From Dusseldorf to England Via Brugge, Belgium - WTRD's 20-22

June 25-June 27

June 25 - After bidding our hosts Suzanna and Heiko goodbye around 7:45 am on Monday morning,

we walked two block to the train station and got on the first of four trains that would take us out of Dusseldorf, out of Germany, into Brussel, and then to Brugge.  I had been to Brugge myself in 1997 and wanted to share this wonderful old town with Russ.  It only took 21 years for a return visit!

We arrived mid afternoon and walked from the train station to our AirBnB accommodation approximately 1 mile towing our rolling bags, clickty-clack across cobbled walk ways and srreets.  The houses in the city our tall and narrow.  I think we may need new wheels on our bags after this trip.

Our accommodations were quite nice and in a great location for eating, shopping, and site seeing.

Quickly unpacking and settling in, we went for a late afternoon walk and dinner out.

It was still quite light out at 10:00 pm in the evening, but definitely past our bedtimes.

June 26.  The following morning we treated ourselves to Belgium waffles for breakfast as we made our way to the canal boats for a ride around town.

Yum!  I had a chocolate banana waffle and Russ had strawberries and cream.  We will have to walk our tails off to burn these calories!  But that would have to be after our canal ride and brewery tour.

Looking up from the canal boat.

Directly after our canal ride, we took a brewery tour of the De Halve Maan brewery.

View from the top of Brewery

Okay, so if we had Belgium Waffles for Breakfast, Beer For Lunch, what would have for dinner.

But of course, it would have to be more chocolate!  Heaven!  We are certainly in the right place for dark, dark chocolate.

Everything seen here is edible  chocolate.

Brugge also has a beautiful cathederal, St. Salvador.

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We walked, and walked, and walked

We called it a day around 10:30 pm and fell into bed.

June 27, 2018

We went out for breakfast this morning before our train.   I ordered scrambled eggs and bacon and Russ has a huge selection of breads with ham and cheese.  

My Coffee with a little chocolate Mousse!

I returned back at the AirBnB to catch up on blogging, editing, etc. while Russ successfully searched and found a geocache.  By noon, we were checked out and on our way out of Brugge across the Chunnel to England.  We arrived at the Brussel's Eurostar train station around 3:00 and could not start the check in process until 3:30, so we ate a late lunch then checked in.  

We had to go through passport control and security checks not unlike the airport, except we didn't have to separate out our lithium batteries or our liquids.  Once we were on the train and on our way, it took us only a little over an hour to reach our destination of Ashford International Train Station.  We sped through Belgium and a little bit of France, passed through a heavily protected area around the chunnel entrance,

I am reflected in the window trying to take a photo of the darkness.

and entered the train tunnel at 4:11 and surfaced at 4:33.  

The channel is about 22 miles across, so we figured the train was traveling at least 100 miles per hour.

We picked up our little red Fiat.  It was a new car but the gps was an old-school plug in, so what we what we were seeing in real time didn't match up with the directions.  We have driven in right hand cars before in New Zealand and Australia, so that part is pretty familiar, but it does take getting used to again.  What was difficult for us was all of the road construction around Ashford International.  The GPS had us going around in circles because we couldn't turn where we were directed, then we would make a U turn as directed and, come back and still couldn't make the turn. 

Finally we decided to make our own path.  We finally got to our destination but we were both exhausted by the time we got there.    Country roads in Kent are single lane at best with some pull outs, huge unkempt hedge rows on either side with no shoulder so it is like driving in a tunnel with blind curves.  Russ would pull as far over as he could  to get out of the way of on coming vehicles and we could hear the bushes scraping along side the car.

Our AirBnB is in a converted old pub.  We have the Dandelion room with our own little outside seating area.

Once we were unpacked and settled, we went to the local pub and had some dinner, baked salmon for Russ, chicken pie for me.

Dinner was good even though the crust was a bit charred.

Tomorrow, we plan to see the white cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs in Kent, South Eastern England.

Goodbye Switzerland - Hello Dusseldorf, WTRDs 18-19

Saturday, June 23, 2018

We are sad to say goodbye to Grindelwald, Switzerland.  We have loved every moment that we have been here and hope to see our hosts Gordy and Gabby again someday when we return or if we exchange homes in the future.

