Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A TASTE OF THE RHINE...

make a wish? 
BACHARACH, Germany ~ summer 2005
On Tuesdays, CAROLA, my German friend (who now lives in California), has been posting pictures of her native country. She asked bloggers to post any pictures taken during their travels to her country... 

The summer of 2005, JPE & I took our first Rick Steve's Tour, the "Best of Europe in 21 Days" - here is our JOURNEY.

We stayed at the HOTEL KRANENTURM, located about 15 feet from the train tracks. The towers of this medieval town were originally used to load barrels of wine onto the Rhine boats. YEP, the water used to come clear up to the walls of the hotel we slept in. Our tour guide, Herr Jung, showed us the height of the last flood. Amazingly, the water crept up to the fourth of the seven steps to our hotel entrance.

You might wonder if the trains bothered us?? NOPE!! they were pretty noisy the first time they roared by, but we got caught up in the beauty & ambience of our view of the Rhine River. Did we sleep okay?? YEP! Rick Steve's Tours gives you a set of ear plugs... worked like a charm! didn't hear a train whistle either night we slept there... AND, how many people get to sleep in a CASTLE??! 

During our walking tour (you walk A LOT on Rick Steve's Tours) to check out the view from the Stahleck Castle, we walked past this well (first picture). YES! we were panting when we got to the top! but the view was magnificient. 
that's the Rhine River behind us!! 
Bacharach Sundial
On the wall across from the well was this amazing sundial - the original was painted in 1632!! and last restored in 1987.

Check out CAROLA'S BLOG to see more of her pictures from Germany...

4 comments:

  1. Chris, this is lovely! And exactly what I had hoped would happen! I'm so glad you posted these beautiful photos and also told a little bit about your trip. Thank you. (I will post a direct link on my blog).

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  2. I remember this trip ~ you came back and recommended Rick Steve's so highly. Such a cute picture of you two. Hope you are having fun on this trip too.

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  3. Thank you for showing me some pictures of my Heimat. I came over from Carola. Seeing your pictures has made me homesick.

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  4. What a beautiful story of your trip. Came here from Carola's blog. I just love travels in Europe. I lived in Switzerland and France for 2.5 years. Oh it was heaven!

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