Just Me and the Rhine

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I have to say that my solo trip to the Rhine Region was one of the most liberating experiences I have had to date. I jumped at the chance to visit several sleepy quaint Rhine River villages nestled at the feet of castles on my way to meet Reggie in Wiesbaden, his place of work this month, before we headed south for the weekend. With lots of advice from Rick Steves, my travel-writer hero, I took a 7am flight to Frankfurt out of Hamburg. Excited? Yes. Nervous as heck about how I’d manage to get myself from here to there and multiple places in between? Oh yeah.

The flight was the easy part. I spent those brief fifty minutes gearing myself up for a day of the unknown--in German. When the pilot announced our descent I had myself so worked up I was sweating. But, I pulled myself together enough to stand up and exit. Eventually and miraculously my busting-at-the-seams backpack and I found our way to our first train. Success.

After several stops, multiple long waiting periods, and lots of ipod listening, I reached destination number one--St. Goar. Just as I had hoped, St. Goar is a charming, teensy town of half-timbered homes sitting along the barge-covered rainy Rhine. Then you look up. There she is: Rheinfels Castle. Rheinfels, my first castle ever, sits beautifully and dominantly in ruins above the town. Too good for a touristy train, I opted to walk up to the castle. I emphasize up. It must have been the size that made Rheinfels  appear to be close to where I was standing when I made the executive decision to use my feet to reach it. Many stairs, gorgeous view shots, and what was I thinking?’s later, my heavy backpack and I reached the hulk of a castle (along with many others in cars—none of them sweating as badly as I was).

There are more where these came from.

500 years old and attacked by multiple French armies in the 1600s and 1700s, Rheinfels Castle is now only 1/5 of its original size. Using Rick’s book (I’ve read so much of his writing we’re on a first-name basis now) I took a self-guided tour. At one time the castle was self-sufficient and you can still find the remains of the slaughterhouse, prison, church, and cellar.

 

Walking through a place whose history began so long ago is incredibly humbling. As dominating as this sitting bull is, my time here was peaceful and satisfying. When I was finally ready to leave I was happy to realize that going down a cliff isn’t nearly as challenging as going up.

Next: Bachrach by boat. This tiny village is just two towns down The Rhine from St. Goar. Bachrach makes up for not having its own Rheinfels Castle with its cuteness. Bright half-timbered buildings decorated with pretty flowers are a big part of what make this place so adorable. Also on that list is the homemade riesling gelato from Eis Café Italia. Everyone should have the chance to taste this perfect food. 

That's right, people--riesling gelato.

Back on the train, this time in Reggie's direction, I had a huge sense of satisfaction. Maybe it was the gelato, but if I were a betting gal I'd say it was a feeling of accomplishment for not being afraid to take a risk.

Now if only my nephews weren't all the way across the pond...