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 middl