March Wrap-Up - Germany 1 and Signs

March - A very busy month that started with my birthday on Thursday the 2nd. 

On the way to work I bought a cheesecake to share with my colleagues at tea-time.

 

As Jose arrived late from work we decided to ditch our earlier plans and had a simple dinner at Mid-Week Eats - an end of Summer event organized by the City of Canning (our local council) where once a week we get themed food trucks, live music and entertainment at the local Riverton Reserve. This time it was "Latin Fiesta", with Mexican musicians and Brazilian Samba dancers.

South African Chicken Curry, Samoosas, and French Crepes with Ice-cream

Friday 3rd March - I had a "Community Harvest " event in my calendar and decided to join my neighbourhood friends for just a couple of hours to make Tomato passata. Around midday I returned home to finish packing my suitcase and rest.

After dinner we relaxed a bit, and at 10pm Jose drove me to the airport for my 1,10AM flight to Singapore on the Saturday 4th.

I managed to have a nap during the 5 hour flight, then watched a 2022 movie - Sam & Kate.

The romantic/drama movie has 4 lead characters played by Dustin Hoffman and his real-life son Jake Hoffman and Sissy Spacek and her real-life daughter Schuyler Fisk. An enjoyable movie and nice story.

I landed in Singapore at 6,20AM, and I had about 4 hours before my next flight, which was in the same Terminal, so I visited the Butterfly Garden, took photos of art around the terminal, then read a little bit before being allowed to go into the departure lounge.

Butterfly Garden

The Louis Vuitton shop entry always has the nicest displays

My flight to Frankfurt took off at 10,55AM, and with a 12 hour flight I had plenty of time to binge-watch all the latest movies available!

"Alice, Darling" with Anna Kendrick - a drama about coercive control in a couple's relationship.

Another 2022 movie - "The Banshees of Inisherin" - despite the Oscar nominations and the well-known actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, I found this film quite dark, slow and strange story. I'm no movie buff, so it's just my taste!

"Mrs Harris goes to Paris" was another delightful movie from 2022 - and I loved the old-fashioned fairy-tale story.

I re-watched "Hope Springs" a 2012 movie with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones - I had already seen it a few years ago but enjoyed seeing it again.

Just over 12 hours later I landed at Frankfurt airport at 6,35pm (local time) - still the same day as they were 7 hours behind.  Luckily daughter Karina was at Frankfurt airport with a nice warm jacket, gloves and bonnet, as it was 4C when we landed!

We caught the train to Cologne station (about 1 h) where she'd left her car and then we drove to her house in Bruhl (20min away).

When we arrived home, her parents in law, who had driven from Marseille the day before were also there to welcome me, then we sat down for a very late dinner at about 10pm!!

Sunday 5th - After lunch, Karina, Thomas, me and the in-laws visited Linz am Rhein, a small village by the Rhein River, about 50min drive from Bruhl. The town is home to about 6000 people and is very popular with tourists because of its colourful half-timbered houses, some of them from the 16th Century.

Evangelical Church

Various half-timbered houses

Various statues in Linz Am Rhein

At the top of the village is the Catholic St Martins Church, built in the 13th century in early Gothic style with beautiful murals on the walls.

Next to the church is the Tilmann Joel Park, named after 15th century local legal scholar, diplomat and provost of St Florin Church in Koblenz. In the park also used as a cemetery, there are gravestones from 5 centuries.

We finished our visit with coffee at a local Cafe and returned home for dinner. 

St Martins Church

Tillman Joel Park - cemetery and nice views over the town

 

Monday 6th - Thomas's parents and I drove to Bad Münstereifel, about 30km from Bruhl. 

It's an historic spa town circled by the original 13th century fortifications with the River Erft running through its centre. 

The red Rathaus (Town Hall) completed in 1476 with the oldest parts from the 14th century.

The 13th century city walls are in their original condition and almost surround the city, with a couple of gates - Orchheimer Tor, being the one we used to walk through into the town's centre (bottom right).

Various gates in the old city walls

The old city walls and the Toll House next to Orchheimer Tor

Various typical houses - the yellow building (top left) is a school.

The St. Chrysanthus & Daria Church is the oldest building in town, rebuilt in 1100 on the site of a monestery of 830. It's architecture was inspired by the St Pantaleon Church in Cologne. Sadly it was closed, so couldn't see inside.

The St Donatus, Jesuit Church, was a simple building with nice vaulted ceilings.

The Hürten-Museum was inaugurated in 1912, based on a Romanesque House, and exhibits a dining room from the imperial era, early weapons, works of art from the Middle Ages, a 17th century altar...

The Hurten Museum

We climbed to the top of the village where we found the castle (Burg Bad Münstereifel), which was badly damaged by the troops of Kings Louis XIV of France in 1689. It is now privately owned and consists of several apartments and a restaurant. There is a nice view from the area over the town.

The former castle and views from above

Towards the end of our visit, when I saw some photos on the windows of a shop, I realized this was one of the villages that was heavily damaged during the July 2021 floods that devastated areas of Germany and Belgium. There were still a lot of road works, but the buildings looked as good as new.

The River Erft in the city centre - now and photo below during the floods

(Photo from the net taken during the floods in July 2021) - Same area photo above

We ended our visit with a visit to a very cosy coffee shop where we bought a variety of the local cakes to take home.

Various Printen cakes

Different post boxes seen in Bad Munstereifel, a street library, Easter bunny above a shop, and Jewish candelabra (Menorah) street monument.

Also joining Tom for his Signs meme - please check this link for signs from around the world.