Rhine River

On Sunday we boarded a tour boat in Bingen and toured the Rhine up to St. Goar and back. This stretch of the river is loaded with castles that were built by local Robber Barons. They would stretch chain barricades across the river and only raise them after ships paid a toll. Some of these castles are almost 1000 years old and they are still standing. It's a beautiful area and to me, it felt like this is where fairy tales took place, with a Princess sleeping with a pea under her mattress and trolls living under bridges.

We got off the boat in Bacharach and toured the town. It felt like we stepped back in time into the Middle Ages. The Stahleck Castle sits above the town and now serves as a youth hostel. We meandered through the narrow, cobble stones streets.

We got back on the boat and made our way up to St. Goar where we got off to have lunch. We found a great restaurant not to far from the dock. I had the Pork Meatloaf with fried potatoes and sauerkraut while Lori had Potato Dumplings stuffed with sausage. Hard to believe that when I was a kid, I didn't like fried potatoes or sauerkraut. Not sure what was wrong with me.

After lunch we headed back to Bingen. The beer was flowing by this point. What appeared to be two different tour groups melded into one. First the Germans would get up to sing a song and the Japanese would applaud. Then the Japanese would get up to sing and the Germans would applaud. There was lots of laughing and back slapping. It was so cool.

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