Tag Archives: 2019

memories, Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sundays

Another short visit to Bacharach… a special German town to me…

Yesterday, I was lamenting to Bill that I wanted to get out of the house for awhile, and remember why we moved to Germany in the first place. Unfortunately, I’ve reached a stage in my life in which I don’t really feel like going out as often as I used to. Part of the problem is that our house is very comfortable, making it harder to leave. Another issue is that I’m getting older and less impressed with things. And then there’s the weird weather for this time of year. It’s chilly and a bit overcast today, although we did see glimpses of the sun.

Originally, Bill suggested that we visit Mainz and go to the Gutenberg Museum, a place we have yet to see. Then he thought maybe we’d go to an Armenian/Greek restaurant downtown. But I like to save museums for when the weather is cold. I really kind of wanted to visit the Rhein River… or perhaps a waterfall or a cave. I was really in the mood to do something outside, in spite of the weather. I suggested Bacharach, a beautiful town on the river that also has the distinction of being the very first German town I ever visited.

Back in the summer of 1997, I was finishing my Peace Corps service in Armenia, planning for a month long Eurail trip. I read Europe Through the Back Door, by Rick Steves. He constantly mentioned how adorable Bacharach is. I was to be alone for that part of my trip, so I decided that once I got off the plane from Yerevan, I’d get on a train at the Frankfurt Airport and head for Bacharach for a couple of nights. When I finished my service in August of 1997, that is precisely what I did. When I landed in Frankfurt, I took a couple of trains to the beautiful riverside town of Bacharach. It was a great place to start that trip. I never dreamed I’d be back ever again, let alone live about 45 minutes away.

In late May 2014, just weeks before Bill finished his active duty Army career, we took a “Space A” hop from Baltimore to Germany. We spent most of our time in France, but then flew back to Frankfurt from Nice, and took a train to Landstuhl to work on getting our Space A flight back to the States. We weren’t able to get out the day we wanted to, so we had an extra day in Germany. I suggested that we visit Bacharach. Bill had never been before, and I remembered it to be a lovely town. So we went from Landstuhl… and it took a couple of hours to get there. The town was just as quaint and inviting as I remembered it.

Bill and I happened upon a Biergarten made of an old carousel. We stopped in for beer, and there were a bunch of drunk guys in there. It was Father’s Day, and they were all celebrating. When one of the men heard us talking, he asked if Bill was in the Army. Bill said he was, and the guy told us that American soldiers had saved his family from being stuck in East Germany. He got quite emotional and thanked Bill for his service. It was at around that time that I told Bill that I had a feeling that we were going to be moving back. Sure enough, six weeks later, we moved back to Stuttgart. The rest is, of course, history.

We also visited Bacharach in 2019, or thereabouts… around the time we moved to Wiesbaden. I had wanted to come back again after that visit, but we couldn’t do that easily because a bridge that connected Wiesbaden to the Rhein area was deliberately destroyed and rebuilt. It took a long time. And then, of course, we had the pandemic… and after that, we got out of the habit of enjoying weekend outings.

In any case, you can see photos and read about our previous visits. In 2014… and in 2019… I wrote this about my 1997 trip in 2013.

Below are some photos from today. The weather wasn’t the greatest, although we did stop by the Kleines Brauhaus at the Rhein Theater again. That’s become a tradition for us in Bacharach! It looks like they changed the canopy since we were there in 2019. Also, they don’t have wait service anymore. Now, it’s self-service, which is fine. We both had schnitzels and fries today. Bill had his with cream sauce. I see that the sun is now out, too… SIGH.

Where I stayed in 1997.

We passed by the little hotel/B&B where I stayed in 1997. I remember it was no frills, and I was asked to pay in advance, which I did in Deutsch Marks. A lot of people were walking around Bacharach today, but it wasn’t teeming with people, probably because the weather wasn’t that great. But it remained a lovely place to spend a few hours, watching river cruise ships pass by on the serene Rhein, and a cute little dog in a tiny carrier, hanging out with its people. I wouldn’t have minded having coffee and cake, or maybe some wine in another establishment… but I feared that if we sat down somewhere, we’d stay longer than we should. So we decided to head back after a couple of hours. It was long enough to remind us of why we wanted to move back here so many years ago.

I didn’t get any premonitions today… which I take as a positive sign. Bacharach remains a favorite German destination for me. We should visit more… In fact, we should go to more adorable German towns on the Rhein. I just have to get my ass off the couch or the bed and get to it.

Unfortunately, when we got home, I found out that the rivet securing the strap on my purse broke. I bought the purse in Florence back in 2022. It’s served me well, so I ordered another one from the same shop in a different color. Maybe we’ll get the strap fixed on the one I have now. It just needs a new rivet. I also need to clean out my bag!

Well, I think I’ll close this post and go enjoy the rest of the evening with Bill. Hope you had a lovely Sunday.

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A musical breakthrough!

This morning Bill and I got up with the best of intentions to get out and do something fun. Although I’ve been feeling pretty good about staying home, even though I ALWAYS stay at home, Bill was feeling restless. Yesterday, at about 1:30pm, he came to me wanting to go out and do something.

