Blogs from Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe - page 57

An early morning today, as it was a long journey up to St. Goar, a small town which lies along the River Rhine. Onwards we went, travelling along the Rhine until we arrived at St. Goar in the early afternoon. Unbeknown to us, there was a festival taking place that day. Paul had told us it was normally half-empty at this place, but it was packed solid with coaches and motor-homes. There were beer stalls set up everywhere, and the place was positively swarming. We went for a walk along the Heerstraße, checking out some of the shops before we went to the Beerstein and Knife Center along this same street. Her we had our beerstein demonstration, where we learnt about the different types of beersteins that were made. After this we went for our dinner ... read more

0952　ICE 2306 　　今天坐在左邊，沿著萊茵河走，左邊多峭壁（人工開鑿的部分與香港那些斜坡近似，其實兩岸的山，也像香港常見的那些），也有很多斜頂小屋，間中有一兩座古堡。（被蜜蜂叮過的地方仍隱隱作痛） 1105　RE 12010　我想是Bremm的對岸 　　甫出隧道，火車越過對岸，Moselle在我的旁邊。乘客立刻起哄。 1540　Wittich　陰 　　火車停站，Wittich只有兩個人路過，靜得只有鳥鳴。 　　又是「包廂」，只有我一個，而且可以開窗，可以放心拍照。 　　本以為Trier只有寥寥數處可觀，但一座Liebfrauen教堂便可以坐下來慢慢看，還有之前的Porta Nigra，這兩處很多人，其他的地方則靜得很（現在隊道中）。比如第一站St. Paulin教堂，我還以為欄柵後另有天地，但原來是墓地一所。 　　時間極之緊迫，結果最後25分鐘來了一次「極速傳說」，由Roemer Bruecke「競步」般趕往火車站，但只能剛好看到火車離站，要多等近一個小時，只好找廁所（原來只有坐廁收費，女士豈非很不公平？）、吃（從旅舍特製的）午餐、香蕉，趕蜜蜂（太嚇人），還有替進站的各款火車拍照……... read more

From Amsterdam we worked our way down to Germany's castle-studded Rhineland. Along the way, we'll stop in Arnhem to visit the Netherland's first and largest open-air museum. This morning, after a yummy breakfast at the Hotel Kranenturm we'll take a walking tour of Bacharach. Then we'll head to St. Goar and hike up to the mighty Rheinfels castle, overlooking the Rhine. We'll tour the castle and cruise the Rhine. ... read more

On August 17th after an all night MAC flight from McGuire AFB in New Jersey, my sponsor met me at the Rhein Main airport and drove the two hours to my hotel in Ramstein village. I checked into the hotel where I would stay until I found an apartment to rent. The village is next to the air base where I would work as a civil engineer and project manager for NATO Infrastructure projects at the headquarters of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Housing was in very tight supply, but I used a local real estate agent and in about three weeks found a duplex in Glan Munchweiler, a small farming village about 16 kilometers northwest of the base. There was only one other American family in the village, Nan and Stacy, and we became good ... read more

February 15th - day 3 St Goar was an ideal place to have stopped overnight because it was opposite the Lorelei Rock which is the narrowest point of the Rhine. We admired the view before hitching South to Bingen and from there by ferry across the Rhine to Rudesheim. I travelled with Heather today. This region is certainly a beautiful part of Germany with the Rhine running through a long narrow gorge and the hillsides full of old buildings. Rudesheim was notable for its historic buildings and a couple of castles. Unfortunately we arrived on a Bank Hoilday and most of the shops and the cable car were closed. After a shortened look around we decided to press on towards Heidelberg. However it was not a good hitchhiking day. The first car took us close to ... read more