A Day in the Life

Munching in München

On Tuesday we drove down to Oberlahnstein, parked, rode a train down to Rudesheim, and then took a boat back up the Rhine. This route is loaded with castles and vineyards galore. We followed the map to Selters and discovered we were in the wrong Selters. We found Bethel without difficulty on the second try in a town called Selters about an hour away. The brother at the desk informed us we were fortunate to get it right the second time; there are apparently four Selters in Germany.

On Wednesday we toured Bethel in the morning and drove to the Mösel valley in the afternoon. We toured a castle called Burg Eltz, a somewhat smaller one, but still spectacular. After a failed attempt to access the recreation area of Bethel upon returning (our guest keys weren't powerful enough), we bumped into some brothers and sisters who invited us over for pizza. All three spoke excellent English, and we had a splendid evening.

After leaving Bethel on Thursday, we drove down to Rothenburg, a fascinating city that in ancient times used to be the primary stop along the trade route from Paris to Vienna. The old part of the city is surrounded by a wall, which we walked around, and the inside was like something out of the middle ages, except for all the cars and tourists.

From there we traveled to Munich (München), where we have stayed the past two nights with Andreas and Tanya Hahn. They live just a short walk from the city center, and today we spent the entire day just soaking in the culture. We climbed a tower to get a view of the city, toured the "Munich Residence," (which is a bland name for an extravagant palace, the residences of kings past since the 1300's), and drank beer at the Hofbrauhaus, a famous restaurant that serves beer in 1 liter steins. Very impressive. As usual, we played a lot of chess.

We're approaching the halfway point, and all is well. As expected, the time is flying by, but I'm happy with how much we've done and seen so far. More to come ...