The Rhine & Mosel

We had trouble booking a place in The Mosel & Rhine Valley and finally found room in the town of St. Goar.  The bonus of this town was that it had a riverside walk and green space for Louis to run around.  His tantrums and lack of sleep have been wearing on us so we decided we needed to slow down and just do the rest of the trip on pace for Louis.  

That meant absolutely no car for a day and skipping some of the sight seeing.  That night for dinner my mom & Tom took Louis again so Joe and I could enjoy dinner.  We ate at an Italian restaurant that was really good!  I am done with German food for the rest of the trip.  It’s good but not something I would like to eat more than once a month.  So several times in two weeks is just too much!  (Joe wanted me to add he is doing just fine on the food.)

Louis swinging from a willow tree.

Friday morning we decided to take a train to see the town of Bacharach and do the hour river cruise back from there.  Bacharach was really cute and we climbed the tower for better views.

Again, we slowed down and played with Louis before the boat ride.

The cruise was pretty but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been at the start of our trip.  It didn't have as much "wow" factor as some of the other places we visited. 

 Good thing Louis slept and I had a beer!

That night my mom & Tom watched Louis again (so nice of them) so we could take the train back to Bacharach for a wine tasting.  It was one of my favorite things we did on the trip.  

We split sixteen glasses of wine and both liked the Rosé and a Riesling.  We decided to buy the Rosé which ended up being around $7.00.  So cheap!   

Saturday morning we made our was back to Brussels with a stop on the Mosel towns of Beilstein and Cochem.  Beilstein was adorable and quaint and Cochem was more lively with more tourists.  I liked these towns and it was a nice end to our trip!

We also made a stop to the castle of Burg Eltz which is in the middle of the forest.  My mom & Tom weren't up for it so they napped in the car with Louis.  It was probably our favorite castle just because it was so complete and there were so many items the family still owns for us to see.

The next & final trip post will be about the journey home!  We have had a great time but are ready to get back to our homes and friends and family!

Black Forest

Tuesday we got to Freiburg, Germany & loved it!  It is a college town in the Black Forest and had so many cute shops.  It also has little canals on the streets called Bachles.  They used to dam these up to flood the streets during fires.  Now they add to the charm of the town & fun for little kids!


Our Hotel was above the restaurant.

We got to town kind of late & split off from my mom & Tom again to walk the town.  It became clear on this day that traveling is starting to wear on Louis.  He doesn’t do his full naps in the car anymore so by the evening he is really tired and cranky.  He screamed at the top of his lungs when I made him stop running in & out of an automatic door.  I could feel people staring for sure!

Looking at the gargoyles on the church.  

We ate dinner at the restaurant of our bed & breakfast.  It was really rainy but we sat outside under the umbrellas.  Trying to wrangle Louis to eat was not easy plus the sparrows were coming right up to our plates to steal Joe’s spatzel.  Finally we just let Louis play in the water & cobblestones.  We had to give up so we could eat & fend off the birds!  Needless to say, Louis was filthy.

   

The next morning we kind of did poor planning.  We drove to a clock museum & a waterfall north of Freiburg (my mom & Tom stayed in town).  

We thought we had more time to visit the recommended Black Forest towns but Louis was not happy in the car so we just headed back to Freiburg.  We shopped and finally got Louis his boat.  

Cold water!!

He quickly decided it was more fun to let go of the boat and watch Joe chase it!

Louis had several temper tantrums that day included one at a fancy cake shop that drove our neighbor to leave the restaurant.  I can’t believe I’m that family! (No pics get taken in stressful times!)  

He passed out in the carrier after that so we had time to grab some dinner and then mom & Tom took him so we could go to the Internet cafe and get a beer at our hotel.  As always, the break was nice and needed!

Thursday morning we left for the Rhine River and stopped in Baden Baden on the way.  We did a walk to see the baths and had a nice light lunch on a square with great people & bus watching for Louis.  

We also stopped for cake & coffee.  The Black Forest cake has too much alcohol for me so I had an apple cake with whipped cream.  It was the best cake i’ve ever had!

I should mention we also bought a cuckoo clock so we will not be bringing a little “bun in the oven” home.  I’ll take a pic when I hang it in the house.  The one I wanted was 200 euro but Joe talked me down to something MUCH cheaper.  Go figure!

Happy Cows

We stopped in Appenzell, Switzerland on Sunday night.  It was on our way to the Black Forest in Germany so we thought it would be nice to see.   

We drove from Anna’s through Austria and stopped an Innsbruck for lunch.  

We loved Innsbruck.  So far on the trip I think I could have spent a night in Salzburg and Innsbruck and been happy.  I guess I should have allotted for more Austria in the trip!  We split up from my mom & Tom and walked the town.  Louis found a playground and we also tried some strudel.  

Sculpture in Innsbruck

The remaining drive was very pretty and Louis loved the many tunnels we drove through.  We stayed in the countryside of Switzerland.  Monday we hiked through the Alps.


I loved the cows!
  

We stopped at a town and had a nice lunch with a local.  She was very friendly and chatted with us while we ate.  I should mention the Appenzeller cheese...It pretty much smells like feet.  We were so excited for the cheese and then it was too strong for us to eat.  Tom was the only one who didn’t notice the smell.  But at our stop the only lunch they had was an Appenzeller quiche.  I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to eat it.  I didn't want to be rude!  It turns out it is pretty good as long as it is cooked and mixed with other eggs, veggies, etc.  

Our hike was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Barefoot Walk

We took a train to a gondola and rode to the top.  Mom and Tom were nervous wrecks the whole time but we Kirchner’s were fine. 

We got to the top of the mountain and hiked down the ridge to our hotel.  My mom left us all behind b/c there was thunder in the distance and one of her biggest fears is lightning! 

It slowly became more difficult as going down with Louis was harder for me.  About half way my knee started to go out so Joe took over with Louis. 

Check out the snails we found all over the hike...

We went in to the town of Appenzell that night for a nice dinner & shopped the next morning before heading onto the Black Forest.

I’ll blog about the Black Forest next!  This is officially Joe’s ancestral stomping ground so you can imagine how excited he is about everything here!