Europe Trip Recap – The Rhine River Valley in Germany
If you’ve been following along, Hubby and I spent a couple nights in The Netherlands, followed by 4 nights in Belgium. Up next on our European vacation was Germany. We took a high speed train to Cologne. Upon exiting the Cologne train station, we were immediately impressed by the massive cathedral (Dom). We decided to do the highly recommended Dom Tour at 2:30pm so we had a few hours to kill.
We grabbed our first meal in Germany at a beer house. We enjoyed sitting outside in the nice weather, beer, and pork for lunch. After that we walked around Cologne before the tour. During the tour, they were testing the organs which was quite the experience to hear! The tour of the cathedral was amazing. Very informative and worth the 7 Euro price tag. After the tour, we picked up our rental car and headed off to St Goar. I was pretty tired, so I snoozed while Hubby drove. I’m glad I did because Hubby said he was enjoying the fact that there wasn’t a speed limit on the Autobahn… I don’t even want to know how fast he was driving…
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| Inside the Dom in Cologne |
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| My first meal in Germany – Pork and Beans! (with a beer, obviously) |
Our hotel in St Goar was right on the Rhine River. We enjoyed walking along the river for a while before grabbing dinner at the restaurant in our hotel. We sat outside and enjoyed a couple beers before doing some quick laundry in our room then heading to bed.
We woke up the next day to a cloudy, grey day. We decided to hike to the Reinsfeld Castle. The castle was in complete ruins and was a lot of fun to explore and search through. After the ruined castle, we hit up a grocery store to grab a picnic lunch. We feasted on salami, Gouda, apple, and freshly baked bread at the park while doing some barge watching along the river.
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| Driving through the German countryside to St Goar |
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| Ruins of the Reinsfeld Castle in St Goar |
Next we hopped on to a boat for a leasurely cruise to Bacharach. Once we got there, we followed the Rick Steves walking tour around Bacharach. After the walk, we hiked to the castle in Bacharach to enjoy a beer with a great view. The vineyards along the steep countryside were amazing. Next we enjoyed a wine tasting before heading to dinner. Hubby had one of our favorite meals of the trip that night – Sauerbraten – which was pork with a braised red cabbage and potato dumplings.
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| The castle turned Youth Hostel in Bacharach |
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| Vineyards on the mountainside in Bacharach |
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| View from the hike in Bacharach |
For our last day in St Goar, we slept in and did some shopping in the morning. Hubby bought an umbrella because it was raining. He ended up using that umbrella almost every day the rest of the trip. And then he forgot it in the airplane when we landed in Boston!
We drove to Burg Eltz, which is an operating castle that Rick Steves says is one of his favorites. It was cold and rainy that day but we still opted for the 45 minute hike through the mountains to the castle. Once we got there, we did the 45 minute tour. We were both underwhelmed with this castle. It was interesting to see, but our tour guide was less than enthused to be there, which just put a damper on the day. The cold rainy weather didn’t help either. We had lunch at the castle before heading back to our 45 minute hike through the mountains to get to the car. We laid low that evening and I skyped with my family to say hi.
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| Walking up to Burg Eltz |
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| Part of the drive to Burg Eltz. It was hilly and curvy to say the least. |
For our last day in the Germany countryside, we drove to Rothenburg. We did the Rick Steves walking tour again, making a stop at the Crime and Punishment Museum. It was a little scatterbrained and overwhelming, but worth a stop. When we came upon the main square, the sun came out, so we grabbed a beer.
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| The town of Rothenburg |
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| Rothenburg |
Next we went to the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop. For those of you who don’t know me in real life, I love Christmas. Especially ornaments. This shop was like heaven to me. You couldn’t take pictures inside which made me sad. We capped off the evening with the highly recommended Night Watchman Tour. It was a fun, informative, and entertaining way to spend the night.
