Saturday July 3, 2010

Short night! Asleep at 1 a.m. and back up at 6:30. It was so peaceful this morning, sitting at the table in the backyard, while Julie took a shower. The lady with the two greyhounds walked by. She was given orders by her doctor to buy a dog and walk it three times per day. It has helped her physical condition immensely. She walks over an hour each time. (Matthias explained that their doctors are forced to be creative. Their first instinct is not to necessarily write a prescription. I feel that is primarily the difference between pharmaceutical companies operating the FDA and huge lobbying at home and being held at bay here in Germany. Oops...soap box!)



Each morning, owners/handlers bring horses
up to graze in this little pasture. As you can
tell, it's right in their backyeard! Tessa is in
heaven. She loves horses.

Matthias and I went to the bakery first thing to buy the special rolls they have for breakfast. The bread here is wonderful. The clerk knew him by name. He comes here allot! Breakfast was meats, cheeses, bread, herb butter spread, coffee, etc. Only problem is I was hungry far sooner than if I was at home, eating my usual breakfast.

We left around 9:30 for Rudisheim, on the Rhine River. This is wine country, but everyone was still drinking beer! It is gorgeous there. The weather was well into the 90's. One of the first things we did was walk up one of the roads leading to the "tourist area", as Matthias called it. Neat little shops and restaurants, down a series of small (very skinny) alleys. This led us to the chair lift up the hillside to the monument. It is massive. It is a monument to the people of Germany, from their president in the 1870's, to commemorate the victory over France, in the German-French War. I didn't even realize the war took place! (Our "history books" in school don't necessarily cover all of world history...oops...another soap box!)

Street sign leading into the tourist shopping and eating area

Skinny streets!

I miss all the outdoor cafes!

An open air restaurant



Thank you Matthias and Doro for ordering all our meals for us!




The German-French War memorial monument





Slightly overcast, but what a view!





Matthias, Doro, Julie & Brian




Matthias & Dorthee Bode




Josh & Brandon...two peas in a pod!



RR


Rachel & Tessa

After taking pictures, we walked down the hillside, through the vineyards. This took about an hour and my thighs were screaming! We bought gelato, at the village, and then bought tickets for a boat cruise on the Rhine. For a couple hours, we traveled up the Rhine River, seeing villages, churches and castles. We had a wonderful white wine, local to that region. It was similar to Liebframilch. The only negative was the heat. Germans are not believers in AC at all! (Sorry Matthias!) In all fairness, Matthias had told me initially we should plan on bringing long pants and jackets, etc. A few days before we left, he and I talked and he indicated they were having a heat wave and shorts would be necessary. This type of heat was highly unusual. In fact, during our time there and the weeks following our return, Europe suffered further. In Russia, they lost thousands to the heat. The boat cruise was a one-way trip, so we had to take a train back. We couldn't figure out how the ticket machine worked at the un-manned train station. So, when the train arrived, we all just got on. When the conductor came around for the tickets, Matthias turned on the Bode charm. After handing him 20 euros, which was a bargain for eight people, we were fine. Somehow, I don't think that 20 euros made it to the train company! Again, no AC, it was pretty fast. We ate in a beer garden and it thunder stormed. This rain broke the heat. My diet is shot here. Heavy sauces, meat, carbs and deserts are the focus. Oh well, when in Rome...




Rudisheim is on your left. We are part way up the hillside, toward
the war monument.



Rudisheim



Another view of Rudisheim




Yet another view of Rudisheim



Vineyards, on the hillside at Rudisheim. Probably reisling.

A church at Rudisheim

View of the Rhine River

The walk down the hillside from the monument to
Rudisheim below

About half way down the hillside is this little cafe. It is for travelers
to stop and enjoy refreshments on their walk. It was well above
90 degrees this day and it was CLOSED!!!

Julie and Doro outside the closed cafe. The tram we rode up
the hillside is in the background.

Understand why my thighs were screaming? It was a long, but
beautiful walk.

This is a winery in Rudisheim.

On the river, leaving Rudisheim

View of the hillside and the vineyards

First view of many castles on the Rhine!

The top wine is the one I refer to in this blog posting

A castle

A castle's little outpost on the river, used to collect taxes/duties/bribes/etc.

Alot of pictures of today! I fell in love with the river communities

Another castle

Same castle...different perspective

Another little village on the river. (The name just killed me!)

This was a cool castle!

The architecture was awesome!

Matthias and I wondered why you would go to all the work to
excavate all that ground and leave one tree on top of a
mound of dirt.

Another view of the lonely tree in the distance, up on the mound

Lots of churches too



When can we move in?



They grow grapes in any open space!

This castle is built to resemble a ship. See the
hull out front?

It was HOT! We took a little refuge inside the dining area of the boat.
Even then the AC couldn't keep up.

Even the road tunnels are made to look like castles



Legend has it, mystical beings sang to the sailors
on this river, from atop this hill. Its name is on
the sign on the next picture.



This beer garden had a roof. Thank goodness, since we had a thunder
storm durning dinner! Note the water bottle in foreground in the cooler.
You pay for water here. No free refills. Most of it is carbonated mineral water.

We traveled back to the Bode home. On the audubon, we were traveling around 90 mph, when a Porche came past well over 200 mph! It was AMAZING how fast he was traveling! We need an audubon system! It startled everyone in the van, because of the sound and red flash, as it passed us.



If memory has it correctly, this is a train station in Frankfurt. There
are hotel rooms and meeting rooms in this ship-shaped station. The
trains come in underneath.



This sign means "exit". My sense of humor LOVES this sign!
Assfart -vs- Ausfahrt...both mean a type of "exit"!

When we were in Rudisheim, Matthias was sticking his head in every bar, looking for World Cup Soccer updates on Germany versus Argentina. Germany won 4-0. The people here are CRAZY for soccer!!!! It's great!

When we arrived at their house, we sat outside and had a beer and talked. We went for a long walk, to see the Scottish highland cattle. Poor things have extremely thick and long fur. This heat has to be torture. The kids were outside, picking cherries; catching grasshoppers and snails.

We came back from the walk and came inside to watch a little soccer and talk more. It was a great day!

To back track a little, first thing this morning, I had quite a surprise. When I reached into one of our plastic bags, my hand came out covered in shaving gel. My shaving gel had exploded in flight. The cap was still on it, but the pressure had blown a hole in the side of the plastic cap!