Germany: The Rhine

We returned from our 18 glorious days in Deutschland yesterday.  Our flight from Seattle was direct to Frankfurt where we spent our first evening.  A word of advice: when booking hotels outside of the US, confirm that your room is non-smoking.  Even though we had found this hotel (which was comfortable, conveniently located, and offering a good breakfast) through Rick Steves' guide book, we should have explicitly stated our needs.  The stench of smoke in our linens was a rather unpleasant (re)introduction to non-American culture.

Riesling tastings

Acclimating was pretty easy for us in Frankfurt as there wasn't anything that exciting to see.  We walked around the Banking District, and to our surprise, there was a wine festival nearby that was serving drinks for €2.  By then, it was the late afternoon, and we needed a break.  It was a delightfully sweet Spätlese (some may have described it as molasses-like), but it was what I wanted on a late summer day.  It then acted as my standard once we arrived in the Rhine Valley, where they were celebrating their huge wine festival in Oberwesel, six kilometers from our pension in Bacharach.

Burg Eltz

For Days 2-4, we stayed at an adorable gingerbread looking pension that serves way too many carbohydrates and rich hot chocolate every morning at breakfast.  Our intention during our days there was to ride a popular boat tour through the Rhine, but instead we rented bicycles.  We biked to St. Goar and toured Burg Rheinfels.  At this point, not too much remains of the castle since Napoleon destroyed most of it.  The next day, we rode the train to the Mosel River Valley and hiked gently to Burg Eltz, a castle that is still well intact as the original family still lives there.  Actually there were three owners, but one family died out, and the second family sold their portion to the third family.  In addition to our site seeing, we made sure to consume the local delicacies.  For those days, it was Riesling.  For €12, one can order a "carousel" of six 0.1 liter glasses at a wine garden, starting with dry wines all the way to dessert wines.  At the festival, it is even a better buy; for €2, the sommeliers give you a generous 0.2 liter pour!

Köln Cathedral façade

Day 5, we took the train to Köln and toured the cathedral there.  Unfortunately we arrived on a Monday, so the museums were closed.  We spent the afternoon in the cathedral and in the treasury.  I found the guided tour to be satisfactory at best.  I nearly laughed when the guide claimed that Christians had been persecuted historically; she seemed to forget about the Crusades.  Her claim is about as preposterous as the current bullshit I hear today in the United States that by keeping women's healthcare a priority or by extending marital benefits to same sex couples, we are somehow infringing on religious rights.  Frankly, the best part of our day there was our dinner.  Nathan devoured an entire pork knuckle (cracklin included) with some cabbage and potatoes.