Christine on the Rope Course

Face your fears head on.  I'm sure that's someone's advice.  That is not my advice, mind you, but someone's.  Some friends mentioned going to a rope course.  I thought that might be fun.  I did not know what it was exactly.  I figured it was a zip line.  Go up a ladder, stand on a platform, and ride across for a while and call it a day.  Yeah, I was wrong.

We visited Abenteuer (Adventure) Park at Schloss Lichtenstein (Castle Lichtenstein).  http://www.abenteuerpark-schlosslichtenstein.de  The Abenteuer Park contains 9 courses.  Courses 1 and 2 are for Kinder (kids).  The park kindly provides a briefing for course 9.  I'm saving 9 for another day.  Or another life.  We'll see.

First they provide a crash course on how to use the carabiners.  You have two and one is always attached to a line.  Then they just let you go.  We chose course 6 because there was no line.  This ended up being the "Münchhausens Flug" which meant flying course.  Lots of zip lines.  I actually enjoyed those.  It was balancing crossing that were hard.  And the heights.   But there is no exit once you start.  You just keep going forward on to the next challenge.  After we finished course 6, we did course 5.  This course was like cake compared to 6.  I think they are exponentially harder as you go.  Also, there were these annoying kids in front of us that took forever on course 5.  Plus you have to climb a rope ladder to start.  This is not a simple task (though standing there you think how hard could it be?).  Navy Seals climb those rope ladders for training.  It is hard work.  Just skip it.  Some friends did course 7.  This was like a circus, with a trapeze and tight-rope walking.  I think I would have enjoyed it, had we chosen this one first.  We didn't though.  And the trees on the course do not seem very thick.  I want them to be so large my arms won't fit around them.  And trees give as you swing on to them.  Letting you know in advance.

Probably the bravest thing I have ever done was this course.  You zip lined across the way.  You climbed up and down poles.  You walked between platforms on unstable steps/platforms that hung from a line to get to the next platform.  My braveness:  one of the challenges was swinging from one platform to a rope net.  Yes, you had to jump off (or step off) the platform and you swung over to a rope net that you then Spiderman climbed up.  I, of course, just held on to the tree at the platform.  They were like the rope will just pull you forward and you go.  I was like, it doesn't pull you if you are holding on to the tree.  The way it is set up is to pull you forward.  But I finally mustered up all of my courage and let go of the tree.  And then I went off the platform (I have no idea how) and I screamed.  I'm sure everyone in the park heard me.  I was the only person that screamed as they did it as far as I know.  And I screamed the whole flight over.  And it was not ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  And then I held on to the net for my dear life.  And climbed it so fast.  Like Spiderman.  Only faster.

It was only later when I went back to take a picture did I see that they had a cheat zip line so you could skip that part.  When I told Megan this, she said we talked about this before we did the zip line to the platform.  I had no recollection of this conversation until she said that.  I have no idea how I missed that.  But I survived.  And I would go back.  We will have to wait until another cathedral tour to see if I am cured.  I doubt it.  But I'm hopeful.

Someone flying to the rope net.

Another part of the course.

A zip line

The course is at the Schloss Lichtenstein.  Does it look familiar?  I visited this castle when I first arrived.  In the snow.  It was freezing that day.  And foggy.  But go back towards the beginning of the blog...

Schloss built on the rock on side of the mountain.  Literally.

View from the Schloss grounds.  

Christine

Christine in Heidelburg, Germany

Germany is full of hiking trails.  German people love to be outdoors.  This is why there are so many festivals all summer.  They spend the winter inside trying not to freeze, and all spring/summer/fall outside at various festivals, know as fests.  But I'm getting away from my topic.  I traveled up to Heidelburg to go hiking last Sunday.  We took the regional train, which means it's a 1 1/2 hour ride.  The walk was around 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) and took about  4 hours.   Now, you may be thinking, Christine, that is way slow for you.  Yes, I agree.  But it was all uphill and rather steep at times.  Most of it anyway.  And I walked with 2 other girls, Erin and Tamara, who's legs are not as long as mine.  So we walked slower.  It was a great afternoon activity on a sunny Sunday.

