We took a direct flight from Phoenix to Frankfurt and arrived a day early. We stayed overnight at the Astron Airport Hotel. They have an airport shuttle and we would recommend the hotel for an overnight stay. It is located in an industrial area near the airport, was clean and had a good restaurant. We arrived in time to take an afternoon tour of Frankfurt. This gave us a good idea of the town and its sites.

Idyll arranged a taxi to take us from Frankfurt AP to our St. Goar apartment. St.Goar is a small town located on one of the prettiest stretches of the Rhine River. We were surprised at the amount of river activity. A vehicle passenger ferry (crossed about every 15 minutes), various other boats including the KD passenger boat, tour boats, barges, tugs and other vessel moved up and down stream. By the way, downstream is very confusing because the Rhine runs south to north. We were very pleased with our apartment (Werr 1), which is located on a pedestrian mall that serves as the main street for St.Goar. We particularly enjoyed our balcony that hangs over the street and enables us to sit and take in the activity. The apartment is convenient to everything including a bakery next door and the post office directly below us. Nearby are the grocery store, produce store, meat market, two banks and many restaurants. The weather was beautiful and we didn't miss the Phoenix temperatures.

Following Idyll orientation we took a trolley up Main Street to the Rheinfels Castle, the mightiest Rhine castle. Built in 1245, it withstood many invasions until the French Revoluntionary Army destroyed it 1797. There is still a very impressive shell to explore including tunnels that required us to use flashlights. The castle stands high above St.Goar and St.Goarshausen overlooking the Rhine River. The weather continued to be beautiful and the forecast looked good for the next week. There was bad flooding is in eastern Germany, Austria and further east but it didn’t affect the Rhine valley.

We had a wonderful day that covered all bases. We took the ferry to St.Goarshausen (the town across the river) so we would be on the correct side of the Rhine to take the train to Rudesheim. We toured the Bromserberg castle that now houses the Rheingau Wine Museum. It covers the entire scope of winemaking and drinking. The museum was very interesting and the view from the tower provided a beautiful overview of the Rhine, Bingen across the river, Rudesheim and the seilbahn (lift) we planned to take. We walked up the famous Drosselgasse, a narrow touristy street filled with shops and tourists. On the hour a unique bell tower played with rotating figurines. Next we stumbled onto a tour of Siefriends Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum. It is housed in an aristocratic residence dating from 1540. The tour demonstrated a collection of antique self-playing musical instruments. Next we took the Seilbahn up the mountain over many vineyards to the Niederwald Monument. As our Idyll rep said at orientation, "It is a monument to the only war that Germany won". It is quite impressive and features a bronze relief depicting military heros surrounding Kaiser Wilhelm I and Bismarck. There is a fantastic view of the Rhine Valley from here. Then we walked about 30 minutes to another Seilbahn that took us to Assmannshausen where we had lunch in a lovely outdoor setting. After lunch we boarded a KD boat for the trip back to St. Goar. It was beautiful trip and provided an excellent view of the river, the towns along the river and of course the many castles. The boat was really crowded since this is the German holiday season and perfect weather. We passed the Loreley just before docking at St. Goar. We were ready to relax on our balcony, snack and watch the people wander down the street in front of us and look into the window of the bakery. Freshly baked goodies make pedestrians stop in their tracks as they view the many baked goods filling the window. We were tempted ourselves and ate a wonderful almond and chocolate cookie-to say nothing of the fresh breakfast roll we shared this morning.

We toured some nearby towns by taking the train South to Oberwesel an old Celtic town. We visited the exquisite Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). There was a very friendly German man & woman who invited us to see the inner chapel that has a fantastic triptych. We walked through what appeared to be a very nice town to the St Martin Church. Both Gothic churches date back to the 1300's. From the road that runs into the cemetery we picked up a hiking path that ran along the old city wall. Afterward we caught a KD ship and went one stop to Kaub. We walked through town to the Bahnhof stopping to view the Burg Pfalz that is built on an island in the river. Kaub's claim to fame is that this is where Field Marshall Bluecher crossed the Rhine in 1813 with 60,000 soldiers and 20,000 horses on New Year's eve to surprise Napolean. We went to St. Goarshousen and walked through a nice grocery store. We judge the market's viability by whether it carries peanut butter. (It is very hard to find.) After lunch we took the train North to Koblenz on a double decker train and viewed the Rhine, castles, boats, etc all the way. We did some preliminary planning at the tourist office for a longer trip later and returned to St. Goar for the town festival. It was sponsored by the firemen and included bier, brot, music and dancing. The Germans really know how to celebrate.

