Wonderful May

My apologies, I have been neglecting this blog for the past month as we have been busy. I will prove it with pictures!

So let me recap what has been happening:

My mom came to visit for most of May. We had a great time visiting castles, riding bikes, and eating well. It was also important that my mom was able to spend time with Arianne, and she got to see my daughter transition to being able to sit up unsupported. 

At the BUGA garden show, Koblenz

We took the train to Koblenz and saw the national German garden show. It was situated in a hilltop fort overlooking the city of Koblenz. We took a big gondola over the river to get up to the fort. Here's the view of the Rhine and the Deutsches Eck. 

Overlooking the Rhine at Koblenz

The Deutsches Eck is of some cultural significance, having been bombed to smithereens during one of the wars. Its rebuilding was a symbol of German resilience. It is a truly enormous statue. What's more is that the bas-relief carvings that decorate the base and surrounding monuments look like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark: Immense snakes and stylized skulls give the place a sinister feel, even on a sunny day.





The Deutsches Eck ("German Point") where the Rhine and Moiselle rivers meet



 

Allie climbs all the way to the top of Europe!

One outing we all did was to take the ferry across the river to Koningswinter to see the Drachenfells castle. I can see it every day just by looking out the window, so I had been wanting to go there for some time. As advertised, it is a real mess.


At the Drachenfells castle ruins

There's a train that engages cogs between the rails to climb up the mountain. This mini-railway has been there since 1882.  

The Drachenfels Zug

  And here's the Drachenburg Palace, which isn't very old at all.

The Drachenburg Schloss

Also Christine's pal from Brussels came to visit last week and we had fun playing Parcheesi. No pictures of that, but it was great to hang out with her.

In other news, I submitted an abstract to a conference to be held in Finland at the end of August. I learned a couple of weeks ago that it was accepted. So it looks like we will be off to Turku! Good thing my research project is going well. Otherwise it would be an uncomfortable presentation ("And this slide show where my results would go...if I had some.").

My German course is going well and will wrap up in a couple of weeks. It has been a bit of a slog, and I am not used to not being able to understand a single thing, but I am getting there and am more comfortable saying simple sentences. The half-dozen of us who have stuck it out are friendly and the class has a good sense of camaraderie.

That's all for now.