The Rhein Valley and Rothenburg

3 July 2010

We went with Matt the next day to Deutches Eck and climbed to the top.

Checked out of the hotel. The breakfast had cheese, sliced meat & sausages, bread, hard rolls, jelly, cereal, very nice Fruestuck und cafe creme. Got checked out & went to the boat that left at 9 AM. This part of the Rhein has the highest density of castles on the Rhein

 many scenic churches and fachwerk Hauser

 and many famous vineyards. Wine is more popular in this region than beer and was actually cheaper than pop or water. Laurie got a wine on the boat & Matt & I had coke.

It was very hot, we had sunscreen but I am worried I will get badly sun burnt out on the water. We are now at km 560.

Our goal was to reach Rothenburg ab der Tauber by the end of the day. To get to Rothenburg we first had to get off the cruise ship at Bachrach which was a very pleasant medieval village that reminded me of Rothenburg (even though they are far apart). 

We did not stay there though. It was extremely hot and we only had a little water left. The train took us first to Mainz. We weren’t sure if we could get to Rothenburg that day. Next we went from Mainz to Frankfurt then a quick change at Frankfurt to Wurzburg. Wurzburg is beginning to be at a little higher altitude.

There had been a fire on the track and the train to the next city, Steinach, was delayed. There isn’t a big train that goes just to Rothenburg. Everyone has to go first to Steinach and it was starting to get late. We actually got on the wrong train and got off again at the last minute after asking some people if this was the right train.

Finally we got the train to Steinach which had no air conditioning. We had to wait a while for the train to Rothenburg. It finally came, a nice air conditioned train.

At Rothenburg we first tried to get a room at the hotel by the train station but they said the only room they had was in the loft with no air conditioning for E120 so we tried the next place. By now we each had 3 big packs, each a shoulder bag and another grocery sized bag of stuff so it was getting a bit much to carry on and off the trains and to carry around searching for a Hotel. We went to the next Hotel. The people were more polite and it cost E90 for 3 people, the rooms were very nice with shower and toilet in the room, free breakfast consisted of sliced meats & cheeses, hard rolls, jellys, yogurt, cereal coffee & creme, juice, hardboiled eggs in an egg holder etc. 

That night we walked through Rothenburg taking pictures. We were in time to catch the end of the night watch, a presentation in English about the history of Rothenburg including some of the legends.

Afterwards we went to an ice cream shop. Laurie got the Jamaica sunday, Matt got the chocolate with nuts and I had fruit with sherbet. It tasted really good after our hot day. I took a shower before bed to cool off. I decided I needed to start carrying two water bottles with us.

Germany - The Rhein

2 July 2010

The next day we wanted to get to Germany for a cruise on the Rhein.  First we took the train from Amsterdam to Cologne (Koln) but there was a problem with the train so we had to change trains at Antwerp.  The car we go onto was extremely packed.  Then it turned out the car we were in had no air conditioning.  Then some people came in who had seats reserved so we had to move and Matt had to stand.

After awhile I decided to try some other cars.  I found out there was plenty of room in first class and we had first class Eurail passes.  (Laurie had paid a little more for the first class upgrade).  So we moved to first class which was not crowded at all, very comfortable and had nice air conditioning.

We transferred at Koln to go to Koblenz.  I was able to start using my German now.  We went for tickets to the cruise but found out the 6 PM cruise had been cancelled.  We decided to stay in Koblenz and the lady at the cruise booth suggested the Hotel Morjan which had free breakfast and a nice dinner.

We had gotten to Koblenz at 3 PM so we were able to spend some time shopping here. The weather was very hot, must have been in the mid 90’s, we got very hot. I finally found a discount store with .5 L pepsi for .5 E. Matt dropped a jar of Nuttella and we told the clerk but she said don’t worry about it. I saw a harmonica shop that had some melodicas and a harmonica with bells and another with horns.

We ate supper at the hotel. Laurie had gulash soup, I had pork on noodles and Matt had bratwurst with potato salad. It was a good meal but we made the mistake of ordering two waters which cost 2 E each!

That night we went for a walk to Deutches Eck, the corner where the Rhein & Mosel Rivers meet. There is a huge statue of a Kaiser with a Valkyrie.

A Day in Amsterdam

1 July 2010


The next day I took a walk and got some pastries for breakfast at a bakery.  I searched for a take out coffee shop but couldn’t find one.  It turned out we had free coffee at the hotel but I didn’t notice until the next day.  Amsterdam was rather easy to get around in because most people spoke English but a bit more difficult because I did not know any Dutch even though much of it is similar to German.

In Amsterdam Laurie and I went for a walk in the morning but due to the spoke like nature of the city we walked further than we intended.

In Amsterdam we first went to the Rijks museum.  This was a combination history/artifact/painting museum with many of the large famous Rembrants & Vermeer paintings including the “Girl Pouring Milk.”  “Girl with a Pearl Earring” was on loan to den Haag.  We bought a train ticket to get to Centraal Station and then another for 24 hours.  (We thought we had to go to Centraal station to get the travel pass)  Unfortunately we could have gotten the 24 hour ticket at the VVV by the hotel.

For lunch we had sandwiches from vendors outside the Rijks Museum.

Next we went to the Anne Frank haus which made us all cry.  The windows are always kept with black shades to remind people what it was like while they were in hiding.  After that we went to the Van Goh museum so as not to waste our day and stayed until closing.  Next we went to look for supper downtown.  We went to a dutch pancake restaurant.  The pancakes were poor, burnt crepes & syrup was extra for 9 E each thin pancake.  We found out we should have looked for food further out of town as those places were packed with people.

After dinner we took Matt back to the hotel then Laurie and I went for a walk through the RLD.

London to Amsterdam (Bus/Ferry/Train/Taxi)

30 June 2010

The next day we traveled to the Netherlands.  We had hotel reservations in Amsterdam for that night that we had already paid for and were non-refundable.  After checking out of the hotel in London we took the C2 bus which goes all the way to Victoria Station.  Bought three one way tickets for the C2 double decker.

Next we went to the coach station to take a coach bus from London to Dover.  We had walked past the coach station the day before after the play so we would know where to go.  Got the coach to the Dover Ferries line which allowed P&O passengers traveling on foot.

The ferry went to Calais France.

We activated our Eurail pass in Calais.  From there we caught trains.  First from Calais to Lille Fr.  In Lille we had to catch the train to Brussels which we nearly missed.  For one thing there was a time change (1 hour) between England and the continent.  It also turned out that a reservation and additional money was required to ride the train, even though we had activated our Eurail pass in Calais.  We caught the train to Brussels just as it was leaving.  We then began to be worried that extra charges or reservations might apply.  There was a train from Brussels to Amsterdam but it turned out to take more money and need a reservation and I think we missed it, but our original plan was to take the train from Brussels to Antwerp.  I asked where we could find the train to Amsterdam which would be leaving soon and the conductor told us the wrong platform.  Luckily Laurie noticed the sign on our platform said Amsterdam so we went back up and got on the train just in time.  If we had missed that one we would have been stuck in Antwerp until 7 AM.

We got into Amsterdam at Midnight.  I met an American on the train who had been to the World Cup in S. Africa and was from Seattle.  We took a taxi to the hotel for ~10 Euro which would have been better than the bus tickets for 3 people.  We stayed at the Eden Leidse Square Hotel:

http://www.edentheatredistricthotel.com/nl/overview.aspx