Irrel Wasserfalle

So much more than expected.

The Irrel Wasserfalle was amazing, though the waterfall it is not what I expected. The "waterfall" is more rapids than waterfall. There is a sign, in German of course, explaining why it was classified a waterfall.  For now, it is still a mystery.

The trip itself exceeded my expectations. There is a paved trail that follows the coarse of the rapids that leads to a bridge. Once over the bridge, you can continue on paved roads, or walk a trail through the woods, up stone stairs and into the forest. It feels wild and beautiful, but you are never far from the paved trails. 

You can walk down to the water on giant boulders or stay up on the cliffs that overlook the rapids. There are benches here and there so that you can sit down and enjoy the view. The campground was rustic and charming, as was the small restaurant on the grounds.

This is a trip that we will absolutely repeat. We even discussed renting a camper and making a weekend out of it. It was beautiful and enjoyed more due to the moderate climate and lack of mosquitos!

St. Thomas Park

Over the river and through the woods …

Yesterday the girls and I joined a few German women from the village on a day trip to a neighboring village park. We drove down to the train station and hopped a train for a 5 minute ride to St. Thomas. We had a wonderful time playing at the park and skipping rocks in the River Kyll. After we played and shared a picnic, we took a walk through the forest back to Kyllburg. It was a beautiful 2 hour walk along the river, through a dense forest. We walked over bridges and through a train tunnel. It was an experience I hope to repeat soon!

Moving and Moving

Chris took me out for my first driving lesson in the BMW yesterday. He says I did well for my first day driving a stick shift. I suppose it went better than expected: I didn't hit anything, no one ran screaming when I approached and I stalled the car less than 100 times. A successful first day!

Today we are packing up our belongings (still few enough to fit in our suitcases, so this won't take long) and preparing to move to our new home. The base will provide the kitchen basics and furniture until our things arrive from the United States (which won't be for more than another month).

We will be without phone and internet service for the next couple of weeks.  I will have more stories of our adventures to share once we are up and running again. With pictures, too!

No Cell Phone????

I kind of miss having a cell phone. Without one, I am having to keep records of dates and phone numbers by making symbols with a writing utensil filled with a semi-permanent stain onto pieces of flattened and bleached wood pulp that are bound in a moleskin cover. So weird! :)

An update after week one

Well here is an update!

Chris found a car yesterday, so hopefully by the end of the day we will be mobile!!!  It is a 2000 BMW with 5 speed manual transmission. I haven't seen it yet, but Chris said it is nice.

We move into the house on Monday. I am really excited. We will have to borrow furniture from the base, as ours isn't here yet. In fact, our unaccompanied baggage isn't here yet, either. I hope that comes soon since we are still living out of what we could fit in our suitcases. 

The village we are moving to is called Kyllburg. We drove through the town on Sunday, and it was beautiful. The entire village is built in a rolling valley with a river (the Kyll) that runs through it. There are a couple grocery stores,  kindergartens and restaurants. Many of the villages are more like subdivisions and don't offer such amenities, so I am happy that the town offers so much. We spoke with the internet company in town and high speed is available at the house. The only problem is that in these small villages, there are only a certain number of DSL ports. Hopefully there is one available when we move in. We will just have to wait and see. 

Tim is doing well in school. He will finish up elementary school here in Spangdahlem, but will transfer to Bitburg for middle school. He seems ok with this, though it means the children he has met won't live in our village. I will keep him active in the summer programs offered on base, so hopefully he will meet some new kids and see some of his former classmates over the summer.

The girls are doing well. We have been going to a preschool playgroup and have met some really nice people there. We are going to a group called "Creative Critters" today, and if I finish my driving test in time, will go to the Library group tomorrow. The weather has been wonderful since Saturday, so we have been enjoying the many parks on base. We have been to 5 different parks, and there are many we haven't made it to yet! After we move to Kyllburg, we will continue to visit the base for all it has to offer. It is only 10 minutes from the house, and it is an easy drive (straight shot to the main road, I don't need to drive through the lovely hills and curves of the village to get there :) ).

Not much else to report yet. We are just plugging along, getting settled in. We have a number of items on our to do list yet, but we are moving right along.

A few funny things I have noticed

So here are a few funny little things I have experienced in my short time here:

• Toilets - When we first arrived, I stared at the toilet for a good long time trying to figure out how it flushed. Answer: There is a foot long, 10 inch tall rectangle on the wall that you push. It would be obvious if it didn't say stop at the top. I guess that means "stop the water flow", but I assumed it was a warning, like "stop, don't touch!". There are also hot and cold water knobs above the porcelain throne, but I haven't figured those out yet! Still, a button the size of a shoebox. It just seems like overkill to me :)

• Public Restrooms - Thank goodness I was with someone who lived here for a while the first time I had to use a public restroom, or as they call it here, a Wash Closet. There are no men and women's signs on the door leading to the restrooms, just the letters WC. Oh, and the ones I have been to so far don't have warm water at the sink. Eeeewwww!

• Showers - The water temperature is so hot here, that in order to keep people from scalding themselves in the shower, the hot water in showers and bathtubs doesn't work until the cold water has been turned on. A really nice feature, but it took me a while to figure it out the first time around.

• Light switches - The light switches are two-inch square panels (no switches). It is really nice when there is one or two of them. But when you have four or five light switches in one area, it is a foot-long panel!

• Windows and doors - The windows and glass doors here open two ways. If you turn the handle parallel to the floor, the door / window opens, if you turn the handle straight up, it will tilt in. Let me tell you, the first time I tried to open the door to the balcony and it started tilting in towards me from the top, I was not just a little scared!

• Rolladens - These are metal shades on the outsides of windows and doors that can be pulled down to block out the light, which is a good thing at 10 p.m., when the sun is still up, or at 4:30 a.m., when it makes its next appearance!

• Driving - Here I could go on and on. After being in a car a few times over the weekend, I understand the need for all of the driving safety briefings. The bike trails behind Erin's house look like super highways compared to many of the roads in and around the villages!  There are no lines separating the lanes, probably because they wouldn't fit! To slow traffic down in some areas, they put flower pots with with reflective signs in the road, so only one car can pass. It is anybodies guess who has the right of way in the instances!  Some of the turns here are super sharp. We visited a village where the turns were near 180 degrees. They were 3 point turns even in a mid sized sedan! And the speed limits are extremely high, even inside city limits (100 kilometers on rural roads / 50 kilometers in cities). And the Autobahn, forget about it! The "recommended" speed is 130 kilometers per hour.

• Food - Apparently it is common to have a fresh bakery or deli in the front of any manner of store. I had a sandwich at a store that was kind of a cross between a Lowe's and a Bed, Bath and Beyond (that only accepts cash). The kind woman at the counter did not speak English, so I am still not sure what I ate, but it was delicious! :) i haven't really had a chance to get out to the local restaurants to try traditional fair, but I am looking forward to it!