We left the Netherlands behind and made our way into Germany just a smidge, spending the night in Nideggen. Our motel was literally part of the wall to the village and included the turrets of a castle.
The next morning we explored the darling little town and then hit the road south...driving through a little bit of Belgium, Luxembourg, and into France.
Naturally, we found our way to the local and cemetery.
All throughout the region, we saw these big, beautiful golden trees with red tips and I absolutely loved them! They added so much warmth and depth just like in autumn, but in the springtime...I'd never seen that before.
Long drives on winding country roads through tiny villages, fields, and mountains is my very favorite, and this was no exception. We covered a lot of ground, but I loved every moment of it. I actually drove a good portion of the way since Brian was jet lagged and we had a BMW with an automatic transmission. I haven't driven a stick shift in about 20 years, so I'm always a little hesitant to get back in the driver's seat with those. Anyway, the car was lovely, though it would randomly start talking to us in German and it had a million little lights flashing and beepers beeping and we couldn't ever figure out what it was trying to tell us. There was barely a moment of peace in that car. Later on in our trip, Brian even backed into a car (causing no damage as we were moving barely a mile an hour) because it was beeping loudly at us and we began to just tune it out. Well, turns out that it was beeping, this time, because we were too close to the car behind us. It didn't have back-up camera or anything so we had no idea. But it all worked out in the end...except that I've since gotten a speeding ticket from The Netherlands. 57 euros isn't bad I suppose.
Anyway, we didn't see many poppies up here, but the fields of Canola were in full bloom. Any vast land covered in flowers is just as good. Throw in some trees and tall grass blowing in a light breeze and I'm in heaven!
The first few hours of our road trip included clear blue skies and perfect warm sunshine. The forecast had called for rain for pretty much our entire vacation, so we figured we'd find it eventually and did once we crossed into France. It was just drizzling when we arrived in Obernei for the evening, but I brought an umbrella, so it was all good. I'd booked a motel right in the heart of it's historic center, so we dropped off our backpacks, hit some shops, and found Kebab for dinner. The town is so cute and charming and had a million little shops with toys, cheese, chocolates, pastries, kitchen wares...it was a lovely break from the normal touristy souvenir shops.
The next day, we awoke to the clouds clearing way for the most beautiful, sunny day. We had breakfast at the motel, did another round through Obernei and then hit the road where I saw a few of my favorite things: Wisteria, Poppies, and the most handsome Scottish Highland Bull.
