Rhine Cruise

Yesterday was probabaly my favorite day of the trip thus far. It was very busy but also alot of fun. It started unfortunately very early at the Duesseldorf Hauptbahnhof. We then departed towards Bacharach, the quaint wine town located directly on the Rhine. When we arrived there after the train rides, we unfortunately only had around 20 minutes to walk around the town. I took this time to view the old ruin located in the town, take a few pictures, and finally pick up a Bratwurst from the local butcher. After Bacharach, we boarded the boat where we would spend the next few hours. It was very relaxing and very rewarding to be able to sit out in the sun in the middle of the Rhine. We rode through the part of the Rhine that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were quite a few castles and needless to say, also the Loreley Rock. I was a little disappointed in the Loreley rock because it wasn't a foreboding jagged rock in the middle of the river with whirlpools surrounding it. It actually appeared quite docile. I guess thats why it must be true that the beautiful siren was on top luring sailors to their demise. The cruise boat offered Koelsch, the regional brew from Cologne, on board so I took a break from their Rival beer Altbier and decided to partake. I must say that I am a fan of Koelsch alhough its hard to say which I like better. Its probably safest that I don't. We ended our Rhine cruise in Braubach where we visited a couple owned restaraunt that was very good. I had the pleasure of a Jaegerschnitzel (I think) and french fries. The couple that owned the restaraunt seemed very very nice and I was happy to be informed that we would be coming back to them later in the day for wine tasting. After lunch we hiked up to the Marksburg Castle. This castle is the only Medieval castle in this area never destroyed. The tour we took was very informative and i can safely say that this is my favorite castle I have been to thus far. One thing I noticed in this castle tour is that there were alot of people from other countries in our English tour. Not Americans or Englanders, but perhaps some Danish, German, or Dutch. This included young children who were following the tour along with us. Its amazing to me how far behind the US is wth languages. One would be hard pressed to find a child 10 years old attending a tour in a foreign language in the States, let alone finding a foreign language tour in the States. After the tour, we returned for wine tasting. We were able to try 5 wines, all whites, and buy any that we liked. I dont know much about wine, but I could tell which ones tasted good. It turns out that I enjoy the drier wines. Bread and water were used in between tastings to clean the palate. I must say that I enjoyed all the wines we tasted (free always helps the taste buds), but the first one we tried was still my favorite. After buying a few bottles of wine for myself and the host family we departed back on the train to Duesseldorf. On the train I shared headphones with a friend and listened to the musical Wicked, which is about the Wicked witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. With our program provided blackberrys (phones with internet access and alot of cool stuff) I was able to look up the text for the musical and follow along, helping in Understanding. Although I couldnt see a stage (both because my eyes were closed and I was on a train) I still very much enjoyed it. I went straight to sleep when I got back...long days will wear you out. Its hard to be a tourist...