I recently returned from my first Untour, the Rhine. I traveled with my mother and my friends, Rosalie and Betty.

I flew from Denver to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. I was very pleased with Lufthansa. The aircraft was an A340. I'd checked out the Airbus website and thought a 340 looked decent for a long flight. This turned out to be correct. It was a comfortable flight with good service.

Our Rhine apartment was in the town of St. Goar. I had selected St.Goar, as it's one of the larger Untour towns in the region. Bacharach is the other one. Bacharach is also a delightful town. I would recommend it also.

We stayed in Christmas Middle. The Christmas apartments are in an easy to remember location, Cassinogasse (Casino Alley). They are also within a 5 minute walk to the Bahnhof (train station). Very convenient.

Christmas Middle has three bedrooms, a large bathroom with a terrific shower, a small kitchen and a combination sitting and dining room. It was perfect for us. The landlord is Herr Huppertz who is very nice and has the sweetest wife. We liked them very much. For additional support, the people who run the Christmas Shop below the Christmas apartments are very nice and helpful. They speak excellent English which can come in handy, too.

A comment about the washing machine in Christmas Middle for anyone else who stays there. We had a difficult time figuring out how to start it. Herr Huppertz did explain it, but I think jet lag caused that and some of the other instructions to go in one ear and out the other. Once you set the outer dial to the correct setting, you pull up on the inner dial. And away it goes.

Herr Huppertz has a selection of wine, beer, and water on the first floor. It's convenient to take what you want and simply keep track of it in a provided book in the apartment. You pay the day before leaving. The phone also keeps track of your phone charges. Just pick up the receiver to read the accumulated amount.

This was a biggie for me. I love sending and receiving email while on vacation. In St. Goar, the internet cafe is in the Hotel Montag. This is at the opposite end of St. Goar from the Christmas apartments. But, St. Goar isn't all that big, so "the opposite end" still isn't all that far.

A word about paying for internet use. At the Hotel Montag, you pay with coins. The cost is something like 2 Euros for 16 minutes, 1 Euro for 8 minutes, 50 cents for 4 minutes. A tip... put in one coin, use the minutes, then put in an additional coin if you want additional minutes. Depositing two 1 Euro coins, as an example, still gives you 8 minutes just as if you deposited one 1 Euro coin. So, if you're sure you want at least 16 minutes, use a 2 Euro coin. A message pops up 30 seconds before your time runs out. This is the time to deposit an additional coin for additional minutes.

Another biggie for me. I tried lattes at a few places around St. Goar. The best latte was at a bistro near the Hotel Montag. I should have written down the name. But, I'm pretty sure it had Bistro in its name and is about two store fronts from the Hotel Montag. They have an outdoor seating area as well as indoor. It's a couple who run the restaurant - very nice. You can get lattes and cappuccinos to go (take away) or to drink there. Very good.

They also sell Volvic water, which was my favorite. Vittel is other water you see alot. I liked the taste of Volvic much better.

Our main shopping was at the Edeka market and the fruit market next door. The people at the Edeka market are so nice. Other than the checkers, their English was about as good as my German, which means almost non-existent. Even so, everyone tried to be most helpful when we were looking for specific items. I learned how to ask how to say in German. They were always willing to help me learn. It was fun.

A larger grocery store is in St. Goarshausen across the river from St. Goar. We took the ferry over and shopped at the Rewe market.

Getting Money:

Last year, we were able to get money using our ATM card in ATMs all over Europe. So, I did not get any Euros before arriving in Frankfurt. What I found during this trip is that my ATM card worked fine, but not all the time. It did not work in the ATM machine I found at the Frankfurt Airport. I had to get some money at a money exchange booth using my Visa card. I was able to get money at the ATM in St. Goar, but one of my companions was not able to. I also got money in Koblenz. My card worked in one ATM, but not another. So, the lesson here is to not wait until you're totally out of cash to get more. You may have to try more than one ATM.

