From Trier we decided to take the train to Koblenz where we could take a boat down the Rhine River. We have elected to by-pass the big city of Cologne in favour of spending some time in the small towns along the Rhine. We ended up taking the "milk" run train from Trier to Koblenz and arrived just in time to catch the last boat of the day down th...

As a tourist, much of the time I end up doing tourist things. Taking the passenger ferry up the Rhine is one such thing. It's the prettiest and slowest way to travel in this area, but everyone does it, and for good reason. The train is just dull and you can't see anything. At least on the ferry you can check out the castles and enjoy the sun. An...

First stop was an unplanned trip to Mauthausen, a concentration camp. It was not listed on the program, but am glad I went. It was very quiet and had a sad feel in the air. You were able to walk in everyroom from where they slept, where they pulled out gold teeth, the gas chamber, and the incinerator. They said the only way to leave the camp bac...

We arrived in Bacharach on 17 October. We had a nice trip from Switzerland and saw a lot of castles and vineyards along the way. When we arrived in Bacharach we saw the castle hostel on the hill high above...great...the only problem was we had to CLIMB up to the hostel! It was hard work with our packs on but the view was great. We ended up spend...