4 Stray Katz: Baptism of fire....learning to drive on the autobahns around Wiesbaden.

After being given the keys to a brand new BMW wagon we cautiously left the airport, Daniel concentrating hard on 'keeping right'. After missing a turn we ended up back at the airport, then back to Europcar to get directions on how to use the GPS! We got the GPS working but didn't anticipate the road works. We ended up doing a huge loop on some major autobahns but finally made it to Adolf and Karin's house after about an hour (a direct trip from the airport should have taken us about 20 minutes!). Daniel did an amazing job managing to drive on the right, use the gears with his right hand, merge onto the autobahns (where cars were flying by doing up to 200km/hr) and negotiate roundabouts (which are exceptionally hard when driving on the opposite side of the road). His tired brain couldn't quite manage the blinkers though and we ended up with the wipers on several times!

We were warmly welcomed by Karin and Adolf. I enjoyed some sensational (and much needed) coffee whilst Daniel polished off 3 slices of Karin's delicious cakes. The kids slept on the couches, happy to be able to stretch out. We headed back to our hotel for a few hours down time before returning to Adolf and Karin's for a delicious bbq dinner.

Friday was spent exploring Wiesbaden, the capital of the Hesse state. Adolf, Karin and Henry met us in the morning and, after a quick 'kaffee', we walked into town admiring all the ornate buildings. We hopped on a tourist train, the 'Thermine', which took us through the old town before heading up Neroberg, the mountain behind the city. Wiesbaden was a very popular holiday destination for the upper classes in the early 1900's due to its great climate and mineral springs. Well-to-do people travelled here to recover from illness, attend the theatre and dances and generally revitalise themselves. There are still many 'convalescence' houses/hotels where those with the financial means can be very well cared for. The train tour took us to see many fabulous houses (with incredible vistas) before we disembarked at an impressive Russian Orthodox Church. It was built by a German prince who married a 17 year old Russian girl. She died during childbirth less than a year after their marriage and he built the church in her memory. An impressive structure with an equally impressive view.

From there we meandered up Neroberg and enjoyed a picnic lunch overlooking Wiesbaden. The kids went exploring and, to their delight, found a playground with a challenging balance and ropes course. After a wander through the adjoining forest we headed to the Neroberg Mountain Railway for our ride down. We marvelled at the ingenuity of the engineers who designed this train back in 1888. It is a water ballast cog and rack railway. Basically their is a water tank on both trains, the one at the top gets filled so it is heavier and its' weight pulls the other train up (which has an empty tank). Then there is a pump that takes the water from the lower train up the top to repeat the process.

After a wander through town and some cake and coffee we walked back. We were all exhausted once we got back, the jet lag had caught up! After a much needed nap we headed to Hockenberger, an outdoor restaurant backing onto lush forest. Great food, great wine, funny conversation and a playground for the kids. A highlight of the night was Jackson explaining how some other children had spoken to him and he had told them he was from Australia. "Then they spoke to me in my voice", he said with much excitement. The night ended with a throat warming schnapps for Karin, Henry and I - apparently it was good for my digestion but I'm not sure about that!

We had a lovely breakfast at Karin and Adolf's the next morning before beginning our drive up the Romantic Rhine to Henry's home town of Bad Honnef (not really the Romantic Rhine when you have your kids and father in law in the car with you though!).

A wonderful start to our German adventures. Auf Wiedersehen for now xx