Clueso "Mitnehm"

This guy reminds me of Duncan Sheik with a bit of Coldplay thrown in - kind of moody and brooding, just what I like. He's from Erfurt, Germany and has been in the Bundesvision Song Contest a couple of times [came in 2nd last time].

His CD "So Sehr Dabei" was #9 when I picked it up. It's a great summer chill-out CD. Looking forward to ripping this one a ton.

Beer, Flags, and the Rhine

The Rhine is certainly evocative, but it's meandering boats and laid-back attitude is great for clearing the head and body of jet lag...
...well, that at beer at 11:00 am. Yes, I should have been drinking wine, but damn, these pils were good!
As for the evocative part, nothing so unapologetic as a German flag snapping in the wind can stir the pride in this German-American kid.

Pension Lettie

I'm a firm believer in all things Rick Steves - following his guide book for this and other trips - but I always wondered if he really had any connection with the places he recommended. To my pleasant surprise, at Pension Lettie in Bacharach, she proudly displayed Rick's 2007 Christmas card. Cool!
As for the pension, it was fantastic. We'd stayed here 2 years ago and loved it. For just 45 Euro a night, we got this terrific room and breakfast.
Each morning we would have breakfast and chat with other Rick fans since the whole place was taken over by them (all 6 of Lettie's rooms). This is actually a good thing - to talk to others who are enthusiastic about travel and want to meet new people. We met most folks from the US, but a couple from Canada and from Germany too.

Now if I could bottle Lettie's energy, even with her A-G-E!

Train Travel

Train travel in Germany is everything you hear - efficient, on time, easy to use.
But I was taken by how much graffiti is on the trains and in general all over the country. For a people who are known for cleanliness [nothing cleaner than a German hospital], it really was jarring.
Efficient, no matter what time zone you're on.

José Ángel

I take a little break for a bit of Mr. Bearmex 2008 cleansing.

Need to pander to my whole audience...Works for me...

White Asparagus

Holy crap, this tasted good!

Dinner in Bacharach at the Hotel Kranenturm was delicious. We'd eaten here 2 years prior and found the food to be fresh, local, and prepared with great care.

We were lucky enough to be in Germany for White Asparagus season. (Who knew?) It's a season when the Germans go MAD over the veg and can't get enough. Whole festivals revolve around this. The perfectionists will tell you how to cook it, prepare it, and the DATES when to eat it.


The above was my meal of pork medallions, potatoes, and white asparagus [of course]. It's prepared simply with brown butter and bread crumbs [not sure what that green sprinkle was]. Just the way Mom makes it...

Oh and yes, there was liquor at the meal. I can't be 100% sure, but I think the white wine on the left was mine. I knew I was to drink lots of beer in the days to come but the Rhine was the place to have wine.

Ah hell. Any one of those glasses could have been mine. You know that!

Rüdesheim

Ah yes, the beauty of wine country surrounding the Rhine.

I had read so much before the trip advising to avoid Rüdesheim. It was too crowded, too many tourists, and just not worth the time - is what I read. But my memories as a kid touring here with my family made me want to come back to see it as an adult. And DAMN! It's beautiful. Yes, it's over-run with day-trippers like us, but the 3 hours the K-D boat line afforded us here was just right.
We road the Seilbahn to the top of the hill - how perfect.

We thought of buying lunch for a picnic to save on money. This would be a theme for our trip. Lunch would usually consist of a sandwich and some sort of pastry. Stupidly, I took a picture of the food IN the bag and not OUT.
And let's not forget the wine. We stopped in a wine shop and the woman had a huge bounty to chose from. When I asked for something chilled, she gave me this. Only when we reached the top of the hill did I realize, THE BOTTLE WAS OPENED AND SOME WINE HAD BEEN CONSUMED. Yep, they sold us an open bottle, for fuck sake. Delicious, none-the-less....