In the morning, we checked out of our hostel and hiked down the hill. The previous day, we had made arrangements to stay at Pension Winzerhaus for the next night. It is a bed a breakfast located next to the Jost Winery. We checked in and got settled. Our room has a sunny balcony attached.
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We started the day with a hike up the hillside then a stroll in the park by the Rhine. We lay in the grass for a while until an obnoxious group of Americans sat down on a bench near us. It seemed as though they were seeking attention. They felt safe within their group to act as ugly as they wanted. I couldn’t bear to be around them and had to leave.
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We were able to steal WiFi while sitting on the stairs of a random street corner. It worked out pretty well since the town’s only Internet café was closed that day.
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The rest of the morning and early afternoon we spent shopping and drinking the local wine.
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We also encountered a young couple making out in the grass. We have seen much more public displays of affection on this trip than you would ever see in the States.
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We bought a few souvenirs from a woodburing shop. We talked for some time to the woman who owned the shop. She thought I was Swedish. I think that is the third time this trip that has happened. I’m sure my grandma Rue would be proud. She is a full-blood Swede.
The woodburing lady told us she would give us a discount on our purchases if we owned a Rick Steves book. Unfortunately, we have been using a Lonely Planet book as a guide. I asked her why she was offering the discount and she said that her shop is mentioned in several of Rick Steves’ books and she has met him in Bacharach on several occasions.
She went on to talk about how clever and handsome he is and how her friend got to seem him a little tipsy during on of his stays. She showed us her autographed Rick Steves book and gave us a Rick Steves newsletter as a souvenir. With the book, she gave us the Rick Steves discount as well. She was very nice.
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Later in the afternoon, we went on a hike. Darcy thought we were only going to be gone for an hour, but we ended up being gone for four of five. On the hike, we encountered a group of goats behind a fence. There was a dispenser that dispensed a bag of food pellets for 50 Eurocents. I tried to get a goat to eat out of my hand, but it didn’t trust me quite enough.
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On our hike, we saw some ruins off in the distance. We decided to hike to them. By this time, Darcy’s hip was giving her some trouble, but we pushed on. I think it was worth it. Hopefully Darcy agrees.
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At the site of the ruins there was a tower. We walked around it and discovered a dark hole on one side. I climbed into the tower and it was completely hollow on the inside with daylight only visible through the open top 30 feet up. It was pretty cool, even though Darcy would not admit it until later.
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We took a different route back to town and decided to stay high on a hillside rather than drop down to the main road in the valley. We were rewarded with incredible views of Burg Stahleck, Bacharach, and the Rhine River valley.
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It was quite a challenge getting down the hillside. Our path ended with no clear way down except to backtrack several kilometers. We decided to bushwhack down the hillside instead. It was pretty steep, and at on point we had to scramble down between two rows of a vineyard.
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We went back to our room and showered up, then had dinner at another small restaurant in town. While we were sipping our drinks, I noticed something on the neck of my beer bottle. Sure enough, a bird had popped into my beer. I knew we would have some sort of bird poop experience before the trip was over. It just had to happen.
We ended the evening with a bottle of Riesling on the deck attached to our room. Not a bad way to spend the last days of our sabbatical.
Tomorrow we will take a boat cruise down the Rhine to Koblenz or possibly all the way to Cologne.
Click here to see all our Bacharach photos.
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