Don't get me wrong - I love trying new things - but occasionally it can become rather tiring attempting to continually do things you're not used to and sometimes you just want that creature comfort that you know you'll love and won't take any time to be unbelievably enjoyable. So when I found out there was an English/Australian style fish and chip shop in the nearby city of Wiesbaden, I put it at the top of my list to make a visit.
Apparently they serve the fish and chips in newspaper as well - a concept that the boyfriend was completely confused by. Wouldn't the ink run onto the food? No, for some reason. Wouldn't it be really soggy and gross? Well, yes to the first bit and no to the second. So in order to show him just how amazing this meal that reminded me of my childhood and endless summers in Aus was, and then how awesome England was, we trekked out to the town which takes about an hour to get to from Frankfurt.
One of the things that everyone notices when they are travelling through Europe is the amount of cyclists around. My first chance to become one of those European cyclists came on a short trip to Amsterdam about 4 years ago. Within 10 minutes I had nearly been hit by a tram and my friend's tyre was flat. After this I decided maybe biking wasn't for me, but since moving here my boyfriend has had other ideas.
A big fan of any kind of sports and adventure sports, if he's not attempting to convince me to go to Italy for a week of paragliding (only 2000 euros and you get to keep the paraglide apparently! I don't think in my life have i ever longed for a paraglide in my wardrobe?!) he's getting me to book diving, kayaking and rafting on our trip to Croatia. I certainly don't mind, and enjoy being influenced into doing things like this, but when it comes to biking i turn into a scared little 10 year old all over again, flying towards a tree with my dad yelling at me to slam on the brakes and looking ahead to my perceived death.
So when he suggested we take the bikes to Weisbaden and ride around the city, I needed some reassurances. Will there be any uphill? Certainly not! Will we be able to cycle on the footpath? Of course! And will there be loads of other cyclists so we're not the only ones weaving in and out of the people? Obviously. Assured by his answers, i got back on the bike (literally) and we took off for the train.
One thing I should have learnt a long time ago was that generally, when you're in a relationship and want someone to do something that they normally wouldn't be ok with but you think they'll enjoy once they're doing it, you dress up the truth just a little bit with a white lie or two and then you'll be the hero when they realise you were right to make them do it. I know this because I constantly did it to boyfriends (come on this holiday! it'll be so cheap, we'll hardly spend any money! Or we'll go to the party but i promise i won't get too drunk/it won't be late and we can leave whenever you're ready). Anyway, turns out there were not many other bikes at all, we were on the road and there was this AMAZING hill we just had to climb to get the best view of the city.
And unfortunately for my stubbornness, despite feeling some pretty strong feelings of hate as I walked my bike up that bloody hill while he circled me saying 'it's better if you just ride it!' over and over with no understanding that in English this sentence has a double meaning, we made it to the top. And the view was actually pretty decent after all.
Weisbaden is actually a really beautiful city, with wineries winding through the old German houses and mansions and beautiful historical buildings surrounded by cobblestones. Not great to ride a bike on, but the place above was perfect for a quick nap before we set down the hill at a much faster pace than I had forced myself up it!
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| The view of the city - was it worth that horrendous ride? I'm still undecided. |
When we finally made it to the fish and chip shop, we found it was closed on Sundays. Pretty disappointed, but a challenging day of riding on the road for the first time, discovering muscles i never thought i had and seeing some pretty beautiful views soothed my disappointment. One thing I've found since moving to Germany; you really never can guess what the next week is going to bring.
xx
