holidays...
I have been looking forward to spring since i got here, because there are a slew of holidays, which means travel! So last weekend commenced my 4 out of 5 weekends that i get to do something fun. Thursday was a holiday, so i had friday off too, and i headed up to the middle Rhine and Cologne. It was so beautiful and I am so glad that i went, my weekend went a little something like this:
Thursday - took the train to Mainz, had a couple of hours to walk around and have a look. A nice little over view of what the city has to offer. It's really pretty on the river and despite the gloomy weather, I enjoyed what I saw.
Train to Bingen, the lower part of the 'middle Rhine' area. The Rhine is a really big river that flows north to the North Sea, and originates from Lake Constance, in southern Germnay. The lake boarders Switzerland and Austria as well. The middle area of the Rhine, is known for castles, small traditional German towns, and the wide river in a beautiful valley area. I had lunch in Bingen, and took one of the ferry boats up north to another town, where I took the train to Bacharach, where i was spending the night. In Bacharach, I had arranged to stay in the Youth Hostel that is the castle of the town. I'm thinking, wow, this is going to be great... a little history, cute, good experience. I, however, neglected to remember that castles are always up high, like on the tops of mountains! so after walking around ALL day, i had to embark up a steep mountain trek to get to the place I was staying. Of course, it was all worth it, and the views were beautiful, but man, i was so ready to be done after that.
Friday - got up relatively early and walked around Bacharach, since I hadn't seen it the day before. Sooo cute!
Took the boat to St. Goarhausen, another small town, most known for the Loreley. A rock, that legends has it, a girl with blond hair sat at the top of and would lour sailors into running their ships into the rocks... wait, doesn't that sound familiar? I took the bus to the top, to look at the views, and then walked down back to the town, and crossed with the other ferry to St. Goar. This town, was a little bigger, and a little more touristy, but it had a great castle, a little destroyed, but so cool to walk around. It's crazy to think about people building these massive buildings way back then, and how life in the castles must have been so different. After that, I took the train to Boppard, for my second night. I went to the youth hostel so I could check in and drop my bag off. I had made my reservation about a month ago over the phone and the conversation was pretty amusing.
The woman didn't speak english, and I struggled to get the point across, but I succeeded... or so I thought. When I arrived at the hostel, no one answered the door, and finally a little old woman, walked up like she was going into the builing and asked what i wanted, our conversation (in German) was pretty amusing as well.The highlights included her telling me the office was only open on Tuesdays (it was Friday), was i traveling with a boy who arrived that morning, my struggle to explain that i had a reservation, and i needed to stay there.... in the end it all worked out. apparently she worked there, and gave me the keys to my very OWN room for the night! all for 16 euros!! here I thought I would spend the night in a dorm room, with tons of other people and i had a 4-bed room with two sinks all to myself! Amazing... so that night i made dinner at the hostel, and went to the main square, where they were having live music, and beer and wine to drink, and after the sun went down, they showed a movie outside. So fun, and so cute!
Saturday - went to a cafe for breakfast, then headed to the chairlift, that goes up the mountain. It was a little foggy in the morning, but the views were so beatiful, and at the top, it was just a short hike to the view point called Vierseenblick. It is a spot where the river winds around a lot, and is hidden by mountains, so it looks like it is 4 separate lakes. Took the train from Boppard, to Koblenz.
Walked around the town. The old town was really great, and the area along the river was really nice as well. The weather here had really warmed up, and it was finally sunny. Koblenz is where the Rhine and the Moselle rivers meet, and the corner there, is nice as well. I was going to see another castle from there, but I was really all walked out, and just wanted to get to my next hostel in Cologne... see this is the great part about traveling alone- no obligations, just what i want to do :-) I took the train to Cologne, and checked into the hostel to rest a bit before checking out the pedestrian zone and doing a little shopping. That night I met up with a friend, who was also visiting friends there. We were going to a club thing featuring a German dj duo called the Disco Boys... mind you this is not disco music, more like house/trans/techno (i'm not so up with the differences) This normally isn't my type of club, but i figured why not?
So we walked and walked and walked, trying to find this palace... it's really sort of ouy of the way, along the river, but it was well worth it. It was really fun, and we had a great time dancing and hanging out. The conversation was amusing as well, as i pieced together my german and they all graciously did the same with their english.
Sunday - Forced myself to get up at 10:30 after about 5.5 hrs of sleep, so i could really go check out the city. I went to the Museum Ludwig, which is a great modern art museum, and I lucked out because yesterday was 'Museum day' in Germany, so i got in for free! Walked around the old town, and took the tram to a more student area of the city. There weren't a lot of people around, but it was still nice. The city itself, isn't anything all that great, actually. There's not a whole lot of great archetecture or things along those lines. The Cathedral is about the biggest thing, so I finally made my way to see that in the afternoon. It's HUGE. The Dom in Cologne is the biggest in Germany, and it's quite a sight. Again, just walking through and thinking about all the effort put into constructing that is phenomenal. After that i took the train home, and was happy to be back.
