Part 41: Great Misadventures on the Rhine

We are blessed with a number of people in our circle that have visited us while we have been over here. Quite honestly, I think this is one of the things that keeps our attitudes high; the ability to look forward to another guest arriving.

So far (including this blog), my Mom has come twice, her Mom has come three times, her Dad has come 2 times, and my Dad and Step-Mom have come once. In addition to that, my Sister, Amanda's Sister and my Aunt Sherry have all come over too. From the friends side, we have had a lot of visitors too: Phil, Brett and Beth, Brandon and Kristi, Jason and Terri (with a second trip planned in March), and PJ...

It seems like every 1-2 months someone new comes over to visit. So, this trip was another made by Amanda's Mom and Dad.

Originally, we thought we could fly off for a destination weekend, but the logistics and cost planning just weren't working out in our favor. Instead, we decided to take it easy and drive over to Germany for a three day trip to the Rhine. It was definitely off-season, but with any luck we could see all the major sites and catch a cruise on the river.

The trip started off brilliantly. Gary and Judy arrived on Friday morning and nearly kicked the jet lag the first night. The next morning we completed the most critical part of the trip for Gary; we made it to the morning market for appleflaps and cheese. As expected, they didn't disappoint.

Our general plan was to leave on Saturday afternoon and try to catch the Burg Eltz (Rick Steve's #1 rated castle in Europe - Amanda has been 3 times) and then drive over to the Rhine for two nights in a hotel. Amanda did all of the research on this trip and opted for Bacharach, a small town directly on the Rhine River in the middle of castle country.

As you probably know, Rhine River cruises are "all the rage" in Europe. When I mentioned this to my colleagues they all agreed, but added "if your older than 70". I guess the mystique of the cruise is largely lost on Europeans. Still, that single 10 mile stretch of river has approximately 15 castles on its banks. Pretty impressive. Where else in the world can you go to see so many historical sites packed into one area.

Since it was supremely "off-season" we didn't know what would be open, but expected it to be fairly slim. That turned out to be a relatively accurate assumption.

So, after lunch on Saturday, we left basically on-time. And, aside from the turnabout 10 minutes into the trip to get Passports, it started off without a hitch. The first pictures below where taken at the Burg Eltz. As mentioned before, this is a great castle nestled in a valley just south of Cologne.

We arrived just at dusk so the pictures were a little dark and the doors were closed due to off-season (which we knew in advance), but still a good site to see from the hilltop above.

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do the site justice. But, then again, that's how it normally works. This was Gary and Judy's first look at a German castle, and they were very impressed. This was also my first time seeing the castle and, after hearing the stories from Amanda's previous visits, was happy to finally have seen it.

It was getting dark and colder by the minute. In fact, in some areas snowflakes were starting to fall... Yes - an ominous start to the next paragraph.

This is where the story gets a little "offtrack" (pun intended). Since we detoured off the main roads to see the Burg, we had to traverse several smaller roads to get us to Bacharach. It basically amounted to climbing one small mountain (really a big hill) and then down the hill to the town by the Rhine.

From my perspective the roads and weather were fine; some Monday morning quarterbacks have since suggested differently. Even though the snow was blowing pretty hard in parts, the roads were still very clear.

Nevertheless, as we crested a hill and headed downward, the brakes stopped working. You know how it goes, right. You gently pump the brakes to control the skid while slowing the car a little. And, you do so as long as you can until you either regain control or start spinning the car. In my case, the later occurred.

It felt like we spun the car around 3-4 times, but it was actually only 180 degrees and slid into the ditch. After taking out 2-3 reflector signposts, we came to a stop against a wall of snow covered dirt. Neither Judy nor I could open our doors since we were pinned against the wall. At that point, I rolled the window down and climbed out the window "Dukes of Hazard" style to inspect the damage. From what I could see there wasn't much except for a dented rear fender (minor) and a broken hubcap. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

After the wreck, 2-3 "English-speaking" Germans stopped and checked in on us. One of them, shockingly, drove a pick-up truck and had a tow-rope in the back. He immediately tied us up and pulled us out. Amazing. Literally, 25 minutes after the accident we were out of the ditch and on our way again. Sort of.

The road, at that point, was so slick that we couldn't drive back up the hill. So, our only option was to spin the car around and drive down the icy gauntlet. Gary and a few other Germans helped out by manually pushing the car around (really slick, not really strong) and we started off. I must say that I was a little gun-shy of driving, so the way down was very, very slow.

Nevertheless, we made it down the hill, which by the way was the only patch of ice on the road, and made it to our destination. Whew.

It did again reinforce the genuine generosity of people of all nationalities. It doesn't matter the flag you carry, if a person is in need, others will help. Our German angels made an awful event very okay. The worst injury was my seriously wounded pride.

We made it to the hotel and found a nearly deserted town. There was only one restaurant open and we were the only people staying in our hotel --- weird. I mean the town was completely abandoned.

