Welcome to The Cherry On Top.
Here's the second part to my travel edition on Monschau, Germany. If you missed the first part, head on back, check it out and grab the fun, free, Germany design I've got for ya. There's another freebie at the bottom of this post.
I have an outline for all of the things I want to include in today's blog and the first item I wrote down is, "Relaxing". However, a few nights ago, I could not sleep. The reason I couldn't sleep was because in the mail, I received a speeding ticket from my trip in Monschau. It was a whopping 100 Euros! My offense? I was driving the insane speed of 47 kilometers per hour (29 mph) on a beautifully paved, straight road, early in the morning and there were no other cars on the road and the houses were nowhere near the street. Nor were there bike paths or side walks. 47 kilometers per hour?!?!
This region, North Rhein Westfalia is by far, the worst place for police presence and harassment in regards to ticketing and driving. After this last ticket, I will not go to this area any time in the near future. We were in this region in the spring with an enormous RV and were flashed three times in the same day and just missed several parking tickets! I've never experienced anything like this in decades of travel and thank goodness for that.
I digress, but I find this important for travelers. Go very, very slow. Try your best to figure out what the heck the speed limit is because it changes quickly and there could even be a police officer giving tickets at the border of these changes, hiding around the corner. That was one of our experiences and in my honest opinion, entrapment! We received warning from other drivers via means of flashing the beamers who probably do not like this type of aggressive police action. I will mention that this isn't the case all over Germany.
So, if you drive grandma, bike like speeds you may be able to avoid this mega stressful aspect of this area and you might be able to enjoy the beautiful nature which we definitely did find in Monschau. I'm going to show you some beautiful pictures that my friend took in scrapbook format, of course and give tips and information about this gorgeous area of Germany.
Speaking of relaxing and nature. How cool was our Air BnB we stayed at? If you're looking for a very rustic, typical, old Germany style house, this is definitely the place for you. My friend and I, fell in love with it immediately. Not only was is crazy cheap, it's in the middle of nowhere, but then again, in the middle of everything. Keeping in mind that everything isn't much. Hehehe...Which is great when ya wanna be in a relaxing, low stress environment surrounded by nature.
My first page is the inside of the place. You get the entire bottom floor to yourself. It includes two full, big bedrooms with double beds. These are lovely, lived in feeling kind of spaces. No sterile, Ikea vibes whatsoever. We loved that! This area was where grandma stayed. It's full of really, really old books, well loved furniture, old Chinaware and it is cozy as all get out. Especially, when ya crank up that wood stove, which we totally needed! You can grab a pan from the full, very well thought out kitchen and heat up some gluhwein on the wood stove. Awesome, right?
The bathroom has been modernized and every little nook and cranny is clean, in good ole German fashion. This was one of the very first Air BnB's I stayed in where I didn't need or miss something. I love that!
The owners totally left us alone. Some people don't like that. It may have something to do with our less than perfect German, though. I did stumble my way with Herr Hermaan. He was fab! I had heard this ... sound which I first thought was a goat. I was in the middle of clearing the snow off of the car. I found the source of the sound. It was the cutest, little ... I have no idea! A small deer? He was right over at the gate, looking at me, "bleeting". Hermann opened the gate and he came charging at me. Of course, I got down on my knees, opened my arms and embraced one of the softest, cutest, creatures I've ever met.
The property is very large. There are no neighbors to see! I want to buy this house! Hehehe...There are horses and doggos and guests can bring their dogs, too. Don'cha just love that? They have games in the living room and whilst perusing the enormous book collection, I found one from the 1700's. It's in one of the pictures in my first page. Unreal! The ancient books and fireplace might be the source of the odiferous quality of a few of the rooms.
This lovely page, above was our hike through several feet of virginous, white, fluffy snow (eek!) from the hunter's house to the altstadt. It's about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away and the hike goes all through huge fields and some woods. We were the only ones out. After our crazy ass adventures driving through the snow, the day before, I was in no way ready for another go at it. Besides, I didn't have snow tires on and that's also against the law.
There was good signage in the beginning of the trip, but none once we made it to the woods. No big deal, really. Just keep going to the right, essentially. Hehehe...Some paths lead to a dead end and any other lead away from the altstadt (old town) which you could clearly see straight ahead. As shown in the pretty pictures.
