Sunday May 30th, 2004

Gary met us in Frankfurt at the airport. He warned us to be ready for some low level flying as we climbed into his BMW. No kidding! The AutoBahn is awesome! We flew along ... the left lane is for passing only and people seem to respect that here!! WOW!

It's 7:30 Sunday morning when he meets us and we arrive in Koblenz a little after nine. Tom and I unpack and shower and change and Gary has breakfast ready for us .... sliced cheeses and meats on bakery fresh rolls. And coffee. Gary's apartment is awesome. The front door to his building is situated in between a leather shop and a Biergarten! What a deal! He is on the top (4th) floor and he has windows everywhere with a view over the rooftops towards the Moselle River. Situated on a hill across the river he can see a Fortress which dates back to the year 1000 and is lit up at night. He has a great balcony from which to enjoy this view.

Gary's apartment has been modernized in many ways and has great hardwood floors in some rooms and ceramic tiles in others. His taste for decoration is very ecclectic ... it shows he has traveled a lot! Persian rugs on the floors combine with some Southwestern decor. Lots of tchotchkies. Interesting! None of the windows have screens on them and Gary claims there are no bugs in Germany. There is also no AC so we keep the windows open and so we shall see about the bugs!

Gary then takes us on a walking tour of his city. We head down to the Moselle River and walk along it to where it intersects the Rhine River at a place called German Corner. There is a huge statue here and lots of flags and tourists around. We stop in the Biergarten by the river and have a few beers sitting outside in the sunny breezy day. So nice! We continue with the walking tour then head back to Gary's.

A short while later we head out to meet Gary's girlfriend Monica for dinner. She seems really nice. Monica is German but works for the US Embassy and her English is outstanding. We dine outside at an Italian Restaraunt on yet another river. Across the river are acres of vineyards planted on steep hills ... wine country.

We return to Gary's apartment and settle in for the night. We share a couple more beers out on the balcony as we drink in the atmosphere. Church bells chime every 15 minutes and at 9:45 every evening they go crazy for 10 minutes .... ringing with no plan nor pattern. Bells gone Wild! Bells gone Crazy!! Then the 10:00 chimes and no more bells that night. By that time, Tom and I had been awake for over 24 hours and I was exhausted. So, even though it was still light out, I slept ....