My Parents First Visit to Germany: Exploring Wiesbaden

Eleven months. That's about how long it took before my parents finally boarded a plane to cross the pond and visit Germany for the first time since we moved here. Cold weather is not their thing {although Atlanta did see more snow than Wiesbaden! #snowmageddon} so they waited until the temps would be warm enough for their liking.

I will say that Wiesbaden is beautiful this time of year when the sun emerges from hibernation and the sky remembers that it's actually blue, not a gloomy gray/white color. However, like a lot of places in Europe it can be sunny one moment and pouring down rain five minutes later. Rain coats and umbrellas are packed as reflexively as shoes or toiletries. Be prepared or be soaking wet!

DAY 1:

 My Mom and Dad arrived on a Friday morning after flying all night directly from Atlanta via Lufthansa. I didn't know if they would be feeling the jet lag immediately or not so I didn't plan anything the first day. After a quick power-nap, we set out to show them around our charming new(ish) city!

In front of the iconic Kurhaus/Wiesbaden Casino

 Richard and I showed them around some of our favorite sights of Wiesbaden including the Kurhaus, Market Church and of course the largest cuckoo clock in the world!

When you think of goods that Germany is well-known for producing, what comes to your mind? Perhaps, cars? Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen to name a few. However, for my Dad it's all about pens. As in fountain pens. He may have been more excited to see German manufactured fountain pens than me...Kidding, but that's about how much he loves fountain pens. Within six hours of landing in Frankfurt, he had already purchased a new one from Der Papierladen Wiesbaden.

In case you're like me and didn't realize German fountain pens were a big deal, allow me to enlighten you the way my Dad enlightened me. The "Big Four" German fountain pen companies are: Mont Blanc, Lamy, Pelikan, Graf von Faber-Castell. I've learned new words like "nib" and even used it in banana grams this past weekend! {Thanks, Dad!}

We ate an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Wiesbaden- Symposium. If you like amazing Greek food, excellent service and fair prices then you'll love Symposium! {bonus: they have a resident restaurant cat!}

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 DAY 2: 

Despite the rainy Saturday morning we were determined to get out and explore more of Wiesbaden. Our first stop was the Farmers Market, which takes place every Wednesday and Saturday from 7am-2pm. This is not your average Farmers Market... Imagine bright, beautiful flowers, wine from local wineries, fresh herbs, honey, rotisserie chicken, delicious cheeses, freshly baked bread and of course a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. In addition to these products, there are food trucks with all kinds of goodies ranging from coffee and pastries to bratwurst and pommes frites {french fries- but pommes frites is so much more fun to say!}

On this particular Saturday there was live music {in English too!}, more vendors than usual including my favorite: The Bagel Guys-or so I refer to them even though it's actually run by ladies. 

Since it was raining, I didn't take pics, but these are from other days at the Farmers Market.

After some delicious gelato we were ready to venture to the highest peak in Wiesbaden- The Neroberg. We walked to the nearby bus stop at the corner of Friedrichstraße & Wilhelmstraße to take the bus {an easy €9 group day pass) toward the Nerotal. The bus drops you off right beside the booth where you purchase your tickets {€3.30 per person/round trip} and board Germany's oldest water ballast-driven cog-and-rack railway-- 126 years to be exact!

The 3.5 minute ride uses gravity and water weight to pull one of the trains up the mountain meanwhile the other train coming down the mountain is piloted to gauge the break. The Nerobergbahn is only open from April - October; however, you can always hike to the top.

At the top of the Neroberg, there are several "attractions" such as a WWI & WWII memorial for German soldiers, a cafe/restaurant, a beautiful Monopteros {gazebo-ish} with incredible views of Wiesbaden and Mainz, also a classy swimming pool called the Opelbad and the famous golden Russian Orthodox Church.

 

"15,680 comrades not returned"

Thankfully the sun came out so we could enjoy our afternoon on the Neroberg together! We had another low-key evening and went to bed early so we wouldn't miss our super-early train the next morning to Berlin!

Tschüss!