Braubach, Germany July 24, 2012

“The wise traveler knows not to repeat successes, but to travel to new places all the time” Something I have always felt-Charlie

Quiet Hotel Corner

Today  was one of those days that make you want to travel and explore more. Everything goes as planned and you see great sights, meet great people, and relax along the way. Then you find your room is in a quiet picture perfect corner of the Rhine region in Germany. It doesn’t get much better than this. First, lets rewind a little to last night where we discovered that the squares in Germany are designed to echo every sound and make it feel like whatever is making the sound is in your room. We closed the windows as there was quite a party of restaurant goers sitting outside enjoying themselves. That seemed to quiet down around midnight. At some point Carol opened the window, but did not have the courtesy to wake up when the German karaoke down the street was going full blast. I however did wake up at 2:30 to the sounds of New York, New York in German by a not as good as Carol in the shower, singer. Eventually, I fell back asleep.

Marksburg Castle

We boarded the 07:53 train for Braubach in the Rhine, managing our first train change in Koblenz like we were pros. Arrived in Braubach a little after nine, went to the TI (tourist information) office to find out where the path to Marksburg Castle was. We found it and started a steady climb with our full packs that soon had the sweat dripping off of me. Most of the castles on the Rhine are on hilltops as that made it easier to defend. Marksburg castle is the only castle on the Rhine that had not been destroyed partly or in whole, 100% original. We made it to the castle and bought tickets for the first tour at 10:00 o’clock which was all in German. They did give us a book in English describing what we were seeing. The tour guide was very nice and told us a little bit in English the highlights of each stop before giving her spiel to everybody else who understood German. The tour was great, very informative, interesting, wunderbar, and just plain cool.

CNC Cruising

We hiked back down the mountain to the Rhine river where we were going to catch a boat that would cruise the 40 kilometers to Bacarach, our final destination. This would take 3 and a half hours while passing numerous castles and towns with stops at several of them. This is without a doubt a great way to travel. Slow paced and comfortable sitting on deck watching the beautiful countryside go by. Besides the castles, there were vineyards growing on steep slopes. This is the famous wine country of Germany where the white grape is king. We also met a great couple from San Diego traveling around Europe for two months. They are just carrying packs too and since they are quite younger than us staying mostly in hostels. They had already been to Ireland, Holland, and Belgium. They had also studied in Italy a few years back and lived there while doing so for over 5 months. My one regret with my job was that I couldn’t get the long periods of time off that I wanted to try a trip like this when I was younger. Justin and Jill made me realize even more why I decided to retire this young. It was great meeting you guys, travel safe my young paisano!

Downtown Bacharach

We got off the boat in Bacharach where we will be staying for 3 nights while we explore the Rhine. It is a very small and quaint little town and our hotel was right by the old wall with a brook flowing nearby that we can hear from our room. Very peaceful and beautiful. After checking in we took a walk through the town to find the train station for tomorrow and check out some menus. As it was a little early we decided to walk to the castle above town which is now a youth hostel and check out their AYCE buffet. This got our hearts pumping again and more weight loss(hopefully) through sweat by me.

Worth the Climb

We arrived and had to wait 15 minutes to check out the buffet and what do you think Carol wants? If you guessed beer, have one and toast us. We do not get any skinny ass glass of beer, but rather two very tall .5l (about 16 oz) glasses, one light, one dark. Drinking this great German beer enjoying the view down the Rhine we works so hard for was just great. When Carol went to get the beer, I was thinking, I can’t believe we are here doing this. It all seems so natural to me and still not sinking in that I am retired. At any rate, we checked out the buffet, decided to pass and hiked back down to town to eat. The steep up and down is good practice for Switzerland which still scares me a little. We find a nice place, sitting outside, where we enjoy sauerbraten and a spaghetti with Gorgonzola sauce and pork medallions. Of course two more half liter beers to wash them down with. Both dinners were excellent and we stopped for a gelato on our way home to top things off. They had a Riesling wine gelato that was excellent. Tomorrow we will go to the town of St. Goar and see another castle. having a blast in Germany so far.

CNC

Expenses                                                                                                                                                      12 E- Marksburg Castle Tour                                                                                                                      9E- Weiner schnitzel and fries on the boat                                                                                            56E-Hotel Im Malerwinkle                                                                                                                   5.50E- 2 Beers at Bacharach Castle                                                                                                 33.10E- 2 dinners and 2 beers at Hotel Kranenturm Restaurant                                                   3.20E-2 gelatos                                                                                                                                              Miles walked- 10 miles