Today we toured the Marksburg Castle. It is the only castle on the Rhine that hasn't been destroyed. We traveled via train to Braubach then hiked the trail to the castle. It is about a 30-minute hike from the train station assuming you can find the trail. A nice German lady in a hotel showed us the way. Unfortunately, we had to go on a German guided tour but they did give a handout in English so we could follow along. The castle has been inhabited for over 700 years. It was very impressive. Next we went to Bad Ems, which is traditionally regarded as a spa for asthma and other ills and has many hot springs. It is located on the Lahn River which flows into the Rhine. On this much smaller river there was much recreation including canoeing and kayaking. Two man-rowing races were being held. The weather has been perfect so far. If anything it has been a bit warm in the sun in the afternoon probably around 85.

Today we explored another major tributary of the Rhine River, the Mosel River. It is similar to the Lahn River except it is bigger and had barges on it. It also has many locks, more on this later. At one time this was the major route to France. We choose to explore the town of Cochem, which is in the heart of the wine growing country. At tourist Information we got a city paper that described all that was going on. We decided to hike to the Cochem Castle. It has been completely rebuilt as close to the original design as possible. During WWII Hitler demanded the owner to pay 10 years taxes in advance. When this wasn't possible he took over the castle. Since then the city has acquired it. The castle tour was conducted in German but we had an English sheet to follow. Our tour guide did do translate some of the major points. The view of Cochem and the Mosel was wonderful. After the tour, we walked down to the city square, bought a Florentine pastry and ate our lunch on a bench overlooking the Mosel. After lunch we walked around town and started the train trip home. Our apartment always looks so good by the time we finish our day’s travels. We ate an excellent meal of salmon and sole at the restaurant by the market place.

Cologne (Koln in German) was our destination today. It's about a 1.5-hour train trip unless you take the regional train from Koblenz to Koln like we did. This regional train runs along the East side of the river and stops at every station but it does provide an excellent view of the Rhine. One of the most interesting sites was the remains of the Bridge at Remagen. All that remains are bridge abutments on both sides of the Rhine marking where on March 1945 an advance element of the US 9th Armored Division stormed this last remaining bridge over the Rhine. The Germans had attempted to destroy the bridge but were foiled when the dynamited middle arch lifted skyward and then miraculously fell back directly onto the supporting pillar. The use of the bridge by the US greatly hastened the end of the war. Hitler had the Nazi general executed because of his inability to destroy the bridge. The Americans used the bridge for ten days until it suddenly collapsed being so weakened by the constant shelling.

When we emerged from the train station in Koln we were taken back by the over powering DOM just across the square. It is like no other church we have seen in terms of its magnitude and uniqueness. We took a very good one-hour English guided tour. The cathedral was built over the course of 600 years and is one of the largest gothic churches. It is truly amazing that when 90-95% of Koln was destroyed in WWII the DOM survived. Relics were a big deal in the Middle Ages and acquisition of the bones of the Three Kings in the 12th Century put it on the pilgrimage map and brought in enough money to justify completing construction of the cathedral. We visited the old city where much of it has been rebuilt with modern buildings. Barb also found the Chocolate Museum located on the Rhine. A self-guided tour including English covered the origin of the cocoa bean to the finished product. A chocolate fountain provided sample sweets. The tour included actual production. We took the Intercity Train home.

It rained last night and was raining lightly as we went on a special Idyll sponsored day. We visited a very charming vintner Rosemarie Hautt-Korber in Winningen. She told us about the long family history of wine making while providing various samples of Riesling. Along the Rhine and Mosel Rivers one notices that all the vineyards are on sloping hillsides sometimes very steep. For a long time, farmers were prohibited from planting on level ground where other crops could be grown. Actually the vines depend on the hilly, slate mineral content to give the particularly fruity taste to the wine. Rosemarie told us about the three primary grades of wine and took us on a tour of a wine cellar below her house where she has set up a museum that shows implements her grandfather used over a hundred years ago. She served a wonderful lunch along with more wine of course. After lunch we walked around the beautiful town with grapevines growing over many streets like arches.

