Week 8 (Belated): Our First Visitor

During the last full week of June, we had our first visitor--a friend of mine from high school, we'll call him 'Karl'. He was in Europe for a few weeks for the Paris Air Show and a wedding and decided to meet up with us. I took a couple days off from work at the end of the week to hang out and the three of us (Jason, Karl and I) did some biking and some traveling around.

Burg Eltz, with Crane

The few days were primarily focused on (beyond the catching up inevitable when not seeing someone for at least five years) what Jason and I had enjoyed about the area so far, such as biking along the river and through the woods. We also went to a few sites in our area that were particularly impressive. The first was Burg Eltz, a castle located about 2 or so hours from us.

Burg Eltz, 'Karl' and Jason

It is a reasonably large castle and is currently owned by one of the three families that originally built it. Pretty amazing, as it is a 900-plus years-old. As you can see in the photos, it is built into a rock up on a hill. The tour guide described a successful siege on the castle, where the Prince of Trier came by, built a siege tower, than hung around long enough to get the castle occupants to surrender. (If there is anyone out there more knowledgeable regarding siege warfare, I would like a better explanation regarding just how building a single tower can bring down an entire castle.) 

On our way back from the castle, we stopped by the small village of Wallenborn, where there are two notable attractions: a cold water geyser (link in German) and an apiary (place where you keep a lot of bee hives). One member of our group (to remain nameless) was particularly excited regarding the shop connected to the apiary and we all purchased honey to eat with some leftover bread while watching the geyser.

The Cold Water Geyser in Action

Back to the geyser. As I mentioned, it is a cold water geyser, so, unlike Old Faithful and other geysers in Yellowstone, it is not due to steam, but the build up of other gases caught in the rock unrelated to heat. This geyser blows about every half hour and was kind enough to let us have our honey laden snacks before bursting forth. A strong sulfur smell accompanied the water, which shot up to well over 7 feet. My picture below caught it just before its peak.

It was a nice few days for me before heading off on a work-trip to the Chicago area, where I spent the last week and was reminded of the ridiculousness of O'Hare and the ease of getting a salad that is *not* completely soaked in some unknown dressing (as much as I have generally liked German cuisine, they don't know how to make a salad). Oh, and I read World War Z. Highly recommended.

Now that I have posted this about one week late, you shouldn't have too long to wait before the next post--spoiler alert! it will include another castle!