Europe 2013, blog 2/3

After a few days in the Düsseldorf area, we drove to the Hochtaunus region north of Frankfurt. We picked a rural spot to stay and explore that was close enough to Bad Nauheim (where Thorsten lives) and Frankfurt for Markus and Paddy.

August 19

Ahrweiler

We left Cora in the morning and on our way to our next stop in Usingen we passed Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, where we used to spend one or two weekends a year. We spontaneously decided to re-visit the old centre of Ahrweiler. Unfortunately our friend Irmgard wasn’t in town, but it was great to see it all again!

Hochtaunus

In the Hochtaunus region in the German state of Hesse, we rented apartment Ludwig in the small village of Usingen-Wernborn. It is a beautiful rural area and our base to be a tourist during the day and meet up with friends in the area in the evenings. That evening we drove over small, scenic roads to Bad Nauheim to meet with Thorsten.

August 20

Usingen, Bad Nauheim

We spent some time in Usingen and relaxed at the apartment. It’s comfortable and spacious! In the evening we drove to Bad Nauheim again to Thorsten’s place. His girlfriend Monika had a migraine and unfortunately couldn’t join us for supper at restaurant Pfälzer Hof. They had a nice outside patio. Great!

August 21

Usingen, Taunus, Bad Nauheim

Today we got to cruise around in the area. It is gorgeous: rolling hills, small towns, farmland, forest. So peaceful! We went geocaching in Usingen and Brombach. Near Usingen-Eschbach we found a really nice feature, cliffs that seem to be sticking out of the ground twelve meters high, seemingly out of nowhere! It turns out that the Eschbacher Cliffs are a part of a (mostly hidden) quartz passage that is 6 km long, formed along a fault during the formation of the mountain range. It is a popular spot for climbers. Unfortunately there weren’t any when we were there.

We drove through small towns and over rolling hills to the Grosser (Big) Feldberg, the highest point in the Hochtaunus.

The scenery reminded me of Luxembourg a lot. This really felt like being on vacation! In the evening we went to Bad Nauheim again, to not only get together with Thorsten, but also Markus and Lena this time, at a Bavarian restaurant. Nice!

August 22

Frankfurt

It was almost a shame to leave our rural surroundings behind for a city! But Paddy took the day off to spend time with us, so we went to the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main to meet up with him (and Steffi at the end of the day). He took us up in the Main Tower, a 200 m (656 ft) high skyscraper with viewing platforms on top. What a view!

From there we walked through the Altstadt, had a drink on a patio on one of the old squares. We went to a shopping mall where we found an Ecco store, our favourite shoe brand. Always high on our wish list, since it’s a Danish brand and they are more expensive in Canada than here in Europe. Of course the Römerberg was next, the famous, picturesque square with the medieval buildings like the Römer, Frankfurt’s city hall. We continued our walk to the Main river and the Eiserner Steg (Iron Bridge), also known as the Love Lock Bridge for its thousands of lover’s locks attached to them. A colourful bunch!

At the end of the day Steffi joined us for a supper at the Greek restaurant Waldcafe Dionysos.