Rheinland-Pfalz

Koblenz is an hour drive from Wiesbaden, or a little longer by regional train but definitely worth the extra time. The train winds along the Rhine the entire way, providing marvelous views of the Rhein valley and the castles adorning it. We went to Koblenz during the off-season, so a lot of attractions, like the fortress Ehrenbreitstein, were closed, but we some cool churches and walked around the city. We stopped by the Deutches Eck (German Corner) for a while. It is a piece of land that juts out into the confluence of two rivers and it has a massive monument there. Before heading home, we stopped at a restaraunt and had some excellent wine and spätzle. I think we may go back this year for the Christmas markets, I heard they have good a good one.

Limberg is a picturesque little town that is very "German" looking. It's small and runs next to the Lahn River. Walking around the town can be a bit steep, but it is worth the hike. It has a cool little cathedral that looks like it is half-timbered. It fits in perfectly with all of Limberg's old half-timbered houses. We stopped at a restaraunt downtown and had some good schnitzel. Before leaving we visited a few shops and found one that sold traditional German clothing (which is actually harder to find than you might imagine).

Mainz is the capital city of Rheinlandfalz, and it's a very short drive from Wiesbaden. We go there often for shopping and eating out, partially because it is slightly less expensive than Wiesbaden. It has a large cathedral that was mostly rebuilt after World War II, but a small original section still remains. It is also home to the Gutenberg Museum, which houses the first printing press.

Trier is about a two hour drive from Wiesbaden. The city is known for the Porta Nigra (Black Gate), which seemed a bit less than impressive to me from the outside. You can pay a couple of euro to go inside, which is worthwhile in my opinion. You get a nice view of the city, and there are some interesting things inside. There are also other impressive Roman ruins in the city. There is a church made significant by Constantine which we visited briefly and some Roman baths which were unfortunately closed when we got there. But we saw some other churches and the Roman ampatheater, which was very cool. It was like a colesium, only the walls had been taken away in the meideval period to build other structures. Still you could walk around and under the grounds. It was definitely worth the walk and entrance fee.

Worms is about an hour's drive from Wiesbaden, easy to get to and access. We made a good choice and went to the information office when we got there. They had free maps with information about each of the city's attractions, which made the trip to Worms a very enjoyable one. For whatever reason it is more exciting for me to see a building when I know its history. And Worms has a lot of history. It has Roman ruins in it, old city walls, a Jewish section, a cathedral, and many other sights for day-trippers like ourselves. We made a mistake of going on a Monday (German museums are closed then), but we still had a very good time.