Hallo Deutschland

Our trek to the continent started off perfectly! We arrived at Bristol Temple Meads Train Station with plenty of time to spare, enough time we were even able to sit on a bench for the train to arrive (very unusual!). We got on and sat in our seats only to realize that our tickets were from the Bristol Parkway station NOT Temple Meads! The two trains were for exactly 1 minute apart but were definitely separate trains. After a brief panic hoping that we wouldn't have to pay extra we realized it was no big deal, the conductor didn't even notice the tickets were for a different train. They both said Bristol I suppose. We arrived at London Stansted Airport once again with plenty of time to spare, so we explored the airport and eventually waited for half an hour or so at the Boarding gate for our flight to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport in Germany. Our flight went well and we even arrived in Germany ahead of schedule. So we went out to catch our bus, only to realize that there was no bus for another 2 hours. So we went to the bus stop and sat out in the warm sun enjoying the fresh Deutsch air. Our bus came and we ended up getting a free ride to Koblenz (70 kilometers away)! We thought that our reserved train ticket included the bus fare so we showed our train reservation to the bus driver who stared at it for a while and nodded to us, so we got on the bus. Later we read our instructions and realized that it said the bus was suggested information for reaching the train in Koblenz, not a reserved ticket! Well it was written in German so it was an honest mistake; I guess the bus driver liked us...

Dakota's customary calf flex

The bus ride was spectacular, the air and the atmosphere was so much like home. We drove through wheat fields and forests and small towns as we rode towards Koblenz. The windows were open on the bus, but even though it was a little chilly we didn't mind because it smelled so pleasant. We arrived at Koblenz and walked across the street to the train station where we waited about half an hour for our train to Rüdesheim. While we were waiting a giant beetle flew past us, I chased after the enormous clumsy insect trying to see what it was, and to my surprise it was a Stag Beetle, very cool. So we rode the train from Koblenz to Rüdesheim in the dark along the river Rhine, as we rode we could see castles lit up by spotlights all along the river, it was quite a site. We arrived in Rüdesheim in the pitch black (11:15 pm) and wandered around the small town in the dark searching for our hotel. Upon arrival we went to bed immediately so that we could wake up by 7:30 the next day to look around the town and catch the gondola up to the Rheinsteig Trail.

Giant Cuckoo Clock -St. Gorr

On the Gondola

The next morning we wandered about Rüdesheim marveling at the wonderful little toy stores which had elaborate window displays and beautiful handcrafted trinkets and cuckoo clocks. We wandered about until about 10 and then we got on the chairlift up to the Rheinsteig Trail. At the top of the chairlift there was a large statue commemorating the Franco-German wars of the late 19th century. The statue would have been awe-inspiring if it hadn't been covered in scaffolding! Apparently it needed some restoration. Harper told me to take out my camera and carry it in my pocket so we could take pictures faster, so I did. Then Harper took the camera, took a picture, and then opened up the battery compartment and flung the batteries off the edge of a cliff! So much for fast pictures.

AHHHH!!!!!

We found the trailhead and started hiking towards the next destination, Assmanhausen (great name). The trail wandered through mixed oak forests and wineries until we arrived, rather sweaty in Assmanhausen where we stopped to try and find lunch. After walking around the town several times we decided on one of the four restaurants. It was aptly named the Anchor, as it was filled with model ships and sailing equipment. We looked through the menu and decided to order a half a grilled chicken and French fries. Of course that seemed like a lot of food for lunch so asked to share it. The heavy-set waitress looked at us as if we were crazy and said in a tone suggesting that that was not enough food, 'so you only want a quarter of a chicken each?' We were glad we stuck to sharing; by the time we finished our quarter chicken and fries we were stuffed to the brim! We concluded that they must have larger appetites in Rhineland! 

Hohoho

Big Mushroom!