Gabby and Gordy

The last two days have played cloud peek-a-boo with the sun, but as we leave the sky is once again brilliant blue.

Our plan today on Saturday is to travel by train from Grindelwald to Dusseldorf, Germany.  We will arrive late in the day.

Once again from Interlaken to Mannheim we were in a six person suite.  A German woman about our age was saying farewell (we learned later) to her niece.  She occupied both of the window seats, one for herself and the one across from her with her carryon bags.  As she sat down across from the empty seat, she started to cry and felt the need to tell us why she had two seats.

This had been a planned trip for both her and her husband and they had reserved two window seats.  But apparently he died just prior to their trip.  Our hearts ached for her.  She offered to move her bags so that one of us could sit by the window, but we decline.  It just didn't feel right to take "his" seat.

The woman's name was Monica, and she spoke excellent English.  She told us she would be getting off the train in a little town called Muhlheim.  I asked her what Mulheim meant.  It means the home of the Miller. I told Monica that my maternal grandmother's maiden name was Mehlhouse.  She said yes, Muhl and Mehl both meant mill.  Haus and Heim both meant house but heim was the more friendly term... I think like house vs. home.  She said there are Mehlhaus and Muhlhaus, Mehlheim and Melhhaus all over Germany.  I guess I was hoping that perhaps my great grandfather Adolf Mehlhaus (Mehlhouse) was from a findable village....tnat is if I investigated all the the towns in Germany or Sachsany with that name.

When we reached Bern, another passenger from France joined us.  Monica switched from fluent English to fluent French and was able to talk with us and translate for us.  The time aboard went quickly, and we transferred trains in Mannheim for Dusseldorf.  Dussel Monica told us means a small river, dorf means town.  A small river does wind its way through the once small village before flowing into the Rhine.  Monica had asked us why we were going to Dusseldorf as tourists do not usually seek out this destination.  We explained our interest in seeing the Neanderthal Museum.

We arrived at the correct train stop where we would walk to our accommodations.  The tiny, right on the street row house, was a surprise package waiting to unfold.

The back of the house opened to a large very private and nice back living area.

Our hosts Susanne and Heiko live in the home. and we are renting a bedroom for two nights from them.  They made us feel quite welcome and told us to make ourselves at home.  They had an event they were attending and left soon after we arrived.

Russ and I went to the local grocery store less than a block away and across the street, and bought food for  two mornings, two lunches and two dinners.  Brought the food back to the house then heated up the frozen cannelloni dinners, made a fresh green salad with tomatoes, and poured the wine while we watched the World Cup Soccer, Germany vs. Sweden.  We were rooting for both teams.  In the end Germany won.

We cleaned up the kitchen, locked the doors, took our showers and went to bed.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Our hosts are still sleeping by the time we tiptoe out of the house and head for the Neanderthal Museum at 9:30.  We took the local train three stops,

got off and walked six kilometers through the beautiful Neander Valley, to the Museum.

Both Russ and I have Neanderthal DNA, so we wanted to come back to the area where Neanderthal bones were first discovered in Germany.  These earlier homo sapiens were most likely our distant ancestors when modern humans and the Neanderthals had a reproductive relationship.

The museum was very interesting.  We learned that in the  1600's the fashion was to translate German names in to Greek. Jocheim Neumann
born in 1650 carried the name Jocheim Neander. He became a composer and spent considerable time in the beautiful Dusseldorf area which was an inspiration to his religious hymns.  The valley was named for him.


Later when the bones of early humans were discovered in the rubble of a limestone quarry,  they were called Neanderthals.



As we walked toward the museum through the old quarry,

we passed by the outdoor exhibits of live animals that are ancient or hybrid from earlier times.  Of the three animals on the sign, the bisons, aurochs, and tarpans (wild Asian-European horses), all of which the Neanderthals hunted for food, we only saw the tarpans.

The wooly Mammoth was one of the animals during the Neanderthal times that are now extinct.

The exhibits were interesting and we paid our respects to our early ancestors.  Do you see a resemblance.

Tell me your stories Great Grandfather.

Not much to see at the discovery site today.

But before we left, we took a "family" portrait.

Aunt "Lucy" is Center behind Russ.

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in the Neander Valley, looking for our early roots.