Every time we made it down another layer of the mountain, the view got more and more incredible. Of course, the snow made it magical. I had tears in my eyes from the beauty and the cold. Isn't it just a fairy tale village? It's just as beautiful in the town as it is from above.
I lived my first few years in a Pennsylvania Dutch environment. So, I'm super keen on the German diet. It's not something for everyone. If you've no idea what it's like, I'll give ya my spin on it. Most German fare is basic. It's most often meat, very often pork, potatoes in all kinds of wonderful varieties and nearly always, a wonderful serving of vegetables. As you can see from these few photos in the page, above.
At the top left is me and my tafelspitz with a creamy onion sauce. That's basically roast beef. It's served with markt gemuse. That's a lovely variety of vegetables often including brocoli, carrots and maybe koolrabi and or cauliflower with a hefty helping of butter sauce over the top. My only complaint about German food, in general, is that it is under herbed and often salty. Definitely test your food before adding salt or pepper. The potatoes were a first for me and they were beyond fab. They were halved kriel potatoes (the really small ones) with parsley. I'd wager they were boiled first and then sautéed in butter, salt, pepper and a good dose of parsley. There were the herbs that are usually missing.
My friend had a visit to the little salad bar, fries (pommes in German) and a cordon bleu smothered in zucchini, carrots, broccoli and parmasean cheese. Later I went back and got a gorgeous breast of chicken with that same smothering and holy wow, was it awesome.
I had a land bier which is just a regular, tap beer and my friend a riesling. When we went back the next day, we had a gluhwein (warm, mulled wine) to warm up from our hike down the mountain. It really is a fabulous way to heat up those bones. You can get it nearly everywhere.
The bottom left is me devouring some super smokey sausages or knackworst. The potato salad was really yummy, too. My friend had a bowl of the very popular, goulash soup which is a tomatoey, beef stew. This was in a different restaurant, across the street. German food is pretty good if you like the basic fare. The prices are ok as well and the quality is almost always good as well. Again, I am a bit partial to German cuisine.
This little cafe above was so idyllic. I would want to own it. It's full of old, wood furniture, framed art and get a gander at that ceiling. Each and every tile was unique. Super cool, eh? They served a very large variety of dessert, coffee, tea and sweets. Definitely worth a try if you've a sweet tooth. it was also one of the few places open in the late fall. Coffee and dessert is very, very popular in Germany. Have I now won you over? Hehehe...
Don'cha just love all of this fachwerk and historic architecture? I find if most charming and feel right at home traipsing through this small, old village close to the Belgian border. It's even more beautiful bedecked in snow. Another fabulous feature here is all of the greenery. Even in freezing temperatures there are all kinds of plants, bushes, trees and even flowers which lends a soft, warm and inviting feel. Imagine it in the summer!
I noticed a lot of parking and there were some larger hotels that had pools and menus. You could easily lodge here and go on long hikes around the village and the surrounding area. There are numerous nature parks. A few days here wouldn't put ya back too far financially. Besides this village and the nature parks, there really isn't all that much to do.
For us it was a great and needed contrast to the bustle of Haarlem, Amsterdam and Ghent. Perhaps that's an idea for you? Do all of the hubbub of a or a few large cities and round off your trip in the quiet, nature rich Monschau? Aachen, Maastricht (NL) and nearly any major Belgian city like Brussels (not at all a favorite), Antwerp, Ghent, Brugge ... Ghent, I'd choose first and will come back with another post on that recent trip. Then Antwerp if you like big cities. Brugge is a lot smaller and charming. Maastricht, Netherlands is a good sized city and fairly cozy.
The tour we did was a few nights stay in Zandvoort, Nederlands and trained out to Amsterdam one day. Then bussed to Haarlem one day and returned to Belgium the next day. Then a day out in Ghent, an afternoon in Dendermonde and then three nights in Monschau with a quick visit to Hasselt on our way back to East Flanders. It was a nice mix of big cities, smaller towns, mega walking and action and perusing and chilling.
I hope this information will be useful to you. I'll be back with more photos and details on the other places I mentioned, above. This way you can get a better idea of what these are like.
Above, I've got some close ups of me and my delicious meal I had in Monshau at a super, small and cozy cafe. It's also a glimpse of today's freebie. Click on the image to get the download.
Let me know how ya like the travel blogs. There are more to come. Including more from the book I'm working on, The Walking Stick. Keep your eyes out and thanks so much for visiting The Cherry.
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