August 11th, the final day in Berlin

This vacation went by way too quickly and we can barely recall the prior ones now :(

Well, while I still can... we met up this morning and went to get our breakfast at Kempers. Following that, a dash across town to the Pergamon museum. We all had amazing time. Ishtar gate was feat of human ingenuity back when it was built and now when the german researchers put it back together one tony piece of tile after another. The Muslim collection was very impressive too. Kids walked around snapping pictures of the marvelous geometrical patterns.

Afterwards we walked a bit around the art market outside. Besought by hunger got some excellent wursts right there at the market. But soon it was time for a serious meal so we went to Que Pasa (bad choice) by the Neue synagogue followed by the teas over by the Tadjiki Tea House. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon leisurely wandering around August Strasse, stopping at the galleries, playground, and bars. After the final dash through the park we made the last stop at Persepolis, highly recommended for their food, and, with lovely Persian paintings and Ahura Mazda images on the walls a fitting close to the day that started out at Pergamon.

Done with this summer adventure. To be continued :)

August 10th, drive through the racist town Quedlinburg

Today was the final leg of our vacation journey - it went by so quickly!

We escaped hectic Holiday Inn express in Frankfurt and met up with Romiks at the old town square later in the morning. After a quick discussion a consensus was reached to keep get on our way so that we could visit a few sights on the way to Berlin.

The first stop was magnificent Marburg. Home to the university that educated brothers Grimm (and Lomonosov) the town is filled with little exhibits reminding of the stories in their books. A giant shoe, huge flies sitting on the book store building at the old town square and more. Adults who built the town made sure that their fancies will be served too: the town-hall door is right out of the fairytale for the overgrown gnomes. We agonized about taking a break from our drive to sit down at a cellar bar that looked and smelled perfect. The castle complex at the top of the hill was beautifully architected ensuring a good combination of effective and whimsical. It was first built in 1248. We were sad to see it go when we got on our way.

After another 3.5 hours stopped at another Unesco town -Quedlinburg. Its famous for its half- timbered homes - over a 1000 of them. The boys had to look for another parking spot so the ladies got our way through the park to the old town square. I was surprised to see a young girl emerge from the bathroom and crouch down with a cigarette - a lot of people smoke in Germany (areas we visited) but she looked only slightly older than our 12 year olds. Then a little boy came out of the bathroom joined by a man in his late 20s- father/husband? slovenly dressed in a dirty “wife beater” unfazed by the girl smoking. We stared as several more men came out looking very much the same but unrelated to the prior group.

Perplexed we got on our way and soon settled down in a seafood restaurant near the main square. They have a private seating in a little garden with a lemon tree and a leafy koi pond without the fish. Boys joined us. Dan ran out to visit a few stores around before they close at 6pm and got lucky, like a whole little lot bag lucky. 

The waitress, kindly older woman who knew not a lick of English, was very patient with kids - it was funny watching them discuss the portion sizes using the body language. The food was excellent.

We rolled out onto the main town square and saw that it was locked in from all directions because they had some kind of town fair going on. Other than a few merry go-arounds and several food vendors we did not see any great perks that would warrant 5 or 8 euro entry fee but we did want to see the main square. So we said to the ticket sellers that we just want to go through and they let us in. 

The center was lovely - we strolled taking in the old sights in between the colorful vendor booths. That’s when there was some commotion near another entry gate near us and Dan looking very tense urged us to get out of the town square. 

Turns out there was an Indian man with a little girl who said in English to one of the entry guards that they are staying at the hotel on the main square and asked if they could be allowed in. The guard grabbed the man by his neck and dragged him to the building he was pointing to, little girl following horrified. 

Would we get the same treatment if we looked Indian? Suddenly it did not seem that impossible and we looked at this town in a different light. What if told him we are Jewish? This appalling lack of dignity with everyone watching and no one saying a word. If anyone from Unesco organization is reading, stop by at this town for a bit. Designating something as a World Heritage site means that the entire humanity deserves equal access the site. Perhaps a few folks in town need some retraining for the town to keep this designation.

