We survived the heatwave! I don’t think we’ve ever sweat so much…
As the heatwave approached, Jeff and I split ways with Jeff flying to Munich for a work project and me training to Paris to meet up with my brother and his fiancé. Brian and Amanda were on a European tour with Brian’s choir. They started their trip in Belgium, singing at different events before ending with a concert in Paris, which I was lucky enough to attend.
On Tuesday, I began my first solo international trip to Paris. I arrived in Paris with a few hours to kill before Brian and Amanda showed up. I made my way towards the hotel, dripping in the humidity and 90+ weather and stopping for a sandwich and lukewarm water at a local café. After finishing my sandwich, I walked a few more blocks to the Parc de Bercy (local park) to find some shade and read my book while waiting for the tour bus to arrive. The Parc de Bercy was huge and beautiful! There were several gardens (roses, veggies, fountains, flowers) separated by walking paths and full of pergolas. It was the perfect place to relax in the shade and read.
When Brian and Amanda arrived, we said a quick hello before Brian scurried off to his last choir rehearsal in preparation for the big performance later that evening. While he was off singing, Amanda and I wandered the town and found shade, snacks and wine at a little café before making our way to the concert.
The concert was beautiful! There was one other choir from Alaska who performed first, followed by Brian’s crew. The Boise choir performed several pieces including two very unique songs, “Flanders Fields” and “And None Shall Be Afraid”, both of which Brian’s choir director (who was on the trip) composed and directed, making the concert even more special. Following the concert, we made our way to a tasty restaurant down the street from the church and enjoyed dinner with the singers.
On Wednesday, I met Brian and Amanda at the Louvre Museum. We spent a good portion of the day meandering through the art, admiring the Mona Lisa as well as the Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and Liberty Leading the People (man, that place is huge!).
We followed the museum with a sweaty walk to lunch before stopping at Sainte-Chapelle (a stunning royal chapel with magnificent floor to ceiling stained-glass windows). We continued our walk to the distinguished Notre-Dame and admired the cathedral from behind the barriers. It was surreal seeing the soot-covered windows and scaffolding surrounding this legendary cathedral, but it’s nice to see the refurbishment in progress.
By this time, we needed a break from the heat, so we made our way back to the hotel for a quick cool down. Shortly after we returned, we went back out in the heat and hopped on the tour bus which took us to a Seine canal cruise. The cruise was hot and humid, but still fun! We followed the cruise with a ride through the circle of death (better known as the Arc de Triomphe) and dinner at a local restaurant. The Arc de Triomphe is huge and beautiful, but man the traffic is crazy! The arc is set in a free-for-all roundabout where there are no lanes and everyone just goes. The tour guide informed us that if you get in a wreck while in the roundabout, you assume 50/50 damage and move on because there is definitely no room for you to stop. Thankfully we didn’t experience that!
Thursday we were on our own as the choir tour officially ended Wednesday evening. We started the morning with a ride on the metro, making our way to the beautiful Sacré-Cœur Basilica. There, we enjoyed a nice morning workout consisting of several staircases, with a spectacular reward at the end, a beautiful bird’s eye view of the city. We enjoyed a stroll around the basilica before making our way back to the metro in search of Monet’s water lilies. We found a grand collection of Monet’s work at the Musée Marmottan Monet as well as the exhibit "The Orient of painters, from dream to light".
We left the museum and enjoyed lunch at Galeries Lafayette while admiring its beautiful dome and the scenic view of the city. Then, with just a few more hours left in Paris, and one last thing on our To Do list, we commenced our hunt for beignets. Thanks to google maps, we found a promising lead, and embraced the heat while wandering through the streets and alcoves to our destination. We finally arrived at the beignet shop and soon learned that the notorious “French beignets” in New Orleans aren’t really a thing in Paris… in fact “beignet” simply means donut… so, we had found ourselves a donut shop. Luckily it was a delicious donut shop with a very friendly shop owner so we didn’t mind the mix-up (salted caramel donut anyone?). And with that, we ended our three days in Paris. We made our way back to the hotel, picked up our bags and took an unforgettable, insanely hot and sweaty metro ride to the main train station before heading back to Düsseldorf.
