Rüdesheim am Rheim

Mini Vacation! Enjoy the photos and brief comments. I should have taken more pictures. We spent a lot of time at restaurants eating. Dining in Germany isn’t a quick occasion. You all told me about it, but I’m still not used to it. I forget sometimes that we need to ask for the check. At least splitting the tab is super easy. The servers add it up for each person on the spot on a pad of paper and you pay right there. Simple enough.

View from the Jugendherberge (youth hostel.)

Evangelos (Greece), Aniol (Spain), Michael Paul (Pennsylvania)

 Dinner Mob

 Between arriving and dinner, a few of us explored the vineyard.

 Faisal (Jordan), Lucas (Brasil), Eduardo (Spain)

 Mackenzie is on the left. He's from our school in San Jose, but we don't hang out with him. He hangs with the other parry people.

 The rooms were pretty nice. The lockers didn't have spots for locks, but we had keys to lock the main door.

 Sam finds a pretty sweet spot to view the edge of Hessen and over the Rhine river to Bingen am Rhein.



We had quite a group walking into town for dinner.

 I saw this in the hall by the bathroom at the restaurant. I think it's awesome even though it's just a print.

 This is a monument to a battle that took place here in the l800s. This was built in 1870, but I couldn't read the rest. Jonny, a German buddy, told us what was written in the stone and it sounded pretty graphic. It told of a battle where everyone fought until nobody could even lift a sward.

 Edu, and Guenael "g-win-aisle" (France.)

 That's Artur from Russia. He's studying some kind of engineering, but he's a funny guy and not nerdy at all.

Along the way to the monument we came across this spot. The above picture was taken standing on this concrete hut. There was also a chiller with wine in a small wooden structure where you could "buy" wine. Chris bought some and did put some money in the container. Quite the marketing scheme.

This dark tunnel was fun. It was only a hundred feet or so, but it was as dark as dark could get. The brave go without lights, but some used their phones or cameras to light the way. Sissies.

 We ended the hike a small village down river. Most everything was closed as I think this is mostly a tourist spot. There isn't much to do here in the off season, so some of use took the train back to Rüdesheim. It was 1 stop and maybe 10 minutes away.

 Aniol capturing the scene.

 Rain came in hard, and luckily we were all relatively prepared. We didn't have umbrellas, but our rain jackets kept us dry (mostly.)

I have no idea how far we walked/hiked. Whatever the distance, it was super fun, relaxing, entertaining. It felt so good to be outside among the trees. I just missed my bike. It turns out the Greeks, Christina and Evangelos, like mountain biking and are just getting into it.

 I climbed a tree. Duh.

 The sun came out for a very short time, and we fully enjoyed it while talking movies and languages by the Rhein. I had heard of most of the movies, but I had no idea who had directed them and actors names. I just listened a lot. Maybe I need to watch more movies and pay attention to who makes them. Or I can keep my pattern of not spending money on movies and putting it toward bike parts.

 I have no idea what the girls talked about. Lauren, Aina (Aniol's girlfriend, Spain), Zaskeea (? spelling, cute, studies architecture, adventurous, very kind, German h_da helper.)

 Don't trust a skinny baker. With the rain pouring down outside, we took refuge here for quite a while. The shop was very nice to let us hang until closing.

 German, Spanish, Hungarian, American. It was good conversation.

 This doesn't do it justice, but the view from the hostel was pretty sweet. The bigger light on the left hovering above the rest is a castle. I really wanted to check it out, but it was a 7k walk one way and the last ferry was at 5:45 or so which didn't give us nearly enough time to make it worth it.  I guess I'll have to come back.

Our transport: bus. A few of the h_da Buddies missed the bus on the way there so they took the train. With only 1 transfer, the train ride to Rüdesheim is pretty easy and free with our student passes.