Germany Road Trip - Part 2 - The Rhine Valley

After we left the Black Forest, we drove on to the Rhine Valley. We wanted to stay upriver, so we could take a river cruise down and back. We found this wonderful hotel in Assmanshausen, and it was right on the river! See those beautiful geraniums in the windows? Take a look at the next shot!

Yes, that's from our window! We couldn't believe it when we walked in. It is such a beautiful area. And like they say - castles everywhere! The plan was to take the last boat from Assmanshausen to St. Goar to see one of the main castles. But guess what - we missed the boat!!! And it wasn't our fault - the boat actually left early! So we went back to the hotel to figure out what to do - we read about a town just upriver, Rudesheim, that is a Rhine wine destination. We went there, checked out the tourist information, and ended up at an estate winery that taught us all about Rieslings. So we're actually glad we missed that boat! Everywhere you look in the area, there are vineyards, so the scenery is beautiful.But of course the next day we wanted to make sure we got on the first boat - we were there soooo early! But it was definitely worth it. We got a great seat on the deck and even though it was a little misty for most of the day, it was just one of those experiences to be floating down the Rhine River, looking at the castles, imagining what it must have been like to navigate before there were power boats. The Lorelei was especially impressive. For those that don't know the legend, the Lorelei is a giant rock that had to be navigated around, and it was said that a blonde maiden called to sailors to steer them off-track into the rock. Poems and songs have been written about it, and when you're floating by, it is easy to see how dangerous this curve would have been.

One of the ships we were on was an old paddle boat.

We stopped at St. Goar and Bacharach, but our schedule to get the boats back was tight, so we didn't have too much time for exploring. We had more time at Bacharach, so we walked up to the castle and saw these views of the river.

We rushed back to the boat - and you'll never believe - it was running 40 minutes late!!! So we decided to go have a bite to eat while we waited. And of course after our Riesling lesson the day before, we had to test our knowledge. This is the Altes Haus, one of the famous places to eat in Bacharach. I just loved the look of the building!

When we finally got the boat back, we were ready for our next stop - but of course got this cute shot of Lucy first!

Germany Road Trip - Part 1 - Baden-Baden and the Black Forest

On June 11, we left Lugano for our Germany road trip. It was a fantastic week, and we saw so much! The first leg was to make it from Lugano to Zurich, where we dropped off Molly. Unfortunately, after our beautiful sunny days in Portugal, it was raining in Zurich. So we just kept on driving. We made it to Baden-Baden in the Black Forest of Germany that night. Our hotel was so sweet! It was a little bed and breakfast outside the town, and each room was named for a different game animal, then decorated in that theme. We were in the "Enten" (ducks) room. Their restaurant was also fantastic, and they gave us lots of little extras as a welcome to the hotel - like Black Forest ham mousse. I was expecting this trip to be all bratwurst and sauerkraut like our last trip to Germany, but they really change their food with the season. Definitely a highlight.

The next day, we took a drive with the dogs through the Black Forest, taking pictures and just seeing the sights. David spotted a trail to a waterfall, so we pulled over and took a little walk through the woods.Next we stopped at a little town along the way called Freudenstadt that has a huge center square - apparently they were going to build a castle in the square at one point, but never got around to it. Now it has cute little shops and restaurants to sit and people-watch. Our next stop was at the Haus der 1000 Uhren - they have soooo many cuckoo clocks! We found one we loved and hopefully it will arrive in the States soon. Who can resist a cuckoo clock when you're right there in the middle of the Black Forest?!We made it back to Baden-Baden, dropped off the dogs, and headed - where else - to the Roman-Irish Baths. The major reason Baden-Baden is such a resort area - Baden actually means baths. So... Baths-Baths... hey, whatever. You basically go through 17 different stations, from showers to saunas, steambaths, pools with different temperatures, and at the end, you get wrapped up in a big blanket cocoon and rest. After that, we were so relaxed, but couldn't miss another night of Black Forest cuisine. I had a Black Forest trout, and David had ribs. Dessert was, alas, not a Black Forest Cake (the restaurant we went to didn't have it!) but a Black Forest parfait. Yummm.... Next stop - the Rhine River Valley...