We had an incredible day on Friday with an adventure to Burg Eltz castle. We caught the train to the quiet little town of Moselkern, passing vineyard after vineyard (grape vines were everywhere along the steep mountain edge! Wherever a plant could fit, it was there). We arrived at the Moselkern station without a soul in sight. Some information on the website said we could take a taxi to the castle, but I’m not sure where you would find one! Thankfully we were already planning to hike to the castle, so we didn't need to figure out the taxi. It was a beautiful hike, that ended with a magnificent view of the castle buried in the forest. We took a tour of the castle, broadening our horizons about the middle ages and life before modern technology, before indulging in some “currywurst mit pommes”. After lunch, we made our way back down the hillside and waited for our train to arrive. As we made our way back to Koblenz (where the main train station was), we hopped off in a small town in search of a winery. And boy did we find one! Not only was the wine amazing, but the cheese and meat board was exquisite and the outdoor patio, covered with vines and housing locals was dreamlike. Thank you Antoniushof Winery and Toni Reif!
Thankfully Jeff made it back to town and was able to join in the weekend fun! On Saturday, we spent the day adventuring to Bonn and Schloss Drachenburg. On our way to the castle, we stopped for some “eiskaffe” thinking it was “iced coffee" but really it was “ice cream coffee”... imagine a root beer float except replace the root beer with coffee… pretty tasty if you ask me, but a little rich for a morning beverage. As we continued our adventure to Königswinter and the castle, we stopped for lunch before taking the adorable Drachenfelsbahn up the mountain. We enjoyed the view of the valley from above before catching the train partially down the mountain to our main destination, Schloss Drachenburg. Once there, we enjoyed wandering through the castle, climbing the castle tower and admiring the views of the city. Even though this castle was more modern than some we’ve seen, I still can’t imagine living in it!
Following our castle excursion, we made our way back to Bonn and were disappointed to find both Beethoven’s house/museum and the Bonn Münster (one of Germany’s oldest churches) closed for renovations. A bit of a bummer, but we settled for admiring the outsides of both and snapped a few photos of the Beethoven statue instead.
We finished our time in Bonn with drinks at Brauhaus Bönnsch before heading back to Düsseldorf to watch Germany face Sweden in the women’s world cup at the outdoor tavern near the Rhine. On our way, we stopped by the secret window for a quick shot of Düsseldorf’s Killepitsch (a must if you visit) and a quick tour of Altstadt. We spent the rest of the evening by the Rhine watching the game with the locals and later transferring to one of our favorite German breweries for dinner.
We spent Sunday in Düsseldorf, wandering through Altstadt, the Hofgarten and the Fish Market. We enjoyed fresh salmon sandwiches and giant pickles (garlic and mustard flavored this time!) from the market and bought some fresh meat and cheese for our new charcuterie board. We spent a nice portion of the afternoon relaxing in front of the fan and eating ice cream while trying to cool down (thanks to the heatwave that was still roasting us like chickens). By late afternoon, it had cooled off a few degrees, making it somewhat bearable to go out. So, we popped open our drinks and took a stroll to the Rhine. We sat on the wall, enjoying the warm breeze and good company before heading back home for dinner and games.
On Monday, we took one last day trip to Cologne. We visited the Cologne Cathedral, saw the Roman Ruins, walked the old Roman roadway, admired the thousands of locks on the Hohenzollern Bridge, stopped at a local shop for brats in a bun, experienced Kölsch beer at a true beer garden and enjoyed the cooler weather that had finally arrived!
Once back in Düsseldorf, we took another stroll through Altstadt and Königsallee before stopping by the local chocolate shop where we spoiled ourselves with the BEST chocolate frappes. Just imagine pure hot chocolate as a cold, refreshing, blended beverage and you’re getting close to how amazing these drinks were... Jeff and I will definitely be going back!
With our bellies full and taste buds satisfied, we made our way back to the apartment to pack and relax before dinner. As one last hurrah (and because the weather had finally cooled), we decided to make our way to Schwann (another favorite German restaurant) for dinner. There we sat on the patio, enjoying our last meal together while reminiscing about the trip as well as our soon to be reunion in Boise for Brian and Amanda’s wedding (one month!). And finally, on our short walk home, we stopped by the Trinkhalle and took one last shot of Killepitsch, prosting to a very hot but amazing trip!
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