Day 53: 3/08/99: Rhine

Originally we decided to stay at Breuer's Rudesheimer Schloss because Theresa saw an article in the Oct, 1998 issue of "Food and Wine." Besides, any hotel that's on the Internet is okay with me :-) ( http://www.ruedesheimer-schloss.com/home.htm ) However, there was a snafu with the reservation--probably because I did not get a confirmation for my reservation. I found out about this just a few days prior to our trip. So instead I came up with the idea of staying in a Castle along the Rhine.

Schloßhotel Burg Gutenfels (http://www.rhinecastles.com/hotel-burg-gutenfels/ ). I must say that Alta Vista translation came in really handy in translating the WEB pages.

For our last morning at Dusseldorf we decided to take an morning stroll after breakfast at around 11 a.m.

As you can see, it was raining a bit and chilly. It was nice for us to have another good use of our Gore-Tex jacket in Germany after our big Mt Kilimanjaro climb. I was able to find a variety store and bought a cheap Casio watch to replaced the Timex watch that I lost last night.

Theresa went into Bonita and bought a very stylist outfit. It was appropriate since Dusseldorf is the fashion capital of Germany. Some people even call it the Paris of Germany

We left Dusseldor and drove toward the Rhine. This was the first castle that we saw. It was 2 p.m.

I wonder how long these castles have been standing here since the middle ages?

The sky was grey. This was a parking lot right next to the Rhine. Notice how  flooded the Rhine was. Later on we found out that a week prior to our arrival, in fact the Rhine had overflew its bank. It's lucky that we were not here during the floor.

The vineyards did not have much action since this was before the grape growing season.

Just needed a little sunshine to make this a postcard perfect day.

We were starving by then. We decided to stop in this restaurant. Ignore the fact that there was a Camel ashtry, and I was drinking coke. We really were in Germany. Theresa had a glass of Reisling.

Theresa had bread and sausage.

Yummy.I had pig's kuckle and fries for lunch. It was delicious. Very Chinesey.

A picture of the restaurant. Note the little pig.

It was fun to stroll in a small town along the Rhine. Theresa was ready to move here.

She was especially impressed by all the flowers that the town people planted. Now I know why Theresa loves flowers so much--it's the German blood in her :-)

We arrived at the castle. Very interesting place to stay. We stayed there for two nights--which were two nights too long for Theresa :-)

We rang the door bell. However, we wonder if they were ever going to come unlock the front gate. Fortunately we did not have to contend with any draw bridges nor hot boiling oil in order to get in :-)

Pretty impressive looking, huh?

The castle was high above the Rhine

Theresa was still waiting.

We finally got in. Here was the view outside our window. I cannot believe that there were vineyard on such steep slopes.

Our window. I wonder if needed if we could escape by tying our sheets together. However, we were easily 50-60 feet above the ground.

Probably out of all the places where we have ever stayed at on all our previous vacations, this was Theresa's second least favorite place (The worst place being this dump in New Hampshire--but that's another story :-). The initial complaint was that the pillows were pan ake thin. They were so flat that Theresa did not even think that there were any pillows on our bed. Frankly, the thing that bothered us the most was the smoke in the room from the previous guests. Yuck.

At least the castle had electric lights.

Indoor plumbing was definitely a plus. I wonder how they handled this back in the middle age?

Theresa was walking through the courtway desparately looking for a way to escapte this fortress. :-)

Humm. To far to jump from here. We could see the town below along the Rhine.

We got out. There must be another place where we can stay.

We walked around the town.

We can see our castle from below. There were railroad tracks along both sides of the Rhine. The trains were fast and noisey. I guess the people living here just get used to it.

We had an interesting dinner at the castle. We were the only guests that evening. We chose to sit in this booth seat rather than the King's table, as shown below.

If Theresa and I sat at the two ends of the table, we had to communicate with cellular phones!

Interesting wall mural.

I wonder if that was actually used in a famous battle.

I had a glass of Bitburger Pils. Great beer.

Tasty bread. However, I don't think I'll be eating all the butter.

We had a plate of cheese and another plate of assorted cold cuts for dinner. This was not my idea of a meal, but I got to do what the local people do :-)

Day 54: 3/09/99: Rhine

Thank goodness. We did live through the night. We did not hear any screaming coming from the dungeon. However, Theresa was awaken 4 o'clock in the morning by one of the inn keepers who had a nightmare. Didn't I tell you that staying at this castle was a very memorable experience?

Theresa was standing outside our room.

From one of the openings in the castle wall we could see the castle in the middle of the river. Look how flooded it was.

One of the towers.

A town across the river.

We were always impressed by the pretty flowers even though it was barely spring time.

I think Theresa felt right at room with all these flowers.

After a big breakfast it was time to walk it off.

However, I was make room for dessert no matter what time it was. Let's go inside and check out Care Loreley.

Wow, check out the selection of all the delicious and sinfully rich desserts.

Yumm.

We waited beside our table by the window while our coffee and tea were made.

After much deliberation this is what I had.

This was what Theresa ate.

Time for some more exploration.

We had a nice visit at St. Goarshausen.

See our castle on top of the hill.

Even their post office was very interesting looking.

At one of the sourvenier shops there were these interesting wine glasses.

One of the historical buildings at the Rudesheimer. By the way, it was very special for us to visit this town. No, we don't have any of Theresa's relatives living here. We came because Rondo's father was named "Rudesheimer's Bonus!"

Not quite open for business since this was not the tourist season.

Here was one of the many tobaccoland cigarette vending machines. We found it odd that they have these vending machines out in the open--don't they worry about children smoking ci

A historical building at Rudesheimer.

It was nice exploring this town on foot.

I tell you--Germany treats their beer very seriously. I was lucky to be the beneficiary.

We had a late lunch in one of the microbrewy restaurants.

Theresa was studying the menu intently.

I know I'm unfairly stereotyping German, but now I know why Theresa is so neat and organized--just look at the way this restaurant presented their folks and knives.

Maybe you are tired of looking at all these pretty flowers on the window sills, but we were never tired of looking at flowers.

During our exploration, we decided to walk into this St James Catholic church, which was destroyed at the end of World War II but was re-built in 1956.

It was always interesting for Theresa and I to walk around town to see how other people lived. I'm sure some people are impressed by the supermarkets in U.S. However, I think we liked the hometown feeling of shopping in Mom and Pop stores.

Not only do German take their beer and flowers seriously, they also take their bread seriously. I love eating bread, so Germany is like heaven for me.

Butcher shop.

We had our afternoon snack break here.

A door depicting a maiden who just picked some grape. This is the grape growing region afterall.