Goodbyes...already??

We have already had to start saying goodbye to some of the things that we love about Amsterdam. Ben's last swim class was June 9th, and he absolutely loves the water! Especially this second session that we took since he turned 2 - they raise the bottom of the pool so that the children can walk in the water on their own. He loves floating on his back, jumping in the water, and on the last day he even dove down for a "turtle ring" with Mommy's help! And, this is where we learned many of the popular Dutch children's songs since the class was entirely in Dutch. I will have to go online to find the words to these songs - as right now I sing the tune and have to mumble through, not that Ben minds. He still asks for me to sing them again...and again...and again. His love of swim class has carried over to home time too...he went about a week where all he wanted to wear were his Thomas the Train swim trunks. Seriously. Luckily, I was able to talk him into putting a shirt on to go to the grocery store. :)

Our other goodbye on July 2nd was Little Gym class. Ben learned so much in that class - how to listen, follow directions, wait his turn, and play nicely with other children. His absolute favorite thing about the class was the jumpy mat that was blown up maybe once a month or so. He would jump, fall down, giggle - and then do it all over again. His second favorite thing about the class was definitely his teacher, Miss Annegeen. She would nearly trip over him sometimes because he was right under her feet. And, he would run full force at her (the way he does with us) and give big hugs. We will miss our Thursday Little Gym class and all the wonderful friends we met there!! OK, I'm getting sad again thinking about it - not ready for the goodbyes to start!!

Cruisin' Down the Rhine: On the Water

Continuing on with our Rhine travels, we were able to "sleep in" until 6 a.m. on Monday, June 22. We ate breakfast, checked out of our Rudesheim hotel, and waited at the boat dock for our 9:15 cruise down the Rhine. The morning was chilly and windy, but we were excited to get on the water. The plan was to cruise to Bacharach for a sightseeing stop, then on to St. Goar for the night. We would cruise again on Tuesday to complete our journey, arriving in Koblenz. And, the best part, along the way are castles, castles, and more castles! The camera was loaded with batteries...and away we go!

Leaving Rudesheim...

Views of the Rudesheim vineyards, with the Niederwald Monument in the distance...

Across the river, the town of Bingen and Burg Klopp - a heavily rebuilt castle whose origins probably date from the Roman era. Just a short way up the river is the Mauseturm (the Mouse Tower), a small tower on a mid-stream island. It was originally a customs tower, now a signal tower. Legend has it that a hated archbishop of Mainz was eaten alive here by mice during the Middle Ages. Yucky.

Directly opposite the Mauseturm on the right side of the Rhine are the ruins of Burg Ehrenfels, a 13th century fortress destroyed by the French in 1689. Its location at the entrance to the Bingen Hole gave the archbishop of Mainz an opportunity to collect tolls here. (The Bingen Hole was a narrow stretch of water feared by boatsmen for its hazardous rocky cliffs. Was widened in the 19th century with the aid of explosives.)

Right after the views of Ehrenfels is the village of Assmannshausen that we visited the day before. More lovely vineyards, but this time making red instead of white. :)

Back to the left side are the Rheinstein, Reichenstein, and Sooneck Castles. The Rheinstein (in the first picture) was built by robber barons in the 13th century. Was used to extort tolls from passing boats. Less than half a mile is the Reichenstein, 11th century castle which overlooks the village of Trechtingshausen. Just beyond this is the Sooneck, dating from 1010. As with the other two, also used to collect tolls. All three of these castles were heavily restored during a wave of romanticism that swept 19th century Germany.

Speaking of romantic, it really was lovely on the water. The skies were partly cloudy, and the air was so cool (let's be honest, COLD) that we moved inside to the lower deck for a bit. Ben was even sporting his winter hat - in June!! We snacked, and I would run up to the upper deck when it came time to snap photos. A good, and warm, system.