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| Entrance to Rothenburg |
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| Doorway in Rothenburg |
Rothenburg was such a cute little town and we really enjoyed our time there. We grabbed the majority of the souvenirs for our family in Rothenburg. We were shocked at how quickly the entire town shut down. When we got back from the Night Watchman Tour, almost everything was closed. After our one night in Rothenburg, we hit the road to head to Munich for the final leg of our trip. Watch for that recap soon.
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| Enjoying a beer in Rothenburg |
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| Night Watchman Tour in Rothenburg |
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| Entrance to Rothenburg |
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Thank you so much for sharing Jen! I completely understand where you’re coming from and how you feel…do nice things for yourself
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 8:50 am
You do the same Fiona
Thank you so much for sharing. This is UNREAL. My husband Jeff ran the Boston Marathon this year, and I spent the day traveling around on the T watching the marathon with my in-laws. We ended the day just a block from the blast sites – I shared my story here: http://decoratethis.blogspot.com/2013/04/bittersweet.html; Jeff’s story here: http://iwasbornready.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-2013-boston-marathon.html.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your and Jeff’s stories. What a day you guys had. I’m glad you’re safe.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:10 pm
I added these links to the body of the post.
It definitely does help to put some words together. And I feel the same way- even though I was volunteering at the 10k, i can’t help but wonder why wasn’t i volunteering at the finish line so I could’ve helped?
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:10 pm
I agree – it was therapeutic to write this up.
Thanks for sharing Jen. I haven’t lived in Boston for 4 years now, but my husband and I had a similar reaction. We both wanted to get “home” to the city we love, a city that becomes part of your being no matter where you go next.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
I’m glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Living in Boston leaves such a strong impression…
I’m a longtime reader, first time commenter. First I want to give you big virtual hugs regarding the events in Boston. Your feelings are no less valid, no less important. My heart goes out to you. Also, I want to say, welcome to Cincinnati! I live east of the city and am a transplant from Seattle. Cincy is growing on me, and slowly but surely I’m starting to tell people that I’m from Ohio not Washington. 🙂 Best wishes to you and thank you for sharing.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
Jen – thanks so much for commenting. I realize that at some point I’ll say I’m from Ohio, but the events of this week just my my heart tied even tighter to Boston…
I’m so glad all of your Boston people are safe. I can completely relate to your feelings of helplessness, I felt the same way after 9/11. It’s hard to be away from family and friends and a city that you love when tragedy strikes.
Big hugs for you and your crew.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
Thanks Jene. I’m sure it’s very similar to how you felt around 9/11.
I feel the same way–Boston was my home for four years of college. I love that city. I feel like it is MY city. I wish I was there, locked in with friends, watching the news and hugging them. I feel so helpless on the other side of the state, so far away.
As soon as I’m able I’m going to the city and having a moment in the Common before heading to all my favorite places. My heart aches for the city, I wish I was there.
beantownbaker — April 19th, 2013 @ 4:15 pm
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way. We are trying to make plans to get back to the city sometime soon as well.
Oh I so know how you feel.. I live in Michigan. I’ve been here for almost 10 years, and I still call Boston home. It’ll always be home to me. You’re not alone!
beantownbaker — April 21st, 2013 @ 6:07 pm
Glad to hear I’m not the only one. I definitely think Boston will always feel like home to both me and Hubby.
I know exactly how you feel – I am a 2004 graduate of Virginia Tech. I was at work when the April 16th incident happened in Blacksburg, and I felt SO far away, and SO hopeless – the only place I wanted to be was in my beloved Blacksburg.
To make matters worse, I flew to Missouri the next day (for work) for 3.5 weeks. It seemed that the people out there had ALREADY moved on from the tragedy – it just made NO sense to me. I cried most of those 3 weeks, and since I was out there by myself it was a struggle.
I have always loved Boston, and I know that that community will love and support one another, just as Blacksburg did (and still does). It was the sixth anniversary this past Tuesday, and with everything happening in Boston, and the thoughts of VT and Blacksburg, it was an extremely long and tiring week.
Stay strong.
beantownbaker — April 22nd, 2013 @ 11:46 am
That sounds like a horrible situation for you in the aftermath of the VTech tragedy. Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your story.