Through the wind and weather

Germany isn't particularly rife with the "traditional" natural disasters -- tornado, earthquake, flood, apocalyptic horsemen -- but man, can it whip up a heck of a windstorm. Last Thursday morning, earnest newsbroadcasters ("toupee alarm!" one warned) urged everyone to stay inside come afternoon, as they were expecting winds of up to 120 km/hr. But since I was only teaching two classes early in the morning, I thought I'd brave the mere 40 km/hr winds to valiantly bring English to some German schoolchildren. Not rain nor snow nor hail nor monstrous wind will keep this foreign language assistant from showing her 5th graders a silly Rowan Atkinson movie!

All was well until I decided to walk home, at which point my umbrella was promptly turned inside-out, my hood was blasted off my head, and the wind carefully parted the back of my hair so as to allow a more direct rain-pelting of my scalp (and shortly thereafter, my eyeballs and ear canals). I was bent nearly double by the time I stomped up to the door. This in turn was thrown open by a concerned sister, armed with a cup of hot tea -- and who then promptly burst out laughing at the apparition before her. We spent the rest of the day with the Rollladen pulled down against the increasing battering of the world outside, making pot after pot of exotic tea and snuggled up with books.

A more snuggled Shauna, the world has never seen.

Oh yeah! I should mention, Shauna is here! YAYY! I feel like me again. :) She flew in last Tuesday morning, and we have had a great last week or so. After Thursday night's Sturm und Drang, the world was sparkling and fresh on Friday morning. We got up early; hung out; made more tea; hung out some more; then went for a long walk through the wine fields where we, quite literally, chased a rainbow. We were just walking along and spotted a bright one: then, seeing that its end appeared to be no more than a hundred feet away, we just kind of started walking toward it. Everyone knows that the illusion will never let you get closer than it already looks -- but it was RIGHT THERE! We had to try. We squelched through the muddy fields until we were almost at the foot of the hill that proudly displays the Hambacher Schloss, before turning back down into the town and wending our way through some cobblestones.

That night, Bert came over, and we made an American Dinner: chili con carne, salad, and even a dessert of chocolate chip cookies. These cookies are incredible!! Sarah sent them with Shauna from Wisconsin: a huge tupperware box full of moist, thick, nutty, chocolatey goodness surrounding a gallon-sized bag of walnut-strewn fudge. I just about ran around in circles when she produced them from her bag. Thank you, Sarah!!! What a marvelous surprise! I in no way exaggerate when I inform the Internet Community that the best baked goods ever are to be found in my stepmom's kitchen. Bert was awfully impressed, and we gobbled the rest of them hiking the next day through the Pfaelzer Wald. Sarah, I've told this nice German man that I will try to obtain the recipe from you and make my own lame attempt at these divine things. Might I impose...?

Saturday was lovely. The weather was kinda icky, but we were all in an adventurous mood when we took off through the Pfaelzer Wald in search of its secrets. We drove almost all the way down the Weinstrasse, deep into the forest, and through old wine villages before we reached the top of a misty wooded hill, crowned with a 12th-century fortress carved right out of the rock: Burg Berwartstein.

You can find some pretty comprehensive information about the castle on this site. It's a fascinating place, rife with legends and even ghost stories!

Before storming the castle, however, we first took a stroll through the forest. But as Amy can tell you, hiking is really just an excuse to eat hiking food. We walked through the rainy woods just long enough to finish Sarah's cookies before heading back to sit on a wide stump in the shadow of the castle, and make a picnic of hard boiled eggs, cheese sandwiches, and coffee from Bert's old army thermos.

Thus fueled for our attack, we scaled the steps and ferociously joined a small guided tour. The guide was a university student who has loved the castle since his childhood, and his enthusiasm for it was infectious as he told us stories and described medieval fortress life. We poked our heads into old bedrooms, goggled the armor and obligatory torture devices, peeked up a narrow vertical tunnel that used to be the only entrance into the castle (which apparently made the place completely impenetrable, as hot oil and such could be poured down this stone tube!) and clutched at each other as we were led down a dark secret passageway that the castle inhabitants had used to escape enemies. There was also a 100-meter deep well, into which the guide tipped a bucket of water; and we held our breath for nine long seconds before we heard the distant splash at the bottom. Cool! And yet another interesting feature were the numerous round dents peppering the rock on one side of the structure. Apparently these were made by American aircraft during World War II! I felt an unpatriotic surge of indignance that someone would open fire with modern weaponry on such a stately marvel of medieval history, regardless of what was being hidden inside. (You're not going to get at it by firing at the cliffside, anyway. Might as well try the oil tunnel!)

After exploring the place, we had a cup of Gluehwein in the restaurant down below, and then drove across the French border to a charming little town called Wissembourg. Somehow, doing so imbued me with a funny familiar feeling that I couldn't quite put my finger on... until I started to say something loudly in English, and Shauna whispered jokingly, "Shh! Somebody is going to know we're gringos!" Hahaha! Yeah, last time I drove south to cross a border, we ate enchiladas instead of crepes. :)

That night, Shauna succumbed to jetlag while Bert and I went out to continue our medieval-themed day at a medieval-themed tavern with some of the Ludwigshafen folks. It's this so-cheesy-it's-awesomely-cool underground place called Didarius, with arching stone ceilings and torches on the walls, and you drink your mead out of wooden cups while stridently medieval music plays in the background. Thus sated on dark beer and blueberry wine, we prepared to sleep in until noon on Sunday.

Yesterday (Sunday), we expended more gasoline by driving to Schwetzingen, another pretty town with huge gardens that you can get lost in. However, being quite cold outside, we chose not to pay the six Euros to get lost, spending them instead on Bratwurst and coffee before heading back to freak out the Ludwigshafen crowd with my red-headed Doppelgaengerin. We watched The Simpsons in German, ate some pizza, and then turned in early so that I could arrive as tired and unprepared as possible for school today. :) Ahh! What a weekend!