Monday, May 28, 2012

Full summer.

This weekend was like going on a vacation.
On Friday, we took our kids to the trainstation, where they went off to their gigantic anual scoutscamp.
And then we were... for the first time in ten years I guess... kid free for 4 days!!!
And 3 nights!!!
Gigantic, right?
I mean, we had the occasional day off when they all were visiting their grandparents, but that´s one night, usually.
So this was really extra special, we felt free and light, and to top it all, we had blazing sunshine.
Of course we took our bikes...
 and rode.
We started in Cologne, and then rode along the river Rhine,
 stream upwards, heading south.

We came across very industrial areas...

and places of serene beauty, like this lake, where we swam in:

We made it to Bonn, where we strolled through the town and found another great toy store, and Beethoven´s birthplace:
 (we spent more time in the toystore, I must admit, though ;) )

Originally, we had planned to go further, but Tim a) forgot his mobile and b) had a flat tire, so we couldn´t go as long as we had planned. Which is a shame. We made around 60 kilometres that day, and I could have gone on, and on, and on. It felt like flying.
Well, we found a nice guy on the road who helped us fix that tire, at least for some time, so we could ride back home.
We also found a fair, and in fact, we did ride the mouse trap ride:
Which made us giggly and feel like teenagers.
We had Pizza for dinner in a café that looked as if it was at the beach:
and found a place with a free outdoor library,
 ...where both of us found a lot of treasures - among many sweet 60´s romance novels (which I love!), I also found a book about called "The good marriage" from the 50´s, and I love to collect books as such - I always feel like they show me how temporary our value system is.

We saw the sun sink into the Rhine:
...and then, walked home in the dark, pushing our bikes, because of the flat tire.

It was beautiful, everything about it, even the thing with the flat tire. I loved every minute.

Did I mention the next scout´s camp is in a month? ;)

But no, really, I´m also glad I have my sunburned, overtired, hungry, dirty bunch back:

Music:

Let´s get drunk on Chris Thile´s mandolin, shall we?

3 comments:

Creatrish said...

Wow that give you a little taste of what is going to be like this summer in UK! Did the boys like it?Do they ride their bikes as well? how many km do u plan to do in a day during your vacation? Cologne look like a very nice place! Pizza on the "beach" love it! xxxxxx

HelenClyde said...

Hi Trish!
We won´t take our bikes to Britain, though I´d love to - we just take our backpacks, go by train, and walk parts.
But yes, the boys ride their bikes, though the longest trip they made so far was 30 kilometres in one day.
But 20 on a regular base is no problem for them.
And yes - Cologne is sweet! I had to get used to it, but now, I really live it. You know you can alsways come and visit, do you? :)
How´s the moving going? Are you in Lyon allready?

Creatrish said...

Moving is getting close now on the 12th of june all my free time is to pack up stuff and We've got too much stuff really LOL! Cant wait to be in Lyon and enjoying relaxing days! and "Doing the cool Things"! We will come to visit for sure MERCIIIIIIIIIII!