Today was our day of exploration in Heidelberg, we’ve walked likely over 20,000 steps, and I didn’t wear the pedo cause I got out of the habit for some reason.
We went to a local bus stop, which happened to have super market by it, we got orange juice and a fresh baked good (German pastries are actually pretty good, and more recognizable then the French ones). We hopped on the bus, rode it around some of the city and ended up by the specialized train station that would get us to the castle. We took it up and instead of getting off at the middle of the mountain where the castle was we took it all the way to the top of the mountain for a view of the city. It was very pretty, peaceful too if not for the rock cover band that was blaring out music when it was barley noon! People had their drink on as well; I’m amazed at how early the beer guzzling begins!
We walked around, enjoyed the scenery and then took the train down to the castle. It was very neat and HUGE, basically a whole city could exist within the walls of a castle and that was quite evident from the grand size of this castle. We explored it and took lots of pix and then about 2:30 decided we were well over due for lunch. We went down to the main city level and made our way to Kornplatz Marketplace, which was full of shops, very Easton style, but just one very very long narrow street lined with shops and restaurants. We did some browsing and enjoyed a meal, Aaron had Schnitzel (breaded chicken breast) and fries, and I had veggie lasagna. We did at least persue some of the regional menu, but we weren’t brave enough to try it all out. We found all kinds of cool shops and even found a Subway! Where the mascot was Sub Wayne! Lol, American Subways aren’t that cool. We planned to catch the last boat trip of the day on the Solar Boat of Heidelberg, which let us see Heidelberg from the Neckar River. About half an hour from the last boat leaving we arrived at the dock to buy tickets only to find out it had been rented out for a private party for the last trip of the day, and that we weren’t going to be able to make it… L.
After that disappointment we made our way to the train station to ensure that we would be able to go to Stuttgart to hit up the Porsche and Mercedes museums. For the first time during the whole trip we saw a Eurrail Counter (the train passes we had bought and had been using since the beginning of the trip, I think the pass is more widely used in Germany hence why there was a desk there and actual information, rather then stumbling around, trying to figure it out). After getting the details we needed we got some dinner at a place we had seen half way between our hotel and the train station. It was called Mandy’s fast food, and they have a Grilled Pollo section in the restaurant. I got a grilled chicken sandwich with corn on the cob, and Aaron got wings and rings. Nothing like a place that caters to the U.S. Army Airfield less then 2 miles away!
After we had our meal, we continued out walk to the hotel, and have come back, done laundry and are ready to pass out.
Tomorrow is Stuttgart, and Sunday is a huge travel day, going on two high speed trains from Manheim to Paris, and then from Paris to London. With little connections and the beginning, middle and end of our trips. By the time we get picked up from the final station in London we’ll have ridden the inter city train from Heidelberg to Manheim, then the high speed train from Manheim to Paris, then the metro from one Paris station to another, then the Euro Star from Paris to London, and then the London Underground from our station to the one close to the house! Quite a trip, but at the end of it we’ll be back in English speaking-ville!
No more from here for now; Aaron’s watching South Park in German, and I have to go make fun of him for it!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday June 27, 2008
Friday June 27, 2008
Air conditioning is nice, but so is a free breakfast, so far most of the places we have stayed at have been an option of the two. We’re in Heidelberg now, at the Holiday Inn (yeah how much more touristy can I get), and we’ve had a GREAT nights sleep, cool and quiet. But if we were to get breakfast at the hotel we’d be paying 20 euros each, yeah really? Most of our lunch’s and dinners have not cost that much.
The opposite end of the spectrum was the hotel in Nurburg, great place, clean, compact, not super touristy, really great breakfast included in the stay. But wow was it hot, our room was on the side the sun came op on, and we would wake up sticky, and seemingly spend the day that way, no matter how many showers we each took in a day.
I gotta say I am willing to find my own breakfast if it’s in exchange for a good refreshing night of sleep. I’m sure normally air isn’t needed in these parts be cause the weather people keep saying what a rare heat wave Europe has been experiencing ever since we got here, so likely when we leave, all will go back to normal and it’ll be 100 and humid in Columbus!
