Day 3 - From Frantfurt to Koblenz and Bingen and a Rhine River Cruise!

I thought I might get a bit of housekeeping out of the way before I tell you of our journey today.  Here are a few facts you might be interested in:

• the sun rises at 5.53 am and sets at 9.08 pm (Mr. Google gave me these precise times!)
• we are 8 hours behind Australia east coast.  So when it's 9am here in Germany it's 5pm back home.  As we are getting up you are just coming home from work.
• in motels the beds are singles pushed together and each bed has it's own doona.  So no more fighting over the doona.
• still trying to work out if toilets flush in the other direction in the northern hemisphere.
• beer is served at 8 degrees as opposed to icy back home.
• this driving on the righthand side of the road caper might take a bit for me to get used to - and I'm the passenger.
• and 1 euro is $1.50 AU.

Ok, that's enough of the serious stuff.  Today has been Wunderbar (wonderful) in every way possible.  We picked up our car - a 4 door Leon Seat (pronounced See-at) and headed off to Koblenz which took about 1.5 hours going through beautiful countryside and the Autobahn (freeway). 

Tony had 2 GPS's going at once - to be sure, to be sure.  But the one that came with the car, nicknamed Helga, was fighting with Tonys GPS, nicknamed Herman.  Helga was telling us to go one way and Herman was telling us to go another way.  In the end we found Herman was so much better and used the Autobahn a lot more.  Helga would often take us the scenic route which took a lot longer.  I suppose I just wanted us to go on the Autobahn so we could go fast.

Our plan for today was to get to Koblenz and then take the train down to Bingen to get on the River Cruise to take us back to Koblenz.  The cruise would take 4 hours of amazing countryside  and beautiful old castles on the hills.  

We went to the Bahnhof (railway station) to organise the trips and we had to make an on the spot decision of which train to book down to Bingen to sync with the cruise back to Koblenz and as we are going up to Cologne tomorrow we booked that train trip too. Now......for people that know Tony everything he does is done very meticulously and even with the aid of a spreadsheet or two.  He does not go into anything lightly and will only decide after much thought and debate.  But as we had to make the decision quickly and with a lot of people lined up behind us he was under pressure - under the pump to make a decision.  

Now, I'm not saying Tony makes the decisions in our household.......oh no, no, no......it's just he takes longer.....much, much longer.  Me, I like to make a decision fairly quickly - the fewer the options the better.  Tony was so proud of himself that he had made a quick decision without the aid of a spreadsheet or two and, to his surprise, it actually turned out perfectly.  Also, we decided to stay 2 nights in Koblenz which meant we had to book into a hotel......which hadn't been done before we left Oz. We went to the first hotel,  just across from the Bahnof and had a look at the room and booked it.  AMAZING feat for Tony to organise things on the fly!

So off we went on a fast train, very efficient, and arrived in Bingen in about 45 minutes.  Got on the river cruise at 4.30 and sailed up the Rhine back to Koblenz at 8.30.

Now throughout this journey today I found it hard to describe the beauty, fascination and amazing countryside.  I was lost for adjectives to describe it all.  I thought WOW, AMAZING, AWESOME, FANTASTIC but all these words just didn't do it justice.  It wasn't until we got back Koblenz that one word came to mind and it was WUNDERSCHOEN! (pronounced vunder-shern) (meaning amazing, beautiful, filled with wonder).  For such beautiful German countryside it needed a beautiful German word. The photos just don't do it justice.  It's one of those things that you just have to be there.

Waiting in Bingen for our boat to arrive.  How decadant!

Our boat for the cruise - The Goethe

This is our Captain - a bit of a dodgy looking fellow!

We had the best seat inside the boat.  It was reserved for other people but they didn't show up.

Of course we needed to eat......it was a 4 hour trip.  Beef Goulash!

Tomorrow, we are off to Koeln (Cologne) for another day of discovery.

Geniess den Tag!  Bis Morgen!  (Mr. Google might need to help you with this one!)

Day 2 - Exploring Frankfurt!

It's amazing what a good night sleep will do.  We are ready to hit the town of Frankfurt!

Tony is very fluent in German and he's been so patient explaining German words to me and also being the translator.  But I'm finding that I'm understanding more of the German language when Tony speaks to a shop assistant etc.  Like today when we went to the shopping mall looking for a watch for me.  We found the watch I wanted.....12 euros/$18 AU - Tony was so excited with the bargain, his eyes just sparkled.   The sales lady was so lovely and helpful and I found that I could work out what she and Tony were saying.

It was a great morning of shopping as it was SALE time.....did I mention Tony loves shopping just as much as I do?  I'm a lucky girl!!

The shopping mall is amazing and the architecture of one of the  buildings defies understanding.  

Amazing architecture

The inside of the shops

amazing sculptures

Very lovely sales lady who I bought my watch from.

