Reflections of My Travel

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We drove along another section of the Rhine this morning and stopped at several Schloßhotels trying to find a room. I really wanted to spend at least one night in a castle while we’re here but they were all booked up already. A shame, yes, but next time we’ll know to prepare better. That’s fine. It was still a nice drive and fun to look around the lobbies of the castles a bit. When we had come to Koblenz, where the Rhine meets the Mosel, where we had really started this trip, we decided to follow the Mosel again and spend another night in Cochem, the town that we stayed in our first night. The town doesn’t seem the same as it was last week. The vacation season must have started because there are people everywhere, whereas last weekend we were just about it. This meant that most places were already booked up and we couldn’t stay in the room we stayed in our first night here. However, we did find a nice little zimmer frei on the other side of the river and we have a nice cozy little room with a lovely view of the castle up above the vineyard across the river. After a short nap, we went out to walk about town and grab some dinner. We ate at a little Italian restaurant that was owned by the son of the innkeeper with whom we were staying. When we sat down, we were served rolls with a garlic spread on the side and a shot of sherry each. The rolls and spread were very yummy and the sherry was pretty good too. We both ordered pizza (hey, it’s not McDonald’s!). Randal got a #3, Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapples. They did not have a number for just a plane pepperoni pizza and since we were speaking fairly good English with the waiter, I chose to be daring and order a pizza with just pepperoni. Yes, I realize that wasn’t smart. I made the mistake of assumption. I assumed that since he was speaking fairly good English, he would understand what I wanted. I am completely and totally aware that the fault was all my own. I was served a pizza with peppers only. Pepperoni = peppers only. I can completely understand the misunderstanding. No big deal though, I had a fork and was able to pull them all off – causing the poor guy to come over and asked if he had mixed up the order to which I responded that it was my mistake, not his. Once I got all of the spicy peppers off of my pizza, it was fabulous! The best pizza I’ve ever tasted. It was the best meal that we’ve had here yet. If I had a complaint, it would be all of the chimneys seated all around us. I don’t understand how they even manage to eat when they never put their cigarettes down during the course of their meals. After our very satisfying meal, we crossed the river and continued to walk around the town. We observed the river, looked through the shop windows, and smiled at the passerby. We even saw a chocolate dalmation! I have never seen a dalmation with brown spots instead of black. I wonder how rare they are. [turns out they're actually called liver spot dalmations and they are fairly common. curious that I've never seen or even heard of such an anomaly.] And then we stopped fooling ourselves and stopped for a couple of ice cream cones. We meandered some more while we ate our eis and then we headed back to our room across the river. Back in our room, we were excited to find some English programming on MTV. Generally, I can’t stand Jessica Simpson, but boy was I enthralled with her show when it was the only real English that I’ve heard in days. About half of the MTV programs have been in English. Time to veg out and get some rest.