From Europe, with Love
The first week of our European adventure has been one of adjustment and exploration. A family has been reunited; castles, explored; winter clothes, bought. We’re still working out the kinks, but we are well and truly underway!
The fact that we will be gone for at least a year had not quite sunk in - not even when my mum and her partner dropped us off at Perth International Airport, weighed down with our luggage. So much has stopped us up to this point that it seemed rash to assume it would all work out, even walking the terminal with tickets in our front pockets. We checked in, reluctantly paid the overweight baggage fees, and took an exhausting flight to Frankfurt, Germany, with a layover in Doha - a layover spent promenading through the collosal airport, with its gleaming, modern architecture; extensive, lush gardens; and enormous sculptures. It even had a sleek, glass-and-metal tram, which shuttled passengers from one side to the other! The first flight was eleven hours of movies, reading, attempted sleep and, in Alessandra’s case, a whole lot of throwing up; the second, six more hours of the same (albeit vomit-free). Alessandra brought a colourful array of snacks for the flight, and mealtime was the most exciting part of the journey. In the spirit of Halloween (for it was the 31st when we left), I watched a few B-grade horror flicks and zombie movies - and Casper, which I hadn’t seen since I was a kid, and thoroughly enjoyed.
It’s Europe, baby!
We were picked up in Frankfurt by Gritt (Alessandra’s mum), who greeted us with a big, round, helium balloon. She drove us to her home near Koblenz, an hour out of Frankfurt, and I drank in the rich greens, oranges, yellows and reds of the old forests that flanked either side of the Autobahn, vivid against the cool grays of the overcast afternoon. When we arrived, we surprised Leonie - Alessandra’s sister - who had no idea we were coming. Leonie lives with her son, Mateo, at Gritt’s cosy apartment, along with their two cats - a little white fluffball named Tallulah; and a hairless sphynx, appropriately called Dobby. Shortly after we arrived, Leonie left to pick up Mateo from kindergarten, who, after the initial delight and surprise of meeting us for the first time, enthusiastically gave us the grand tour of his room and toy collection. We had survived the day with minimal sleep, and, after a simple German dinner of cold meats, cheeses and thinly-sliced brown bread, we collapsed gratefully into our bed.
It’s snuggle time.
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Remarkably, we managed to more or less sleep through the night - though our bodies woke us at 2:30am and tried to convince us to go about our daily business. After a hearty breakfast, we went to a nearby fort, where we were introduced to Gritt’s boyfriend, Georg (pronounced Gee-yock). Together, we wandered through the courtyard, as Georg told us about the three rivers that intermingled through Koblenz. The fort itself - one of many castles and forts scattered about the hills and forests of the valley - plays host to many seasonal events and concerts; and I imagined the smoke, multicoloured lights and panoply of sounds in a place that holds so many secrets, and rests on so much history. We wandered through the halls, viewing artifacts of weaving and winemaking; of war and nobility.
When we were quite satisfied, and our feet began to protest, we took a cable car to the bottom of the valley, over the river Rhine, to have lunch by the water. The rest of the day was a battle to conserve energy and last until we could go to bed, which took the form of a Mario Kart tournament back home.
The cable car above the Rhine
The 2nd of November began with a slow morning of hot drinks, warm blankets and writing. At midday, we walked to the local grocery superstore, where Leonie helped us to get a lay of the land. I began to pick up on a smattering of German - but not nearly enough to navigate a conversation with a real, flesh-and-blood human - so I simply kept my ears pricked and tried to tune in to snatches of the conversations that swirled around me as we walked the aisles.
Ten minutes after arriving back and we were off again, catching a train into the city center. The goal was to find a nice, warm winter jacket, and though we didn’t find anything we liked, we stocked up on a few jumpers to fend off the cold.
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By the time Friday rolled around, I was properly sick, having felt the tickle in the back of my throat percolating since we first stepped out of the plane. I spent much of the day wrapped in a fluffy blanket with a cup of hot cough medicine, while Alessandra worked through the frustrating process of securing eSIMs for us to use in Europe. Thank goodness for her - if I had to navigate all the German websites to figure out a phone plan alone, I’d have been done for.
