Cuckoo (from the Rhine)

After working a total of 2 1/2 weeks, the school and I both felt it was time for a little vacation. I opted to spend my 12 days in Germany and Switzerland. And here is installment one: The Rhine River Valley.

The train ride over was nice and pleasant thanks to my 4 hour hi-tech TGV ride sitting next to the most adorable 18 year old boy ever - Louis. His parents walked him to his seat obviously very proud and protective of him. The mom kept smiling over at me as if she were leaving him in my hands for the next 4 precious hours. Louis is from Mexico but has spent the past 3 months at Oxford and France and is now going to take 1 more month to visit Europe before starting college in January. He showed me his printed out calendar with highlighted bars indicating the different countries each week. VERY organized. And he shared one of his earphones to his iTouch so I could listen to his recommended French and Spanish song picks. Honestly, he was the most mature and sweet 18 year old boy I've ever met :-) I was tempted to write a note to his mom saying she did a great job.

Then I arrived at Bacharach - this SMALLLL town along the Rhine - and was greated by Irma Orthgard who's little bed and breakfast I was booked to stay at. Irma spoke no English but gave me a hello hug and served me homemade honey with my breakfast every morning. Here's what I saw when I walked off the Train. I sort of fell in love.


It was nice and balmy so I took a little tour around the town (which lasted 15 minutes), but offered great views.


And then I took a little boat ride along the Rhine to catch a glimpse of the castles lining the region. Evidently before Germany was all united into one country, it was a bunch of mini kingdoms. People would build a castle along the Rhine and as boats tried to pass, they would raise a chain, blocking passage. They would then charge a toll for passing through their kingdom. With about 10 kingdoms in a 20 miles span, that could get pricey. The most ingenious castle was a "boat" built in the middle of the river.

Not all castles were still intact, but this one was.

There were some pretty churches thrown in there too. (Ignore the radar thing from the back of the boat.)
I met a girl named Anna on the boat and we grabbed dinner at the oldest building in Bacharach - the Altes Haus. Hint - don't order ravioli in Germany; it's not ravioli. Anna ordered potato pancakes with applesauce, which happened to be hashbrowns, which happen to not taste very good with applesauce :-) But the setting was cool.


So on day 2 I took a little train trip to the next town, St. Goar where there's a big castle to explore - Rheinfels castle.

This sucker was THE fortress to rival along the Rhine for a couple centuries. Complete with a moat, prison, apothecary, grain cellar, and ledges to poor down hot tar on invaders.

For lunch I took a bit of a nature walk along the ridge of the mountain and sat eating my picnic bretzel and cheese and clementines while listening to classical music on my ipod (it felt appropriate) and watching the river. The fall colors were amazing!


On the way back home I stopped in to peak at some Cuckoo clocks. "Coucou" means hello in French, though normally said in a kind of cute girly way or to little kids.

Next stop: Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber