Germany

  A day we'd been waiting to celebrate for decades. Our visit to Burg Breidenbach in Germany and our son's 21st birthday. We had planned our European trip meticulously around these two events happening on the same day. It was only an hour away from the airport. Should have been easy enough, in my mind at least, to make it before sunset. 

  Our short time began with our flight arrival in Dusseldorf at 2:00 pm, where we rented a car. This was not only our first time being in Germany, or our first time renting a car and driving it in another country. But it was also our first time renting and driving a car in another country, where we didn't understand the language. Therefore, we knew getting a car with English instructions was the only way we would possibly survive without first getting lost and then killing one another out of sheer frustration.

 Getting the car was a pretty (30 minutes) quick process, being that we were in another country. However, it took over an hour for the poor guys helping us, to figure out how to program the car in our language. So, needless to say, we were beyond ready to hit the road. Since the only thing we'd  ate that day was airport food, the first thing we had to do was stop and get some lunch. 

This took us 30 minutes to Gilden Kölsch Brewery in Cologne. An absolutely adorable German brewhouse, Gilden offered outside seating where we could stretch out and breathe some fresh air after a busy morning of travel. We ordered onion soup and jaeger schnitzel.   Both of which, were spectacular meals. We also drank a few cold refreshing Kölsch pints, to wash it all down. We were loosing daylight though, so moved through the meal, faster than we would have normally done. Even skipped dessert. Soon, we were on our way to our next stop, Burg Breidenbach.

  In Germany castles are called Burgs and are known as Burg so and so. Our son, Kaedin, had written a report in 2nd grade or whatever it was, about Burg Breidenbach, a castle built in 1600 something after someone in our lineage. He vowed, at age 5 or so, to one day make this castle become his own. As surely, anything Breidenbach, especially a castle name after you, belongs to you right? Although there is a town named Breidenbach and a castle as well,  the castle, is Not in Breidenbach. It is in another town named Lindlar, an hour and a half away from the actual town of Breidenbach. Having this all mapped out, we were prepped and ready!

Our first German road trip. Should be exciting! 

The first thing we noticed about Germany, and maybe it was just the time of year we were there, but it was how gorgeously green it was. EVERYWHERE! Rolling hills, covered in the most beautiful shade of green and cows lazily lounging around enjoying the gentle breeze and sweet air full of fragrant flowers and fresh cut meadows . We couldn't help but appreciate the spectacular landscape. Talk about happy cows, we even caught a cow smiling. (Do you see it too?)

How can you not be in complete awe of a building, of any type, that is still standing hundreds of years later? Burg Breidenbach, is no exception. While it isn't a castle of regular standards.  The architecture is absolutely beautiful. Not gonne lie though, I may be biased, as cobblestone streets an/or walls absolutely enamor me. 

Upon talking to current inhabitants, we learned the castle is now a multi unit complex housing numerous families. Pretty cool for a building built over a century ago. Unfortunately we couldn't find anyone who would let us wander around the premises. Regardless of our last name. We're hoping for a visit inside for tea, next time around. 

 After marveling over the beauty of Burg Breidenbach, we took off to find the hotel we would be staying in for the night. Since Breidenbach is a tiny town with under 7,000 people, both the sleeping accommodations and restaurant pickings, were slim. The one place I wanted to stay wasn't available for our date,  so I picked the town next door to stay, Biedenkopf. We stayed in a place names Klein Hotel. A quaint spot where each little room has a kitchen as well as it's own private patio area to relax and take in the well manicured and decorated property they have put so much though into and taken so well care of . After all our stops, we were running late and arrived at Klein Hotel hours after that we were hoping to. It must have been after 7 in the evening and was dusk when we arrived.  As Klein isn't a typical hotel with a front desk open 24 hours/day, I wandered around a bit before I found the lobby, which was unfortunately closed.  Great! What now? I noticed there was a unit attached to the lobby areas so I figured it had to be the caretakers residence, so began knocking. After 5 minutes or so, luckily the caretaker answered and took me to check in. We rented a unit that had a kitchen in the middle with 2 separate rooms on each side of it. The mirrors in the bedrooms also doubled as heaters. Needless to say, we were highly impressed.  

Due to our long day of travel, everyone wanted to unpack, shower and relax a bit. After getting settled in and cleaned up, we walked around the property a bit and decided to go in town for dinner. (Story below)

The next day we planned to explore Breidenbach before heading onto the next leg of our road trip. Klein offered a complimentary breakfast which was far beyond expected.  Juice, coffee, fruit, yogurt, meats and cheese were beautifully arranged all around our table. Upon sitting they give you the options of other meals offered, prepare your choice and bring it to you after its ready. We couldn't have asked for a better breakfast or start to our day with all the kindness given. 

  Per usual, we somehow run out of time during the day and find ourselves in the predicament where there is little to nothing open for dinner. Today was nothing different. We honestly figured being that we were in Europe, we'd have no problem finding places that were open super late. We came to find out, we were wrong. (Although, 11 is super late to some and definitely fits that field where we live.) It was past 10:00 and we saw a few places open so we decided to just go down to the central area, see what our options were, and  hope for the best. Upon arrival, we found a pizza place that  was closing an an Indian restaurant. Unfortunately, Indian is not a food Kaedin, who is incredibly picky, enjoys. Since this instantly became our only option, I went inside to see if they were still open. I quickly became scared, as it appeared they were closing as well and feard this would be our second time in Europe so far, having peanuts or something like it, for dinner. Luckily, a nice man approached me and asked me if I were wanting to dine in, and I said yes. He graciously led us to a table. 

  I picked a few items I figured Kaedin wuld be able to stomach. Naan is an everyday item consumed at our house, so we started with that. I then ordered butter chicken and biryani