Day 4

I was a little sad leaving Hotel Klosterpforte - we'd had such a good time there. And it meant that half of our trip was over already. But we were all looking forward to the sightseeing we would be doing over the next couple of days.

We spent the morning on the bus and our first stop was a chocolate museum / factory. We didn't get into that part of it - we had half an hour and we spent it like crazy people in the chocolate shop - I don't think I've ever seen so much chocolate in one place and I know I've never spent so much on chocolate at one time. A couple of the guys from our group were laughing at us ladies who had shopping baskets filled with chocolates. I guess they thought we were planning to eat all of that ourselves and I'm sure the locals thought we were all a little nuts. The guys may not have had shopping baskets but I saw at least one that must have had every kind of Lindt chocolate bar in the store.... and they had some really different kinds. Ladger bought one with hot peppers and another with Earl Grey tea flavor. I'm certain he bought the one with hot peppers because he knew he'd be the only one wanting to eat it - it certainly wouldn't be my pick.

And then it was off to Brauhaus Sion. I had to laugh when I overheard a couple of guys getting a kick out of going to the 'bra house'. Anyhow, we were in for another traditional German meal. We were each given a plate of fried potatoes and sauerkraut and then they brought out boards with bratwurst on them. That was really good but the apple strudel was my favorite part!

After lunch, we were off for a tour of the huge, famous cathedral at Koln. It was amazing to be there. No picture can capture the intricacy and incredible size of this building. I think the thing that struck me most were the pictures of it during the war when the entire city was bombed to oblivion and the cathedral was the only building still standing in miles of empty wasteland.

We did a little shopping and then it was off to Ruedesheim for our final stop of the day. We saw the Rhine river and castles. And a very different landscape. This is a very significant area known for its wine. I just didn't expect to see vineyards on the steep hills on the sides of the Rhine river. You can see them in these pictures behind the village and beside the castle ruins. It looked like such an unlikely place for vineyards but they are obviously thriving and producing well.

Our final tour was of a wine cellar and then a chance to taste different wines from this estate. This area is an area that grows grapes for Riesling and Pinot Noir types of wines. And there were all different levels of dryness to sweetness to try.

Our hotel was Hotel Lindenwirt and while it was very different than Hotel Klosterpforte, it had a lot of old charm and we loved it! It was a full day with lots to see and experience!