The Durbs Blurbs: 10.30.2016: This is How I Started 40

Sunday, October 30, 2016

10.30.2016: This is How I Started 40

Well, I have to say that I probably couldn't have tried to plan a better way to spend my 40th birthday than I did this year = a wine river cruise along the Rhine River in Germany!! I woke up and felt about the same - old, but young.

The one thing Vince really wanted to take me on was a cruise along the Rhine River. We had no idea how we were going to fit it in when we were originally planning out the trip, but somehow we moved things around, cut out other cities, and were able to get it on the schedule. What better day to do it than my birthday!! It worked out perfectly!

We did a full day tour that took us on a bus from downtown Frankfurt to the Rhine Valley. It was about a 45 min drive to our first stop. They dropped us off at the top of a mountain in Rüdesheim am Rhein where we took a ski lift down to the small riverside town below. This is a huge winemaking region in Germany (my home!). I loved this ski lift ride as a starter to the fun but Vince isn't a fan of heights so this wasn't his favorite part! Once we reached the bottom, we got to walk around the town a bit, then all met for lunch at a kitschy little restaurant for a non-traditional German meal (chicken) and wine.

We sat at a big family style table so got to interact with our tour-mates. We met a nice family from Australia that were touring Europe for 3 months. The kids were able to be off school because the parents were using the trip as a homeschool program for them...learning different cultures and learning history. Actually very interesting! Nice people. We had lunch then all walked down to the dock landing where we launched for the cruise. There are multiple docking points up & down the river and you can get on & off at any points (not with our tour though!)

This was the magical part of the trip....

The boat took us down the Rhine river - a stretch that is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, which was lined with more castles than any other part of the river, hillsides of vineyards, and gorgeous little river towns. I couldn't stop taking pictures and being amazed at the scenery. I did not want the cruise to end. Of course, we were drinking wine while we were cruising as well, which made it all more special!

As we were cruising the river, there was an announcer that was giving us fun facts about the castles we were seeing, and the towns we were going by. One castle/city here dated back to a 38BC. I wish I could have just recorded everything I was seeing and hearing so I could remember it all later, but I didn't. There was just too much information to take in!

Once we got to our final boat dock, our group exited the cruise and headed to a small winery for a wine tasting. It was more like a crazy eccentric restaurant/tasting room. We got to hear how wine is made in the region and got to sample a few varieties, including ice wine (which we both really liked - at least the one we tried).

After our wine tasting excursion, we got back on the bus and started the trek back to Frankfurt. We stopped off back in Rudesheim where they had a ton of shops for those tourists that like to buy souvenirs. Instead of shopping, Vince and I walked thru some back alleys and stumbled upon a little outdoor farmers market festival thing going on. There were wine stands, beer stands, food stands, craft areas, a band playing, etc. We decided we needed another glass of wine, so we made some new friends and had some more wine. We tried the local apple wine - which was horrible. Basically fermented apples that burned and tasted very unrefined. So we switched to the good stuff & what we knew we liked - a light Spatlese! We barely made it back to the bus in time for them to take off on back to the city.