Traveling Around:

We had Earl Steinbicker's book of Daytrips Germany. The four of us took turns planning the days, determining the trains to take and the sights to see. This worked well for us. Once we arrived in a town, we looked for the "i", which is the information center. At the "i", we could find out what tours were available, which busses to take, and any other info we needed to get around and see the sights.

Thursday (day 2):

On our first full day, we went to orientation at the Hotel Loreley, which is in St. Goar. Untourists from the other three towns take the train or ferry, or both, to orientation. We met our Rhine contact, Ute. Ute had prepared a packet of events taking place during our stay, along with lots of other information. She is very nice and helpful Ute also told us about the wine tasting hosted by Idyll the following Tuesday. We all wanted to go.

We explored the offerings in St. Goar and took the tram up to the Rheinfels Castle. Years ago, we lived in North Dakota. To get your town on a map of North Dakota, all you need is a grain elevator. Every town has one. Along the Rhine, I discovered that every town has a castle. It would have been so interesting to see this area as it was in the Middle Ages with all these castles in full swing.

Friday (day 3):

We took the KD boat to Rudesheim. The KD line boats are included in the rail pass that is part of the Untour. It was a leisurely trip and an interesting way to see the towns along the Rhine. We walked along the Drosselgasse and ate at a wine bar with a gorgeous carillon above it.

We shopped at the Kathe Wohlfahrt store. I bought hand made Santa incense burners for myself and for gifts. I had them shipped and, actually, they just arrived yesterday. They're great, even my husband likes them.

We rode the cable car to the Niederwald monument. The cable car goes up over the vineyards and affords wonderful views of the Rhine Valley. Around the monument, there are areas to walk and more lovely vistas.

Saturday (day 4):

We took the train to Koblenz. Koblenz was a main hub for us. We learned the Koblenz Bahnhof (train station) pretty well. It became easy to read the schedule and discover the correct gleis (track) to make a quick connection.

We made a couple other connections, ending up on a one car train to Niedermendig. A very nice man arranged a cab for us to Maria Loche Abbey. This is a lovely area. We saw a film on the life of the monks. Although the film was in German, we were able to get a fair idea of how they live and work. We went to vespers. Most interesting, beautiful, and peaceful.

We had dinner at the hotel on the grounds. The waiter spoke no English, but they did have an English menu. Luckily, the English and German menus were exactly parallel. So, we would find the dish we wanted in the English menu and point to that exact spot in the German menu. Worked well.

I had a German Language Map I'd gotten on Amazon. The "map" had lots of small phrases in categories like Meeting People, Money, Restaurants, etc. When we wanted the check at the end of dinner, we were unable to communicate this adequately. So, I pulled out my "map" and asked for die Rechnung. Thank you Amazon.

Sunday (day 5):

This was the day of the Hansenfest in St. Goar. I know that many surnames have their origins in professions. A hansen was a river pilot. St. Goar was home to many of the river pilots who worked along the Rhine. The Hansenfest celebrates the members of the Hansen society, which still inducts new members from time to time.

My friend Betty made bangers and mash (Irish version of bratwurst and potatoes) at home for dinner. She is an excellent cook, as is Rosalie, so it was a delicious meal.

Monday (day 6):

We went to Trier (connecting through Koblenz of course). Trier was a Roman town and has lots of Roman ruins. We started at the Porto Nigra, a wonderfully intact Roman gate. The gate is made of light colored sandstone. Over the years, it's turned mostly black, thus its name.

From Porto Nigra, we took the Trier Tour. This was a bus tour with about 16 attractions/stops. The neat thing is that we could get off at any stop, tour the attraction, and resume the tour on the next Trier Tour bus that came along. The busses run every half hour.

We saw the Roman Baths and had a great time exploring the labyrinth of underground tunnels. We also went to the Roman Amphitheater. It's sort of disgusting to think of the gladiator fights, and Christian and lion exhibitions that took place there. But, it was interesting to see the "behind the scenes" animal cages and underground areas.

