[Bus Tour Day 5] Germany's Rhine Valley

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Leaving Switzerland, our bus took us along a beautiful route that led through the mountains and into the Rhine area of Germany. Our hotel was located in the town of Boppard, which was situated against the river itself. We had some time to get settled into our rooms and I immediately went out on a search for some treats: I was craving marzipan, and found it super cheap at a small drug store. I was so excited! By the time I got back, it was time for our river cruise. The boat we got was amazing and huge, and had its own craft brew beers on board - a huge selling point for us! We got our beers and went up to the roof deck to watch as we went down the Rhine River and took in the sights.

It did get a little cold, and by the end, we had moved back down to the dining area. The boat dropped us off near the biggest cuckoo clock in the world and the store of cuckoo clock makers - who had, unfortunately, gone on vacation. We couldn't see the clock-making demonstration, but we didn't let that deter us from having fun exploring the rest of it. After the bus took us back to our hotel, we got to go to a wine tasting event at a very small wine shop with wines grown locally from the vineyards along the Rhine coast. The tasting was very fun, and the staff members explained the intricacies of what we were drinking. The real highlight was the "eiswein" - a very, very sweet dessert wine that is incredibly hard to make, as you have to let the grapes rot and wither and concentrate the sugar and then pick them at exactly the right cold temperature. It was DELICIOUS! I wanted to buy some, but I knew it wouldn't make it through the plane ride. (I have since found eiswein at a local import wine store here - very exciting!)

We did a little shopping after that, and then went to the hotel restaurant for our dinner and evening entertainment: karaoke! Our tour guide Andrew was incredibly great and we had such an amazing time dancing and singing with the karaoke machine. It was late by the time we finally went back to our rooms, and I was exhausted!

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