Portugale!

What a trip! Five days in Portugal - sunny, warm, and relaxed - with a great friend, what more could you ask for? Portugal even won a Euro 2008 match while we were there - it was full of energy for the games, and you could hear "Portugale!" shouted everywhere that night! Our friend Molly and I went to Cascais at the beginning of June to find some much-needed downtime on the beach. Cascais a resort town west of Lisbon. So we flew into Lisbon and took a train out to the town. The whole trip was amazing. We saw so much and yet it all felt so relaxed at the same time. Most of the time was spent checking out the various beaches in the area, but we also made our way into local towns and of course found some great food each night! I’ll give you a rundown of our trip, but beware – there are lots of photos! I just couldn’t decide which ones to show you!!! Here’s the town of Cascais, with all the boats into port. The first full day, after spending the afternoon on a Cascais beach, we took a walk to Boca do Inferno (The Mouth of Hell), which is right along the coast. We saw a lighthouse along the way, but the highlight was definitely the Boca. That night we went into Lisbon for a late night of Fado. Fado is a style of music in Portugal that involves basically guitar and a woman singing with a deep, passionate and mournful voice. We loved it, but it doesn’t start until very late (about 10:30) – so we were out until the last train went back to Cascais – at 1:30am!

The next day we wanted to try out another beach just because there are so many in the area. All along the coast between Cascais and Lisbon are beaches, and even further west of Cascais are more. We heard that Tamariz, a beach in Estoril just east of Cascais was really good, so we headed there next. There were straw umbrellas to rent there, and being the pasty girls that we are (okay, mostly me) we took advantage of that! This was probably the most “Caribbean”-feeling beach we went to. The next day we took a break from the beach and went to a town called Sintra, north of Cascais and set in from the coast. The main draws here are the Castle of the Moors and the Pena Palace. Pena is compared to Neueschwanstein in Bavaria (where we’re going next week) but Pena was built several decades before – I’ll have to let you know how it compares. Tiles are a main decoration in Portugal, and you can see them on buildings, as murals, as signs – everywhere. Since we went to see Fado in Lisbon already, I especially liked this set of tiles. The 4km walk up the hill from the center of Sintra to the Palace was beautiful. We could see the Castle of the Moors several times peaking out from the trees. And when we got to the Palace, it was like a fairy tale. All the colors were so different from anything you would imagine a palace to be! Then we walked around the grounds, which included a hilltop with a great view towards the Palace, the Queen’s Fern Valley, the Fountain of Small Birds (a Fonte!), and a few Duck Houses in the ponds throughout the grounds. You could almost imagine the royalty walking through the gardens enjoying everything.

We decided to try yet another beach the next day, and we had actually been trying to rent bikes to go to this beach since the first day! Guincho Beach is apparently one of the premier windsurfing beaches in the world, and there are lots of competitions there. We wanted to see it because it is supposed to be more secluded, rocky and scenic - and it definitely was! Not to mention the free bikes we could rent to get there! We loved it! The only downside – we thought it was a lot closer than the 8km it ended up being to get there! Oh well!

That evening, Molly was ready for a quiet evening, but I really wanted to see downtown Lisbon - so I went and explored some of the sights on my own. The last shot is of a famous café that serves “bica” which is an espresso-like drink, except thicker and stronger. Yum! By the way, Portuguese pastry….mmmm….Along with the food theme, we couldn’t leave Portugal without trying sardines! On our last night, we shared them grilled. My parents (especially my dad) are probably fainting to think that I might have eaten these. But I have the proof! I took an “after” picture as well, but I’ll spare you that one…Our last day happened to also be Portugal Day. This meant the beaches were ridiculously crowded because everyone had the day off. But we had fun soaking up our last rays in the sun anyway. Leaving was definitely very hard. I miss it already!