Day 10: Europe

 Kasey- The hotel we stayed at in Koln was pretty good. I didn't have any complaints with it. Monday morning we got breakfast at 8 and then hit up the town after putting money in the meter to our car. We walked around and saw a Gestapo prison and the 4711 house where cologne originated from. We tested the scent and thought it smelled... interesting, ahem.

 We went to the Cathedral which was HUGE. It was a really pretty cathedral. With all the cathedrals we went to, we thought it was fun to learn about what relics where at that particular cathedral. The one in Cologne is said to have the remains of one of the three wisemen. We were also impressed that the cathedral took over 632 years to build.

 We walked around Koln some more- went across the river that had all these locks attached to the fence, we couldn't figure out what they were there for. So we went back to our hotel, checked out, and then took off towards Bonn. There wasn't a whole lot planned to Bonn so when parking was tough to find we decided to just skip it after driving by Beethoven's house. For me, I can be satisfied by just going to a city and thinking about and imagining all the things that had occurred there and then appreciating the city. Bonn was Beethoven's birthplace and was also the capital of West Germany. We drove down to Koblenz, parked, and then walked to a store. We accidentally got carbonated water, fortunately that was the only time we forgot that Europeans love their carbonated water and paid attention more closely when we bought water. We walked to an old castle and the Deutches Eck which is where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers meet. It has a massive statue.

We really liked Koblenz; I liked Koblenz the first time we went which is why I wanted to go again. We did the Germany thing and got some bratwurst (I think we got it at the same place I got a brat my first time to Koblenz). We then walked into town more, got a doner kebab (it was a little dry but still good). We saw a statue of a kid that will spit water onto you and then went back to the car.

This next part was my favorite part of Germany- we drove along the Rhine river from Koblenz to Rudemshein am Rhein. This whole experience was just amazing with the steep hills right next to the road and vineyards all over them. Castles were above several quaint little towns with your typical German houses and Churches. It was really fun doing that drive. It's the perfect thing to do to really experience Germany. We stopped at several places along the way to get out and walk around or take pictures.

 
We drove up to the Marksburg castle and went into the outer courtyard. We walked around Rudesheim am Rhein which has a lot of nice stores and outdoor pubs. We got some gelato but it just wasn't the same as real Italian gelato. We drove onto a ferry and took that across to Bingen. We then drove up to our hostel in St. Goar. It was a pretty nice hostel I thought. It was Emmy's first experience with a hostel so she was nervous about doing it. We walked around St. Goar for a little bit and then went back. Emmy fretted awhile about bed bugs, sleeping in separate beds, and just being in hostels. I tried to make her laugh and feel okay about staying there. It was a funny evening and I think she was eventually fine with staying there...after she fell asleep :)