Cruisin' Down the Rhine: Getting There

Goodbye GreeMa, hello to cruisin' down the Rhine! Less than 2 days after she left, we left at 7 a.m. for our ICE train to Frankfurt, Germany. Arrived 4 hours later and took a short walk to our hotel. A decent hotel, the room was clean and large. But, if you look closely you can see a sign with lips on it next to our hotel. Well, apparently we were on “peep show row”, yikes! Good thing we’re all settled into the hotel by 8 p.m. at night with Ben; we should miss most of the “action”.

After getting settled, we walked to the Taunusanlage park to tucker Ben out for naptime. I always love city parks - you are in the midst of trees and can see a skyscraper in the distance (Frankfurt is the only German city with a significant number of skyscrapers...who knew?). We continued on to the Alte Oper (Old Opera House). Built in 1880, it was destroyed by bombs in 1944 and later restored as a very elegant concert hall. Ben loved playing in the fountain and asked for money right away. Clearly, his fountain experience in Rome has stuck with him. :)

Nearby is the famous Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse, but is nicknamed the Fressgass (Feeding Street) because of all the yummy restaurants, cafes, and food shops. We stopped for a German pretzel and one of the popular and gigantic frosted cookies, then walked to the Borse (Stock Exchange). No visit inside, but Greg and Ben did get to pal around with the Bull and Bear, or as Ben called them, "the Goat and Pig". Um, I guess we have some work to do on recognizing our animals, huh? ;) In his defense, the statues are about 10 times the size of him, so maybe he couldn't get a good look...

Walked on to the Eschenheimer Turm, a 15th century defensive gate and the last surviving remnant of the city's medieval fortifications. Was a very funny sight among all the office towers! Ben fell asleep as we continued on to sightsee Hauptwache square - the heart of modern Frankfurt with its huge shopping center. The 18th century Hauptwache building in the center of the square was once a guard house but has been a popular cafe since 1904. Also in the square is St. Catherine's Church, where the first Protestant sermon in Frankfurt was preached in 1522. At this point, the smell of German sausages was too much for us, and we easily and happily succumbed to a currywurst. Delicious!!!

Newly re-energized, we walked to the Goethe Haus, where Frankfurt's favorite son, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749. Goethe was a famous poet, author, and more. The Haus also has a museum, but we thought it best not to wake our sleeping giant and continued on toward the Romerberg square. So many beautiful gabled buildings, including the 15th century town hall. Also near and in the square are St. Paul's Church and the Church of St. Nicholas.

A short walk from Romerberg is the Cathedral, built between the 13th and 15th centuries. This has been the sight of emperor elections and imperial coronations, and there are many beautiful works of art inside. Greg and I took turns exploring the interior of the church, as our little man was now awake and still enjoys hearing himself echo the second we step foot into a church. The color really struck me...seems like most churches are white or marble gray. But, the reddish-brown colored stone was very different and eye-catching.

We were now ready to cross the Main River to the suburb of Sachsenhausen, but not before a coffee break along the river's edge. (Reminder, we've been up since 4:30 a.m. and needed a pick-me-up!!) A quick photo opp across the river of the Dreikonigskirche (church), and then we walked across the Eiserner Steg, an old iron footbridge dating from 1868. As we got across, we noticed a sign for an Ironman competition coming up in early July...made Greg sad, as he is desperately missing his summer triathlon season. The view of Frankfurt from this side of the river was interesting...to the right was the "old town" skyline with the Romerberg square and Dom (including the huge crane that refused to move for my photo). Then, to the left, were the very modern skyscrapers and office buildings of "new" Frankfurt.

So, to be very honest, our time across the river was very perplexing. The Alt Sachsenhausen area (lovingly pronounced "Old Sausage Houses" by me) is supposed to be lively narrow pedestrian-only streets that are lined with colorful places to eat and drink, many featuring the Ebbelwei (apple wine) specific to Frankfurt. Well, we walked and walked and did not see any "lively" action anywhere. It didn't seem likely that the area shuts down on Saturdays, and we weren't there particularly early...it was early evening, a prime time for starting to enjoy some ebbelwei, right? We had planned on eating dinner there, but that was clearly not going to happen since we were sure that we were the only 3 people left on the planet. Couldn't even find a souvenir type shop to purchase a bottle of ebbelwei for later consumption. Alas...it was time to retreat and find some dinner on the "alive" side of the river. One positive thought to counter my disappointment...cutest thing about "the Old Sausage Houses" were all the little apple plaques in the streets. :)

We made our way back across the Alte Brucke (Old Bridge) this time and wandered around for quite some time to decide on a good spot for dinner. First went to the Fressgass; we were sure we'd find something on the "Feeding Street". No luck, as we couldn't really find anything we were interested in. We remembered seeing a few cafes in the Borsenplatz (stock exchange square), and we ended up enjoying a fabulous dinner at the Bull & Bear restaurant, with full view of the Pig and Goat. ;) Cute story...we ordered still water, but it had almost a "sparkling" taste to it. Ben asked for a drink, and then makes a face and says "it's weird!" No more of Mommy's water for him. Finished our meal, walked back to our hotel, and in bed by 9 p.m. Frankfurt was a really great city with lots to see and very accessible by foot...not crowded, nice waterfront, and beautiful 'platz' areas. Two thumbs up!

