Day 22: (cont.) Arrive in Wiesbaden

It was a three hour train ride from Munich to Wiesbaden with the rents. A great time to fill up the journal, relax, read and enjoy the scenery. From there we took another 45 minute train into town. Andrew and Nicole were waiting for us at the station. They brought us to the Wiesbaden festival. It was larger than the 4th of July celebrations in Orlando.  The Germans know how to party. My parents stayed in a hotel and we stayed with Andrew, Nicole and the kids.

Day 23: Wake up and Weisbaden

We woke up early to catch a train to Rotenburg, it was supposed to only take 3 hour to get there. Unfortunately it was not a good day for German rail. Delays and construction make our journey a stressful nightmare and 4 and a half hours each way. We even had to switch to bus at one point. I would have turned around and gone back but thanks to our superhero Jason, who saved the day, we arrived and explored Rotenburg to our hearts content. It's a midevil town that is still enclosed by a wall and can be covered in a few hours. We stopped and ate a quick lunch to not waste our valuable Rotenburg time.

Jason was nice enough to give us a tour of the town thanks to the help of our Rick Steves' book. My Dad kindly video taped the tour but apparently we were a horrible group who can't listen or stay inline. We had a good time taking his tour and ended the tour at Covent Gardens. There were great views into the valley from here. After we went to the torture museum which was pretty interesting. It was amazing to see how cruel the world once was.

We ended up eating on the train because we got back so late.  Bye, Bye Rotenburg.

Day 24: Wake up in Wiesbaden

We left the house at around 10am to pick up my parents. We headed to the Rhine River Valley.  We drove about 30 minutes or so to a town on the Rhine called Bacharat where we decided to start river cruise. It was about a 40 minute ride and we got off in St. Goar. According to Rick Steves' this was the best part of the river to cruise.

After that we opted for taking the choo-choo train up to the top of the hill to tour a huge castle back from the Middle Ages. There was a lot to see. Audrey loved the train ride as you can tell. 

Nicole was our tour guide once inside the castle. We spent about 3 hours inside the castle grounds. Once we were done we had a drink in the restaurant. 

My Dad ordered a light beer and got a non-alcoholic beer instead. Needless to say we asked Audrey if she would like to try it and down the hatch it went. She wasn't a fan, neither was my Dad. Once we got back into town we shopped a little while waiting for the boat to come. Jay found a great little wine shop that made their own wine and brandy. We ended up getting a bottle to bring home as it was out last day in Europe.

For our last supper in Germany and of our trip we had to indulge in some authentic German food and beer. Nicole and Andrew took us to one of their favorite German restaurants. It was also a brewery and you could order beer to come in many different ways. We choose the 3 liter tube keg. The food was great and so was the beer. A great meal to end on. We dropped my parents at the train station as they were heading back to Scotland. We went back to Andrew and Nicole's. We were packed and in bed early for a 6:15 am wake up call to catch our flight home. It was great to stay with them and play and chat with the kids. Audrey and Caleb are so cute!

Day 25: Wake up in Weisbaden

Sadly we must go back home. Andrew was kind enough to drive us to the Frankfurt airport for our early morning direct flight back to Orlando on Condor. We arrived around 3pm exhausted but grateful for the journey we experienced.

page 10 of 12

This is one page in a 12 page series of our Europe 2007 trip. Links to other pages:

London - Paris - Beaune - Swiss Alps - Austria - Venice - Tuscany - Rome - Munich - Weisbaden

Group Pictures - Favorites & Thoughts

Related Links:

Europe Trip Page - Our Family Site