Weekend Fun, Summertime

View of the Maas from the John F. Kennedy Bridge

Four more days until I'm officially on summer holiday! It's one of the greatest perks of being a teacher. :) I can't wait. In the meantime, we're getting into summer mode here in Maastricht. We've had some nice weather here the past few days. ("Nice" weather by Dutch standards, i.e. I don't have to wear a coat to work). I still have to get used to not having warm summers and weeks on end of sunshine. On the other hand, New York is practically a tropical climate these days. I can't say that I miss riding the subway in 100 degree heat. Ick.

We had possibly the most relaxing weekend we have had in a long time. Dinners on the balcony, a party with my colleagues, and drinks with friends at a terras. 

Friday evening was a quiet evening at home with dinner on the balcony, games, and good wine. Jaap and I have decided to break into our stash of German wines that we brought back with us from our vacation along the Mosel & Rhine. (See here). I've been saving the bottles for special occasions, but really...isn't the start of summer a good enough reason? It was the perfect way to end our week.

Delicious Riesling from the Mosel region

And the fun is just beginning. Jaap's birthday is this Wednesday, book club on Thursday, last day of school on Friday followed by our joint birthday celebration with friends at night, Saturday with the Jansens, North Sea Jazz on Sunday, and then my birthday on Monday. Whew! Quite a week, but all fun things. Shortly after that we'll leave for our vacation to Croatia followed by a visit from some of my Boston friends. YES for summer!!!

Fish tacos on the balcony. LEKKER!!!

Our little herb garden

Our Mosel & Rhine Vacation: Bacharach

Here is beautiful Bacharach! A small town surrounded by vineyards, castles, and  spectacular views of the Rhine river. Our last day exploring this area of Germany was spent with a day trip down part of the Rhine. Of course, this came under the recommendation of Rick Steves. Thanks Rick! (We're a first name basis now).

Bacharach was about 1.5 hours from where we stayed in Ernst on the Mosel. The drive alone was made it well worth the trip. Below is a picture of some of the stunning views we had traveling through the mountains from the Mosel to the Rhine river. 

It was a quiet day of hiking and sightseeing. The city center is a picturesque German town. Very similar to the village of Beilstein, just slightly bigger. Cute little market square (pictured with the Altes Haus below), castle up on a hilltop, and acres of white grape vineyards. 

Altes Haus: Medieval timber-framed house built in 1368

This is only a small portion of the all the surrounding rows of grapes

Ruins of Werner Chapel: 13th-14th century Gothic church

The Werner chapel is a famous church in ruin. There's a sad story of a legend that goes with this chapel. I'll spare you the horrific details, but something along the lines of a young boy named Werner being murdered and the town Jews being blamed for it, ending with the Vatican refusing to make the boy a saint. It's a feel good story. Despite the gruesome tale, the ruin itself is an interesting structure. 

Stahleck castle  turned into a youth hostel

Views at Stahleck

We took the town walk along the former city wall. The city used to have 16 towers surrounding the wall. We passed a few of the remaining ones along our hike. We were very lucky to have sunny and somewhat warm weather for our hike. 

Checking out the grapes

Great views of the ruined chapel

After a nice and hearty German lunch we got back in the car and drove up the Rhine. We passed about half a dozen castles along the way. We couldn't get the camera out fast enough to capture them all. It's truly a unique place. You just can't experience moments like this in North America.

Gutenfels castle

Pfalz castle in the middle on the river

Rheinfels caslte is one of the places Rick Steves recommended. We stopped to use their restroom at the 4 star hotel and then got back in the car. We'll have to save it for another trip!

Rheinfels

That's Katz castle in the middle of that mountain

We wanted to end our last night of our mini-vacation back in Beilstein. It was the perfect ending to a great trip. We did a short hike up to Beilstein castle (now in ruins) and watched the sun start to set. 

And why not do one more wine tasting? Don't worry. We didn't drink all of this, but we tried!

After searching the town for some dinner, we decided to stop here. Mostly because nothing else was open, but it was a good choice. A quaint little hotel with a restaurant and cozy atmosphere. Het was gezellig! I had to pinch myself because I was expecting Hansel & Gretel to walk out from around the bar. The place was so cute, I felt like we in a fairy tale.

Our little Mosel & Rhine vacation has to be one of the most relaxing and refreshing vacations I have ever had. I'm glad we decided to stay along the Mosel river because it was so quiet, less traveled, and serene. I felt rejuvenated and relaxed before our trip home. Til next time Germany. Auf wiedersehen!

A brief hike in the fog through Ernst

Lunch in Cochem, i.e. a Berliner, apfel struedel & heiße Schokolade

Our Mosel & Rhine Vacation: Mayen & Beilstein

Hiking in Beilstein

The town of Mayen

The second day of our German holiday was spent exploring parts of the Mosel and some neighboring villages and towns. We got some travel advice from our lovely hotel owners at Haus Schwarzenberg. 

A quick note about our hotel. I highly recommend staying here if anybody is ever traveling in this area. It's in a small town called Ernst, only 3 kilometers from touristy Cochem. (I would completely skip seeing Cochem altogether). The hotel owners are a young couple who were very friendly and helped us plan our second day around the area. They gave us ideas of things to do and places to see. And their breakfast was very delicious. :)

So, under the recommendation of our hotel we drove to the town of Mayen to walk around town and visit the Eifelmuseum. It's a museum that exhibits the history, culture, geography, and folklore of the Eifel region of Germany. 

Below is a picture of us touring the mining section of the museum, which describes the mining and slate industry of the Eifel area. How many of you know exactly how slate roofs are made...well, we do! LOL. 

Isn't Jaap cute in this hard hat? We had to wear them to tour this portion of the museum.

The best thing about the museum were rooftop views of Mayen.

Afterwards we drove to a nearby castle, Schloss Bürresheim. It was pretty desolate and we didn't see any visitors, but it was still open. We decided to just take some pictures and continue on to another town. 

Inside the courtyard of Schloss Bürresheim

 

Our hosts at the hotel also recommended seeing Monreal. It's a small town near Mayen and not far from Mayen. We took pictures of the castle in ruins and did a quick stroll.

I wanted to end the day at Beilstein, which was very close to where we were staying and only about 10 kilometers from Cochem.

Driving past Cochem Castle

Beilstein is a very quaint village on the Mosel that's only a few kilometers away from Cochem. There's pretty much nothing there except wine cellars, hotels, a church, and a castle in ruins. It's very charming. We didn't just end up there by accident.  I gotta give some credit to Rick Steve's for another great travel suggestion. 

View of another village across the Mosel

Beilstein has to be one of the 'cutest' places I have ever seen. Tiny streets, small restaurants and hotels, a castle in ruins, and lots of place to taste delicious wine. Lekker!

I kept saying to Jaap, "It's so cute, it looks fake. I feel like we're in Disneyworld." I guess in my mind this is what a very typical German town looks like.

One of the things we were looking forward to the most on the Mosel was the white wine. This region is favorite for Riesling and we found the perfect place to do a tasting. A very old wine cellar lit by candles that was almost completely empty. A nice relaxing and quiet time for Jaap and I to enjoy each other's company and sample a delicious variety of wines.

Everything we tasted was delicious, so we had to make a few purchases. This was my souvenir for the trip. It was the perfect ending to our day of sightseeing! 

Loving life at this moment

View of vines in Beilstein