I toured the birthplace of Karl Marx. There were lots of newspaper articles and pamphlets depicting Marx' political work and collaboration with Friedrich Engles. This fit my view of Marx as the stern man shaking his fist in the face of capitalism. What didn't fit my view was the book of poems Marx wrote for his father and the collection of folk songs he wrote for his wife. I really enjoyed being exposed to this other side of Marx.

Tuesday (day 7):

This was wine tasting day, sponsored by Idyll. We took the train to Winnigen, a darling town along the Mosel River. The Mosel is a tributary of the Rhine. Towns along the Mosel are somewhat upscale from the Rhine towns.

This winery is owned and run by one woman, RoseMarie. The vineyard has been in her family for many generations. She's going to sell, as she'd like to retire and neither of her children are interested in being vintners.

RoseMarie says the way wineries used to work in Germany is that the land was always divided equally between the children. Consequently, there are many, many very small vineyards. A small vintner really cannot make a profit today in Germany. Some have combined into co-ops, and some are selling their land.

RoseMarie's winery is the only winery in the region run by a woman. For years, she operated using her grandfather's name, but over time, she gained enough prominence, to be successful under her own name.

RoseMarie's grandfather also made his own barrels, he was a cooper (another surname based in an occupation).

We tasted a few wines and RoseMarie explained about the different qualities of German wine. All these were white wines, mainly Riesling, which is the primary wine produced in the Rhine region. I bought two bottles, one to drink and one to bring home.

Sadly, two days before, there had been a major hail storm. The hail destroyed half the wine grapes in the Mosel region. This was a major topic of conversation in the area.

One of the reasons the Rhine Valley is such a great wine producing region is that the surrounding hills have alot of slate. Slate is used for most of the roofs in the area. But slate also holds in heat keeping the ground warm. Thus, it's a good environment for wine grapes.

Wednesday (day 8):

Today we went to Mainz. I liked Mainz alot. Very attractive town. We went to the Guttenburg Museum. At the museum, we ran into a problem we encountered alot - minimal information in English. We were wandering around and ran into a tour group from a River Cruise Boat. After hanging around them a bit soaking up information we could understand, they invited us to join their tour. Fabulous luck!

After the museum, "our tour" went to the cathedral and then to St. Stephen's Church. All the windows in the church were done by Marc Chagall. After the war, the bishop of the church wrote to Chagall asking if he would create windows for his church as they'd been blown out, among several other disasters that befell the church. Unknown to the bishop, Chagall's wife, annoyed by the many requests coming her husband's way, had thrown away this and subsequent letters from the bishop. Eventually, Chagall did receive one of the bishop's letters saying, "Mr. Chagall, this is the twelfth letter I've written you. I would at least appreciate you responding to me."

Chagall, who was a Russian Jew, was happy to help and created these fabulous windows for St. Stephen's Church. There are over 30 shades of blue in the windows, among many other colors. They depict biblical scenes, mainly from the Old Testament. I've seen beautiful windows before, but these are the most gorgeous windows I've ever seen. Just fabulous.

Mainz also has many examples of half timbered buildings. The main structure is built with timber (of course). The timber walls are filled with sticks, straw, etc. The structure is then plastered over.

On the way home, we stopped in Bacharach to look around. Bacharach is really cute. We had wine and snacks at an outdoor wine bar. The perfect end to a great day.

Thursday (day 9):

Today was a bad day. Bad in German means bath. Any town with Bad in the name, like Wiesbadden, Baden Baden, and Bad Ems (where we went today) has a spa. So, today was spa day.

We took the train to Bad Ems and went to Emser Therem. This place has a large pool, like the size of a community pool, with jets, a waterfall, showers in the pool, a water umbrella, I forget what else. They also have a sauna, whirlpool, steam room, massages, and something called lymph drainage - didn't try that. Also didn't get a massage as they were all booked up. But we did everything else.

Lots of families there. Locals can buy an annual pass. One of the pools is indoor, so it'd be great in the winter. Our Idyll contact here, Ute, said winter is the big spa season. I guess that makes sense, as it gives people something to do. No Alps here, so skiing isn't big.