Bag of fragile souvenirs

We moved on from Assmanhausen and proceeded up the steep grade leaving the town, on towards Lorch. All along the entirety of our Rheinsteig hike, much to our surprise, there was abundant numbers of lizards (skinks). Germany is not really the environment I associate with reptiles, in my mind they are in hot desert places. But we were fooled, they were everywhere! Another critter that was abundant along our hike were mice and shrews, they were quite unabashed and would scamper around the undergrowth in plain daylight. We are much more accustomed to the timid characteristics of mice at home, which we don't see as often. So after hiking through thickets of wood and numerous wineries we arrived in Lorch where we stayed at a hotel/winery. We were met out front where we were given a key to our 'apartment' much to our surprise it was enormous! For the same price as most regular hotel rooms in the area we had an entire flat, complete with kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom and even a fireplace! Too bad it was so warm out or it would have been fun to have a little fire. We relaxed our sore feet for a while and after searching the town several times for a restaurant or other source of sustenance we gave up and resorted to eating Oreos and Haribo gummies for dinner.

Giant Yellow Jacket!

Yummy!

The next morning we found the bakery open and bought some pastries for breakfast and some sandwiches for lunch. We proceeded to hike up another steep grade out of Lorch and headed for Kaub. Along the way we spotted a deer in the forest and saw a few falcons flying above the forest canopy. They are such majestic fliers, very precise in their movements. We passed several grandiose castles which are every kilometer or so along the river and in no time at all (actually a few hours) we had arrived in Kaub where we stayed at the Hotel Deutsch. For dinner we ate really good food, once again in HUGE portions, Harper had a sirloin steak scattered with feta on top with a salad and fries, I had braised beef marinated in a red wine sauce with mushrooms, a salad and potato dumplings; boy was that filling! That night we watched UPPS! which was the German equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos, it was hilarious regardless of the difference in language.

Tiny but oh so delicious!

Climbing the cherry tree

The next morning we got free breakfast at the hotel and they informed us we could make sandwiches for lunch out of rolls, meat and cheese they provided, they even supplied baggies to package them in -talk about great service! It was sprinkling so we dug out our rain gear, but after an hour the rain had quit and we had another pleasant day of hiking. This was the most beautiful of our days hiking, we went 15 miles which was mostly in the forest, and there were only a couple of winery crossings. The Wild Strawberries were ripe so we delighted in eating as many as possible. We even came across a cherry tree that was ripe so we picked as many as we could reach and stored them in our baggies to eat along the way and with our lunch, which was a much enjoyed treat. As far as fauna goes we spotted a fox in the path 20 yards ahead of us, we saw a deer, lots of birds, more lizards and mice and shrews. Our favorite beings of the animal kingdom we spotted that day were a large yellow and black salamander, another stag beetle (a female this time) and giant yellow jackets that were more of an orange color! These wasps were literally an inch and a half long!!! Good thing they weren't very pestiferous that would have been one heck of a sting! 

Early in the afternoon we arrived in Sankt Goarhaussen where we took a ferry across the Rhine to Sankt Goar. The town was magnificent and had lots of little shops like we saw in Rüdesheim. It was tempting to buy everything but we restrained ourselves and settled for a few handmade toys and Christmas ornaments. Of course after fifteen miles our legs and feet were worked enough, but to our dismay we had to walk another mile out of Sankt Goar along the river to finally arrive at our hotel. At the hotel we ate very filling meat dishes that we can neither spell nor pronounce for dinner, but they were delicious. The best thing about the hotels in Rhineland was that they left candies on your pillow, what a pleasant surprise! They beds were awfully funny though, we would sleep in a queen size bed that was composed of two smaller mattresses. So we each had our own blanket and even mattress even though we were in the same bed frame.

The next morning we hiked the mile back in to Sankt Goar, bought some trinkets, took the ferry back to Sankt Goarhaussen and started hiking to Kestert.  We really can't pronounce that towns name but it is something like Ket-Zert, not custard (just kidding I never pronounced it custard!) We stopped quite a few times along the way and enjoyed our last day of hiking. We took lots of castle pictures and we stopped to get some pictures of bugs flying around flowers, and we even remembered the timer function on Harper's camera so we got a few pictures of both of us on our Trek through Rhineland. We stayed the night in Kestert and spent the next day in transit on train, bus, plane, underground and train (plus lots of ridiculously long layovers) again back to our home in Bristol. On our expedition through Germany we managed to travel many ways; by train, underground, plane, bus, boat, foot and even chairlift! Not to mention walking- we walked 50 miles in four days! That is quite a feat in our book!