I looked at the clock, realizing that a lot of restaurants would be closing very soon, and said, “It would be a lot better if we planned these things more. You slept until 8:00am, did a bunch of chores, and now that it’s the afternoon you want to go out… and do what?” Bill is usually the one who notices the time, particularly as it relates to eating in restaurants. And thanks to the coronavirus, it’s even more important to plan outings ahead of time.

Bill sighed, agreed, and we spent our Fourth of July in the backyard, drinking beer and listening to music. I did also hear fireworks going off, no doubt on the local military installations, but I didn’t see them. Poor Bill is going stir crazy, even though he goes out for work and grocery shopping. I just can’t be arsed to deal with the coronavirus, though. It’s easier to stay home.

Last night, Bill suggested that we go take a ride on the Seilbahn today. The Seilbahn is a cable car that takes people on a scenic ride over the grape vines of Rüdesheim and to the Niederwald Monument and the Rhein River. We noticed it the first and last time we visited Rüdesheim, in April of last year. We didn’t ride the Seilbahn on that day, though, because we did a wine tasting, where I ended up singing for an elderly couple.

Anyway, Bill wanted to go back today for a scenic Sunday Seilbahn ride… but then we noticed the cloudy weather and high winds. They’re going to be up to 16 miles per hour, which doesn’t make for the most reassuring cable car ride. So we decided to postpone our trip. I went to my computer and pulled out my trusty turquoise guitar and took a couple of lessons on Fender Play. Today’s topic was alternative finger picking of bass notes. I learned “Tom Dooley”, and it occurred to me that the chords were kind of like a really pretty song called “Dreaming My Dreams With You”. It’s been done by a lot of people, but the version I like best so far is the one done by Alison Krauss, who had backup help from Dolly Parton and Lyle Lovett.

Such a pretty song!

I realized I needed to change the chords, though, since I had figured out the song in G and I needed to play it in F#. So I went looking for a chord chart, put the capo on the third fret, and before I knew it, I was playing along with the recording. I still stumble a bit on the chord changes, but I think with some practice, I’ll be ready to post a video. I can definitely sing the song… it’s just my guitar playing that needs a lot of work.

I have been making some significant progress. A couple of times, I’ve played along with a song and it’s been okay until it was time to change chords. Today, I was able to play along and change chords without too much trouble, relatively speaking, although I’m still slow and unsure at times. Anyway, this was the closest I’ve gotten to being able to actually play a song. I even figured out the solo guitar riff, although it’s going to take a little more time before that’s perfected. I probably won’t be able to include it in a video until I’m a bit more advanced.

So, although I would have loved to have gotten out this morning and done some sightseeing, the weather defeated us again. However, I scored a major victory on my guitar! Incidentally, I also got to teach Bill how to properly play an E minor chord, which isn’t hard. He was having trouble making it work because he had one of his fingers on the wrong string. It was a problem that was easily fixed, so now he has a new chord to play with, too!

Incidentally, Facebook tells me that a year ago, Bill and I saw Mark Knopfler performing in concert in Leipzig. He and his band were also staying at our hotel, and we saw him hanging out with his band in the bar. Boy, do I miss bars… But anyway, seeing him in concert was on my bucket list, and then being in the bar with him was also a thrill. And no, we didn’t bug him. I just gawked from afar. The next morning, as we were packing up to go home, the bellman told us Sting was also at our hotel, taking a brief break from his tour having just done a show in Brussels, Belgium. I miss 2019.

I sense Bill still would like to go out today, though, even though the Seilbahn was a bust… maybe I’ll let him take me out to lunch somewhere. Maybe we’ll do the Seilbahn next week, if there’s sunshine and no wind. The week after that, we have another short trip planned. It’s another Germany trip, not too far from home, but further away than our trip to Hofheim for my birthday. Bill is determined not to let me get agoraphobic. Stay tuned.

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The last night of 2018…

Here’s a quick post with photos from last night’s fireworks.  It was quite an impressive show.  Because our new house has two balconies, it was easy to see everything.  Some people were setting off fireworks right outside our front door.  It wasn’t quite as impressive as our old village, Pfäffingen, was.  New Year’s Eve there was like Armageddon.  But it was a little better than Jettingen was, probably because we were close to the action…

I got a lot more pictures, but a lot of them were unusable because they were blurry or uninteresting.  It’s strange how I have better luck with my iPhone than my regular camera with all its fancy settings. Anyway, we had about a half hour of intense fireworks, then the neighborhood was quiet again.  I swear, in our first German town, people were setting off fireworks most of the night!

 

My dogs were mostly oblivious to the action.  Unlike our dearly departed MacGregor, who would be terrified when the fireworks started, Zane and Arran were totally chill.  Zane tucked himself into bed and Arran hung out with us and watched the show.

Hopefully 2019 will be full of new adventures.  I have some big ideas for the Wiesbaden edition of my travel blog!  I hope you’ll follow along… but only if you’re interested.  I suspect there will be many trips to the Rhein in our future… and the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, all of which are now easily accessible to us in our new town.

Happy New Year to all!
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