So since it’s only 8am here and Aaron’s still kind of sleeping I’ll recap yesterday.
It was June 26, we woke up at the Blaue Ecke Hotel, showered, got breakfast, packed all our stuff (it’s amazing how our things keep accumulating, should have probably gone to the post office and mailed a package home, but instead we had packed an extra bag within our bags, which has now come out and is full), got in the car, drove to Frankfurt, spent 3 Euros and about 20 minute trying to figure out how to get into the rental car return parking lot, got lunch and then explored Frankfurt. We used the car (which we returned a few hours early) as our locker for the luggage and just walked around downtown Frankfurt, took pictures of cool stuff, and just soaked in some of the surroundings. It’s a very diverse area, but as we had been told not very touristy. We spent about 3 hours this way and then caught our train to Heidelberg.
We were in first class, and it is a little cabin with storage for luggage and air and lots of leg room, sadly the ride was barley an hour long. We both were kind of tired from the travel, and so got to the hotel and took naps. When we woke up it was because we were hungry and it was dinner time. We decided to walk around the area of our hotel, it’s not a very touristy area, but there are a LOT of U.S. service men staying in our hotel, haven’t yet found out why, assuming this is a connection point from one place to another for them. We walked about a mile one way, found nothing but cute homes and lots and lots of closed shops with barely any of them having English menus, the only places that seemed open were carry out pizza shops, and there was a ton of them. We headed back to the hotel, went to the restaurant there, got a cheese burger and pizza. Neither tasted quite like what we expected, but they took care of our hunger and that was all we needed.
We went back to the room, watched Russia vs Spain (Spain won 3 goals to 0) and then proceeded to pass out happily in the cool quiet room. Spain will now play Germany; I’m just not sure what day.
We have today and tomorrow in Heidelberg and then back to English speaking Britain!
A few things about Germany that surprise me:
Smoking, very very prevalent, for a society that is so health and earth conscious I am amazed at how many people smoke and that cigarette vending machines line almost every street corner.
Germany is very organized, unlike Paris or other parts of France, there is a way in which things are done, and you do them that way, not just anyway you feel like it.
English is pretty widely spoken and 1 out of 5 menus can be found in English.
German people are very helpful, again this might be in comparison to Parisians but we’ve had very good interactions, even in little cities and big ones with all the folks we have encountered in Germany.
The roads and driving is AWESOME; the highways don’t have a set speed limit, except in certain zones, where they reduce speeds due to intersections or heavy traffic. We saw a Ferrari come up to us on the highway yesterday and pass us like we weren’t even moving and we were going about 130kph. And it was all 100% legal. People don’t talk on cell phones and all pay attention while driving, and the system works. We tried to keep up with some fast moving traffic but our base level Peugeot didn’t have anything to offer in terms of go potential so we happily stayed with the pack of average speed traffic.
Dubbed TV in French or German is hilarious, really the only thing we’ve gotten in English since we’ve been gone from London (since June 11th) is CNN at any of the locations we’ve been at, so we’ve been watching lots of sports on mute when we’re having down time, and during channel flipping will find the likes of sponge bob, scrubs, grays anatomy or married with children on in German or French, it’s quite a hoot.
People in Europe seem to have no hang ups about personal space, not sure why, everyone who knows me knows I’m all about it, and the more the better :p A little uncomfortable when I’m used to that and here even random strangers have no qualms with getting up close and personal in lobbies of places, or on trains and such!
Chicken isn’t as widely eaten as in America, it seems like you can ALWAYS find chicken on the menu in the states, and here, it’s pretty rare, instead it’s liver, and rabbit, and duck… uh yeah, not good for a person who is not a fan of steak, and really doesn’t do seafood, and like mushy vegetables (the only veggies I really like are Indian Sabji’s and such).
Train Stations charge fees (have ranged from 50 eurocents to 1 euro) to use the restroom, it seems like a good way of keeping the riff raff out and making sure they stay in good shape. It’s bad when you drank too much, left your husband with the luggage, don’t have any money and have to travel up about 30 steps back to get some change!