After a traditional German meal, we headed back to the hotel for an early night. Well, early for most, but I was about 800 pages into Atlas Shrugged, so I stayed up a while to read.

The next morning we met for breakfast (included in our dirt cheap rates) and developed a game plan. Everything we read indicated a Rhine Cruise was highly unlikely, but we decided that finding out for sure was our top priority. The most likely departure point was 5 miles upstream in a town call St. Goar, so we headed that way.

On arrival we learned that there was a Rhine Cruise, only one per day, but there was a cruise. We were ecstatic. Since the cruise didn't leave until 11:30 and we had a couple of hours to kill, we decided to do some shopping around the town.

The first shop we stopped at was a nice "general purpose" souvenir shop owned by a German couple. Interestingly enough, they were the people that helped us get out the ditch the night before. It was one of those small world moments. They told us that that particular stretch of road is the worst in the area and people often wreck their cars there.

Since they saved the day for us, we decided it was our duty to purchase all of our gifts in that shop. We left about 100 Euros poorer, but felt good about spending every cent.

After leaving their shop we wandered onto another "World's (insert word here) Stein Shop in Germany". It was an impressive shop. Maybe not as good as the sign advertised, but still very impressive. They had thousands of steins of every shape, size, and style for sale. You could find a stein with the local futbol team, with a piece of the Berlin wall or with the coat of arms of a 4th century tribe --- literally, anything you can think of, could be found there.

The problem with the shop is each stein cost about 100 Euros. So, instead of buying, we snagged a few illegal pictures for the blog.

There wasn't much open, so we spent more time walking around than we otherwise would have. Still it was enough to get a sense of the town and the activities during the busy Spring, Summer, and Fall...

At 11:30, we boarded the boat for the 3hr cruise. We were lucky to have a relatively nice day: cold, clear, and no rain. The boat probably held 500 people, but there were only 15 passengers on board. Needless to say, we had plenty of room to move about.

I don't really know where to go with the story of this cruise. We saw a lot of castles, most of which are shown below and each of them have their own story. The Rhine is riddled with Medieval stories of conquest and power and laden with despair and sadness. The river, in this section, follows a tortuous path where many shipwrecks have occurred.

Today it is still the most highly travelled river in Germany (maybe in Europe). In fact, I personally move a lot of Propylene Oxide via barge to customers in Dormagen.

The landscape around the Rhine is beautiful. Hills bank each side (a.k.a. great opportunities for misadventures) and vineyards lace most of the hills. Since it had snowed over the past couple of days, the white blanket added a nice touch to the pictures.

There are very few bridges crossing the Rhine, but both highways and rail tracks parallel each side of the river. And, multiple tunnels interrupted the transportation lines.

We had just purchased a new camera (Nikon D80) because the price dropped over 500 USD and while the quality probably won't show up on the blog, the difference is quite noticeable. As such, with the new telephoto capabilities, I tried to capture a few impromptu moments. You can see that Jacob is also a big fan of Rick Steves.

After the cruise, we took the train back to St. Goar (where we had left our car) and then drove back to Bacharach. The snow really added a neat touch to that small town. Especially, to the church on the hill.

The bottom-right picture was taken from the boat with the telephoto lens --- cool huh?

The following morning we headed back home early since we didn't know what the weather would be doing. And, my driving had become extremely conservative (and slow) over the weekend.

Our final stop on the Rhine was the Marksburg Castle. This castle is open to the public for tours and is one of the few that never fell during battle. As a result, the castle is in remarkable condition and still looks as it did 500 years ago.

There was a battalion of cannons still standing in defense.

Much of the castle is carved directly out the rock foundation. The top-left picture shows the castle entrance where the knight would ride their horses up to the stable. The top-right shows the blacksmith shop: still equipped with authentic equipment.

The bottom-outside pictures show the toilet -- what you can't see is that it empties directly into the garden two stories below. And the bottom-center picture shows how the knights would pass their time while others were passing gas.

This is a collection of random takeaways from the castle. The left pictures show the winery - a fermentation process and a grape press. The two glasses carry an interesting story. In medieval times, it was customary to eat without utensils and personal hygiene wasn't a top priority. So, to keep too many glasses from slipping through slimy hands, the glass makers started to make glasses with multiple "hold-points" - either by twisting the glass or by adding nubs to the glassware.

These pictures show an assortment of battle wear and torture devises. The "near" top-left picture is of a chastity belt... Did they really have those?

After leaving the castle, we decided to make a quick stop at Cologne so Gary could see the church (everyone else had already been there) and to grab some food at an authentic German Christmas market. Amanda and Judy bought some kaas spatzel and Gary and I tore into grilled pork sandwiches, roasted mushrooms, and crepes. It was a good break for the drive home.

We made it home around 7pm Monday evening without any more problems. I am sure everyone learned a lot and took countless memories away from the trip. However, I have no doubt that the top story, told around the campfire, will be how I put everyone's life in danger with a careless accident. Oh well, add it to the list. For me it is just one more goof to live down.