The bus dropped us off at the Anne Frank House and Mia, Jessica, and I spent about an hour in the museum. Afterward Jessica, Matt (South Africa), Derreck (South Africa), and I walked around the city. Since it was the queen's birthday and everyone was on holiday, they were all out in the streets and dressed in bright orange. We walked around the city, Dam Square, the Red Light District (which, I learned, has girls in the windows even as early as 11:00 A.M.). then we stopped for a coffee and some water before heading back to the bus at 12:00 P.M. Next stop: St. Goar, Germany.
Once in St. Goar we went to a short informational session the history of beer steins. I bought a sand cast beer stein with the Hofbrauhaus emblem on the front for Jon. Then we went for a pork dinner and then drove up a steep, windy hill to our hotel. The drive up was beautiful - as was the drive into St. Goar - along the river with various castles and vineyards along the sides of very steep hills. But the drive to the hotel was first through the forest, but then opened up into green pastures with yellow flowers.
At 8:00 P.M. I went wine tasting at a small winery just a short walk from our hotel. The wine cellar was extremely cold and we could see our breaths when we spoke. We sampled 5 wines - one red, a rose, Riesling, Ortega, and the Eiswein. I was most especially impressed with the Riesling and the Eiswein. We learned that the Eiswein (ice-wine) is made by leaving grapes on the vine and then only harvesting them in temperatures of -7 degrees Celsius and before 5:00 A.M. It was amazingly sweet, almost tasting like syrup.
Then back to the hotel, I was rooming with Aya again in a double-share. Went to bed early tonight as there was really nothing else to do in this time town on a hill - and as I am exhausted.
No comments:
Post a Comment