Trip to Germany, spring 2024

My parents and I traveled to Germany and the Netherlands from May 10th, 2024 to May 17th, 2024.

The primary purpose of our trip was to go to a family reunion, which had been organized by one of my aunts and uncles, but we made a longer trip out of it.

May 11th

We flew in to Amsterdam, picked up a rental car (a stick shift, which only my dad could drive), and drove two hours from Amsterdam to Xanten, Germany. I napped in the car.

We stayed at an apartment in Xanten, which happened to be next to a Renaissance fair. Parking was difficult.

The dinner tonight was organized by my great-aunt, at the Hotel Zur Linde in Repelen. I met much of my family on my dad’s side for the first time in years, including many of my cousins that I haven’t talked to in a long time.

The dinner options almost all contained asparagus, of which I chose the asparagus ravioli.

May 12th

I woke up at 5:30am because the sun was shining into the living room through a window that did not have a shade. I got back to sleep at 7:30am, and when I woke up again at 10:45am, my parents had left to eat breakfast with my uncle’s family at their apartment. I quickly got ready and walked over.

After breakfast, another aunt and uncle joined us, and we walked around Xanten. Eventually we ended up in Xanten’s town center and ate lunch there — asparagus risotto, for me.

We parted ways from the uncles and my parents and I visited the Roman ruins in Xanten.

The dinner tonight was at the Neumaier Hotel, which took two hours to produce food which we had chosen from a menu months ago. My schnitzel was mediocre, but my crème brûlée was fantastic.

After dinner, we went with one uncle’s family and my aunt’s family to get drinks at a café/bar in Xanten, and then went home.

May 13th

Today we drove to Cologne to meet a friend of mine who’s been working at CERN in Switzerland!

Together, we did a walking tour of Cologne, with a tour guide who was comically unhinged and vulgar. I don’t think many of the things he told us on the tour were correct, either.

He did tell us many times how much he loves the legal weed in Cologne (and California — his original home).

May 14th

Today we climbed the 533 steps to the top of the Cologne Cathedral.

Then, back at the bottom fo the cathedral, we payed €2 each for an official €0 bill with the cathedral printed on it — one of the cleanest ways I’ve seen to completely evaporate money.

In the afternoon, we walked to the newly constructed Cologne Central Mosque, which my parents toured but I wasn’t allowed to because I was wearing shorts.

May 15th

Today we drove to Aachen, Germany. We did a walking tour with a tour guide who usually does the Spanish language tours, but who was substituting today for an English one. He was good, and it redeemed the walking tour concept.

We bought packages of Printen, a type of gingerbread cookie that is Aachen’s pride and joy.

May 16th

Today we drove back to Amsterdam in advance of our flight out of Amsterdam tomorrow. Along the way, we stopped at Dreiländereck, where Germany, Belgium, and France meet.

We returned the rental car, then dragged our luggage along the canals for 45 minutes to our hotel.

We had dinner at an Indonesian restaurant, and during our dinner the PIN machines in all of Amsterdam went down, so we couldn’t pay with a credit card.

We walked to an ATM, and along the way we saw bars and grocery stores advertising that they were only accepting cash.

Then we learned that the ATMs weren’t working either, and in the end slightly underpaid the restaurant with the cash that we had with us.

May 17th

We explored Amsterdam on foot, visiting a market and the central train station, and then took a tram to the airport for our flight.