On Sunday, June 21st (Happy Father's Day, Greg!!), we had another early morning to hop on the 8 a.m. train to Rudesheim. Arrived at 9 a.m., and we were prepared just to drop our bags at the hotel lobby and be on our way. But, our room was ready already! (How cute is our hotel?!) We were glad for a few minutes to unload, reload, and make a plan to explore Rudesheim. Rudesheim is known as Germany's favorite wine village and produces some of the world's best white wines. Very popular with tourists this time of year. We walked around the town for a few hours...saw the Adlerturm (Eagle's Tower), built in the 15th century as part of the medieval defense fortifications. Nearby is the Marktplatz with a little 14th century parish church.

From the Marktplatz, we made our way to the world-famous Drosselgasse - a narrow lane with many souvenir shops and colorful wine taverns. Not sure how this happened since we are only on day #2 of our travels, but Ben fell asleep by 11 a.m.! Apparently, he wasn't too interested in all the wine. :) But, he missed the choo-choo and the Carillon bells that chimed on the hour, poor guy. We walked on to the Bromserburg, an ancient castle that now houses the Rheingau Wine Museum. We chose to skip the museum for now, walked past some grapevines, and waited for the 11:45 train to Assmannshausen.

Assmannshausen was just a short 4 minute ride away and is home of Germany's best red wines. It was very quiet, probably because it was Sunday morning. We intended to ride the chair lift up to the Jagdschloss, a former hunting lodge of the dukes of Nassau. The lift ride would have given us some beautiful high-level views across the Rhine Valley. But, we had a problem...actually, we had 2 problems. We had a sleeping toddler, and we weren't sure that we trusted an awake, active toddler to be safe in a very open chair lift high, high off the ground. So, we chose to walk along a trail that would lead us up to the top. The trail turned out to be more of a hiking path. It did not take long for the bumps along the rocks to wake Ben up, which probably worked out better anyways because our poor stroller was not made for "off-roading". The hike was beautiful, and we did get some very picturesque views of the Rhine and vineyards of the region. But, it was also a very steep, rocky climb that lasted for over an hour! Ben is always happier when he can be out of his stroller vs. in it, but about halfway through he was exhausted. I felt like I was leading an animal...I had to keep telling him, "if you make it past that tree up there, you get another bite of cookie!". Whatever works!! It was pretty cute though when some actual hikers came by, and Ben grabbed 2 sticks and started "hiking" too.

At last we arrived at the top, completely wiped out, but not too grumpy. We have learned from our travels and from having a child that it's just easier to laugh it off and keep going. Chalk it up to experience and another great story for the blog. ;) Pretty views, and Ben was thrilled to be able to spend some time talking with and feeding the deer. The Schloss, however, turned out to be a huge disappointment. It was pretty, but I guess I didn't read close enough in the guide book that it is now a castle-hotel and restaurant. Oh brother - all that work to see a hotel?? And, by now, I really had to pee!!

We walked another 20 minutes to the other attraction that we went on this adventure to see - the Niederwald Denkmal, one of the most colossal monuments in Germany. Who cares about the monument??...I have never been more happy to see a "Toiletten" sign in all my life! Built in the late 19th century, it symbolizes the 1871 unification of Germany. It truly was huge, and the location offers some amazing views across the Rhine - overlooking Rudesheim below and Bingen across the river.

The skies were getting overcast, so we took the safely enclosed cable car down across the vineyards back to Rudesheim. It did start raining while we were riding, so once we "landed", we decided it was a good time to head back to that wine museum. Because it was in a castle, there were some knights and other medieval things for Ben to enjoy. And, Greg and I found the wine history really interesting, and the glassware (punch bowls, glasses, decanters) very unique! Was fun to look at all the old wine labels too.

After our wine museum visit, the rain had stopped and so we made our way down the crowded Drosselgasse for some wine tasting. Greg enjoyed sampling some different whites, and we picked up some for home. It was late afternoon, and we headed back to the hotel for a little R&R before dinner. Ben zoned right into a Care Bears movie in German, and sadly Greg and I were noticing that we were zoned in too. Time to get out and get some food! We enjoyed some pizza and pasta on a patio where Ben could see the trains go by and we could enjoy the Rhine view. We ordered cake and coffee...the famous Rudesheim Coffee for Greg. Here goes: infuse sugar with popular German brandy, Asbach. Light on fire and stir until sugar is dissolved. Fill up with hot coffee, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, that smile on Greg's face is before tasting the coffee...poor guy. Not sure how much alcohol was in there, but Greg couldn't choke down more than about 3 swallows - it was so strong!! But hey, when in Rudesheim...

That ends Part 1 of "Cruisin' Down the Rhine". So far, we have enjoyed 2 cities and only SEEN the Rhine. As of tomorrow, we will actually set sail...