We got on our way and soon arrived to our final pension-hotel in Berlin. To our happiness it was located in the same neighborhood as the last one but was even bigger and more glorious with enormous high ceilings and the balcony. 

Kids stayed up until after midnight repacking our luggage so that we will be all set for sanitation when we get home. 

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 9th, the Rhine River Drive

We did a fun drive from Luxemburg Northeast to Burg Eltz through Trier and then took the classical South the Rhine river stopping at Boppard, St. Goar, Bacharach, Rudesheim, Maintz, and ultimately ending in Frankfurt.

Burg Eltz, locked in on a ledge between two green towers with its whimsical turrets, a multitude of towers, and half timbered living quarters, was a beautiful sight indeed. We initially thought of sending just the kids to roam through the castle while we would enjoy awesome views at a castle cafe while having a cup of coffee and cake. But kids encountered crowds of mostly Russian tours and decided to bail on the opportunity of some autonomy and opted-in to join us for the cake.

We spent some time at Boppard trying to get our bearing. It’s filled with the crowds of German pensioners and features a lot of “antique” stores that really sell a bunch of old junk unattractively piled up in the windows. Every now and then there is a little pearl like the Roman ruin or an awesome cafe that sells dark German bread, or a section of a cute river promenade. We did not get the point and so started back toward the parking lot but then Isabella needed to go to the bathroom so we came back into town and settled at a pretty classical cafe filled with old upholstered furniture. 

Ordered some iced coffees and a little desert from a tall lean older German lady with a mass of blond curls while we waited. The store has pictures of an even older German guy... one of the pictures was framed with a black ribbon in the corner. That picture looked like pictures of grandpa when he was sick. Pensioners sat silently in their seats as if waiting for something. We sent the kids out to get ice-cream on their own. When we were leaving, I’ve asked the owner if the gentleman in pictures was her father. She nodded and said that he died a week and a half ago. That explained some of the drama and suspense in the air. As if those pensioners were still waiting for him to come out and serve them coffee as usual. Are they helping her grieve or the opposite? In any way she stepped out with some prosecco on her serving tray moving remarkably light and graceful. And we too got on our way.

The views of scenic homes lining the banks of Rhine and backed by the hills and featuring neat vineyards and a multitude of castles had started in earnest. We’ve stopped to walk around the ruins of tax fortress Burg Rgeinfels. Kids has a great time. The real perk was the opportunity to take the guided tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the fortress but that plan was crashed when the first droplets of rain started to hit the building and the guide/ticket guy gleefully said ‘nein’ to starting the tour. 

The rain had started and we’ve missed our ferry to Lorelei. We decided to keep going and stopped at Bacharach next. Thanks to the rain, that was already receding, the streets were empty and we had this younger brother to Rothenburg all to ourselves. We wondered around and climbed one of the towers to enjoy the views of the town and vineries below. 

Next we grabbed a ferry to the Eastern bank and ran through the cobbled streets of Rudesheim to make it to the cable cars that took us to the Nieserwald Monument passing more vineyards and lovely Rhine views below. 

Back in town we went through delectable Drosselgasse (as a group we decided that it was cute rather than kitsch - a philosophical debate that challenges a number of travelers). We settled down for the unremarkable but plentiful meal, ad many around here and accompanied it with Riesling as befit the place.

Finally, we’ve made a brief stop at Maintz, lamenting that it was so late and we simply have no energy to give this beautiful town its due, and kept going to Frankfurt to spend the night prior to the final trip of our journey - Berlin.

August 8th, Brussels, bedbugs, and bees

We’d started the day with a 2.5 hour drive to Brussels stopping on a way at a Luxembourg’s rest area served by one of nation’s best who apparently could not get a job on banking. The level of service hit rock bottom. The food was styled to match. 

Kind of silly not to invest a little more to get the visitors to have a better experience - it reflects positively on perception of a tiny country and gets visitors to spend more.

Anyhow, our next stop was in Brussels and we re-did our breakfast with a much better coffee and Belgian waffles. 

A bummer of the day was that Dan got bitten on his arms and legs a few days ago and these bites were itching awfully. We’ve compared the bite marks with the images on the Internet and conjectured that those must have been done by bedbugs. 