With our shopping done we went to the Keinmarkthalle - fruit, veg, cheese, meat market and the freshness of the produce was just amazing.  Tomatoes perfectly red and round and the strawberries.....amazing!  I know I keep saying amazing - but it truly is!

The Keinmarkthalle - the fruit and veg stalls are just amazing and so colourful

Our next stop was to have some lunch and as we are in Germany we decided to have some real German food.  Very fatty and full of flavour ... I have to say it was delicious.  Gebratener Fleischkase mit Wirsinggemuse und Salzkartoffeln - Fried meat cheese with savoy cabbage and boiled potatoes.

Stop for lunch and a great German cafe.

Gebratener Fleischkase mit Wirsinggemuse und Salzkartoffeln - Fried meat cheese with savoy cabbage and boiled potatoes.  I think the German version just sounds so much better.

After lunch we were in search of the old part of Frankfurt - Romerberg.  And on the way, of course I had to find a fabric shop haha!.  The fabrics were stunning and all from Europe - none from Asia.  Did I buy any fabric? ..... not this time.  I'm waiting to go to Bangkok at the end of the trip to pick up some fabric.  mmmm! I'll be in heaven!

Of course I found a fabric shop.

We found ourselves at the river in Frankfurt - the river Main.  Beautiful to say the least!

Now onto Romerberg, which was a 5 minute walk from the river and - what can I say.  The buildings are beautiful and of course old and this part of Frankfurt is a great tourist area.

Romerberg the old part of Frankfurt.

We saw a lot of these funny bikes in the mall in the morning and they reminded me of the Tuk Tuks in Bangkok.  A guy sits in the front and peddles you to where you want to go.  Ingenious ..... but we wanted to walk! 

local entertainment

beautiful art on buildings

This old building reminds me of the Rupunzel story

We met up with a good friend of Tonys for dinner.  Sabine and her two boys, Karl and Thomas.  They used to lived in Brisbane many years ago but have since moved back to Germany four years ago.

That's it for today I'm off to bed.  We have a big day tomorrow getting our hire car and heading to Koblens which is about an hour north of Frankfurt.  As Tony tends to burn the midnight oil this great eye mask has come in handy.

Gute Nacht!  (haha! you'll be able to understand German too by the end of this blog!)

Where is Bennigsen......I hear you say???

Well I'm so glad you asked!

Bennigsen is the whole reason we are on our holiday in Germany....you see Tony's (my hubby) daughter is getting married on the 9th August at St. Martins Church.  And we just had to come over and make a complete holiday of it.

I'll write more about Bennigsen when we arrive there but just quickly....Bennigsen is a small village just south of Hanover (about 18kms) in Germany.  I've heard the villages in Germany are just beautiful and picturesque.  And also to have a wedding there will just be spectacular.

St. Martins Church, Bennigsen

I have to say, with what happened with Malaysian Airlines recently, needless to say I was a tad nervous about our flights.  But to remedy that I had a few little scotches and a glass of red and it settled me down just nicely.  From Brisbane to Bangkok we flew Thai on the 777 and we had 3 seats for the 2 of us and from Bangkok to Frankfurt we few Thai on the Airbus A380.  Very nice plane and a lot quieter.  Again we had 3 seats for the 2 of us so I could spread out nicely.  You see Tony can sleep anywhere, whereas I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to sleeping upright lol!  We noticed on the tv screen that we flew to the north of Ukraine - completely away from the war zone!  Phew!  I was very happy with that.

My inflight remedy for nervous flying!

Of course Tony is a very chilled out traveller!

At first when we arrived and feeling very tired I didn't like Frankfurt much.....very dirty and all the buildings are old and grey.  Tony said that is pretty much how a lot of European cities are.....grey and old.  But as we got out and about in the city area it really started to remind me of Paris and Florence and the old feelings of Europe came back again.......in complete awe of the history.

But first today is JETLAG day and just trying to make it through the day before we crash tonight.  Tony read on the plane that if you are travelling from East to West when you arrive you go for a brisk walk but is you are travelling from West to East you stay out of the sun for a day.....hmmm!  So, we went for a brisk walk around Frankfurt and discovered a few sights.

Grey day in Frankfurt

Of course we had to check out where my son, Craig, and his mates stayed when they first arrived in Germany last year on there 1 year travel playing music through Germany.  The hostel is very nice, Craig......mum approves lol!  But the area.....the Red Light district.....hmmm! interesting to say the least.

5 Elements where Craig stayed with his mates last year.

We found a nice place to eat call David and Deans.....very busy.  Thought it must be good .... and it was!

So just to finish off the first day in Germany......I had 2 scotches Tony had 2 big German beers - something light for dinner - another brisk walk.  Tony did his admin work....setting things up for our trip.  I put on my eye mask, popped a sleeping tablet and the day was finished.

Tomorrow we discover more of Frankfurt.....and more pictures to follow.

Bis Dann!  (till then.....haha I'm getting good with the lingo!)