During the last week of July, we had the pleasure of having Daniel's sister, Emily, and her husband, Tim, here for a visit. Shortly after they arrived on Saturday, July 25th, we were on our way to check out the town of Rudesheim, located on the Rhine River about an hour away from Frankfurt. Once we there, we headed straight to the ferry pier... there are several castles and ruins along the banks of the Rhine, and we thought a great way to see them would be a boat ride up the river. Soon the ferry pulled away from the pier, and Rudesheim started to fade into the distance. Across the river is the town of Bingen, while just up the river from Rudesheim is the Niederwald Monument surrounded by lush vineyards, as the area is renown for its wine. We were hoping to check out the view from around the monument but didn't make it up there... hopefully next time.
A bit down the river is the Mauseterm, which was once used as a toll station. On the opposite river bank are the Ehrenfels ruins, which we got a good look at as we rounded the river bend.
Another cute town on the river is Assmannshausen, and not far away is the Castle Rheinstein. As we approached the pier near Castle Rheinstein, we could see another castle, Castle Reichenstein further down the river... we didn't get a chance to check it out, but we did take a tour of Castle Rheinstein.
As you can see, Castle Rheinstein has that "classic castle look" with its turreted towers. It also has a great panoramic view of the Rhine, and the four of us definitely enjoyed taking it all in.
As we continued to tour the castle, we investigated the interior for a little while... check out all those antlers! Once we were back outside, we found a shaded little courtyard and stairs leading to one of the towers, so we decided to go up. It provided a cool vantage point to check out the castle terrace below and a neat photo opp too.
After we finished exploring the castle, we decided to follow a trail behind it to see where it led... and it provided another great vantage point of the castle! In order to catch the boat back to Rudesheim, we then had return to the pier, but we all really enjoyed our time at Castle Rheinstein.
Before long, we were back in Rudesheim, ready to check it out. We headed toward a street called the Drosselgasse, which was really quite crowded. This was not that surprising because it's well-known for its wine bars, but it also has lots of tourist shops too. After stopping in some shops and making our way through the Drosselgasse, we continued to wander, enjoying the quieter side streets and the rest of the quaint little town. Soon it was early evening and time to head back to Frankfurt.
Overall, I think all four of us enjoyed our day trip to Rudesheim and the Rhine River, which really just served as an introduction to Europe for Emily and Tim. Not two days later, we were all on our way to Paris... Daniel was going to be there for work, and I tagged along as well to show Tim and Emily around the "City of Lights." Of course, Paris was fabulous... but you will have to check back soon for my post on that trip. And as always, thanks for reading!
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