Completely grossed out we proceeded to walk through the scenic wonders of Brussels: the main town square, peeing boy, etc. all the while trying to re-trace our footsteps and understand where it happed. On the positive side it is surprising that in our decades of travels it is the first time that it happened.

One an added but relevant note, Polinka got stung by a bee on her stomach during our second breakfast. She treated the area with antihistamine. It swelled up a bit locally, but then receded. Dan reacted to the same thing very differently last year and we were weighing taking him to hospital.  

Back to Brussels, the city was very kind to us in our fragile state - store upon store selling marvelous souvenirs opened up to us, kids stopped and touched everything and got treated with friendly warm smiles and candy giveaways, and the cars always yielded to pedestrians. 

Two particular highlights of the morning were Totem Toys store where both kids and adults including the guy who runs the place were mesmerized by the incredible mechanical machines made from laser cut wood and us stumbling onto the Art District filled with the streets of the stores featuring excellent African and Asian artifacts, and modern art.

By the time we sat down at the wonderful In't Spinnekopke suggested by Christophe we had a plan and even started to execute on it by ordering quantities of industrial pesticide on Amazon to await us at home while we shed all the infested clothing in the driveway and take showers and then proceed to wash and disinfect everything.  

The food and amazing service at the Belgian restaurant were amazing :) Kids and Polinka went for mussels prepared in a variety of ways, while Danik, Romik, and I had meatballs, rabbit, and fish stew respectively, cooked to perfection with those rich sauces favored by Napoleon. And of course beer. This meal was on a tight pedestal together with Tibetan a day earlier.

After lunch we continued our wanderings stopping back at the Peeing boy to continue sampling the local beers, served by a friendly chatty Egyptian waiter (who really loved his job) in Russian, then stopping at a local Cheese/Meat/Wine place called Catherine’s and having the wonderful man who worked there give us a deep tasting tour (another person who clearly loves his job :). 

We ended the day having coffee back at the Art District and enjoyed the city views at the Palace of Justice viewpoint, a new discovery on this trip as well.

Maya got stung by a bee as well, with even less impact. That, and having Polinka and her locate some minor healed spots on arms and legs us led us to conclude that our control group of 3 proved the point and those indeed were bedbugs. We are over it :)

Back to a (different) Lux rest area staffed by the copy of the person we saw in the morning. They do have very cheap gas in Lux to give them their due. 

Back to the bar at the hotel in Lux. Nice!

It was a great day!! Back to Germany tomorrow!

August 7th, Trier and Luxembourg

Came back into the old town for breakfast and did a bit of running around to combine awesome coffee with equally great baked good. Having established that all is well with the universe, we started our exploring.

Def. one of the awesomest towns in Germany, certainly the oldest one. Dom was lovely: the cavernous size and magnitude, the nicest organ we saw so far, and vaulted ceiling with Vilnius (St. Peter and Paul) or Vatican quality of the plaster work. Among all that enjoying a green robed priest had emerged from a side door and stood silently glaring at us whereupon we finally got the hint and fled toward the door. He then proceeded to ring a little bell signaling the organist to start giving us the last push to get out and let the service begin.

We proceeded to visit the Roman and Medieval landmarks, skipping on visiting the house of the father of the Socialist revolution. 

The most impressive was the Roman theater. The above ground portion is all but gone in the millennia of being used as a quarry by the locals but amazing acoustics on the arena still works. Restored area under the arena offered amazing glimpse into what it must have been to be an actor staying backstage of this enormous theater - gladiator or an animal to engage in the life or death combat. Gave kids the feel of what the real thing they saw in Thor, the movie, was really like.

We got on our way to visit the third country on our journey - Luxembourg - making a few short trips on our way.

Some town highlights: beautiful severe architecture with gray rooftops, endless city levels, and crazy-long church steeples, drinkable water fountains on the streets, the usual mix of high-end retail, many street beggars that look high, and all of our favorite bakery haunts combined in one spot: Fischer, Paul, Brioche Doree. 

