Sunday July 28 St. Goar

We had breakfast in our hotel dining room with a lighted candle on the table and a fantastic view of the Rhein River. Oh yes, the food was good too.

We went to 10:30 am mass at the German church in the middle of town. It was very nice inside and seemed quite old. It also had very hard wood kneelers. LOL I lit a candle before mass for family & friends again. The priest spoke German but we made out ok and it was a good way to start the day.

Inside of church

Outside of church

Our adventure for today is a 3 hr. Rhein River Cruise, from St. Goar to Rudesheim. The tour boat is a paddleboat named “Goethe” and can hold 990 passengers

                                               This is a map of the tour route we chose.

It was a cloudy day, threatening rain so we sat inside on the second deck in the dining room.

There are 146 castles in Germany and there are many along the Rhein River.

Here is another at the town of Bacarach 

 See the castle on the left upper corner, high above the campground below. Yes there are campgrounds but not the same kind of campgrounds we're used to.

We had lunch as we glided along the water. Tom & I shared Vienese sausage and German potatoe salad. Yummy.

An older gentleman, sitting across the room from us, was having lunch and seemed to be enjoying the view. I think he was traveling alone. There were many colourful houses along the way like the ones you see out his window.

                          On both sides of the Rhein, there are many, many vineyards lining the hills.

                   Michael & I stepped out onto the deck to take pictures and enjoy the view between rains.
  

Our final destination was Rudesheim, a very busy little town with many shops and lots of people.

I took these two pictures from the street we were on.

                                                                   Vineyard up close.

        I looked through a fence and saw this pretty view. I don’t know what this building was but I loved the           beautiful, colourful roses that lined the walkway on each side. I’ve seen many roses in Germany.

                            We took a train and then a ferry across the river to get back to our hotel.

                                A few more cool sights we saw on our Rhein River Cruise

Panoramic view of St. Goar

Even though it was cloudy and rainy, we loved this excursion on the Rhein River.

           

Our last night in Germany and our last chance to try German beer. So Michael & I shared. 

It was pretty good

Another leisurely walk along the Rhein after dinner. I thought this view across the river at St. Goarshausen was quite neat, under cloudy skies, but the sun peeking just enough, to illuminate Castle Katz on the top of the hill.

                                                                     Evening Strollers

              From our balcony after our walk. Thank you God for your beautiful gift of nature.
                                                     A beautiful finish to another fun day. 

Saturday & Sunday July 27/28 - St. Goar

We arrived at our hotel in St. Goar, Germany about 5 pm. We checked into the Hotel Rheinfels, on the Rhein River.

                                                                     St Goar Sign

St. Goar is one of the many towns on the banks of the Rhein River. It is linked by the Loreley Ferry to its sister town St. Goarshausen right across the river. There are many little towns on either side of the Rhein. 

Tom & I on our balcony

                          There is a fantastic view from our balcony. See the castle high up on the hill?

We went for a walk into town. There are shops and places to eat on either side of the main street. There is a shop that sells only beer steins. There is one store that sells a lot of cuckoo clocks, and in front, is the world’s largest free-hanging cuckoo clock.

Tom & I in front of a store that sells many cuckoo clocks.

             

Free-hanging cuckoo clock

Germany is known for their clocks which are handmade and come from the Black Forest, which is a wooded mountain range in southwestern Germany.

We found a neat outdoor café for dinner

and after we finished our “Germany cuisine”, we went for a walk along the Rhein River.

 It was a very warm night (90’s). We sat on one of the park benches to watch the shipping freighters go by. They are very low because they have to travel under bridges. The Rhein River is a very busy waterway with up to 250 boats passing by St. Goar every day.

On our walk back to the hotel, we spotted this 2 person vehicle parked just down the street. I took this picture for you Bob!

Shortly after our return to the hotel I took this picture from our balcony.

                                                Good night Rhein River, until tomorrow.

NOTE: apparently there is more than one spelling for the Rhein {this is the German way}

Friday & Saturday 26 & 27 Heidelberg, Breidenbach, Bad Laasphe

 Great way to start our day in Heidelberg by having breakfast in the wine cellar of our hotel. So very nice.