Air conditioning is nice, but so is a free breakfast, so far most of the places we have stayed at have been an option of the two. We’re in Heidelberg now, at the Holiday Inn (yeah how much more touristy can I get), and we’ve had a GREAT nights sleep, cool and quiet. But if we were to get breakfast at the hotel we’d be paying 20 euros each, yeah really? Most of our lunch’s and dinners have not cost that much.
The opposite end of the spectrum was the hotel in Nurburg, great place, clean, compact, not super touristy, really great breakfast included in the stay. But wow was it hot, our room was on the side the sun came op on, and we would wake up sticky, and seemingly spend the day that way, no matter how many showers we each took in a day.
I gotta say I am willing to find my own breakfast if it’s in exchange for a good refreshing night of sleep. I’m sure normally air isn’t needed in these parts be cause the weather people keep saying what a rare heat wave Europe has been experiencing ever since we got here, so likely when we leave, all will go back to normal and it’ll be 100 and humid in Columbus!
So since it’s only 8am here and Aaron’s still kind of sleeping I’ll recap yesterday.
It was June 26, we woke up at the Blaue Ecke Hotel, showered, got breakfast, packed all our stuff (it’s amazing how our things keep accumulating, should have probably gone to the post office and mailed a package home, but instead we had packed an extra bag within our bags, which has now come out and is full), got in the car, drove to Frankfurt, spent 3 Euros and about 20 minute trying to figure out how to get into the rental car return parking lot, got lunch and then explored Frankfurt. We used the car (which we returned a few hours early) as our locker for the luggage and just walked around downtown Frankfurt, took pictures of cool stuff, and just soaked in some of the surroundings. It’s a very diverse area, but as we had been told not very touristy. We spent about 3 hours this way and then caught our train to Heidelberg.
We were in first class, and it is a little cabin with storage for luggage and air and lots of leg room, sadly the ride was barley an hour long. We both were kind of tired from the travel, and so got to the hotel and took naps. When we woke up it was because we were hungry and it was dinner time. We decided to walk around the area of our hotel, it’s not a very touristy area, but there are a LOT of U.S. service men staying in our hotel, haven’t yet found out why, assuming this is a connection point from one place to another for them. We walked about a mile one way, found nothing but cute homes and lots and lots of closed shops with barely any of them having English menus, the only places that seemed open were carry out pizza shops, and there was a ton of them. We headed back to the hotel, went to the restaurant there, got a cheese burger and pizza. Neither tasted quite like what we expected, but they took care of our hunger and that was all we needed.
We went back to the room, watched Russia vs Spain (Spain won 3 goals to 0) and then proceeded to pass out happily in the cool quiet room. Spain will now play Germany; I’m just not sure what day.
We have today and tomorrow in Heidelberg and then back to English speaking Britain!
A few things about Germany that surprise me:
Smoking, very very prevalent, for a society that is so health and earth conscious I am amazed at how many people smoke and that cigarette vending machines line almost every street corner.
Germany is very organized, unlike Paris or other parts of France, there is a way in which things are done, and you do them that way, not just anyway you feel like it.
English is pretty widely spoken and 1 out of 5 menus can be found in English.
German people are very helpful, again this might be in comparison to Parisians but we’ve had very good interactions, even in little cities and big ones with all the folks we have encountered in Germany.
The roads and driving is AWESOME; the highways don’t have a set speed limit, except in certain zones, where they reduce speeds due to intersections or heavy traffic. We saw a Ferrari come up to us on the highway yesterday and pass us like we weren’t even moving and we were going about 130kph. And it was all 100% legal. People don’t talk on cell phones and all pay attention while driving, and the system works. We tried to keep up with some fast moving traffic but our base level Peugeot didn’t have anything to offer in terms of go potential so we happily stayed with the pack of average speed traffic.
Dubbed TV in French or German is hilarious, really the only thing we’ve gotten in English since we’ve been gone from London (since June 11th) is CNN at any of the locations we’ve been at, so we’ve been watching lots of sports on mute when we’re having down time, and during channel flipping will find the likes of sponge bob, scrubs, grays anatomy or married with children on in German or French, it’s quite a hoot.
