DAY 328

Sunday 3 June 2012

Nicole, Lisa, Sebastian, Dian and Charles

Another day of emails and blogging? - No! We prepped for our last road trip, two days out for a Rhine river cruise and a drive in the area, so we had to put some things back in the car. It all seemed strange and a little sad, but we were glad to have this one last excursion in Europe.


But first, that night we had a dinner date with Sebastian and his girlfriend Lisa, near their home near Cologne. We wanted to see them, being now so close, and also had to work out some final negotiations on the van rental.

We let him pick the restaurant and he chose Erstes Bruhler Kartoffelhaus, famous, highly rated, lots of atmosphere (potatoes overflow small buckets and line the steps as you enter) but low-priced local spot. The food was really good and the portions large, our waitress was a bubbly addition to it all, and Nicole and Dian got to visit long with Lisa, talking much about the art work she does, while Charles and Sebastian talked long but to no agreement. In the end we parted with hugs all around and renewed our invitation for them to join us at Henri and Roos's for a going-away BBQ. Sebastian said he had a very heavy work schedule and would have to let us know.

A record in the restaurant, "Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha"?!

We decided where our van was parked was pretty safe (Sebastian agreed) so we jumped in and sorted out our shortage of sleeping covers (hey, we got out of practice and didn't bring enough), and after some bitchingandmoaning everyone got what they needed, and we retired around midnight (but were surprised by the foot traffic and accompanying loud conversations in this mostly residential neighborhood at that time of night).
 

Nicole, Lisa, and our very friendly waitress (middle)