                      Loved the decor and atmosphere and the food was displayed picture-perfect.

Food was delicious and many choices. I just had to try this little sausage which was something like a mild liverwurst. Yummy!

Getting energized from our good breakfast we went for a walk around town.

                   There are many bikes in Heidelburg, preferred transportation of many people.

                                                    Entrance to the Old Bridge in daylight.

 There are many little shopping kiosks all along the side of this church in the background.

                                Segway tour. Looked like fun as they zipped along the streets.

WE came across this window display. They are called "Schneeballen" or Snowballs, which is like scraps of shortbread cookies made into a ball, They have different flavours, chocolate nuts,carmel etc.

                                                                   Colourful fruit stand

Yes there is a large church in Heidelberg. 

Narrow street

                                               Photo of the breath-taking  Heidelberg Schloss {castle}

Sandy & Michel on the Old Bridge with Heidelberg Schloss {castle} in the background.

Time to tour Heidelberg Castle. Yes we are going to castle!

  A funicular vehicle {like a cable tram} took us up to the castle grounds. So glad we didn't have to walk all the way up there.

                                                    Entering the castle complex.

                                             Tom & Sandy at the top of the viewing area.

                                               Panoramic view of the city of Heidelberg below

                                                                 Some of the ruins

                                         This is an outdoor stage that is used for various shows.

                                                         Tom & I in front of the castle.

Even though walls were 5 - 7 metres thick, when the castle was bombed by the French, this is what happened.

 Here is Julian, our very interesting tour guide who explained to us about this fireplace which was made out of ceramic so it held heat well. At the back of this fireplace there was a hole in the wall with a door which was accessible from the hall. It was the servants job to put wood in the fireplace from the hall and keep the fire going without being seen. They were not allowed in the room where the fireplace stood.

                                         Ornate wooden furniture that would be used in the castle.

 Now if you had one of these in your castle you were considered very affluent and visitors would look up to you. When guests were invited by the elector, they were well fed and wine was plentiful. The guests would eat and drink until the elector decided when to finish. This would lead to over-eating as well as over-drinking which would lead to getting sick. Well, I forget the name of this, but when the men would get sick they would run over to this opening in the wall and get rid of what's ailing them and pour water in after. Maybe I'll call it a "vomit-orium". This is what the guide told us. Who knows if it;s true????

On to a more refreshing picture ....... Sandy & I in front of a fountain in the castle's garden. 

At the end of the tour we went to a wine cellar which holds the largest wine barrel which holds over 200,000 litres of wine. Can you see Sandy & Michael?

It was pretty cool seeing the castle and listening to the tour guide. But time has come to leave Heidelberg and head for Breidenbach. Before leaving Heidelberg we did manage to purchase a snack and stopped at a rest area to eat it.

 
Yes we bought 2 "Schneeballen". Very messy to eat but tasty. Ours was chocolate and Sandy & Michael had carmel.

We have been very fortunate with our weather so far, sunny and warm, so we had a uneventful drive for about 2 hours. I think Tom & I might have rested our eyelids. 

We arrived in Breidenbach, Germany where Michael gave us a tour of the Centerline Plant

Later in the evening we went out for dinner with a friend of Michael's and his wife. The restaurant was at the base of this castle. There are many castles in Germany. It was a casual and fun evening -- good food and good company.
 
July 27
After breakfast at our hotel in "Bad Laasphe" we did laundry. It was a down day where we relaxed while waiting for the laundry. Gave me time to work on my blog.

 I took a picture of a garden in front of a house. So beautiful and colourful.

A rose tree. Just loved it.

We left later in the afternoon for St. Goar, Germany. As we left this town there was a sign which read

    "Gute Fahrt" Interesting. Actually it made us laugh as we said it out loud. But it means something like good journey. 

 We saw many towns along the way with some houses and buildings right next to the road. They were quite neat to see. Road was quite narrow too. Sometimes there were fields on either side of us and sometimes lots of trees like a forest. We took a small side trip to Koblenz to see this city. And then continued on to take a ferry across the Rhein River to St. Goar Germany.