Brühl!

On Sunday, Lenka (my other Slovakian co-worker) invited me to go bike riding with her in Brühl. We were joined by another expatriate named Raphael. He is here from Beijing training for a job with DHL.

I did not know really what to expect. I just knew I had my bike. When we got off the train, we were greeted by the great schloss (castle) Augustusburg:



Augustusburg was the residence of Clemens August, the Archbishop of Cologne. It is surrounded by beautiful forests and Baroque gardens. The interior looked similarly spectacular on brochures, but Raphael and Lenka said they planned to visit another time with a tour group, so we did not go inside.



Instead, we traveled by bike to a collection of lakes on the Southwest side of Bruhl. It is a popular vacation/camping spot for Germans.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather. But unfortunately we did not bring our bathing suits. In lieu of swimming, we decided to feed the swans:


Here is Raphael with his new friends:

But then his friends started getting scary:

(Barb, do you remember when that swan bit dad????)

We walked around the surrounding area, and in a typically German style, there was a small amusement park:

And another example of how the Germans will mechanize just about anything:

Lenka and Raphael are both smart, well-traveled and easy to talk to. (Not to mention particularly enduring on a bike!) We had a really nice time. But Raphael showed me how to work the focus function on my camera. And I feel foolish for not knowing how it operated before. I promise to take better pictures.