Ryan's Visit

My Nephew Ryan arrived in Germany on Friday March 28th, 2008. I drove to Frankfurt to pick him up at the airport. I was glad to see Ryan and he had also brought a gift I had purchased for Pam. Pam had seen the Nintendo Wii back in November and had said several times that she wanted one. I had purchased a Wii thru Amazon and had it shipped to Dave (my brother) and Ryan picked it up the weekend before he left. Ryan looked remarkably fresh after having flown overnight and being as tall as he is, sleeping in Coach is not going to happen.
It was a beautiful day, so we walked the hard way into town, up into the hills and down the Philosophers Way and into town. We walked around a little and made our way to the Cathedral and we walked up the Türm (tower). Most of the way up was easy, but the last couple turns got to be very tight and I had to duck my head. I turned around and Ryan was squeezing himself through. I had never been up the tower before and it was quite nice up there. The walk down was even more amusing as now Ryan was leaning forward and walking down the steps, he looked very uncomfortable.
Being the good Uncle that I am, I suggested that we walk up to the Schloss. He was going to sleep well this night. We walked around the Schloss for a while and as we were both hungry, we headed back down into town and we got lunch at the Palm Gasse. After lunch we walked up the Hauptstrasse and took the easy walk home.
We waited for Pam to come home. The Wii was laid out waiting. When Pam arrived home she was thrilled. We got dinner and started playing. The Wii is pretty amazing. It totally changes game play, similar to the late 70’s when Intellivision came out and eclipsed the Atari.
Saturday morning we did the Saturday market thing with Ryan. The Saturday market is where we buy our fresh fruit and vegetables and meats and fish. It is pretty nice actually and the vendors have gotten to know us pretty well. After shopping we put the groceries away and had breakfast.
After breakfast we drove across the Rhein Valley to Bad Durkheim, which is along the German wine road. We eventually wandered north on the wine road to Kallstadt where we found the Paradies Winery. We tried a variety of wines and purchased several wines.
Sunday was kind of a lazy day. The morning was spent playing Wii and I don’t think any of us had a shower until around noon. Then we went out a walked in the hills behind the house. The hills back there are just loaded with miles of trails. The trail we walked was about 5 miles, 2.5 up and 2.5 down and afforded a beautiful view of the valley from the top. Afterwards we walked in to town for coffee.
Monday Pam and I were working. Ryan being Ryan, I kicked him out of the house with a little cash and my US cell phone to use in case of emergency. He had a really nice time. He walked over to Heidelberg University Campus and walked around there (see pix). He then walked down the Hauptstrasse to the old University and the University Platz and to the Schloss.
I took Tuesday off and Ryan and I went to Rotenberg ob der Tauber. Rotenberg is an old walled city that used to be a fairly large town until fortunes moved and it became somewhat of a backwater. Because of that it retains much of its original character and the old town is completely surrounded by a wall. It was a pretty nice day and we got to walk around town a lot. We had lunch on the Rathaus Platz, the Rathaus is the city hall. Ryan had Bratwurst and sauerkraut and I Kohlrollladen which was nice for me since I had not had that in a very long time!
On Wednesday, Ryan got thrown out of the house again. This time he took public transportation to Mannheim. We have not used the Strassebahn much and I suggested that he go into town and catch it there, which then took him right past Handschuhsheim. Ryan wandered around Mannheim and went to a couple of different museums before coming home around 4pm that afternoon. I think Ryan enjoyed being able to wander and explore by himself.
Again, the end came too swiftly and on Wednesday we played a little Wii in the morning. About 9am we loaded up the car and drove to Frankfurt. I went in with Ryan to make sure his flight was departing in a timely manner, after a big hug and he was off.