Today we had a lovely relaxed morning, which included an epic family breakfast care of Alex and Christine.
When everyone was ready, and bags were all packed up, we made our way to Vischering Castle – a smallish, medieval castle with a moat and drawbridge.
It was really interesting to read about the history of the area and the castle itself (including feuds between families and how marriage was used as a peace-making tool).
We bought some delicious bread and cherry cakes here also.
Pro-tip: German bread is delicious.
From Vischering Castle we carried on to Schloss Nordkirchen, which is actually the place where Alex and Christine got married. This palace is also moated, and was mostly built in the early 1700’s.
Fun Fact: Currently the castle is occupied by the University of Applied Sciences of Finances North Rhine Westphalia.
Although the occupancy may not sound inviting, the palace gardens are beautiful and it’s no wonder people choose to get married there. Unfortunately we were getting very tight on time and had to say goodbye to Christine at Nordkirchen before heading to the train station.
My least favourite part of our trip is regularly having to say goodbye to such lovely people. It was such a pleasure to stay with another beautiful family and be on the receiving end of their generosity.
Local knowledge has added another dimension to our trip and enabled us to see and experience things we otherwise wouldn’t have.
The drive to the train was quite exciting for us kiwis, going around 200km/h on the Autobahn. It’s so crazy when you slow down to 150km/h and feel like it’s too slow because of other cars zooming past!
Once we reached Cologne, we found our accommodation easily.
It is an interesting place…
The owner of the apartment is lovely, but we need to make sure the place is vacant for a few hours tomorrow for her to do some tutoring…
Dinner was a short walk down the road, and DJ and I opted for schnitzel. It wasn’t cheap, especially the water, but the service was great and the food was yummy.
Looking forward to heading into the city tomorrow.
KJ xx