Mosel River region again sometime. Maybe on bikes, as there are bike paths connecting the cities. It is very beautiful and green and clean. We highly recommend it.