Herr Jung

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Geo: 50.0599, 7.76593

I didn't sleep too badly. Only heard the train going by a couple of times while I still trying to fall
asleep. The room does shake a bit, however.

The water pressure in the shower this morning was acceptable, but I had to turn the handle all the way to the left to get any hot water. I'd been in there for maybe two minutes and was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when suddenly the water turned stone cold. I think I screamed a little. Usually when that happens, the water will warm up again fairly quickly. Not this time. Oh. My. God. I was shivering so badly that I could hardly dry myself off. I ended up feeling kind of scungy for the rest of the day.

I checked with Fatima, one of the owners, at breakfast about the wireless password, which turns out to be a 16-digit number. I tried it, but the password box only takes 12 or 14 characters. Also, it asked for a “nutzername,” which Fatima didn't give me. I was in a hurry so didn't spend too much time trying to figure it out. Later this evening, I asked her again and tried to explain what was going wrong. She dragged Kurt (the other owner and Fatima's husband) out of the kitchen to help me. Turned out, I was connecting to the Hotel Kranenturm network and not this other free one that was listed as “WAN-andabunchofnumbers.” Who would have
thought? So I get all connected and then try to get onto Firefox. It still came up with the fields for nutzername and password, and I still couldn't get it to work. By that time, Kurt was back in the kitchen, and I wasn't going to bother anyone else about it. Maybe there will be wi-fi in Rothenburg. Anyway ...

After breakfast we had a walking tour of Bacharach with Herr Jung, the former headmaster of the local school. He is 79 years old and pretty spry. However, Reid says this is probably the last year that Herr Jung will be doing these walks for the Rick Steves company, so we are very lucky to have come on this tour this year. Herr Jung is like the teacher you had in grade school whom you absolutely loved. I can't imagine that his former pupils don't speak of him fondly. He made us sing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” before going outside. This sounds incredibly cheesy, but it was a beautiful morning, besides the cold and that bloody wind. (I was also surprised how many of us knew the words!) I think it put us in the right frame of mind. He walked us around town and showed us where children had specially chalked people's front doors because those
people had given the children money that would be donated to various relief organizations. The chalk markings indicate a blessing on that house for the current year. He took us into a friend's shop where the friend played piano for us. He showed us how the town had been flooded by the Rhine many times, and he talked of his experiences as a child during World War II. He had no shoes in winter; he had nothing to eat and was reduced to licking salt from a bag; he had
been given 100 marks shortly before the war started and thought he was rich but later on 100 marks wouldn't even buy a loaf of bread. His brother was killed in the war. He suffered through all of this and, of course, his story isn't remarkable.

Yet he hasn't let those experiences get him down or turn him sour. His philosophy is, “I can't change the past, but I can do whatever I can to change the future.” To that end, he has helped children and families from former Soviet countries, and from Bosnia and Croatia. He told us such
lovely stories and showed us photos of people he has helped, and it brought tears to many an eye in the group. One of the guys in the group said Herr Jung is a humanist, and that is exactly right.

Herr Jung also showed us the back door of “Europe Through the Back Door,” and he took us down tiny little alleyways and up the side of the mountain to see the incredibly steep rows of vines. We also went up a medieval tower that's perched above the town. There is a locked gate to keep people from going inside and climbing the stairs, but wouldn't you know it: Herr Jung has the key. There were lovely views of the Rhine, the town church, an old ruin of another church, and the castle above the town. It was a most pleasant morning, and I do, indeed, feel very fortunate to have been in Herr Jung's presence.

After a quick stop back at the hotel, we were driven to St. Goar, a town about 15 minutes downriver. We set up a picnic in the park aside the river and had a tasty lunch (in spite of the ever-present wind). We had a little free time after lunch, and I found a shop that was selling
knit caps, so I bought one that says “Deutschland” on it. Plus, the lady gave me a small tot of peach brandy, which at least warmed up my insides a little. The hat, however, was a good purchase. My ears are finally warm!

Then we hiked up to Rheinfels Castle. And oh! what a hike it was. We were met at the castle by Gunther, who took us on a tour. It's a ruined castle, blown apart by the French in the late 1700s. It's absolutely enormous, but certainly not attractive. It must have been quite an imposing
structure in its heyday. One particularly amusing thing at Rheinfels was the guillotine over the urinals in the men's room. I took a photo.

When the tour was over, I walked back down the same trail we had come up with Sandy and
Sheree. Sandy had bought a stein at the stein shop and had to pick that up. Several people had asked me where I got the hat, so I ended up leading a little group in the direction of the shop. I know at least three people bought hats, maybe four, and several other people bought other stuff. I should get my hat for free just for bringing in so many customers!

We then met at the town boat dock to take a cruise on the Rhine back to Bacharach. It was a picturesque ride, flanked as the Rhine is by castles and churches and small towns. We even made it past the Loreley. When we got back to Bacharach, Sandy, Sheree, Judy, Ann and I wandered through town a bit and stopped at a cafe for some hot chocolate. Still no mochas available.

This evening we met (as an optional activity) in the restaurant for a Q&A session with Tomas, a local man who some of us suspect is being groomed as Herr Jung's eventual replacement. He is personable and speaks excellent English, and we were just able to ask him questions about
Germany and being not only German, but a citizen of the EU. He was very interesting, but the room was warm, I had hot chocolate in me and I had had a beer on the boat, so I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I hope he didn't notice me.

Later, Sandy, Sheree, Judy, Ann, Katie, Bob, Lisa and I all went to dinner at the Muntze restaurant. Our waiter didn't speak much English, but he was patient with us. The food was decent: I tried schmaltz, and I had bratwurst for my dinner. By the time dinner was over, we were all starting to flag. It's a good thing the hotel was only a five-minute walk away.

Tomorrow we're on the road again.

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Photos

Bacharach
View from the vineyards above the town.

Bacharach
You can see our group straggling up the hill to the tower.

The Loreley
Doesn't look like much, does it?

The back door
This is the original "back door" that inspired the name of Rick Steves' company.

Comments

[Kate Szyperski]

Bacharach is lovely! I think I have to add it to my list of places to visit! What a great story about Herr Jung. And I love the photo of the urinal with the guillotine! Glad your ears will finally be warm (that's why I always take my han
dy-dandy ear-warmer with me wherever I go!) Hope your next accommodation has a shower with always warm water!