London Calling

Saturday saw more inclement weather which was really unfortunate since Kirsten was training for the London marathon and had to run 6 miles. After a rather large breakfast (this is actually a theme for the weekend) and some time to digest, Kirsten set off on her run. Upon her return we went into Dusseldorf to see the sights, despite the weather. With Fabian as our tour guide we wandered around the streets and ended up at an outdoor market. In an effort to get out of the rain we settled in for a lunch of spinach and potato stew with sliced frankfurter and a thick pea soup with ...sliced frankfurter on top. This was of course washed down with the local Dussledorf brew, a dark and hoppy concoction that warmed the body on a crappy weather day. We checked out the Rhein and then headed back for the comfort of the house. We settled in and decorated a few eggs, 5 dozen!, and played some table tennis (I let her win, really I did...twice). The Germans have a very cool product for decorating eggs which involves placing a small amount of dye in a gloved hand and rolling the egg around to create swirls and speckles, sure beats dropping in dye and letting sit. That evening we decided to take in some local cuisine in Dusseldorf. We went to one of the finest sushi places in the city. Apparently Dusseldorf has a business cooperative with Japan, in general this means nothing but that it provided us a chance to get some real nice sushi in Dusseldorf. The young 'uns in the group finished off the evening at a Köln Brauhaus, but the Alt beer was good so it made it ok that we were drinking the rival city's beer in Dusseldorf.

Sunday, ah Easter Sunday, [insert your own personal thought here on Easter]. The day saw us wake to a sumptuous breakfast spread, the focus of which was of course Easter eggs. Since we're adults we skipped the hunt and moved right into the cracking and consuming. There's nothing like a hard boiled egg with spicy mustard and/or horseradish, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Towards the end of breakfast it felt like a scene right out of Cool Hand Luke. Whereas my natural inclination was to sit around and let all the blood in my body go to my belly to digest, somebody had to train for the marathon. Because I am a dutiful husband and we guilted Gereon into showing us a route (we were on bikes), there were three who embarked on a 10 mile tour, a 10 mile tour...The run/ride took us into the woods of Neuss, out along the Rhein with Dusseldorf across the way, over the wrong side of the tracks and back to Neuss finishing back at the house having traversed 10.01 miles - Gereon must have an odometer in his head! Shortly after we got back the rain/sleet/hail started again. We feasted on a lunch of venison roast, kartofel kanoodle, red cabbage and some apple thing (clearly our German is exemplary). Rather than sit around and waste what was the best weather so far the kids all hopped in the car and went to Köln. As Gereon is at uni there he would serve as our tour guide. In addition to wandering the streets we climbed the steps to the impressive and sky line dominating Köln cathedral. As with many of the sights in various cities we go check out this was under construction so our view included the finest German scaffolding around. Just as it started to hail (!) we tucked into one of the oldest brauhaus' for some of the local Alt beer and snacky-poos. Aside from shattering a glass on the floor (and leaving Gereon to apologise for the silly American) it was like stepping back in time to a smoke filled room with long tables of patrons talking loudly and eating ridiculous plates of meats. Saying our goodbyes to Köln we piled back in the car for the hour long ride back to Neuss...and what should we do when we get back? Have dinner of course. I weighed myself after the 3 1/2 days in Germany and realised I had put on about 10 pounds, thank goodness Kirsten is running for the two of us.

Since Monday was also a holiday we had a leisurely day before our flight back to London. We got in a few final games of ping pong, had a swim in the indoor pool and finished off some of the leftover eggs and other lunch bits from the previous days. All in all it was a fantastic trip, quite different from our normal frenetic sight seeing pace. I'm pretty sure we'll go back, once our stomachs return to a normal size.

Updates on our Italy trip and Kirsten's marathon to follow in a few days...