Rhine River Valley w/ the Knutsons

After the Knowlan's left on Monday we had a normal week.  Saturday morning we left for St. Goar and the Rhine Valley, about an hour west of Frankfurt.  St. Goar was formerly a Roman settlement and the Rhine was and still is an important trade route.  The valley is steep and rocky and dotted all along it are medieval cities and castles.  We stopped at the Frankfurt hotel on the way to drop off carseats as Luke and Courtney (also Chris and Zack) were arriving on Sunday and then got to our hotel around 3pm.  It was a great little family run hotel in the center of town with a cozy room that had a view of the river.  We walked along the river and poked our heads in a couple shops and then returned and had a proper German dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Sankt Goar

View from our hotel room

 Burg Rheinfels

The next morning we took our time getting ready as we waited for our guests to arrive.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel while we waited and I tried to find some information on the Rhine River cruise with Haaken across the street along the river.  Everyone arrived at about 11am and by the time Luke and Courtney got their car unpacked the boat was at the dock and we climbed aboard.

The day was a bit cold and windy, but the tour was still very nice.  It started in St. Goar and floated about and hour down the river to Bacharach.  Along the way were numerous little towns and castles as well as a lot of barge traffic heading up the river.  The kids were so excited to see each other I don't think they even looked outside the boat.  The adults snapped pictures and caught up.  After about 45 minutes the kids were cold so Carissa and Courtney took them inside and got them some hot chocolate.

Haaken in Heaven

Not paying attention

After arriving in Bacharach we walked through the town a bit and then sat outside and had some lunch.  We were a big group (11 people), probably noisy (being reunited Americans and having 5 young kids) and the waitress seemed a bit annoyed.  The food was good though.  Afterwards we hiked up a set of stairs across from the restaurant to check out what appear to be the ruins of an old cathedral.  Not much to see there but the stairs kept going so we kept climbing and finally arrived at a castle way above the city that is now a hotel. The kids got some ice cream treats from the lobby and then we explored the grounds and took some great pics of the river from above.

Streets of Bacharach

View on the way up

Treats on top 

Castle Hotel

We climbed back down the stairs and then walked through Bacharach to the train station (the boat was one-way).  As usual we were cutting it close and the train arrived while I was trying to purchase the tickets from the machine.  I sent everyone ahead to get on while I frantically tried to get the machine to take my money.  Finally it did and thankfully Carissa was able to get the conductor to wait for me while I ran down the stairs, under the tracks, back up the stairs and down the platform.  What took us and hour by boat took 10 minutes by train, and we were back in St. Goar.

Chris and Zack had to catch an early flight to Rome the next morning so they left for their hotel near the airport.  After they left we walked around town a bit, trying to find something to eat.  Luke and his family were understandably tired and wanted to find something quick and easy, which of course wasn't quick and easy to find.  We checked out a couple different places but ended up eating at an Imbiss (fast food) restaurant, which typically serve Doner (gyros) , pizza, schnitzel, etc.  This place wasn't great.  Bedtime immediately followed.

Monday morning we got up and ate the hotel breakfast, checked out, and then drove up the hill to the top of the town where Burg Rheinfels sits.  Burg Rheinfels is now mostly in ruins, but since it was such a large castle there is still plenty to see.  Our book had a self guided tour which we followed - first through what was left of the rooms of the castle, and then around the wall, battlements and some really cool caves where I believe they stored salt.  Luke scared the bejeezus out of me in there by entering the tunnel from another direction and looking like some large grey (his shirt) animal coming at me.

Burg Rheinfels Ruins 

Descending into the Salt Caves

The tour took a couple hours and now it was about lunchtime.  Instead of getting on the autobahn right away we decided to drive along the river a bit and stop for lunch at a town we had passed on the boat tour - Oberwesel.  Oberwesel turned out to be basically one long street with buildings on either side of it.  Once again we had trouble finding a place to eat and had to settle for another Doner shop.  The food was fine, but took a long time since there was only one woman working.  After lunch we drove down to the cathedral towering over the town, checked it out, and then started the 4 hour drive back to Graf.

Roman Ruins

Tuesday Carissa had to work and Luke and Courtney needed to make some travel arrangements due to Lilly being unable to travel to Croatia because of health concerns.  We spent most of the day figuring out first if we could somehow transfer or reuse their plane tickets and then planning out a new destination, transportation and lodging.  By the time we figured all of that out there wasn't any time for an excursion so Carissa drove Luke and I downtown for a boys night out.

We were planning on going to Nurnberg but I think we were both too lazy so we stayed in Graf.  There aren't a lot of options so we went to the only bar I knew of that anyone went to - Ed's.  Ed's is a soldier bar and we weren't sure what to expect not being soldiers.  Plus, Carissa has seen a lot of patients who have come in missing teeth after a night at Ed's.

We bellied up to the bar and ordered a couple beers.  There were two bartenders, one a heavily tattooed German who spoke English with almost no accent, and a girl from Marinette, Wisconsin, which is right across the bay from our cabin in Door County.  When we got there the place was pretty much empty, but soldiers started filing in and we spent the night talking to the bartenders and soldiers.  Thankfully Luke didn't get lippy and we had a great night.  We ate dinner at the Doner shop next door at about midnight and then walked/ran home (it was freezing).  Oddly enough those gyros tasted fantastic.

Wednesday Lauren got to go to school with Lydia.  Luke, Courtney, Lilly and I drove down to Regensburg for the day.  Another beautiful day.  I basically took them where we had been on previous visits - the cathedral, the bridge, the sausage factory for lunch - see blog back in June)  We left just in time to arrive back home when the kids got home from school.  It was Lilly's 5th birthday, and since Lauren's birthday is two days later we had a little birthday party for the girls (taco night, red velvet cake, and presents).

Thursday Luke, Courtney and their girls packed up and continued on their vacation - first to Prague and then to Paris (not a bad substitute for Croatia).  During the day I did laundry and turned over Hotel Knutson in preparation for our next guests / trip.