Day 8: Return of the Ernst to the Rhine Valley

This morning we bade "vaarwel" to Haarlem, and greeted Germany with a "gutentag!"

First things first: Germans, you are supposed to be known for your efficiency and high productivity. Well let me tell y'all that you could really improve the flow on your autobahns in NW Germany. I understand if there's construction that necessitates delays, but poor road design that leads to constriction of flow for no apparent reason? I expected more.

BUT I will say that at least people can drive quickly in Germany (at least that was my impression before and after several unexpected traffic bottlenecks). There must be hefty fines in the Netherlands because people drove the speed limit with surprising obedience. But then a mile or two before the border, the cars around me accelerated in unison. It was pretty exciting.

After the traffic (okay, I'm over it now) and a nearly running out of gas on the highway (I'm not sure if Whitney's over it), we finally arrived in Bacharach, a medieval town on the shores of the Rhine. We'd been playing Wagner's Ring Cycle, and our triumphant entry into the valley conveniently coincided with the last song in the operas when the ring is returned to the Rhine (related: we had fun asking locals how to pronounce Ernst [Whitney's maiden name]. Whitney beamed when a local told us that it's one of a few old German names, and can be used as a first or last name [we will not be naming any kids Ernst Gray {Whitney's appalled}]).

We checked into the hostel, which is a refurbished castle on top of a hill overlooking the Rhine. The only other adults in the hostel are chaperones for a few grade school classes who must be on an Outdoor School sort of experience. It was pretty fun to see the German kids running around. If I'd plugged my ears to block out their enthusiastic shouts, they could easily have been American kids.

Here's the western view from our room:

And the eastern view:

And Whitney waving from our room!

One of my Bucket List items was to take a cruise on the Rhine River (why the Rhine River? I'm not sure. It's something I said on a whim, along with seeing the Swan Lake ballet on five continents. Be careful with Bucket List items; once uttered, they're binding).

So we decided that we would take a cruise from Bacharach to St. Goar downstream (~6 miles), and then ride bikes along the shore to return. 

Here's the view of our castle from the dock of the cruise. It was pretty exciting to think that we're staying there... until we realized that we had to hike up and down that hill.

The views from the boat were fantastic, and we passed several small towns along the way. They generally featured a castle on top of the hill (that housed a medieval robber baron, getting rich off of taxing river traffic) and a church. The churches featured similar design: tall, rounded walls facing the river with floor-to-wall windows.  

That there cliff is Loreley's dwelling, who in Rhine mythology was (/is??) a siren that lured sailors to shipwreck. I'd not heard of it, but on the cruise they played some magnificent operatic piece as we passed it, so I guess it's a big deal to the Germans.

We disembarked the cruise ship and hopped on our bikes back toward Bacharach. The weather gods smiled upon us and we only had a very brief sprinkle and a few headwinds. 

What a beautiful castle, right above an interestingly named gas station!

We returned our bikes and began our ascent to our castle (I like the sound of that, "OUR castle"), and after a mega thigh burn, were rewarded with a gorgeous view over the valley and evening bells ringing from churches below.