It was a beatiful weekend, filled with a little bit of everything. I would highly recommend it - esp the Rhine Valley part. As usual I have a link to photos, so hope you can get a sense of what it was like, though of course, they never really do nature justice :-)
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143816&l=f5102&id=3206990
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143826&l=fd765&id=3206990
Thursday - took the train to Mainz, had a couple of hours to walk around and have a look. A nice little over view of what the city has to offer. It's really pretty on the river and despite the gloomy weather, I enjoyed what I saw.
Train to Bingen, the lower part of the 'middle Rhine' area. The Rhine is a really big river that flows north to the North Sea, and originates from Lake Constance, in southern Germnay. The lake boarders Switzerland and Austria as well. The middle area of the Rhine, is known for castles, small traditional German towns, and the wide river in a beautiful valley area. I had lunch in Bingen, and took one of the ferry boats up north to another town, where I took the train to Bacharach, where i was spending the night. In Bacharach, I had arranged to stay in the Youth Hostel that is the castle of the town. I'm thinking, wow, this is going to be great... a little history, cute, good experience. I, however, neglected to remember that castles are always up high, like on the tops of mountains! so after walking around ALL day, i had to embark up a steep mountain trek to get to the place I was staying. Of course, it was all worth it, and the views were beautiful, but man, i was so ready to be done after that.Friday - got up relatively early and walked around Bacharach, since I hadn't seen it the day before. Sooo cute!
Took the boat to St. Goarhausen, another small town, most known for the Loreley. A rock, that legends has it, a girl with blond hair sat at the top of and would lour sailors into running their ships into the rocks... wait, doesn't that sound familiar? I took the bus to the top, to look at the views, and then walked down back to the town, and crossed with the other ferry to St. Goar. This town, was a little bigger, and a little more touristy, but it had a great castle, a little destroyed, but so cool to walk around. It's crazy to think about people building these massive buildings way back then, and how life in the castles must have been so different. After that, I took the train to Boppard, for my second night. I went to the youth hostel so I could check in and drop my bag off. I had made my reservation about a month ago over the phone and the conversation was pretty amusing.
The woman didn't speak english, and I struggled to get the point across, but I succeeded... or so I thought. When I arrived at the hostel, no one answered the door, and finally a little old woman, walked up like she was going into the builing and asked what i wanted, our conversation (in German) was pretty amusing as well.The highlights included her telling me the office was only open on Tuesdays (it was Friday), was i traveling with a boy who arrived that morning, my struggle to explain that i had a reservation, and i needed to stay there.... in the end it all worked out. apparently she worked there, and gave me the keys to my very OWN room for the night! all for 16 euros!! here I thought I would spend the night in a dorm room, with tons of other people and i had a 4-bed room with two sinks all to myself! Amazing... so that night i made dinner at the hostel, and went to the main square, where they were having live music, and beer and wine to drink, and after the sun went down, they showed a movie outside. So fun, and so cute!Saturday - went to a cafe for breakfast, then headed to the chairlift, that goes up the mountain. It was a little foggy in the morning, but the views were so beatiful, and at the top, it was just a short hike to the view point called Vierseenblick. It is a spot where the river winds around a lot, and is hidden by mountains, so it looks like it is 4 separate lakes. Took the train from Boppard, to Koblenz.
Walked around the town. The old town was really great, and the area along the river was really nice as well. The weather here had really warmed up, and it was finally sunny. Koblenz is where the Rhine and the Moselle rivers meet, and the corner there, is nice as well. I was going to see another castle from there, but I was really all walked out, and just wanted to get to my next hostel in Cologne... see this is the great part about traveling alone- no obligations, just what i want to do :-) I took the train to Cologne, and checked into the hostel to rest a bit before checking out the pedestrian zone and doing a little shopping. That night I met up with a friend, who was also visiting friends there. We were going to a club thing featuring a German dj duo called the Disco Boys... mind you this is not disco music, more like house/trans/techno (i'm not so up with the differences) This normally isn't my type of club, but i figured why not?
So we walked and walked and walked, trying to find this palace... it's really sort of ouy of the way, along the river, but it was well worth it. It was really fun, and we had a great time dancing and hanging out. The conversation was amusing as well, as i pieced together my german and they all graciously did the same with their english.Sunday - Forced myself to get up at 10:30 after about 5.5 hrs of sleep, so i could really go check out the city. I went to the Museum Ludwig, which is a great modern art museum, and I lucked out because yesterday was 'Museum day' in Germany, so i got in for free! Walked around the old town, and took the tram to a more student area of the city. There weren't a lot of people around, but it was still nice. The city itself, isn't anything all that great, actually. There's not a whole lot of great archetecture or things along those lines. The Cathedral is about the biggest thing, so I finally made my way to see that in the afternoon. It's HUGE. The Dom in Cologne is the biggest in Germany, and it's quite a sight. Again, just walking through and thinking about all the effort put into constructing that is phenomenal. After that i took the train home, and was happy to be back.
It was a beatiful weekend, filled with a little bit of everything. I would highly recommend it - esp the Rhine Valley part. As usual I have a link to photos, so hope you can get a sense of what it was like, though of course, they never really do nature justice :-)
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143816&l=f5102&id=3206990
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143826&l=fd765&id=3206990
posted by emily at 10:44 AM
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