Well, it wasn't all sunshine and roses at this point. We were approaching Bacharach, where we intended to get off the boat for a few hours to stroll through this quaint town and have lunch. We got ready and waited by the doors. As the doors opened and passengers started leaving, I asked for the stamp on our tickets that would allow us to get off and back on. The man told me to wait on the boat and started loading new passengers. Once the new passengers were on, they quickly gathered the boarding equipment as the boat was leaving the dock. (Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that they are so efficient at each stop.) I asked what was going on - we intended to get off and I was waiting for a stamp. The man told me that I needed to have my ticket stamped when I got ON the boat, not as I was exiting. At this point, Greg and I can see that we are not lunching in Bacharach, and we are very angry. I explain that no one mentioned this to us or were there any announcements made on board that would have suggested that - we were simply told to get stamped before we leave the boat. Well, frustrations continue to rise, words were exchanged (not swear words, just loud words), and we were so disappointed. We finally calmed down, what could we do about it now? Time would not allow us to get off at the next stop and backtrack...it takes MUCH longer to get back upstream than it does to sail with the current. So, no Bacharach visit. The worst part was that during our "exchange" with the boatmen, I missed photos of castles!! The Pfalzgrafenstein (Die Pfalz) - known to be "absolutely irresistible to photographers" - and the town of Kaub with the Gutenfels Castle completely passed us by. Boo. Thankfully, I caught these shots of Bacharach and the Stahleck Castle as we approached the Bacharach dock (before WW3). :)

Moving on, we approached the picturesque town of Oberwesel, with Schonburg Castle. Our friends, Betsy and Marc, stayed here during their visit to Amsterdam/Germany last fall and loved it. I looked at staying at a castle along our journey, but they were already booked months in advance! Must have to plan well ahead for summer stays along the Rhine.

A little ways up the river on the "starboard" (right) side of the boat is the legendary Loreley. This steep rock is 132 meters high, but it feels much taller because the Rhine is only 90 meters wide at this point. A well-known song suggests that in ancient times, a lovely maiden sat at the top and lured boatmen to their deaths in the turbulent waters below. Not sure about that, but one real thing about this narrow passage is the seven-fold echo...which we tried. :)

We were approaching our stopping point for the day - with St. Goarshausen on the right and St. Goar on the left. Above St. Goarshausen is the 14th century Burg Katz, destroyed in 1806. It was rebuilt according to old plans from 1896 to 1898.

We got off the boat around 11 a.m. in St. Goar, said to have been the most strongly fortified town on the Rhine. Our hotel was very close to the dock (yes, I planned it that way), but our room was not quite ready. So, we dropped off our luggage and walked in the direction of the Loreley statue. We ate some sandwiches across the river from the lovely maiden...I didn't lose either of my "boatmen" to her charm. :)

At this point, Ben seemed awake and ready to explore the main attraction - the Rheinfels Castle. Wrong...he fell asleep in his stroller before we could board the little train that takes us there. So, we walked along main street, browsed the restaurants for our dinner selection, and filled out some postcards. Oh, can't forget that we saw the "world's largest cuckoo clock". :) We checked into our hotel at 1 p.m. - a huge, apartment-style room and the owners were so nice! Ben woke up, had some berries, and we ventured out around 1:30 for the castle.

We took this cute little train up the short, but steep, hill to Rheinfels Castle. We explored the ruins for over 2 hours! We all had so much fun - up and down stairs, through dark tunnels, and admiring the beautiful views of the Rhine below. Like many of the other castles we'd seen, the Rheinfels was built in 1245 as a toll collecting station and was once the most powerful on the Rhine. It was destroyed by the French in 1796/97, hence the "ruins" that remain today. We found our way out of the maze of stone back to the entrance and took the train back into town. We enjoyed an early German dinner of brats, kraut, and potatoes - topped off by a stop for streudel on the way to the hotel. (We'd burned up a lot of calories at the castle...wink, wink.)

PS - I LOVE what Europe has done to my hubby. At dinner he says, "I've got to get a cappuccino tomorrow". Ha, laugh out loud funny! This coming from the man who "doesn't drink coffee". True, it's more fru fru than it is coffee, and he adds plenty of sugar - but hey, it's a start, right?

Tuesday was a slow, relaxing morning. We had breakfast and were able to wander around St. Goar in the sunshine before we boarded the boat again at 11 a.m. to Koblenz. You'll appreciate that our "boat buddies" from the day before were working again, but all was forgiven by now. Here is a view of the Rheinfels from the water as we left St. Goar...

Just a short way up the river was Burg Maus. It is actually Thurnberg Castle, but it was nicknamed "Mouse" by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (of the nearby Katz Castle). Today it is a farm for eagles and falcons.

A little further are "The Hostile Brothers". These two castle ruins - Sterrenberg and Liebenstein - were built as imperial castles in the 11th and 13th centuries. The two castles are divided by the Hostility Wall. Legend says that the two brothers killed each other in the church of Bornhofen, having fought over the love of a fair maiden. Sheesh!