Like a lot of Europe, there were some ruins.   The ruins in front of the tree were Roman ruins originally.  Then some monks built a monastery over them.  Yes, they repurpose in Europe.  There is also 2 Celtic rings from 400 bc in this area.  But I couldn't see them.  I think it would have to be winter to see them.  And someone pointing out where they think the rings are.  Just sayin'.

Also, the Nazi had a rally point there:

View from the bottom:

You can see the Heidelburg castle from the hike as well:

Blogger Note:  I forgot my camera and used my blackberry for these pictures.  So that's why you can't really see the castle.  I sucked for blogging this time.  I'm sure I'll visit Heidelburg again and take pictures of the castle then.  You can google Heidelburg Castle and see what it looks like if you're really interested now.

Christine

Christine in Koln, Germany

My one pet peeve--why, oh why, do we spell country and/or cities names different than the country does?  It makes zero sense to me.  It also makes it hard for me to initially figure out places.  Enough of my rant.

I visited Koln (Cologne), Germany for a very specific reason.  Not to climb to the top of the Dom.  I did try that though.  Based on my research, there are 509 steps to the top.   I probably climbed 400 of them.  Seriously.  At least.  I made one mistake that meant I did not make it to the top.  I stopped at the bell tower cause others were stopping.  Seemed like a good idea.  The bells are huge.  But then I could see through the windows to the ground.  It was just so high up there.  I should not have stopped.  I'm convinced I would have made it to the top then.  It didn't seem like it took a long time to walk the steps.  I think this is because the people in the front of me stopped occasionally to catch their breath.  This is generally not an activity I need to do.  But it made the trip seem shorter.  We must never have stopped by any windows for me to lookout of.  See the single window above the double windows?  Notice how high it is?  That's where the bell tower is.  The top is the above the 2nd single window.  Next time.  By the way, it took more than 600 years to complete the Dom.   It will probably take them 600 years to clean it as well.  They are in the process of doing so.  Also, no one walks down steps faster than me.  Just sayin'.  I haven't plowed anyone down.  Yet.  ha ha

My nemesis.  Sorry, I didn't check the picture up there to make sure it was good.  I was too busy trying to move along.  

View where I decided I needed to go back down.  

A better picture of how far up I went.  Still single window.

Steps in the tower up.  They remind me of steps up to the Pentagon I use to climb.  

I also visited the Museum Ludwig.  My favorite Picasso statue is Bust of a Woman.  I also enjoyed his paintings and pottery.  Their collection included some Andy Warhol paintings.  No pictures allowed though.  Interestingly, this does not stop people from actually taking pictures.  I don't get it.  But I observe the rules.

The real reason I visit Koln was to eat at Vendome.  This would be my first Michelin 3 star restaurant.  It also is in the world's 50 top restaurants, really the top 25, coming in at 23.  As you can guess, as soon as I found out such a list existed, I needed to eat at one of the restaurants.  http://www.theworlds50best.com/ 

I enjoyed my 2 1/2 hour meal.  That's the thing about rich people.  They get to eat longer than the rest of us.  But they also get smaller portions.  I still don't care for foie gras.  All fancy restaurants serve it to you.  Vendome had better than my other samplings.  The menu:

I will kindly translate the German.  The first course was scallops (though the menu says something else).  Then trout, venison, the not so good dessert, and the chocolate dessert.   Actually, I was served 4 desserts, 3 of them delicious chocolate ones.  I don't remember what the other one was.  It was good enough.  But not as wonderful as the other choices.  

Trout.  I'm not a fan of the foam on top.  But I enjoyed everything.

I would have liked more of this dessert.  I mean, you could fill up the whole cup.  

At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, one of my classes had a business etiquette dinner.  They did not show us what this utensil is for.  I wish they would have.  They always give me a fork and this spoon/knife with fish.  I'm not sure if I'm suppose to use it to help with the fish and eat off the fork, or use the fork to help with it and eat off of it.  That's all.

Christine