It was a little rainy today and we decided to visit Trier, a town that claims it stood 1300 years before Rome. Although this may be difficult to prove, what is documented is that it was established in 16 BC by the Roman emperor Augustas near the site of an earlier Celtic settlement. At one time it was second only to Rome. Trier is now a relatively minor provincial place but has the greatest collection of Roman remains to be found north of the Alps. Porta Nigra is perhaps the most complete Roman gate in the world dating back to Roman times. The DOM (cathedral) is the oldest church in Germany and claims to have the tunic last worn by Christ. Next-door is the Church of Our Lady that is the earliest Gothic church in Germany. We also visited the enormous Palastaula, which is the only surviving part of Constantine's great palace. It was once the throne room of the emperor and was built about 310 AD and now is used as a Protestant Church. Another interesting site was the amphitheater remains where over 20,000 spectators once jammed the terraces to watch gladiators fight. Needless to say we saw a lot of "old" stuff. It is hard to comprehend the age of things particularly when we celebrated the bicentennial in the US and thought that was a big deal.

We decided for an easy day today and got on the KD boat headed for Bacharach. The KD passed the Loreley, a big slate rock, which is steeped in legend. Because of reefs just upriver many ships never made it to St. Goar. Sailors blamed their misfortune on a beautiful girl with long blonde hair who lured them into the rocks.

Bacharach dates back to 1356 and is rich in tradition. Burg Stahleck (now a youth hostel) sits high on a hill providing a wonderful view of the valley. We hiked up part of the old town wall to one of the six remaining city towers. To reach the tower we walked through a vineyard and could see the grapes are nearly ready for harvest. A long era of wine production began with vines planted in the time of Romans. We ate lunch at the Munze, the sight of an old mint. Of course there were a couple of churches to visit and the ruins of the chapel of St Werner, which was begun in 1294. We took the KD boat back to St. Goar. It is interesting to note that the trip took 110 minutes going upstream and 40 minutes downstream.

We started the day with an apple kuchen from the bakery, and then we headed to Mainz. Believe it or not we didn't go through any castles today and only one church. The Mainz Catherdral was begun in 975 and built over several centuries. It has a mixture of styles ranging from Romanesque to Baroque. We were most impressed with the large farmers market that filled the old town plaza. There were vegetables, flowers and many foods. It was in Mainz that Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press. We went through the Gutenberg library and saw a replica of the original press and the original Gutenberg Bible of 1452-55 kept in a vault. After lunch we caught the KD boat in Bingen and rode down the river to St.Goar. There were hordes of people on the boat today. Weather was partly cloudy although rain had been forecast. We ended the day with another bakery delicacy. Needless to day we are on a first name basis with the lady at the bakery.

Our goal today was to attend the flower parade(Blumenkorso) in Bad Ems. We had heard that it is one of the best in Europe. But first we visited Limburg, which in medieval days was a bustling stop on one of Europe's main trade routes. Today it is a quiet town on the Lahn River. It wasn't too quiet today since there was an arts and crafts fair in the plaza. I kept reminding Barbara that anything she bought we had to carry to Switzerland and home. We arrived in Bad Ems after lunch and were amazed at the number of people and the activities. They had a fair with rides, entertainment and many street vendors with everything from food and drinks to clothing and crafts. We were very impressed with the parade. It wasn't a Rose Bowl Parade but the floats were decorated with beautiful flowers. There were many bands and we didn't see one horse or politician in the parade.

Rain was forecast but it turned out to be a nice day with only a little hazy. We had been through Koblenz many times but hadn’t really explored the city. We walked from the train station to Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). It is a 13th century church that was partially destroyed in WW II but has been restored. We have been amazed at how many smaller towns were destroyed in WW II in addition to the larger cities. We strolled through a large market platz and then down to the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) where the Mosel River enters the Rhine. We climbed up into the base of an enormous 46 foot high equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm. We ate lunch at an outdoor Bier Garten and when we started to leave the tray on the table, a German lady who was also eating lunch said something to us in German we didn’t understand. When we looked confused she picked up her tray, pointed in the direction of the kitchen and then rubbed her fingers together (indicating money). She was helping us because she knew that we could get 1 Euro ($1) back for returning our tray. We caught a KD boat for an hour trip up the Mosel to Winnegan. One of the most interesting things was that we had to go through locks. This series of locks on the Mosel keeps the water level up. These locks were approximately 20-30 feet high. As we have discussed previously the Mosel is a pretty river with a lot of recreation. At Winnigen we walked thru town and then headed home on the train. Organ music filled the air as we got off the train in St. Goar. We stopped for a few minutes to listen to the beautiful pipe organ in the local Catholic Church.

It was hazy today and looked like it was going to rain but ended up begin partly cloudy. We did some packing and cleaning and then went to Boppard a neighboring town. It was larger than we expected and had a very interesting Market Platz. We also visited a couple of churches. I was about “churched-out” but it seems each church is unique in some way. We took a lift to the top of the mountain where we were treated to a spectacular view of the Rhine River where it makes a big 180 degree bend. There was also a vantage point where it appeared there were several lakes but in reality it was just several parts of the Rhine. Our time in Germany was coming to a close and we finished packing in preparation for our train trip to Switzerland.

