What a day! A man who works with Chris offered the services of his father, a tour guide, for the four of us: Dana, Chris, Dave & me, so we took him up on it & had an amazing time. Gustof was the guide, & Andreas, the son. Gustof brought his wife, Erica, who was very helpful & had some good stories too.
We proceeded to the Rhine Valley in 2 cars & used walkie talkies to communicate. Dana translated for Gustof, & off we went on this brilliant sunny day. We were in a Unesco World Heritage site, a 67 kilometer area, for some of the day. I tried to take notes, but please don't fact check me! We were bumping along over hill & dale, having a grand old time. It's late, so the pictures will do most of the talking tonight.
We saw 2 churches in Oberwesel, St. Martin's & the Church of the Virgin Mary, each unique & beautiful in their own way. There are 65 figures on this gold altar at the Virgin Mary, & many were stolen & recently replaced, so they are guarded & have an alarm. This church dates back to 1331.
Dave & I have been trying to imagine how grapes can possibly be managed on such steep slopes, & today we saw first hand just how they do it. Gustof took us to the top of a steep grade where people were harvesting, & we saw up close what was going on. The owner of the land & grapes explained that workers from as young as 13 to as old as 70+ pick. Each has their own crate where they put the grapes, & the crate is on a cable which is winched up when it's full. Maybe the pictures will explain. The winch is on a tractor.
She's on that slope with only her pruning shears.
The crate is being pulled up the hill by the winch in this picture.
It's strong enough to pull up the picker too.
The grapes are loaded into what looks like a dumpster that the tractor will pull to the winery.
This is the owner who told me he got to live & work in this wonderful place where we can only vacation. He was a jolly younger fellow who loved his life!
The leaves both on the trees & grapevines are turning beautiful colors.
In front of the city council building of one of the little towns, here stands a huge wine glass. This area is proud of its wine!
While we watched the grape harvesting, Andreas opened a wonderful bottle of sparkling wine & some pretzels. What a treat! We all said "Prost."
We took a coffee break at Schloss Rheinfels Restaurant & Hotel www.schloss-rheinfels.de . I felt like we were on top of the world. Schloss is the German word for castle.
The most narrow & treacherous part of the Rhine is at the Lorelei, the name for that spot on the river & the steep cliff overlooking. Many ships have wrecked there.
We took a car ferry to get across the river, & it's name was the Lorelei.
It was a beautiful day & a joy to share with Dana & Chris.
Tomorrow night, our last one here, Andreas & his teen children are coming here for dinner. I'll be blogging after that plus packing, so let's hope I can get to it.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: A generous family gave us a gift today---their time & hospitality.
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