Travels - Germany (June 2007)
June brought me back to Germany for the 3rd time in the last 2 years and officially allowed me to say I've flown around the world. Having flown to Frankfurt on business from Detroit and obviously from Detroit to Seoul, the trip from Seoul to Frankfurt completed the loop. Pretty cool even if the actuality of it was a bit underwhelming. Not exactly hard to do these days with 747s at your service.
Still, I've yet to be disappointed in travel to Germany and this trip was no exception, In fact, at 10 days, this trip included a weekend stay and a bigger chance to get out and see some of the country side - namely a trip up the Rhine. Note to those I work for - if my next ISP (International Service Personnel) assignment had me living in Germany for 3 years I wouldn't say no).
For those who haven't been, Germany is chock full of old buildings and castles to visit. Turns out things in Europe are older that those in the US - who knew. So after a week full of meetings and vehicle reviews a group of co-workers and I (including my audit staff of two - Sandeep and BH) took a day cruise down the Rhine to see some of the historical sites. It was time well spent.
As our headquarters in Germany is nearby in Russlesheim, we typically stay in the lovely city of Mainz. A short walk down the river walk from the hotel are several small cruise ships you can book a one day passage on for about $40 US. For anyone going to the region I recommend this highly as an activity. The cruise is very relaxing and you get to see a great deal from the water.
Our cruise consisted of a trip down to St. Goar. Along the way we passed Loreley, Kaub, Bacharach, Lorch, Assmanns Hausen and Rudesheim among many other little German hamlets. Each of these have numerous picturesque castles and churches dotting the riverside or lurking overhead on mountain sides. In fact, as the cruise goes on you tend to see so many that you become a bit jaded by the time you reach St. Goar. "Oh look, another old castle - yawn".
Fortunately, the old castle in St. Goar is one of the nicest along the route so once there we happily decided to forgo the trolley ride and walked up the mountain to Burg Rheinfels. This is a huge, partially restored, partially still in ruins castle originally built around 1250. We spent a bit over an hour exploring the place and enjoying the great views from 400 ft over the Rhine, then hiked back to St Goar for sausage and schnitzel in town.
I also had time over the weekend to hike around Mainz more than in the past and to visit the old citadel. All very picturesque and confirming my feeling that Mainz would be a very pleasant place to live. The city is full of walking streets (no cars allowed) and small restaurants with outdoor seating. And German food is all very tasty although a bit rich for my taste.
Overall a very good trip and I look forward to going back in November.
The Dom Cathedral in Mainz taken from the river walk.
A sister cruise ship heads up stream on our voyage down the Rhine.
Castle overlooking the Rhine.
Town of St. Goar and the Rhine as seen from Burg Rheinfels.
Ruins of Burg Rheinfels.
Flags fly over the restored portion of Burg Rheinfels - lower portion is a restaurant and hotel.
Photos from my walking tour of Mainz. Clockwise from left - Modern trolley heading down into town;
Citadel of Mainz; Looking out from the Citadel wall to Mainz and The Dom (tower in center); The Dom again from the Citadel walls.
More photos from my walking tour of Mainz. Clockwise from upper left - Fence and wildflower garden at Church near citadel, Church exterior near citadel; Church near hotel with horse drawn wedding carriage waiting; Church in downtown Mainz.