1) We were amazed at how many of the smaller towns were bombed during WWII. It is also interesting to see how towns have rebuilt. Some places have rebuilt in a traditional manner and others have gone modern. However, it was modern 50's when they rebuilt.

2) The vineyards along the Rhine and Mosel rivers are extensive and we didn't see one vineyard on flat ground. They were all very steep and the grape rows were vertical on the hill rather than horizontal. There are two reasons for this. In the early days it was prohibited to put vines on flat ground where other crops could be grown. Also the vines depend on the slate soil to give the wine the fruity taste.

3) The barge traffic on the Rhine is significant. Some barges can carry the equivalent of about 30-40 boxcars. Many families live on the barges and on some you could see playground equipment and many had their personal cars on board.

4) In the past, the Rhine River has flooded (just like the floods in Eastern Germany during August 2002). Many towns had high water markers showing flood level. 1993 and 1995 were particularly bad years. In our town of St. Goar the water level was about 4 feet but our building is significantly above the normal water line. I cannot imagine what it must be like with water at this level.

5) The trains generally ran on schedule. They are not as good as the Swiss trains but better than the Austrians trains.

6) It is hard to realize how old churches and castles are. Many of them have been restored as close as possible to the original design.

7) Generally German people were very friendly and helpful. We did not find language a problem although knowing a few key words was helpful.

8) Groceries and restaurant meals were inexpensive. The meals were excellent with large portions. Salads were excellent and ranged from dinner salads to entire portions. Here again, a few key German menu words helped make selections more fun.

9) There was a lot of graffiti in the towns and even on the sides of some railroad cars.

10) People littered just like they do in the US. They throw out cigarette butts and packages as well as other trash. There just isn't the pride in cleanliness like there is in Switzerland.

11) There were a lot of smokers particularly older women and young kids. You hate to see the young kids smoking. Cigarettes were readily available to anyone. In our town there were vending machine outside many places (about 3 dollars a pack).

12) The beer was good and in our area wine was a common drink. Riesling is predominant in the Rhineland and tends to be sweeter than we are use to. Even the Trocken (dry wine) is slightly sweet.

13) Railroad stations, particularly in small towns, are really run down. Since they have taken ticket agents out of small towns it looks like they haven't done maintenance.

1) Train Pass – Let the conductor stamp the date but don’t let another conductor stamp again during the same day. Also, since in most cases you have two 7-day twin passes (one pass good for two people) use the first pass until it is finished then use the second pass. We had a couple during our term that didn’t understand this so they gave the conductor both passes and he stamped both.

2) We found the “60 Day Trips Germany” by Earl Steinbicker to be excellent. It has good small city maps and good ideas for walking tours. We used it for Frankfurt, Mainz, Rhine Cruise, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Trier, and Cologne.

3) There were several train stations (St Goarshausen, Winnegan) where the door to the boarding area was locked until just before the train came in. We think this was for safety because the boarding area was small or you had to cross a track.

4) We didn’t realized there were two ways to go to Cologne from Koblenz. The regional train travels the East bank of the Rhine but stops about 20 times; however, the sightseeing is much better. The intercity train travels the West side of the Rhine but is more inland and doesn’t provide much scenery.

5) The Internet café at the Montag Hotel worked out great. Cost was about $2 for 15 minutes. They usually had a tour of young people (Kontiki) staying there so we found if we went around 8:00 p.m. they were usually eating and we didn’t have to wait.

6) McDonald’s were located at larger train stations and had restrooms.

7) One handy tip we picked up from another trip log was to exit the train at the Bingen Stadt rather than Bingen Hapt Banholf. This provides direct access to the town and to the KD Boats.

8) There is an English tour of the Cologne DOM at 10:30 a.m.

9) On Sunday and Monday during the summer there is a KD boat that leaves Koblenz around noon and goes to Winnegan. It is about an hour trip and includes an interesting ride through a set of locks.

10) You won’t find a stand-alone post office in small towns. The postal system has been privatized and you’ll find post office services in small stores such as newspaper or card shops. Look for the Post sign outside the store.

11) The railroad has cut back significantly on manned stations. Only major stations have an agent. Rail support such as schedules can sometimes be found in smaller towns in small stores. Look for the DB sign. In St. Goar the Post Office and the DB were in the newspaper/magazine store directly below our apartment.