People in Europe seem to have no hang ups about personal space, not sure why, everyone who knows me knows I’m all about it, and the more the better :p A little uncomfortable when I’m used to that and here even random strangers have no qualms with getting up close and personal in lobbies of places, or on trains and such!
Chicken isn’t as widely eaten as in America, it seems like you can ALWAYS find chicken on the menu in the states, and here, it’s pretty rare, instead it’s liver, and rabbit, and duck… uh yeah, not good for a person who is not a fan of steak, and really doesn’t do seafood, and like mushy vegetables (the only veggies I really like are Indian Sabji’s and such).
Train Stations charge fees (have ranged from 50 eurocents to 1 euro) to use the restroom, it seems like a good way of keeping the riff raff out and making sure they stay in good shape. It’s bad when you drank too much, left your husband with the luggage, don’t have any money and have to travel up about 30 steps back to get some change!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Germany WINS!
Just a quick side note, while we're in Germany tonight was the football game between Turkey and Germany and Germany won, and the streets are alive with celebration! Very cool.
All this week we have seen tons and tons of people with German flags on their cars and such to support the team. It's not quite as crazy as Buckeye Fans, but it is just a little more orderly celebration.
Secretly i wanted Turkey to win cuz they were the underdogs.
Good night.
All this week we have seen tons and tons of people with German flags on their cars and such to support the team. It's not quite as crazy as Buckeye Fans, but it is just a little more orderly celebration.
Secretly i wanted Turkey to win cuz they were the underdogs.
Good night.
Wow... I can breathe again.
Not sure if anyone is reading this, or if we're just typing to ourselves ;)
It's been nice having the web since we're both able to blog and give our perspectives, tonight will be the lat night we have it till London.
Today was, as expected to be, an INSANE day. We took it easy in the morning, got our last bit of Euro $$$ traded into smaller bills (hence the pic); then we went got lunch (burger and chicken nuggets from a little local joint), then went to find the castle in the city that we see on top of the hill. For whatever reason the road that leads up to the castle is under construction; and it seems to be the ONLY way to get there. We ended up driving around in vain, and for parts of it ON A BIKE PATH! OOPS! haha. It was a rainy day and kind of a bummer because this is the day we had the track rental :(
After not finding the castle we had a date with the Nuburgring Ring Cam (aaron had told friends to look for him at a certain time on the web cam at the entry to the track). We stood there for about 20 minutes hoping someone would catch screen prints of us (thanks BEN!!!). We will upload those in our pic album later.
After that we went to the track rental location, filled out tons and tons and tons of paperwork; during this time the BMW we had rented was getting it's brakes bedded in, kind of funny coincidence since when Aaron proposed it was all about brakes as well, since we were bleeding them on the STi then... ok had to have a weird girly moment, over it :D
Got the car to the track, and the owner of the car gave us a ride around the track as an instructional session. I sat in the back, and I thought it was going to be a calm ride. HOLY MOLY was a WRONG! I had been feeling a lil sick to my stomach all day, and then getting the ultimate roller coaster ride around the track REALLY did me in. I felt like vomiting while in the car, and was just 100% miserable. There was very few people our driver didn't pass on the track, he's got 4000 laps around the track so sure, he knows it well and can drive it to the ultimate, but wow I didn't need that!
After that I was done, and 100% sure I wasn't going to ride with Aaron or drive myself around the track. I just wanted to be on the ground. I happily took pix of Aaron going around, he did four laps. I held my breathe waiting for him to come back from his first, but after that I knew he would be fine, and was having a blast! During his third I had a heart to hear with myself, and basically told my self to get over it and not pass up a chance of a lifetime. So i went and bought my self a ticket to do a lap. Put on my helmet and waited for Aaron to get back.
He rode along with me, and though I didn't go super fast I still was pretty scared. It was very intense and I noticed I was doing what could be considered "normal high way speeds" but just knowing how insane the track was scared me.
