Königswinter, Germany

Königswinter is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
We arrived at the Konigswinter railway station together with my aunt Tanya around noon. We had a group ticket that wasn't properly stamped and that almost got us in trouble with the conductor who thought that the date was 05/15/08 instead of 05/16/08.

The romantic Drachenfels, crowned by the ruins of a castle built early in the 12th century by the archbishop of Cologne, rises behind the town. From the summit, which can be accessed by the Drachenfels railway, there is a magnificent view.

But first one has to get to the summit which is not easy.

It's a 5 minute ride by a railway car and it costs 7 euros per person. The alternative - enduring ascent by foot to the summit. We decided on spending 21 euros for a 5 minute ride. The train driver was a tall German with a stiff face and abrupt manners:

Here's the legend about the place.

The former masters of the castle, the Counts of Drachenfels, had a winged, fire-spitting dragon in there coat of arms. This ties up with the saga of Siegfried, who is reputed to have slain the dragon, which lived in a cave on the hillside, and then bathed in the blood. Lord Byron and many other poets glorified the Drachenfels. In the last century the hilltop and the tower were jeopardized by the stone quarries, which had been continually extended, until the Government stepped in, taking over the peak and safeguarding the ruins from any further danger of subsidence. A cave in the hill is said to have sheltered the dragon which was slain by the hero Siegfried.

On the wild, jagged Drachenfels towering up so mightily above the river, there once stood a proud castle, of which today only the high tower is still to be seen.

The hill and the castle enjoy enjoy tremendous popularity and are visited yearly by countless numbers of people. The view from the 1050-ft.-high summit is considered one of the most famous on the Rhein.
There is only one way to get to Kongiswinter castle - by foot only. It was a humid day, we used umbrellas quite a bit and finally made it to the top past some horses and beautiful scenery.

And here's the Königswinter castle itself and the scenery around it. The place is truly beautiful and mesmerizing.

It is often used for receptions, weddings and other celebrations. When were were there, the place was getting prepared for an event and was partially under remodelling.

Unfortunately because the place was getting remodelled we couldn't get inside this time to explore the place from within. My aunt was enjoying our time together as well as the beautiful place that she brought us to. We had great time together and will definitely be back here for the inside tour as well.

Now it was time for our way back. We decided against the ride on the rip off train and walked all the way down by foot.

We saw a peculiar road sign.

Vineyards on the side of the road. By the way, this is how they grow in Germany - on steep slopes some of which seem to be almost 90 degrees.

Trier, Germany

We got to Trier by train on my birthday, May 15th. I was more than thrilled to turn 30 in such a magnificent place as Trier, Germany.
It was a peaceful and refreshing morning. We walked through a green park surrounded by small streets and old buildings.
Trier is the oldest city in Germany - beautiful buildings, quiet streets.




Trier lies near the German border with Luxembourg and within the important Mosel wine-growing region.

Trier is well known for its well-preserved Roman and medieval buildings and we visited some of them:

The Porta Nigra, the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps























The Constantine Basilika and the Electoral Palace

the Trier Cathedral ( Trierer Dom or Dom St. Peter), a Roman Catholic church which dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals. We didn't see it exhibited on our visit.

The birthplace of social philosopher Karl Marx

Food in Paris

We were really impressed with the quality and variety of food in Paris.

Lots of bakeries with a variety of desserts that are unmatched, always fresh and very tasty. That's one thing I truly miss - is the great food in lots of wonderful little restaurants that we had a chance to taste during our stay in Paris.

Of course, I wasn't able to take pictures of food everywhere we went and have just a few pictures to remember what the food was like.

One of the restaurants that we visited was La Rotonde http://www.rotondemontparnasse.com/

Once patronized by Hemingway, the original Rotonde faded into history but is immortalized in the pages of The Sun Also Rises, in which Papa wrote, "No matter what cafe in Montparnasse you ask a taxi driver to bring you to from the right bank of the river, they always take you to the Rotonde." Lavishly upgraded, its reincarnation has a paneled Art Deco elegance and shares the site with a cinema. We had a breakfast there on our last morning in Paris.

But we especially became very fond of numerous creperies in Paris. The one we frequented the most was Creposuk: http://creposuk.free.fr/

At first, I didn't like the environment as everyone around me was smoking like a chimney and there was no escape from the tobacco. I had to move our table way out of the way and avoid the smoking as much as possible.

Creposuk creperie is famous for its buckwheat flour crepes. They serve both salty and sweet crepes. The menu features a choice of over 60 crepes variety from Roquefort cheese walnuts and cream crepes for 8 Euros to Hot chocolate flambee with Grand Marnier crepes for 7.5 Euros.

Our favorite was Pear, Hot Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream crepe.

Paris, France

After spending a day and a half at my uncle's in Koeln, Germany, we headed out to the train station on our way to Paris.
We strategically positioned ourselves at Starbucks which was considerably more expensive than a traditional American one, even without the exchange rate from of $1.55 for 1 euro - yeah, we got "lucky" that the exchange rate was so unfavorable for the american currency right when we decided to go to Europe.
Both Wayne and my aunt had some coffee. Since I don't drink coffee, I preferred to use the bathroom at that time instead. To get to the bathroom one has to get a key from the attendant, walk down 2 flights of stairs and enter this completely dark bathroom with infrared reflective lightning reflecting everything white (toilet paper, towels, toilet seat), yet the rest of the place is still in complete darkness.

