When you think of Germany you think of beer.
When you think of Germany in October you think of Octoberfest (although for some reason Octoberfest is in September…)
Not being a huge beer lover (unless flavoured with fruitiness to make it sweet tasting, and then I like Belgian beers!) I was all for a trip to Germany that focused on the grape-enhanced alcohol not the hops-enhanced alcohol.
So to the Rhein it was!
Stocky and I were joined by a good friend (and work colleague of mine) – Tina. Although she is Canadian, her parents are both German, so her ability to speak German came in rather handy. But that wasn’t the only reason we invited her along (although we joked she was going to be our tour guide and translator!); we do enjoy her company!
We really have embraced the train travel idea, so we caught the Eurostar to Brussels and then swapped trains to one to Cologne. Only 5 hours in all, and well worth the extra cost.
We started with trip with pain o chocolat and champagne (talk about doing it in style!).
The champagne was a bottle that Tina and I got from our previous job, and had been saving it for a special occasion. This occasion seemed special-enough to us!
After dropping our bags off at the B&B we went off and wandered the streets. Our first stop was the cathedral which we wandered through, and then we also decided to take the huge hike and climb the tower.
To be honest there wasn’t a huge amount to see in Cologne, so after a small amount of walking we found a beer house to go to. (Yes, I don’t like beer, but the other 2 do!). The Colognites (yeah, I made that up!) seem to have the concept of beer houses down pat. There is one type of beer, served in small (200ml) glasses. The bartenders just spend the whole time filling up the glasses (on a cool carrier thing) and then as soon as you finish your beer (which doesn’t take long!), they take the empty glass away, give you a full one, and put a dash on a beer coaster to keep your tab in check.
Before getting too roaringly drunk we headed to a cute little restaurant for the best schnitzel of the trip (well according to Stocky anyway. He only ate schnitzel for each meal, and ranked them!).
We headed back to the B&B pretty early and retired for the night. That was definitely a feature of our holiday – big meals and early nights!
On the way back we stopped once again at the cathedral which looked quite forboding all lit up at night.
Inside there was a really serene feeling (I think it was because most of the tourists had gone) and I just had this sense that I needed to light a candle and remember my family, both those living and those passed on.
The next day we picked up the car and ventured out of the city. Tina took to the autobahns with ease and we were soon flying down the roads. However, it isn’t that fun if all you see are motorways, so we did venture onto the smaller roads pretty quickly, with Stocky in charge of navigation.
His first port of call (because anything with castle, church or cathedral is where we headed!) was Maria Laach Abbey. It was an interesting place next to a lake, and surrounded by fantastic trees in their autumn glory. Germany sure knows how to celebrate autumn. It was fantastic.
Then onto Burg Pyrmont, because, well it was a castle! It would have been so cool to stay there, but unfortunately there was a wedding on there that day, and they had booked all the rooms.
So we took to the motorways and headed to Bad Ems, a place a colleague of ours had recommended. It was a neat little spa town, but the place was DEAD! There were only 2 places open for dinner (well in our price range) and the one the B&B owner recommended was booked out!
However, it was a fantastic place to see in the morning mist, and I had heaps of fun taking photos.
We then headed to Burg Eltz, a castle that Tina had visited as a child, and one she held in great awe (the best castle she had ever been too….). It was a pretty cool castle and we had fun taking a look around.
The walk back to the car was pretty magical too.
We were going to head over to the Rhine to stay the night, but we found the Mosel valley so pretty, we changed our plans and drove down the Mosel Valley to Bernkastel-Kues. This was a rather touristy town, but full of Germans! When the B&B owner heard we were from NZ, we HAD to fill in her visitor book! (It gets very confusing to have to tell people that yes, we are from NZ, and Tina is from Canada but we both live in London!)
The town was surrounded by vineyards, and this is where we had our first try of Federweisser. It is a delightful drink, and one we had to purchase to bring home!
I think I enjoyed myself the most in Bernkastel-Kues. I enjoyed walking the streets, seeing the buildings that seemed to be just about falling over, and we found this great little pub where you felt just like a local! I like that kind of experience!
By this time it was Monday, and Stocky’s last day with us. We had to be near Frankfurt to drop him off at the airport for his flight that night, so we made our way across to the Rhein. We loved finding random ways to get to our destination. We caught wee little ferries a few times to cross the Rhein which all added to the feeling of adventure!
We stopped off at Rudesheim as Mum, Dad and Aunty Anne spent some time there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so we had to check it out. We took the cable car to the top of the hill and loved the views.
We even tried to track down the same restaurant they ate in.
Mum, Dad – is this it????!!??
Before finding our place to sleep (Eltville em Rhein – a place I wouldn’t recommend!) we went to Kloster Eberbach for a little look around, and some purchasing of wine!
Without our chief navigator, Tina and I had to decide how to spend our last day, and try to find a place of interest within easy driving to Frankfurt, as we needed to drop the car off fairly early the following day.
Heidelberg was decided upon, and I am glad we went there as it was a great city. Yes, it was full of tourists (and this time American ones, not just the Germans!) but it is a student town and had a neat feel to it – especially in the old town where we stayed.
The lovely woman on the SatNav took us once again on a very small ferry (run on pulleys, not petrol powered!) which was just delightful.
Then it was back to Frankfurt, 10 times around the train station to find where we had to leave the rental car (which in the end was obvious, but we could just not SEE it!) and then back onto the train.
I must admit the train journey home is never as fun as the train journey to a destination, but I feel I have done my bit for the planet! (Well on this trip anyway. Off to Valencia next weekend and that time it will be flying!)
As always, more photos can be found here
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