I am SO GLAD i did the lap. It was really an awesome 20 minutes (exaggeration, but you get my point). It's a 21 kilometer track, just HUGE.
We filled up the race car with gas, and returned it.
We got some food, and now are beyond exhausted.
Thankfully the days rain was gone by the time it was our turn on the track, and now we can both officially say we have driven the Nurburgring; a pretty cool accomplishment, even if I do say so myself. Thanks to everyone who peer pressured me before we left the States to make sure I did it, and didn't come back without having driven it.
:D
It's been nice having the web since we're both able to blog and give our perspectives, tonight will be the lat night we have it till London.
Today was, as expected to be, an INSANE day. We took it easy in the morning, got our last bit of Euro $$$ traded into smaller bills (hence the pic); then we went got lunch (burger and chicken nuggets from a little local joint), then went to find the castle in the city that we see on top of the hill. For whatever reason the road that leads up to the castle is under construction; and it seems to be the ONLY way to get there. We ended up driving around in vain, and for parts of it ON A BIKE PATH! OOPS! haha. It was a rainy day and kind of a bummer because this is the day we had the track rental :(
After not finding the castle we had a date with the Nuburgring Ring Cam (aaron had told friends to look for him at a certain time on the web cam at the entry to the track). We stood there for about 20 minutes hoping someone would catch screen prints of us (thanks BEN!!!). We will upload those in our pic album later.
After that we went to the track rental location, filled out tons and tons and tons of paperwork; during this time the BMW we had rented was getting it's brakes bedded in, kind of funny coincidence since when Aaron proposed it was all about brakes as well, since we were bleeding them on the STi then... ok had to have a weird girly moment, over it :D
Got the car to the track, and the owner of the car gave us a ride around the track as an instructional session. I sat in the back, and I thought it was going to be a calm ride. HOLY MOLY was a WRONG! I had been feeling a lil sick to my stomach all day, and then getting the ultimate roller coaster ride around the track REALLY did me in. I felt like vomiting while in the car, and was just 100% miserable. There was very few people our driver didn't pass on the track, he's got 4000 laps around the track so sure, he knows it well and can drive it to the ultimate, but wow I didn't need that!
After that I was done, and 100% sure I wasn't going to ride with Aaron or drive myself around the track. I just wanted to be on the ground. I happily took pix of Aaron going around, he did four laps. I held my breathe waiting for him to come back from his first, but after that I knew he would be fine, and was having a blast! During his third I had a heart to hear with myself, and basically told my self to get over it and not pass up a chance of a lifetime. So i went and bought my self a ticket to do a lap. Put on my helmet and waited for Aaron to get back.
He rode along with me, and though I didn't go super fast I still was pretty scared. It was very intense and I noticed I was doing what could be considered "normal high way speeds" but just knowing how insane the track was scared me.
I am SO GLAD i did the lap. It was really an awesome 20 minutes (exaggeration, but you get my point). It's a 21 kilometer track, just HUGE.
We filled up the race car with gas, and returned it.
We got some food, and now are beyond exhausted.
Thankfully the days rain was gone by the time it was our turn on the track, and now we can both officially say we have driven the Nurburgring; a pretty cool accomplishment, even if I do say so myself. Thanks to everyone who peer pressured me before we left the States to make sure I did it, and didn't come back without having driven it.
:D
4 laps...
I took a ride in a Golf with a guy who owns the rental. Simi rode in the back seat. We both were sick feeling as the guy, with over 4,000 laps experience waxed every car he could and drove holding a conversation, and occasionally double apexs with one hand on the wheel, one on the window, and looking over his shoulder at Simi in the back seat. The ride was INSANE. It made Simi REALLY sick feeling, a fear of death perhaps. I shook it off, and grabbed my 3 series, gutted, caged, race buckets, and 150 hp and headed out. The first lap was pretty scary, really. No video game does justice to bumps, or elevation changes. Gran Turismo taught me a lot about where to go, and what to look for, but the "ass-to-eye" coordination of feeling what the car is doing and looking around helps in leaps and bounds. The Bimmer handled fantastically well, and was perfectly setup for the course, but it was certainly lacking for power. I topped it out at 205km but it really ran out of steam about 180km. Maybe that's a good thing that I didn't go stupid fast, cause there are many turns in which you see seemingly fresh skidmarks that run a 90 degree angle to the Armco. Ouch.
First lap, felt the car out. Returned to the paddock, hands shaking, blood flowing, and a smile I couldn't hide. The 20km of one lap is about 10 minutes worth of tire squeal, and just insanity. I was driving the 'Ring. Second lap was a little better but on blind fast sweepers, I was still braking and loosing the precious momentum. 3rd lap was even quicker, and 4th lap was right after the 3rd. The car started to get really squishy on it's tires as I had a downhill on camber decreasing radius turn that was a nice heart pounding 4 wheel drift on greasy rubber. Slowed the driving a bit, let a GT3RS whoosh by and kept on going. Passed a Boxster, TT and surprizingly a handful of motorcycles. More bikes than cars at the circuit. I got waxed buy the previously mentioned GT3RS, a M3, a RS4, and many many bikes. The track only had 12-15 cars, and about 30 bikes as it was a rainy afternoon here, drying up around 5pm, and of course the billion people watching "football" Euro 2008. Germany vs. Turkey.
So, 4 laps down, and about 40 minutes of driving. Maybe less, but that's just wishful thinking. 10 minute laps are pretty fast, maybe quicker driven on a video game, but if you screw up, the reset button is easier to push. I returned on my 4th and final lap to find Simi with her helmet on and a smile and ticket ready to go. I didn't want to push her to drive, but she recovered from the roller coaster earlier, and I rode with her, telling here where to go faster and where to not. She did GREAT!
Returned the now bug splattered, tires feathered, brake dust sodden BMW, filled with gas, and with 6km over the 130km driving limit, which they waived, and shared some stories. Stopped at a local bar for pizza a stones throw from the entrance to the circuit. Simi found sign out front said "Pizza Ricer" so we laughed and went there. Great pizza as fans slowly arrived for giant mugs of beer to root on Germany. Now, typing this, in the hotel watching the game, and just thinking about those 4 laps. Just 4, but holy hell was it FRICKEN INCREDIBLE.
First lap, felt the car out. Returned to the paddock, hands shaking, blood flowing, and a smile I couldn't hide. The 20km of one lap is about 10 minutes worth of tire squeal, and just insanity. I was driving the 'Ring. Second lap was a little better but on blind fast sweepers, I was still braking and loosing the precious momentum. 3rd lap was even quicker, and 4th lap was right after the 3rd. The car started to get really squishy on it's tires as I had a downhill on camber decreasing radius turn that was a nice heart pounding 4 wheel drift on greasy rubber. Slowed the driving a bit, let a GT3RS whoosh by and kept on going. Passed a Boxster, TT and surprizingly a handful of motorcycles. More bikes than cars at the circuit. I got waxed buy the previously mentioned GT3RS, a M3, a RS4, and many many bikes. The track only had 12-15 cars, and about 30 bikes as it was a rainy afternoon here, drying up around 5pm, and of course the billion people watching "football" Euro 2008. Germany vs. Turkey.
So, 4 laps down, and about 40 minutes of driving. Maybe less, but that's just wishful thinking. 10 minute laps are pretty fast, maybe quicker driven on a video game, but if you screw up, the reset button is easier to push. I returned on my 4th and final lap to find Simi with her helmet on and a smile and ticket ready to go. I didn't want to push her to drive, but she recovered from the roller coaster earlier, and I rode with her, telling here where to go faster and where to not. She did GREAT!
Returned the now bug splattered, tires feathered, brake dust sodden BMW, filled with gas, and with 6km over the 130km driving limit, which they waived, and shared some stories. Stopped at a local bar for pizza a stones throw from the entrance to the circuit. Simi found sign out front said "Pizza Ricer" so we laughed and went there. Great pizza as fans slowly arrived for giant mugs of beer to root on Germany. Now, typing this, in the hotel watching the game, and just thinking about those 4 laps. Just 4, but holy hell was it FRICKEN INCREDIBLE.
