Deutschland: Rhine Valley & Frankfurt

This past weekend was a typical "bridge" weekend here in France.  There was a holiday Thursday, so most everyone took Friday off to "bridge" to a long weekend.  We followed suit and headed to Germany.

Here's a few things we learned on our trip:
*If you buy a first class train ticket, this probably means you get a free meal.  DON'T buy a sandwich to eat on the train (we had 2 dinners on the way there, haha!)
*German culture is quite different than French culture.  We think we've discovered where Americans get their loudness from.
*The Rhine Valley is CHEAP.  Perhaps this was influenced from our recent return from Switzerland, but I also stocked up on some grocery store things here for way less.  We also bought our German beer stein here!
*Frankfurt is pretty cool, but don't stay in Sachsenhausen if you want to get a good night's sleep.  If you want to party till 6am, then this is the place for you!
*I've forgotten literally all my German from high school...I have to use my fingers to figure out the word for 3.  Good thing Nick still remembers most of his!
*Rick Steves is not a know all...directions are not his forte.  Also, I'm not sure how people functioned in the days before wifi and gps when traveling.

Bacharach & Rhine Valley

After arriving into Frankfurt and navigating through the most confusing airport, possibly in the world, we got our rental car and arrived at our destination of Bacharach pretty late.

Thursday we woke up and wandered around the town for a while, which is super cute!  Bacharach, and the whole Rhine Valley, was a medieval city with walls around it and a castle.  The valley is lined with castles from this time period.
Our hotel, which was super adorable, affordable, and included an amazing breakfast!
We spent the rest of the day biking to and from the city of St. Goar (also along the river).  A total bike ride of 27km (16.5 mi), not too shabby for non-bikers.  We broke it up by touring the Rhinefels Castle in St. Goar and wandering around the town.  This castle was mostly ruins, but it also included some mine tunnels which were pitch black.  Nick was a fan; I was not.
On Friday, we drove over to the Mosel Valley, which is also known for its biking and wine.  We toured the Burg Eltz castle, which included a fun little 45 minute hike each way to get to.  It was a pretty impressive castle, completely furnished, but of course no pictures were allowed inside.  We ended in Cochem along the Mosel, where we ate some yummy pastries before heading back to Bacharach.  Choosing Bacharach instead of Cochem as a home base was a great choice for us because it was way less touristy!
Our nights in Bacharach were pretty relaxing.  We had some local beers and local wines, enjoyed the pretty views, and ate at some restaurants.  Our favorite restaurant, believe it or not, was a little Italian place.  They had some of the best pizzas we've had in a long time!!
Apparently, some Italians must have flocked to this town because there was also a delcious Italian gelateria, and they made Reisling flavored gelato since the valley is known for their Riesling!  So good, that we stopped at 11am to get some more on our way out of town on Saturday!

Frankfurt

Saturday we met our friends from the US in Frankfurt, who had been at a wedding in nearby Germany earlier in the week.  When we arrived at the train station, there was a fair going on to celebrate the station's 125 year anniversary.  This meant free stuff--reusable bags, popcorn, pens, and more!  If you know me, you know I was pretty excited!  I also had to spin the wheel, and I won a night light! haha!


We stayed in the Sachsenhausen area, which was super cute--filled with cobblestone streets and tons of local restaurants and pubs.  We had a fun night trying out some of the local beers and apfelwine, and there was also a festival going on.  But, wanting to go to bed at 12:45 does not go so well when your hotel is located on a prime corner in this area, with no fan resulting in open windows.  It didn't quiet down until 6am, which made for a bit of a rough night of sleep!
The next morning was kind of rainy.  We saw a bit of the old city (there's not a ton to see), but mostly just hid out from the rain along the river at a cafe before catching our train back to Paris.

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip!  The Rhine Valley was awesome...relaxing and very beautiful. If you like biking, you'd probably love it, and 2 days was the perfect amount of time to spend there.

I hadn't heard such positive things about Frankfurt before visiting, but I'd say it was actually pretty cool.  It's more of a modern city, so there's not a ton to see unless you're really into museums.  But, I really liked the river area and the area were we stayed (I just wouldn't choose a hotel there!).  Not a bad place for a day or two.

Don't forget to check out the rest of our pictures here!