I was in bed pretty early. The hostel was nice and quiet. A welcome change from the last two nights in Leipzig. In Leipzig, the hostel was right across from a bar. The music had been quite loud. It didn't start until 11:00 and then ran until at least 3:00 a.m.
August 11, 2003
Laurie and I were up early compared to the times we had been getting up. We were at the breakfast table by 7:00. We then walked down to the ferry. We were there by 8:00. When the ferry was suppose to start running. The boat was on the other side. I knew it wouldn't take long to come over to pick us up, but it wasn't moving from the dock on the other side. We weren't sure if we were at the right place, even though I asked some people. Not as many people speak English here, so I never know if they understand me.
Finally, the boat started moving and was at our dock by 8:30. We had to get tickets and catch the ship for 9:00 that was going to take us down the Rhine. The boat ride did not cost us anything because we had Eurail tickets.
The boat was pretty big and there weren't that many people. It was nice to have some room. Laurie and I got a couple of chairs, one table, and moved it by the side of the ship in the back. Sorry, I can't remember the boat terms, for left/right side and front/back.
The sun was out in full force. We had a little breeze, but not much. The boat was leisurely moving down the river. At first I just thought it was just going that slow because it was normal. I then read that because of the drought, the water was low and would create delays.
It was very relaxing. I had my book and sunscreen. I was all set. I did wish for a lounge chair and a pool, but I guess what I had was better than working on a Monday.
All along the Rhine there were lots of old castles. Some were still all intact and others were standing, but more of a crumbling castle. The castles were usually high on a hill and there would be small villages below. The villages were small. It appeared to be just a main road by the river and would extend only a few streets after that. I guess mainly because behind the houses there were hills of vineyards. Mostly white wine comes from this area. The villages were quaint looking with older buildings. All the houses had pretty flowers blooming in flower beds.
The day was quite hot and I felt my skin burning even though I had sunscreen on. Towards the end I sat inside out of the sun. The inside was a little cooler but stuffy.
We got off the ship in Rhudeheim about 3:35. We had to catch a train from there to Frankfurt. Laurie and I stuffed our things in a locker in Frankfurt and only took what we needed for the night at the hostel in our small pack.
We made our way to the hostel. It was very noisy and chaotic with lots of young kids. It looked like a school group. We got to our room and were happy to see that it looked empty. Maybe there wasn't going to be anyone else, at least we were hoping.
Laurie and I went out to look for a store and to get something to eat. I wasn't that hungry and I wasn't interested in what I saw. So I had ice cream for dinner. It reminded me of my sister. She would eat ice cream for dinner many times.
By the time that we got back to the hostel, we had people in our room. The room was hot and stuffy. Someone closed the windows. I opened it up, but it didn't seem to do much good. Since the door gets shut and locked, there isn't any cross ventilation. Hopefully it will cool off to sleep.
August 12, 2003
It was so hot last night, I had a hard time sleeping. Then at 4:00 in the morning someone's radio alarm went off. It went about five minutes before the girl shut it off. Then someone's alarm started going off about 5:30 every ten minutes. It was not very enjoyable.
I got up at 6:30. Laurie and I grabbed some food at the breakfast buffet. We didn't have time to eat. We had to walk 25 minutes to the train station. That was where we had to get bus tickets for what they call the "Romantic Road". It goes from Frankfurt to Munich. Many years ago it was an established trade route.
We got our tickets and got in the bus at 8:00. We received a 60% discount because we had a Eurail pass. The Eurail pass has been a big convenience for traveling.
The bus drove through some historic towns and stopped at some. The major stop was at Rothenburg. Laurie and I planned on actually staying here for the night and picking up the bus the next day.
We walked from the bus station to the old city where we are staying. Laurie thought we had reservations at the Youth Hostel. When we got there, they didn't have any reservation. Laurie then realized that the reservations were somewhere else, which was just around the corner. Actually, many youth hostels in Germany don't accept people over 26. The ones that do have an extra charge. I certainly think that is discrimination.
We got to the lodging where we had reservations. We decided that we would be much happier here. First, we weren't in a dorm of six or eight. Second, there weren't a bunch of kids there. It was a B & B and at a very reasonable price--just as good as the youth hostel. The woman that ran it seemed very nice.
After Laurie and I settled in our room, we hit the town. I fell in love with it. It is a busy place, but it is pretty big. The old town is surrounded by a wall that has many gates into the town. Part of the wall has a walk on top of it. The buildings, gates, and walls were built between the late 1200's to 1500's and the style is Gothic and Renaissance. The streets were little lanes filled with little shops. I am not shopper, but I did enjoy looking in the windows and at the windows. Most of the windows had beautiful flower boxes decorating them. The town was quite large.