Emser Therem is one of the few spas that allow textiles. Most are textile free, if you get what I mean. This does not mean textiles are optional at most other spas, they are verboten!

Anyway, we had a great time, textiles and all.

Friday (day 10):

We decided to go back to Bacharach today. We took a KD boat, had some Eis (like gelatto only not as creamy), and did some shopping. We were a bit tired of sauerbraten and boiled potatoes by this time, so made some penne at home. Since most tours spend only a day or two in the area, all the restaurant menus are largely the same.

Saturday (day 11):

We took the ferry to St. Goarshausen and walked to Burg Schanke. Burg Schanke is a small restaurant up a hill going out of town. I highly recommend this place. Wonderful variety of food. I had mushrooms cooked in butter and cumin, served with creme fraise.

We had wine from the right bank of the Rhine. (The Rhine towns are considered either left bank or right bank, looking from Mainz toward Koblenz.) The right bank gets more afternoon sun than the left bank, therefore the wine they produce has less acidity. Delicious. I bought a bottle to take home. Halbtroken - semi dry.

From the restaurant, we could see their small vineyard. They had a pulley system and bucket to get the grapes down from the upper parts of the vineyard. Very quaint. Much of the terrain in the Middle Rhine Valley is steep, so no machinery can be used to harvest the grapes. In the Lower Rhine Valley, near Rudesheim and Mainz, the terrain is less steep. Since machinery can be used there, the vineyards are larger.

Sunday (day 12):

Took the KD boat to Braubach today to tour Marksburg Castle. Marksburg is the only castle along the Rhine that was never conquered and destroyed. Terrific tour except for one thing - it was in German only. Fortunately, a young American on the tour was bilingual (something I wish I was). He was translating what the tour guide said for his friend. We stayed close and benefited as well.

We took the train to Oberwesel for dinner. We ate at Historische Wein Wirtschaft. This is a wonderful place. We dined on their patio, but the interior of the restaurant was very unique as well. This is another restaurant I highly recommend.

Monday (day 13):

I'd been hoping to see Limburg and today we went. Limburg was built in the 1200s. Some of the best and most extensive examples of half timbered architecture. Limburg is extremely quaint. And the town is very well preserved and restored. At the "i", we got a map of the old town. All the buildings are marked and the map has a legend. You can see what the building was when originally built and when it was restored. Old town today is mainly antique shops, unique stores, and restaurants.

There is a wonderful cathedral in Limburg, also built in the 1200s. The cathedral was considered one of the most beautiful houses of worship in the Middle Ages. I generally think of the Middle Ages as earlier than the 1200s, but they used this term for the time period.

We had lunch at Schwarzer Adler. This is another on my "do not miss" list. As I was pretty tired of the usual fare, I had a terrific ravioli. We all raved about our food at Schwartz Adler.

Tuesday (day 14):

This was the last day of our Untour and my 50th birthday. It turned out to be a very special day. First was my surprise champagne breakfast. That was a kick.

Then Rosalie and Betty went to Bingen. Mom and I took the train to Assmannshausen. We had lunch at a hotel overlooking the Rhine. Then we climbed the million steps to the chair lift. We took the chair lift over a forest and vineyard. Really lovely scenery with gorgeous vistas of the Rhine Valley.

We walked a trail to the Niederwald Monument. The trail was peaceful and cool. The walk took about a half hour. From the Niederwald, we took the cable car down to Rudesheim. I shopped again at Kathe Wohlfahrt and bought more Santa incense burners for Christmas gifts. Then we took the train and ferry home.

As a surprise, mom took us all to dinner at Rheinfels Castle for my birthday. It was fabulous. Rheinfels is high above St. Goar. The view of St. Goar, St. Goarshausen, the Rhine and surrounding countryside and castles was magical. Day turned to dusk, turned to night. Lights came on in the towns and river boats. From Rheinfels Castle, it looked just like something from Disneyland. This was a lovely and enchanting end to my birthday and our wonderful Untour.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: lja@cadence.com

Happy Untouring!

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