Our company suddenly changed its vacation policy: unused days from the previous year now had to be taken by the end of January. So I had no choice but to take time off. Naturally, I went to the sea. The North Sea, to be precise. Luckily, it’s only a three-hour drive from where I live. The North Sea in January — it already sounds like a ballad of adventure and wandering.

If you head south from Cologne on Autobahn A1, about 30 to 40 kilometers in, there’s an exit toward the town of Bad Münstereifel. It’s a small, picturesque town tucked between forest-covered hills. A fairly lively river called the Erft flows right through it.