No castles here, but Boppard was a very picturesque town that we docked at to pick up passengers. And old, it was founded by the Romans in AD 370!

Cruising right along, we saw the best-preserved fortress along the Rhine - Marksburg - just above the little town of Braubach, which dates from the 12th century. In all of the battles that ravaged this area, Marksburg was never humbled, until 1945 (WW2). The damage has been restored, and it is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful castles on the Rhine.

Situated above Stolzenfels is the Schloss Stolzenfels, originally from the 13th century but heavily rebuilt in 1836 as a dreamy 19th century vision of the Age of Chivalry. It did look very romantic - minus the scaffolding and green construction netting.

And finally, we arrived in Koblenz with views of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. It was dismantled in 1919 and is now a museum. We stepped off the boat around 1:30 p.m. and had a 30 minute walk to our hotel. Great location for the train station on Wednesday morning, but a haul from the boat dock! Oh well, it was good to get the blood flowing after the chilly, but fantastic, trip down the Rhine.

Checked in, relaxed a bit, and then out to see the sights of Koblenz. We thought it was cute...Ben kept saying "Klobenz". We walked to the Kurfurstliches Schloss - um, how do you like that crane and those dirt piles? Oh well, kept walking to St. Kastor Kirche, first consecrated in 836. We kept walking towards the water, and we found this 3-piece memorial section of the Berlin Wall.

The most famous sight in Koblenz is the Deutsches Eck (German Corner), a piece of land at the confluence of the rivers Moselle and Rhine. The temps were great, low 70's, but it was very windy!! We could see the Fortress across the Rhine, and there is an enormous statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, dating back to 1897. It was destroyed in 1945, and finally rebuilt in 1993. Although my "refurbishment annoyance" button is being pushed, we appreciated the views it provided. :) We walked along the water (Rhine) down to the ferry landing to ask about the ferry to the Fortress. Sadly, we did some research, and there is no other easy way to reach it unless by chair lift once we would ferry to the other side of the river. Ugh, those darn chair lifts again!

After giving up on Ehrenbreitstein, we made our way back into the Old Town to the Rathaus, the 17th century town hall that is built around a courtyard with the amusing "Schangelbrunnen" - a fountain with a naughty boy who spits water unexpectedly. Hee hee! He's even so famous, he's on the city's manhole covers.

We wandered through some small streets to the Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), built between 1180 and 1250. Strolled through Am Plan square and on to Balduin Bridge, which spans the Moselle River. We had to look close to see the 3 of the original 14 arches that were destoyed by a bomb in 1945 and have now been replaced with a modern section. At the foot of the bridge stands the Alte Burg (Old Castle), built in the 13th century and now houses the municipal library. I just thought it was quite pretty right there along the water. Now it was decision time. There were a few more things to see, but our feet and stomachs were screaming STOP! The feet and tummies won, and so we stopped for dinner. Back to the hotel around 7 p.m., and I think we all slept well that night!

On Wednesday morning, since we chose to skip the Fortress the day before, we considered visiting Fort Konstantin instead. It sits on the hill overlooking the train station. It was built from 1821 to 1832 on the site of the Middle Age Karthause monastery. After breakfast, we walked behind the train station and expected a path or signs or something that would show us the way to the Fort. No dice. So, it was such a beautiful day, we decided to head in the opposite direction toward the water to enjoy a little play time and last looks at the Rhine before our 11:15 train to Cologne. (Had to connect through Cologne to get back to Amsterdam.) Ben made some duck friends, and we chased and were chased in the warm sunshine.

The train to Cologne was a little over an hour, and Ben fell asleep almost immediately after we started looking for a spot to enjoy lunch. We found a little cafe with a great view of the Dom to enjoy as we sat, ate, and talked. The city looks and feels very different than when we saw it last at Christmas time. We walked towards the train station and briefly peeked in the Dom. Lingered at Starbucks on the other side of the church until about 2:30. Then enjoyed our 1st class trip back to Amsterdam! Don't ask me how, but the 1st class tickets were cheaper than the 2nd class ones...so it was a no-brainer to travel in style for the 2+ hour journey home.

We were absolutely exhausted from this trip!! I think being in a new spot every night, having a full agenda, and traveling with a toddler will do that to a person, huh? But, we wouldn't have traded it for the world! The cities were great, the scenery along the Rhine was breathtaking, and we always love to eat in Germany! Now, we're home for about a week, and then traveling...again! This time to Denmark to visit friends...can't wait!