Next Stop – Bedburg, Germany

We ended up in a wheat field the day we left Nijmegan because Hubs had chosen the wrong town to input into the GPS. Garbage in, garbage out. Once we’d figured that out – with the help of a real map – we got to Bedburg in record time.

Bedburg is another very old town, existing as early as 893. It is notable for its werewolf. In the late 16^th century, Bedburg was terrorized by a diabolical creature that slaughtered its cattle and snatched away its women and children, killing them with unspeakable cruelty. The shocked and horrified townspeople feared they were being victimized by a bloodthirsty werewolf who lived among them. A wealthy farmer known in the community as a pleasant enough widower and father of two adolescent children, turned out to be the deranged serial killer who wore a cloak of wolf’s skin. He even killed his own son, eating his brains. Yuck. He was caught and sentenced to a horrible death.

We stayed in a hotel in Bedburg built into the old city wall, very charming with nice grounds. Our reason for being there was so I could visit one of my former post-docs, who is a neuroscientist at the Institute of Brain Research in Dusseldorf.

The next day he took us to a center for birds of prey, where we got to see an amazing array of eagles, buzzards, falcons and owls from around the world.

We arrived in time for one of their twice daily shows, where certain birds fly free (but return), and I got to hold on a heavy leather glove, a black-backed South American buzzard eagle, who liked to have its chest stroked.

The birds were magnificent.

 After the show, we drove on to Mainz, to visit another former colleague and stay overnight. By then a heat wave had invaded Europe, and we were grateful for the car’s A/C.