07/15/2011
Well today is a fantastic day! We decided to take the Rhine River Cruise down the river and see the beautiful views and castles. All the way from St Goar to Rüdesheim. I woke up to go shower in the little shower. We pondered sadly on the fact that this was our last hostel shower probably ever. But quickly we got over it considering I was standing in a pool of water that wasnot draining and water pressure that barely dripped from the shower-head. We had an amazing breakfast included (frei is the one word I have learned in German). We then walked on down to the super market to pick up a piece of fruit and a coke and headed down to the dock! To our relief we asked our lady if there was a student discount and just like that we cut our boat price in half to 10 euros to cruise 3 hrs down to Rüdesheim get off and explore for 3 hours and then a 3 hour trip back. Not a bad deal, especially when we got on to discover an amazing terrace, full restraunt and bar, and the speakers relaxing us with some Norah Jones and John Mayer tunes. Once we got our great seats we both looked at each other and said this is going to be a great day. The first thing we went by was the famous Loreley Rock and we think the German and English translations are a little messed up cuz after the speaker told us what we were going by, they said they would now play the famous Loreley song and John Mayer came on. Nonetheless, we don't hate it. Life is good on the Rhine River.
We continued down the river for 3 hours soaking up some sunshine and enjoying the ride. We finally got to our destination of Rüdesheim which is such a cute town. It famously ha a monument built on top if it that was put there when the French and Germans finally quite fighting. Also right next to it has large amounts of vineyards where they make this very tasty red wine. When we found our "I" in town we asked if we could do a tour of the vineyard but she exclaimed that they were too busy making wine to take people on tours and let them wine taste. So instead we found this little alleyway that apparently is famous and has all these shops and amazing wine gardens with live saxophone, piano, and accordion music. We picked one of them and enjoyed some German food and music.
After lunch we shopped thru the towns and then went to a local wine shop where we tasted the wines produced in the area and bought our favorite. We got back on our boat and cruised back to our little St Goar.
My stomach has been acting up (most likely from the French fries and liters of beer in Munich) so I have been in recoup mode and attempted to tell the Asian lady at Asia Kim that I just wanted some steamed rice cuz eating something bland like that is usually good, but she spoke no english and it was a bit of a struggle when she brought out a fried dish. Dinner was a bit of a struggle, but the rest of the night was one of the better events I have ever witnesses. as we turn the corner (keep in mind this is a town that has one small road with about 10 restaurants, a small supermarket, 2 drug stores, a Wustoff knife store, and a Birkenstock store) we see a huge band dressed in maroon followed by about 40 men dressed in these Forrest green suite and funky fedoras with feathers. Not sure what the heck is goig kn we joint he parade and follow them to he en of the street where they have a stage and band set up with a couple tents sellinng BBQ and beer. The whole town has joined in for a celebration! Obviously Kenz and I have no idea what's going on and no one seems to speak English so of coarse we join them. Words would be spoken and we'd all yell stuff which I still don't know what and cheers with beer and sing. We listened to live music and awards were given. Finally Kenz turned around to ask this little old lady what we were celebrating and is all we got is target sport shooting king. Hmmm...but we did come to find out her and her friends were camping in town (impressive when you see 65 year old women camping with their husbands). Still not sure what is happening, everyone gets up and assembles a circle and begins breaking out it dance. We were determined to get a picture with one of these old men in green before we left so we followed one with a semetric mustache and asked if we could take a picture with him. He grabbed Kenz and I took a poc, but then he exclaimed another one and grabbed me. Whw went ahead and asked him what was goin on because he seemed to speak English better. He tolbus every year in St Goar they have a big festival where all the men dress in their sporting suits and go try to kill the king with bow and arrow. Well apparently the king is some stuffed something but whoever kills the king with bow is king for the next year and gets a metal on their jacket and patch sewed on I mean some of these men had like 50 metals. It's insane. Our little man said he women in 1977 an 1990! When we told him we were from Texas he goes, "TEXAS...that's where all the big, strong men" and we exclaimed you are absolutely right! So Texas men, know that the German men are quite intimidated of y'all and your strength! After the old man apologized for his broken an English and says it would be better if he hadn't just drunken two bottle of wine, we decide to go ahead and move along.
Enjoying random festivals in Munich!!
Location:Rhine River, Germany
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