June 1999 Trip to Germany
- Bill and Suzie Hickox -
Part 3 - The Rhine River
Suzie had taken her mother on a Rhine River cruise some 16 years before, so we decided to retrace those steps and headed south along the Rhine River road for Bacharach. Beautiful scenery, castles at every turn, including Burg Rheinfels Castle (built 1245) above St. Goar,
and finally the little old town of Bacharach. It was raining and late, and again the zimmers and small hotels were full. Up the mountain was Stahleck Castle that had a small youth hostel. Were we up to it? One more try at the Hotel Hillen
sitting 15 feet away from the railroad tracks…..and we got lucky again. We even found a room on the opposite side of the building from the train tracks. Opening the window, we found it looked up the mountain to the Stahleck Castle, where we heard singing into the night…whew! (We slept…they didn't). Trains ran all night long but we barely knew they were there. Electric, fast moving trains still don't make that much noise. By the way, Iris is the owner of the Hotel Hillen – Fremdenzimmer mit Dusche/WC…she speaks English, and is very accommodating. Telephone 067 43/1287-1609 FAX 1037. Rail travelers? Bahnhof is one block away.
We did walk the narrow cobblestone streets of the little town. Had a great dinner at a small weinstube, and watched as the few English speaking passers-by searched for McDonald's or Italian food. Our crowd was strictly locals, and after about half an hour we were feeling so much at home, we felt we were understanding the conversations around us! (That bottle of wine was good too…did I mention that?)
The next day, we decided to take a round trip boat-ride down the Rhine to St Goar and back. The big K&D boat dock was easy to find…also the most expensive….and filled with bus loads of American tourists. We chose the "generic" Ehrenfels boat for a sizable savings.
Here we met Ralph and Carol, a California couple in the ticket line in front of us
who got a special "seniors" deal on the boat tickets (about DM 18). When our turn came, the woman selling boat ride tickets spoke no English, so I was using my best "broken German" to try to get the same "seniors" discount. Suzie, who only speaks Spanish with a Mississippi accent, worried I was not going to get the special rate for both of us, chimed in and began using her southern-charm-sign-language pointing to my gray hair and pointing to herself. The non-English speaking German ticket lady smiled and nodded with understanding and became a true diplomat. She gave me a senior rate, but thinking Suzie was explaining "Mein Herr is much older" charged Suzie full fare for being younger than me! We won't discuss Suzie's comments. But all four of us laughed
Our two hour round trip boat ride down the Rhine to St Goar and back to Bacharach was wonderful (take a jacket). That section of the Rhine must truly be the most photogenic.
The Loreley,
castles of all descript, including Pfalz Castle (circa 1300 ) in the middle of the Rhine.
small bergs, quiet, all made for a very memorable trip, one worth recommending to all. As so often happens in our travel experiences, the day was beautiful, and when the trip ended, it started raining as we got back in our car and bid good by to Ralph and Carol.
We drove on to Bingen, where we turned around and headed back up the road on the other side of the Rhine, all the way to Koln. Beautiful Koln was filled with thousands of police from all over Germany. It seems an important NATO meeting was being held in a hotel across the street from the huge Dom (Cathedral). This Dom is the twin spire Cathedral that is probably the most ornate in all of Europe. The twin spires stand over 800 feet in the air, and the ceilings inside are over 100 feet high.
Behind the High Alter is the shrine of the Three Magi, the Dreikonigenschrein. Yes, it's a must see if in the area.
Once again rain came, and we decided to head to the airport in Dusseldorf. Although we had one more day and could have included a day trip to Belgium, weather reports called for extremely heavy rains. So we checked into the Sheraton at the airport. The next day, it was pouring rain with no end in sight…and no visibility. We chose to leave a day early and head for home.
We were fortunate to be upgraded on our flight back, and let me tell you here and now, you haven't really flown until you fly Continental Business First to or from Europe!! (I fully believed one of us was to be coronated on our arrival home.)
If it appears we drove a lot, we did. But there's driving and then there's driving. We go the back roads when possible. 50 kM per hour (30 MPH) with frequent stops. If something looks interesting we stop. Or we turn off the road and explore the even smaller roads and trails. We walk. We climb up hills to castle ruins. We sit on weinstube patios under umbrellas, eating and drinking while it rains.
Does it sound exciting? It is!! Fun? It is!! That's why we go back every year. And that's why we share our experiences with you, because you allow us to relive them again, the next best thing to being there.
We had a helluva lot of fun in college 30 plus years ago…but I never had this much fun back then…and I've got Suzie now, which is an even better party that never stops. Did I tell you I first met her on a second-hand blind date 30 years ago?? Well, that's another story………Hickox