June 25th, Nuburgring, Germany
So it's about 1:30 here and we're relaxing at the hotel (Hotel Blaue Ecke - Nürburgring) that we've spent the last 2 nights in. It's raining outside, and nice and peaceful.
Later today we have a "track car" booked for rental to take out on the track. We've spent Monday evening, and all day Tuesday here exploring the region, catching different parts of the track (it's a 21km track) and seeing all kinds of taped off, cars driving around the track without emblems on.
Today we get to do the same in a BMW 3series with a roll cage and all. Everyone on the track has to wear a helmet and such. I'm a little scared! I will probably only do one lap so Aaron who knows more and is a better driver can get more laps in during the limited time window of the track being open to the public today. He's done a billion laps of this track on Play Station, it's like a huge deal to swap from PS2 to Real Life. The track has massive amounts of elevation change and I'm excited but nervous and intimidated as well. We'll check with our track rental car people today about 4:30.
Otherwise this area is AWESOME! It's like Hocking Hills meets Mid Ohio, the roads even off the track are pretty crazy, all kinds of bikers out in full gear (no one is even remotely stupid enough to not ride without FULL gear) just having fun. But at the same time it's lush, has huge rolling hills, and cute little towns with shops and such. Very cool mixture. By far a few of the most relaxing days we have had, a good way to recharge before the last two weeks of our vacation are over (hehe most vacations are 2 weeks, yet we're just a little over half way to the end of ours!).
Last night we walked the local town Adenau which is where our hotel is located. Did some shopping and a lot of looking at cool memorabilia and the like. Every store no matter what it is, be it a bakery or a hardware store or a book store embraces the racing history of the area and has cars or bikes and such in it's storefronts. So very cool. There is less soccer stuff around here, even though Germany is in the top four of the Euro 2008. Tonight is that game, against Turkey, I expect all the beer houses will be packed!
We had dinner at a Chinese place night, Sweet and Sour Chicken (much better then the stuff we get, even at high end places), and Beef Chop Suey. The Chinese lady that owned that place spoke great English, and German and Chinese. Pretty cool. We were just happy the menu was in English! Even this restaurant had racing pictures up in it's lobby.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the region, we got to hang out in the paddock of the Ring, see some film crews covering a concept car, saw the 4 door Porsche that is being developed, an R8, all hanging out in the paddock, and then we later were lucky enough to also see them on the track! So neat. From there we went to the main track entrance, found the web cam that Aaron watches every once in a while, saw some guys waving to the camera, kind of like we plan to do today!!! They called friends and told them they were at the camera, we don't have the luxury of a phone, but we've scheduled some time with some friends, so we'll do what we can. We had lunch at the Green Hell Restaurant, and watched more cars. After that we came back to the hotel, napped, and then took our walk around Adenau.
It's really HOT in Europe compared to what we thought, and everyone who is local is like What the Heck is going on! It's hard for us to sleep since there is no air or fans, since this is not normal. The only other thing that makes it hard to sleep here in Adenau is the church bell that is next to our hotel, it's crazy, it not only rings every hour on the hour, but at noon and midnight it rings about a hundred times, Aaron counted 247 rings at midnight the first night, I thought he was kidding (i slept through) but then I heard it last night, lol.
Otherwise that about catches everyone up on whats been going on with us.
Tomorrow after the track time tonight we'll sleep in (not too late, we have to wake up early enough to get some AWESOME breakfast from the Hotel buffet, it's GREAT!) and then pack our selves up and head to Heidelberg. There we'll be without net, but we have 2 days, Friday and Saturday to explore as much as we can. After that Sunday is basically a travel day, we are taking the high speed train from Germany to Paris, and then from Paris to London.
We'll have web access in London, we'll spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in London and then head to Oxford on Thursday for the British Grand Prix . . . the last hurrah before we're back to the States.
Eek, winding down. All our pics thus far are uploaded: Link in Aarons post below.
