The Rhine River Tour

Good Afternoon (or morning to most of you in the US)! Today has been a long day of sightseeing and exploring smaller cities around Germany. The night before, we explored some of the local pubs and I had my first official German beer. In the morning we all woke up and arrived at the location of our tour hosts. Our tour guide was a very funny German Man, he would make jokes and laugh like he was reading from a script, but he was very insightful and offered a lot of information.  From there we took a bus to the Rhine River area, more specifically a city about an hour away called Assmannshausen which we pronounced as “Ass-Mans-Housen.” You can clearly see we have been picking up on German pronunciations. Ha! Anyways, the Bus took us up to the top of a hill where we took a swing-rail ride overlooking the city down to the restaurant for lunch. The view was absolutely breathtaking.  You could see the rows of grapes as nearly all of the hills and countryside was covered with this crop.  It was warm today, and the fifteen minute swing-ride was very relaxing. 

First German Beer in a local pub.

view from the Sky-Swing over the vineyards 

Once our group had made it down to the bottom of the hill we went inside for our lunch.  The meal was pretty basic- chicken, french fries, and “salad” which resembled a coleslaw…not really a salad.  One thing I have come to appreciate more in the United States is the way water is usually free. In my opinion, Germany should take up Wall Drug’s advertising and offer some free water.  It’s frustrating to have to pay 2-3 euros which is 3-4 dollars just for a small bottle of water. 

After dinner it was finally time for our river tour.  The tour went down the Rhine River and lasted about two hours.  The tour highlighted buildings, castles, and history of the cities we passed through.  Most of the castles had been turned into hotels and were absolutely stunning.  The boat we were on was open on top but it was too hot to sit out there for the full two hours so we moved around on the boat, taking pictures.  I ended up chatting with a woman from Arizona who had a sister who just moved to South Dakota. Small world!

After the boat ride we went back to the restaurant for wine tasting.  All of the wine was locally grown and produced.  We tried red wine, dry white wine, a white dessert wine, and something called ice wine.  The wine tasting portion reminded me of my mom and family as she appreciates wine a little more than me.  The white dessert wine and ice wine were absolutely delicious and I didn’t even know that I liked white wine.  During the tasting they described how each was made and the ice wine is the highest class wine you can get in the area.  The reason it is called ice wine is because they harvest the grapes only one day out of the season when the weather is -8 degrees Celsius.  He explained they only have one day to get the right kind of grapes because they have to be frozen and hard as a stone.  It was really fascinating listening to the history and how they made the wine.  We had the opportunity of buying what we tasted and I really wanted to bring back a bottle of the ice wine because it is so different but it was too expensive and since we are going to Africa after this I didn’t want to risk breaking the bottle.

After the wine tasting we had the chance to explore some of the town but then we had to make the hour ride home.  I was exhausted and feel asleep on the way home.  Once back in Frankfurt we went to an Italian restaurant and ate dinner.  I wish I could reproduce the incredible things I saw today but all I have are pictures that barely do the landscape justice. Missing you all- tomorrow is my last day in Germany and then it’s off to Africa!