We got on the train OK, but in the wrong cart and thanks to some stroller blocking incidents, Wayne got really behind.

We finally got to Paris, took a Subway to Charonne metro station and it was time to find our hotel. Mistakenly we followed Voltair Blvd instead of turning on Charonne. It took us about 30 minutes to finally arrive at our hotel and rest for an hour.

Our first night in Paris. First thing we did there is eat at a restaraunt with a mediocre dinner menu, but not so mediocre prices. The other customers around us in the restaurant were Americans as well - yes, we were very close to the popular tourist traps near the Louvre. We took some pictures behind the Louvre without realizing that we were pretty much right there, just on the outside. And later we headed out to the Notre Dame Cathedral. What a beautiful building that is! Its location, streets around it and the square in front of it kinda reminded me of the Navoi Theater in Tashkent. At about 11 pm we decided it was time to have a dessert and we found a great place - Kreposuk crepery. We ordered a buckwheat crepe filled with amaretto pears and dark chocolate. It was incredible.

Visit to the The Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
A Roman Catholic Basilica dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus. The basilica is located at the summit of Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
To get there, we had to climb lots of stairs. The alternative was to take a finicular - an electric tram that goes up and down the hill. But since we were there so early - it wasn't running yet. Once you're there, there are more stairs to climb to get to the Basilica. But why stop there, at 5 euros per person you can climb up more stairs to the dome of the Sacre Coeur. It was so high, at one point I got scared that we will never make it back:) and the staircase kept going round and round. We finally got to the top - there was no one else there besides us. Only pigeons.

It felt so peaceful to be up there early in the morning with no one around. And all of Paris was right there down below us. It was amazing.

On the way back, Wayne got "attacked" by the bracelet scam artist who was very persistent about putting the bracelet on and quite scary. We were very lucky to come across lots of scammers while in Paris: the ring scheme, the bracelet scheme and the croatian refuge scheme.

Visit to Notre Dame de Paris.
A Gothic cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. The name "Notre Dame" means "Our Lady" in French. The cathedral is considered one of the finest pieces of French Gothic Architecture. There were a lot of gypsies around the Cathedral, addressing only Americans with requests to give them money.

We came back to the Cathedral several times during our stay in Paris.

Notre Dame Cathedral at night:

Notre Dame in bright daylight:
Visit to The Tuileries Garden (french: Jardin des Tuileries).
It is surrounded by the Louvre (to the east), the Seine (to the south), the Place de la Concorde (to the west). Further to the north lies the Place Vendome. The Tuileries Garden covers about 63 acres (25 hectares)
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is located to the west of the Louvre.

Visit to th Place de la Concorde. That was my favorate part of Paris. The fountains, the Obelisque and lots of Chinease tourists that come in buses. We then walked towards the Alexander Bridge where we were harrassed by the scam artist with a ring. Twice. Alexander Bridge is rather short like all bridges in Paris. Very intriquite and classic. It felt special being on top of that bridge and watching the boats pass by underneath it.
Grand Palace and Petit Palace.

Our last morning in Paris we were determined to see Opera Garnier as well as the famous shopping. We ate a carb rich breakfast that included french bread roll, butter, coffee, tea.
It was chilly and gloomy unlike the rest of our time in Paris. Therefore the pictures don't look as good as the other ones.

Köln, Germany

We visited Cologne Germany in May 2008. The city of Cologne is better known as Köln to the rest of the world. Only 10 hours by air from Newark, Köln is Germany's fourth largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC. Cologne was granted the status of a Roman "city" in the year 50 AD.


We landed at 8:30 am on Saturday May 10th - my aunt Sasha's birthday. The airport appeared to be empty - we were the only flight at the baggage claim.

That same Saturday after 32 hours of travel time and only 2 hours of sleep on the plane from New York to Cologne, we went to see the Dom and visit the huge square right in front of it. It was very busy with lots of people, lots of protests and people dressed like this:

There were quite a few artists that were working on the ground, creating these beautiful images. All images get destroyed by the end of the day and then it starts all over again:
We spent all afternoon in the old core of the town, called Altstadt, which is undoubtelly the most charming part of the town. It is situated along the bank of the river Rhein and in the close vicinity of the Dom. The Altstadt is characteristic for its network of short and narrow streets, but most of all, for the traditional houses congested one to another and each coloured in different vivid colours. This part of the town is full of fine breweries, restaurants and nice looking shops.

We were passed many times by the beer bike. It spaced about 10 people all drinking beer while peddling their bike around.

Cologne Cathedral, or Kölner Dom in German is officially called Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria. It is the seat of Archbishop of Cologne under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is a renowned monument of Christianity and of Gothic Architecture.

Treasures of Cologne Cathedral
The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the Western world. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose bones and 2,000-year-old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864.