Bad Godesberg

From the window

Today, I went to the tower at Bad Godesberg. (At left is the view from U.'s window -- not far at all!) This, I must say, was an adventure. The original directions weren't all that great, so I turned to Google. With those written down, I was off to see the tower! ...okay, that's not true. First, I was off to coffee.

I wandered around Bad Godesberg's downtown for a bit, finally settling on a Konditorei (pastry shop) with some yummy-looking inhabitants. Since I don't know what the pastries here are, I took some time to translate what I could of the ingredient lists posted under the name. Finally, I ordered something that turned out quite yum, with cinnamon and cocoa powder. It was big enough to last me through the morning and afternoon, even. Toll.

Cosy reading spot

My next stop was at a park. I sat for a while by some oddly hydrophobic ducks (they were probably out of the water because it was near lunchtime) and reviewed my vocabulary from Deutschklasse. Eventually, the other people went away and the ducks wandered back into the water.

Mock-up of what once was

After I found the stairs up the hill (thanks to D. for giving me directions, because Google Maps would've taken me quite a while to get right), there were the remains of the fortress. It now houses a restaurant and hotel, interestingly enough. I climbed the tower, a perfect complement to climbing to the tower, and was rewarded with a super neat, panoramic view. Also, a lot of wind. As I was going down, some young teens were coming up. The €1 coin that I left next to the sign downstairs for my admission was suspiciously missing. Hmm.....

My next stop was the old cemetery nearby. (I didn't take pictures, as I don't know whether it is culturally allowed.) It contained some beautiful old plots, with those I saw starting in the late 1800s. There were a number of male death dates around World War II, but surprisingly few in the era of World War I. Some of the inscriptions were translations of things one would see on tombs in the US, such as "the best father" and bible verses. Gorgeous family monuments.

There's something big over there!

Finally, I wandered down to the river to work a bit and watch the world drift by. Also, to have my first real German bier while doing so! I will definitely need to do a river tour one of these days. At the moment, though, I'm too tired to research them. Bis morgen!