From Amsterdam we travelled on... We were introduced to Germany by being caught in a bit of traffic on an Autobaun, ironically enough. There are so many drivers in Germany that slowed traffic frequently happens unless you are on a 6 lane highway at which point you might get a ticket for driving less than 70 mph in the slow lane.
Our first stop was in the city of Cologne on the Rhine River. We walked through, took pics of and marveled at the very gothic looking Cologne Cathedral. It was a relief to be able to take pictures of the inside of the church rather than sneak a few crappy ones here and there because you are not allowed to take any and then feel guilty enough about it to feel like doing confession while you are there. Just sayin... no flashes are allowed though understandably... I did see a few people using them anyway. Argh, Heathens. The German priests in the church were sternly speaking to people about removing their hats as they walked through the door and it sounded like they were getting badly scolded. They were kinda scary and I wouldn't want to get on their bad side. German has much harsher sound than the sing songy musical language of Dutch we had just experienced in Holland. After checking out the church, we ate a decadent pastry pretzel at a delicious bakery and even found a music store where we strummed a few guitars. The weather was very drizzly but not really cold. It is customary to pay to use the bathroom in many places in Europe and this was the first time I've ever paid McDonalds to tinkle. The restroom attendant handed me a paper towel and said "Danke Shin" which is German for "thank you". We saw and heard an amazing classical music band in the main square and even met an angel.
We passed through the twisty turns of the lush, Rhine Valley surrounded by lush Forrest and paused for a photo op. We visited a mid evil town called Boppard dating all the way back to the 4th Century. There are several wine festivals in this area and several vineyards tucked along the hillsides. Famous for its ice wine which yields a small yet valuable product, other vineyards don't do so well and many have stopped making wine altogether due to the high cost associated with hillside winemaking, it must be done by hand rather than assisted by machines as is customary for flat land vineyards.
We passed through the twisty turns of the lush, Rhine Valley surrounded by lush Forrest and paused for a photo op. We visited a mid evil town called Boppard dating all the way back to the 4th Century. There are several wine festivals in this area and several vineyards tucked along the hillsides. Famous for its ice wine which yields a small yet valuable product, other vineyards don't do so well and many have stopped making wine altogether due to the high cost associated with hillside winemaking, it must be done by hand rather than assisted by machines as is customary for flat land vineyards.
We took a romantic cruise on the River Rhine past medieval hilltop castles and steep vineyards. We passed the Lorelei stone where legand has it a beautiful girl once lived and because of a betrayal by the man she loved, she jumped high off the cliff to her death and then in the afterlife, continued to sing along the rocks while brushing her long golden hair, luring unfaithful sailors to their deaths. We snapped pictures of the many hillside castles along the river and were transported to another world. One castle actually served as a toll station long ago and if boats didn't pay, they would raise a chain out of the water preventing them from passing. Our comfortable ferry boat was equipped with a nice restroom, stocked with local beer, wine and a food menu which consisted of bratwurst, chicken nuggets, fries, etc. I sampled local wines that came with complimentary wine glasses to take home as souvenirs: Klein Hainfeld 2011 Dornfelder Rotwein and 2012 Reisling Feinherb. We ended our boat ride in stopped in the quaint town of chalk full of amazing and elaborate Cuckoo Clocks, beer steins, cobblestone streets, and Birkenstock shoes.
Back on the road, we navigated slowly to our hotel. German auto traffic is a common occurrence in the highly populated area just outside of Frankfurt and merging was a bit tricky but we are familiar with that coming from the SF Bay Area, just glad we weren't driving! It was about an hour drive to our hotel where we checked in and headed down to dinner, a large buffet with fish, potato salads, green beans, bow tie pasta with rich Alfredo sauce, pineapple fritters and I even scored a free glass of wine due to the music trivia game I won earlier on our coach :) Q: Guess the song A: The Pretenders 1980
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