Going a little crazy in Germany

The cheapest way to get from Madrid to Gothenburg was on Ryan Air, and the only way to do it without having to sleep at the airport was to divide the trip into two parts and spend the night somewhere. We decided to stop over in Frankfurt, Germany, partly because it was the most cost effective way to go, and partly because we could have one day in a new country. Rather than staying next to the tiny Hahn airport, we did a bit of research and found a little village called Traben-Trarbach along the Mosel river that looked rather promising. It didn’t disappoint. Traben-Trarbach is nestled in a valley along the beautiful Mosel and decorated with Art Nouveau architecture (reminiscent of Ålesund, remember?) and quaint buildings from the Belle Époque. OK, I didn’t really know what architecture from the Belle Époque was, either, so I looked it up. Think gilded, fancy, and European looking. Our hotel, the Trabener-Hof, was really authentic and had fantastic, American-style hospitality that even surprised me: specially arranged beds for the kids, gummy bears on the pillows, lots of complimentary bottled water, personalized place cards at the breakfast table, you name it.  We’ll definitely be going back to this special place when we have more time to spend there. We were expecting that German food wouldn’t be very good, but we had a delicious meal at a place recommended by the hotel and we ate ourselves silly. Here’s the proof, in case you thought I was exaggerating, which I never do, by the way.