The next highlight were the casemates - the cool maze of ancient  and evolving caves, tunnels, winding stairs, and passage ways built and dug up in the mountain that were enjoyed by kids and adults alike. We pretended to be lost, to be chased by demons and ghosts and had a wonderful time. The few others who braved to get into the caves with us got some free entertainment, whether they understand Russian and English or not!

After we came out the kids promptly climbed a large tree  and proceeded to enjoy themselves further.

We ended the day at a Tibetan restaurant.  It could not be better - a huge giant highlight that adults had to extend a bit further by doing additional round of drinks at the hotel. 

We decided that the city had ran out of highlights and we are taking us out to the new destination tomorrow - Brussels.

August 6th, Road to Heidelberg and Trier

We got up at 6:30 am to run around town without any tourists. It was wonderful. We climbed the city wall and continued our walk enjoying the views of red roofs, turreted town wall towers and occasional local walking their dog. The wall had credit tiles embedded in it thanking individuals (many with Japanese names) and organizations for helping to repair various lengths of it and keep it up. We did not have the chance to test it out but I think the wall completely encircles the town.

Later in morning we had breakfast with Romiks in the magnificent dining room. Turns out hotel’s back wall is also a part of the town wall and at that spot the wall somewhat dips into town so the view offers both sides of town.

After breakfast we continued our exploring together and got some souvenirs for home. There is a Japanese artist in town who does lovely prints and acrylics. Really liked one them and thought of getting it but then ran into a high quality copy next door so that kind of killed the “uniqueness” of it.

The 2-hour long Western-bound trip to Heidelberg was along the final portion of Romantic road. But we decided not to make any more stops along the way because we will had to make the final 2 hour trip further West for Trier.

Heidelberg was hectic. We first arrived to the portion of town up on the hill where the lovely castle ruins were located but we could not find parking. So we went downtown where the city is actually located but the center is under construction so we could not park there either. The boys dropped us off and went on to park on the other side of the river - by the looks of it 5-7 km away. 

The town has neverending pedestrian path lined with retail stores, on one side of it there are alley ways with art galleries or other interesting stops, and sometimes ending with cute little chapels with the hill raising majestically behind them. On the other side, there are more cute alley ways but they are fronted with a river. 

We, the ladies, started our tour by stopping at a lovely ceramic store where we liked everything, and got almost everything. Then we stopped at a jewelry store, liked almost everything, you get the idea... The boys called to say that they are parked too far and we wont be able to meet up. We decided to have a quick round of margaritas and churros (as of lunch) and then go up the hill to look at the ruins. When we came out we ran into boys :) So we went up the hill together. 

The ruins are extensive and well worth the sweaty climb. Then Romik and Dan ran back down and through town to feed the meter and we continued our stroll through the pedestrian lane. Finally we’ve made our way back to them and got on the way to Trier.

We were staying at a nice hotel in Trier with an interesting “perk.” While there is the elevator that takes you to the 2nd floor, family rooms are located on the 4th floor under the roof in a newly built out section of the hotel. Glad we don’t need the stroller any more :) 

We also repacked our luggage more efficiently and, each night need to bring in only a small bag with toiletries and clothing for tomorrow. 

We got a brand new apartment with two rooms. Opened windows on both sides -and voila - no a/c needed :)

We went out to start our exploration of town. The awe-inspiring almost two millennia old Roman structure at the entrance of town was an amazing sight. 

We  decided that we need a fittingly magnificent dinner venue and checked out a place that advertised a historic cellar restaurant. Uggh! They did start out with the authentic cellar but then filled it with the furniture borrowed from McDonalds with a similar smell and ambience. Next we tried our luck at a town hall cellar. The sign at the door “Karl Marx (the father of socialism) ate there” should have been the giveaway - the furniture was nicer but it was clearly designed for the masses. Few visitors having their dinner laid out stolovka-style on their plates should have been another hint but we were hopeful. Anyway, Romik found a brasserie staffed by severe German-teacher waitress and we had our dinner and behaved ourselves very well never once putting our elbows on the table or blowing our nose on the napkin. Thus having the waitress satisfied, we’ve called it a day.