Monday, August 13, 2007

The Romantic Rhein



This past weekend, a group of 6 of us, took the train two hours south along the Rhein to the small town of Bacharach (home of Burt) where we spent the night in a castle, turned youth hostel.



With the castle above us, we had a German lunch from vegetable soup to Sauerbraten. Then it was time for wine tasting, as this is one of the best areas to grow wine in Germany. Vineyards all over the hills. They brought out a large lazy susan tray with 15 glasses of wine for us. We tasted, spun, tried another and kept moving until we tried all 15, then ordered a glass of our favorite. We tried 13 different white wines and 2 reds.

The highlight of the hike up to the castle, other than the great views along the way, were of Brooke and her roll-on suitcase. She rolled up the hill in style.





At the castle, we checked in, explored, had dinner and then hung out with a large group traveling through Europe.




On Sunday, we went by boat from Bacharach, back to Cologne, just over 8 hours. A long time, but with lots to see and plenty of time to relax, enjoy the scenery and hang out with friends. We passed over 20 castles, including Mouse Castle and Cat Castle, one of the best preserved castles on the Rhein and a lot of churches in the small towns along the way. Quite an impressive view, whereever you looked. Tons of vineyards along the way. Got a nice tan sitting out in the front of the boat, where the best view was.



So we watched the sun rise over the Rhein through the mist, and later watched the sun go down as we came into Cologne. Capping off a darn good day. Got back to my apartment around 9pm after a quick dinner, just in time to do my homework and be off to bed.

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