June 10, 2016 Friday

Shaddow knew that we would need an easy day for the first day.  While Lufthansa Airlines was fantastic in their service, and it was quite a smooth trip, it was still a long one.  Claire and Shaddow met us at the airport and greeted me with a huge hug.  We checked through the airport easily enough.  We took a train ride to Bacharach then.

Bacharach is a town along the Rhine River gorge.  The views along the Rhine were beautiful from the train.  I immediately set upon how many castles were located along the river.  I have always loved castles, and finally, I was in a place where they prevalent.  I repeatedly said, “castle” and pointed out the window, signaling Bob to snap away with his camera.

For years, I always said that Germany and Norway were my favorite pavilions at Epcot.  I loved the quaint rustic quality of the houses.  As we walked into the town, I realized how accurate Epcot was in its depiction of Germany.  The homes and buildings were quaint and charming.  The cobblestone road beneath our feet felt worn but sturdy.  I imagined how many thousands of people had walked along it over the centuries.  The streets are quite narrow.  People walk in the middle of the street and simply shuffle to the sides when a small car comes to pass.

Bacharach is a town off the beaten course for tourists.  Shaddow pointed out that there were three types of places to visit:  the obvious tourist traps, the places no one ever heard of, and the places in-between.  Bacharach, he explained, was in-between. There were a lot of day tourists riding bicycles for tours.   The hills were quite steep and I wondered if people in the U.S. would ever be able to do these tours.

The steepness of the Alps truly amazed me.  The town was in a small corridor along the Rhine and the mountains rose sharply next to it.  I grew up in the mountains, but worn, old mountains.  Scranton is located in the Appalachians, one of the oldest mountain regions in the world.  While the roads that curved through Northeastern Pennsylvania were sharp and snake-like, the mountains were not that steep.  The Alps were something beyond imagination.

 We were in wine country, and the crops of grapes were planted along the mountain.  I marveled at the farming methods.  Most of us would look at the mountains and search for carabineers and grappling hooks before we even tried to climb up its side.   Over the centuries, the ancestors of this town realized that they had limited farming space.  They learned to farm along its steep hills.

We checked into our hotel, Hotel Gelber Hof.  Shaddow had thought of booking us in Burg Stahlek, but figured that Bob and I would want to sleep in the same room (he was right!). Stahlek Castle is now a hostel, and apparently, quite nice.  Still, we were quite pleased with the accommodations he planned.  Our rooms adjoined each other and both opened to a wonderful balcony.  The view of the rooftops added to the charm of the steep Alps.  Afterwards, we set about exploring the town.  We took a necessary, but wonderful train ride along the Rhine.  I wondered how many dukes and lords existed during the centuries before us.  It was the only explanation for the amount of castles we saw.

We ate lunch at a wonderful open courtyard.  In the weeks before, I began to crave German food, something unusual for me.  Every now and then, I am in the mood for German food.  Normally though, I crave Italian.  My desire for German food stemmed for my anticipation of Germany.  The food did not disappoint.  It was simple in its menu, but complex in its flavors.  We all shared bites with each other, letting all of us experience as much as possible.

As we sat at the table, enjoying the beer and the company, I said I needed to find a restroom, or properly, a water closet.  Claire and I set off, and climbed the stairs for the balcony that encircled the courtyard.  Along the balcony, we came upon a sundial that did much more than tell the time.  It was an astronomical clock.  I mentioned it to Bob when I went back.  He went to check it out.  He is a lover of science and physics.  He took one of my favorite pictures of the trip, a close-up of the clock with the background of the white buildings trimmed in brown.

We had a wonderful experience at Munze, a small wine tavern in town.  The tavern is in one of the oldest buildings in town.  It was originally the town’s mint, and the building dated back to the 14th Century.  The family that owned the tavern had resided in the home for the last four centuries.  They had donated much of the coins and the minting equipment to museums over the years.  However, they kept some of the coins.  Claire and Shaddow had met the owners the night before and explained that they would be returning with friends.  The owners were kind enough to bring  in the coins for us to see.  I was scared to touch them.  They were 800 years old.  The gold coin had an image of St. John the Baptist on it.  The coin was enough to purchase a farmhouse several hundred years ago.

We burned off a few of the lunch calories with a walk to Wernekapelle, the ruins of a Celtic church.  Bacharach is Celtic in origin, and the ruins of its Celtic heritage hovers over the town.  It was a steep climb up the steps, but well worth the view once one arrived at the top.

We ate dinner at the Alte Haus or the Old House.  This was also one of the oldest structures in the town.  I had the schnitzel, and it was delicious.  The German food was hearty and filling, but not heavy.

It was a slower, but still tiring day.

And this was just the first day!