Burg Rheinfels

After completing our Rhine River cruise, we drove to Rheinfels Castle up above St. Goar. Rheinfels is the one of the largest castles on the Rhine River. It was once much larger than it is today, but was destroyed in 1797 by the French Revolutionary army. Rheinfels Castle is still the largest ruined castle we've explored. It is so large that we weren't able to go through all of it in the approximately two or three hours we spent there. There is a labarynth of mine tunnels that can only be explored by flashlight since they are completely dark. These tunnels are so small that only someone Jack's size would be able to stand straight up. Jaxon and I tried exploring the tunnels for a little while but got tired of crouching over before too long. I think Rheinfels was probably our favorite castle experience in Germany because we didn't have to worry about keeping the kids quiet and restrained like we did at the well-preserved and museum-like Burg Eltz and Burg Neuschwanstein. There was also a lot to see and do at Rheinfels. Here's a good profile view of the castle from another blog:

(L) Us exploring the castle ruins (R) A dark hallway on the northwest side of the castle. If you look closely on the left side of this photo, just beyond where Jack is running, you'll see Jaxon climbing up out of a stairway. The labyrinth of mine tunnels began there and ran underneath a significant portion of the castle.

(Above) The German flag was posted at the top of one of the castle's remaining towers.

(Above) Some great views from one of the look-out points on the castle. On the left is a valley that ran perpendicular from the Rhine River. On the right is the Rhine River and St. Goar.

Rhine River Cruise

On one of the days Harmony's family was here, we decided to take a cruise up the Rhine River. Although Harmony, the boys, and I have driven up along the Rhine River several times over the past few years with other guests, this is the first time we took a cruise. And it was much better -- much easier to focus on the scenery as we slowly moved along the river. It's too bad we didn't do the cruise before. We hopped a round-trip ferry from Bacharach to Saint Goar, which was about about an hour each way, through some of the most beautiful segments of the Rhine River. The route offered vineyards on steep hillsides, castles around every corner, and many quaint old German towns. These photos do not do the scenery justice. We took the cruise during the first week of April, when the trees and other plants were just beginning to bloom. Because it was so early in the season, the cruise ship was practically empty and we had the entire upper deck to ourselves.

(L) Us at Bacharach, waiting for the boat to arrive (R) Us at Saint Goar, killing some time before we had to catch the boat back to Bacharach

(Above) Jack and Lucas had a great time running around the empty upper deck.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

One of the first places we went with Harmony's family was Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the best preserved, walled medieval town in all of Germany. We visited Rothenburg in May 2009 with some of our friends, but it was good to go back.

(Above) We walked above the city along the outer walls for quite a distance. It was challenging at times navigating our double stroller up there. There were two or three times where we had to collapse the stroller to fit it through a narrow doorway.

(L) Walking around the city (R) A view of the wall from one of the towers

(Above) Just outside the walls of the old town

(L) The main square of Rothenburg. The building in the center housed a large, old clock that functioned similar to cuckoo clock -- figures of two beer-drinking men appeared at the top of each hour in the two small windows by the clock on the building. (R) Rothenburg schneeballen - a pastry that is local to this town - are made out of pie crusts and gooey sweet stuff.

(L) Harmony and her mother in the main square (R) a snapshot at Rothenburg's most famous intersection

(Above) The above three shots were taken in the castle garden part of Rothenburg.

(Above) I think we took these shots inside St. Jakobs. The impressive stained glass windows were several centuries old.

(Above) A view of Rothenburg from the outside

We stayed at Gasthof Schwarzer Adler just outside of Rothenburg and had an authentic German hotel experience. The accommodations were great and the price was even better -- the lowest we've paid for a motel in Europe (I think our room was 45 euros). The guest house was located in a quiet, small farm town. From the Web site, you wouldn't know that the rooms were recently renovated and spacious (for European standards). We also had an excellent German dinner (schnitzel and chicken cordon blue) for the lowest prices I've ever seen in Europe. There was a playground nearby, which was fantastic for the boys who spent much of the day in a stroller.

(Above) Walking to the playground

(Above) It's too bad there aren't see-saws in the States anymore!