Rockin' in Bacharach

Day 3
Bacharach, our first to our destination in Germany, was on the Rhine River, and the cutest town I have ever seen, with almost every building being half-timbered, with leaded glass, hand-blown glass windows, hand-painted designs and cut outs. Hotel Kranenturm was part of the old turreted medieval wall encircling Bacharach. At each hotel stop, we were assigned different roommates. This time, I was assigned a cute single room with a view of the Rhine out of the bathroom window. Each room in the hotel had unique qualities about it, and we all toured each other’s rooms to see what they were like.

We had an exquisite dinner, asparagus soup, beef goulash, homemade noodles, salad and ice cream. The hotel’s dining room with leaded glass windows had sweeping views of the Rhine. After dinner, we walked around town as a group. We ended up in a very lovely old restaurant / tavern and had a wine tasting with several types of Rhine wine. Ferdie has such a great sense of humor which put people at ease and set a mood. I slept like a log, despite trains passing by during the night right past my bathroom window.

Day 4
Our hotel’s breakfast was delicious, with a buffet of ham, eggs, homemade jam and rolls, yogurt, juice and coffee. Herr Jung, our local tour guide, took us on a historic walking tour of the town of Bacharach and the surrounding hills covered with grapevines. Herr Jung was an excellent storyteller who had everyone captivated by his colorful descriptions of Bacharach during medieval days to the present, including his personal stories of starving as a child during WWII, and humanitarian aid that kept him alive. He has helped refugees in Germany since then.

A short bus ride, and we were in St Goar. We walked or took a mini-train ride up the hill to Reinsfeld Castle, the largest ruins in Germany. Another local guide lead us through tunnels, various places up and down in the ruined castle, including a dungeon, a huge cellar which kept a year’s worth of food for hundreds of people, and gave us a historical account of the times.

After the castle tour, we had a wonderful picnic which Ferdie and Drew prepared for us in a park along the Rhine.

We had an hour or so of free time to explore St. Goar. I bought some knives and looked at an incredible assortment of steins, carved wooden objects, toys, and clocks before boarding a boat for a 1 1/2 hour Rhine cruise. The views were magnificent: old castles, spired churches, picturesque villages, vineyards growing up the mountains, and boats moving slowly up and down the river.

Dinner at the hotel was wonderful: potato leek soup, chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese, potato wedges and homemade walnut ice cream.

Afterwards, we had to introduce our "buddy," giving a background of our new tour friend.

This was a good opening to our private "disco party" in the bar room on the first floor of the hotel. People let down their hair, so to speak, and lost all shyness. It was a rowdy night and everyone seemed to have fun.

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