DRIVING TRIP UP THE RHEIN RIVER WITH THE PALMERS
The Palmers invited us on a driving trip with them up part of the Rhein River.  Steve had seen parts of this on a train ride up to Koln and thought it was really pretty so I am very glad I was able to see it too with the Palmers.  They are so knowledgeable on traveling all over Europe and are a real pleasure to be with and do things with.   We started at the river in a cute German town named Bingen, went up the west side of the river, seeing a lot of castles and ruins and having a lovely lunch in a cafe by the river.  We crossed the river in Koblenz and came back along the east side of the river.  What a lovely day we had.

These photos are in a small river town named Bacharach.  We walked through the narrow little streets and looked in the windows of the shops.  The shops where not open yet.  They are well known for wood carvings and I noticed a lot of shops had miniature things for doll houses, so I was thinking of Christina and Joe a lot and thought they would enjoy seeing these too.  There is a Stahleck castle above the town that you can hike or drive up that we might do on another trip.  Steve and I think we might take our bikes on the train back out to this area and ride up the river.

One of the many tunnel entrances to the town.  I think these were made to try and keep the river floods from entering the town.

Bob and Steve in one of the narrow streets with the castle up on the hill.

Doll house wood shop in store window

Doll house bakery and kitchen and store

Doll house tools and kitchen items

Old house from about 1368.  Notice the slanted floors from settling.

Here they made the coins used in the local area, now a restaurant.

A castle ruin, steep vineyards and narrow river town.  There are many of these picturesque places along the river.

Pfalzgrafenstein castle in the middle of the Rhein on a small island.

Old steep vineyards above a cute town.

Our lunch was so nice along the river with a view, good company and good food.

At the Neiderwalddenkmal monument park.

Steve and Judy looking up at the monument.

The Monument.

Here is a  link to information about the park and monument.  The work on the park started on my birthday in 1871.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederwalddenkmal

Great Views of the Rhein and towns from up here.

I guess you can rent Segways and tour around the vineyards roads.

Beautiful rapeseed field and blooming tree.

We found this that had signs for  "Schröder" aka "Schroeder" Atelier (studio) and it is located on "Schmidtstraße" aka "Smith street".

One of the many cute German restaurants.