Germany's Rhine Valley

In May we spent a weekend along the Rhine River in Germany. It is about a 4 hour drive, that ends up in a beautiful river valley that has hillsides that are dotted with grape vines and castles.  The Rhine River was the northern border of the Roman Empire and has been one of the world's busiest shipping rivers.  The Rhine runs from Switzerland to the Netherlands, traveling through Leictenstein, Germany and Austria, and there are barges continually going up and down it. 

We stayed in a little town named Bacharach and had beautiful views from the tiny windows in our room.  Maybe they were so tiny to keep out some of the train noise...it was right beside the train tracks.  We got to the point that we could tell if it was a passenger train or a freight train by how much noise it made.  Quite a skill... We went to St. Goar and hiked up to the Rheinfels Castle.  It was one of the biggest castles on the Rhine, built in 1245, and it withstood a siege of 28,000 Fench troops in 1692.  Today, it is only a fraction of it's original size.  It was one of the neatest castles we have been toured.  There are mine tunnels that surround the castle that were used for protection that you can walk through, or should I say crouch through.  In the tunnels it is damp, muddy, completely dark (bring a flashlight) and only about 4 feet high; right up my alley.  Oh, and there are lots of dead ends where you might get lost.  All this being said, we started to enter it.  We had to twist Tessa's arm a little to go, and as soon as we entered it, we ran into a group of guys from Texas (it is much better if you say this next part with an accent) and they jokingly said, "We have been lost forever in here! We are starving and thirsty, we have no flashlights.  We thought we'd never make it out of here."  That was enough for Tessa.  Allie and Chris braved the 600 feet of the unkown and made it out alive and well.

We took a cruise down the river and enjoyed lunch in St. Goar at an outdoor French Market.  It looks like Tessa and Allie are enjoying a glass a of wine, but not to worry, we are not that European.  We spent a fair amount of time along the river, hanging out at the park and playing bocce.  It was a relaxing weekend in a beautiful area.