Well off to find some lunch and prepare for the track, the rain seems to be clearing out. Yay!
Later today we have a "track car" booked for rental to take out on the track. We've spent Monday evening, and all day Tuesday here exploring the region, catching different parts of the track (it's a 21km track) and seeing all kinds of taped off, cars driving around the track without emblems on.
Today we get to do the same in a BMW 3series with a roll cage and all. Everyone on the track has to wear a helmet and such. I'm a little scared! I will probably only do one lap so Aaron who knows more and is a better driver can get more laps in during the limited time window of the track being open to the public today. He's done a billion laps of this track on Play Station, it's like a huge deal to swap from PS2 to Real Life. The track has massive amounts of elevation change and I'm excited but nervous and intimidated as well. We'll check with our track rental car people today about 4:30.
Otherwise this area is AWESOME! It's like Hocking Hills meets Mid Ohio, the roads even off the track are pretty crazy, all kinds of bikers out in full gear (no one is even remotely stupid enough to not ride without FULL gear) just having fun. But at the same time it's lush, has huge rolling hills, and cute little towns with shops and such. Very cool mixture. By far a few of the most relaxing days we have had, a good way to recharge before the last two weeks of our vacation are over (hehe most vacations are 2 weeks, yet we're just a little over half way to the end of ours!).
Last night we walked the local town Adenau which is where our hotel is located. Did some shopping and a lot of looking at cool memorabilia and the like. Every store no matter what it is, be it a bakery or a hardware store or a book store embraces the racing history of the area and has cars or bikes and such in it's storefronts. So very cool. There is less soccer stuff around here, even though Germany is in the top four of the Euro 2008. Tonight is that game, against Turkey, I expect all the beer houses will be packed!
We had dinner at a Chinese place night, Sweet and Sour Chicken (much better then the stuff we get, even at high end places), and Beef Chop Suey. The Chinese lady that owned that place spoke great English, and German and Chinese. Pretty cool. We were just happy the menu was in English! Even this restaurant had racing pictures up in it's lobby.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the region, we got to hang out in the paddock of the Ring, see some film crews covering a concept car, saw the 4 door Porsche that is being developed, an R8, all hanging out in the paddock, and then we later were lucky enough to also see them on the track! So neat. From there we went to the main track entrance, found the web cam that Aaron watches every once in a while, saw some guys waving to the camera, kind of like we plan to do today!!! They called friends and told them they were at the camera, we don't have the luxury of a phone, but we've scheduled some time with some friends, so we'll do what we can. We had lunch at the Green Hell Restaurant, and watched more cars. After that we came back to the hotel, napped, and then took our walk around Adenau.
It's really HOT in Europe compared to what we thought, and everyone who is local is like What the Heck is going on! It's hard for us to sleep since there is no air or fans, since this is not normal. The only other thing that makes it hard to sleep here in Adenau is the church bell that is next to our hotel, it's crazy, it not only rings every hour on the hour, but at noon and midnight it rings about a hundred times, Aaron counted 247 rings at midnight the first night, I thought he was kidding (i slept through) but then I heard it last night, lol.
Otherwise that about catches everyone up on whats been going on with us.
Tomorrow after the track time tonight we'll sleep in (not too late, we have to wake up early enough to get some AWESOME breakfast from the Hotel buffet, it's GREAT!) and then pack our selves up and head to Heidelberg. There we'll be without net, but we have 2 days, Friday and Saturday to explore as much as we can. After that Sunday is basically a travel day, we are taking the high speed train from Germany to Paris, and then from Paris to London.
We'll have web access in London, we'll spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in London and then head to Oxford on Thursday for the British Grand Prix . . . the last hurrah before we're back to the States.
Eek, winding down. All our pics thus far are uploaded: Link in Aarons post below.
Well off to find some lunch and prepare for the track, the rain seems to be clearing out. Yay!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
PICTURES!!!
Click here for LOTS of pictures. We are uploading more groups of pictures daily.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Simi.Ritch
Thanks!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Simi.Ritch
Thanks!
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