When it hit mid-afternoon, we were all a little stir-crazy, so we bundled up in cold weather gear to walk along the waterfront near the house. It was a picturesque place to walk: classical German houses lining the far bank, with woods and castles interspersed about the surrounding hills. Though I definitely needed the fresh air, I was entirely wiped out by the end of it, and confined myself to the bedroom for the rest of the evening. It may have seemed a miserable scene, but there’s something soothing about taking care of oneself, and I took comfort in shuffling about, watching nonsense on Youtube and cradling a steaming mug in my hands until it was time to sleep.
The walk by the riverbank
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A shopping day awaited us in the morning, beginning with fresh bread and pastries from the bakery down the road. Once dressed and ready, we all piled into the car to resume our hunt for the perfect cold-weather jacket. This time: success! We found a little boutique store, chock full of fantastic clothes, where Alessandra and I both picked out some excellent winter coats. We ambled about town, grabbing a huge lunch at a German pub along the way, until we grew too tired to continue.
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Sunday began with a scene out of a horror film. Alessandra and I were in bed, beginning the process of waking up when, suddenly, the padding of little feet came to a stop on the other side of the bedroom door. Loud breathing. The door, latched shut, creaked open a fraction. Then, humming - friendly enough, at first; then, increasingly, aggressive and demanding. Didn’t think humming could be aggressive? Think again.
Silence descended once more. We held our breath. Knock, knock. A pause.
Knock, knock. Louder, more insistent this time.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Finally, after a long pause that seemed to go on forever, the shuffling of footsteps, fading into the distance. We breathed out. We were safe. Mateo had given up.
After another slow morning, Gritt and Georg took Alessandra and I to Marksburg Castle. At eight hundred years old, it was the oldest intact castle in the area, and retained many of its relics. We spent an hour there, touring the forge, dining room, stable, and master bedroom. We were shown an array of artifacts and equipment from the old fortress: torture equipment, halberds, cannons, tapestries, sets of armour and more. It was quite wonderful to see all these things without the glass and barricades typical of many museums.
Best view in the whole castle.
From there, we drove onto the ferry, to be taken to the other side of the river. We arrived at an old part of town, clustered with beautiful old buildings and churches. We took a late lunch, then walked it off along the riverbank. Lamp posts lined the path, which was strewn and scattered with yellow leaves. Despite the biting cold, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the place.
Warm and cool
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The final day of our first week in Europe, Alessandra and I took time to do a few jobs that had been sitting on our list since arriving, which carried us through to the late afternoon. We had planned to meet Gritt in the city to get some ski gear, so off we went, trying to get there. I say ‘trying,’ because we missed our train, then walked to a bus stop that was spectacularly unhelpful at telling us which bus we needed to catch. Next, we went to the train station and waited for the next train, which was supposed to come in twenty-five minutes, and instead arrived in closer to forty. On top of that, the stop we wanted to get off at had been blocked off due to construction, so we ended up getting out at the stop before and walking fifteen minutes to reach our destination.
We were very late in meeting Gritt, but we still had an hour until the shops closed - an hour which we used well, rushing from shop to shop and making snap decisions about what to get and where to go. By the time we arrived home, it was well past 8:00pm, and we were exhausted, but content.
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That sums up the first whirlwind week on the second chapter of our Road 2 Grow. So much has happened, all tightly-packed together, so that it is quite the ordeal trying to tell the whole story. I expect it will be even trickier to pull out what we have learned this week, but let’s give it a try - starting with the common sense stuff:
If you’re going to do a lot of walking, make sure you have good shoes.
If you’re going somewhere cold, make sure you have good, warm clothes.
The quickest way to pass through jetlag unscathed is to resist the urge to nap and eat at the proper meal times. Simple - but not easy.
When you can’t speak the language, listen.
Time with family is always quality time, if you allow it to be.
Beautiful walks, fresh bread and good cheese are but a few of the things that make Europe magical.
If you don’t know the place, don’t create plans that hinge on public transport.
