Wiesbaden-Schierstein

Today was a travel day to Frankfurt on a Lufthansa flight from Marseille. Landed and found my friend Benjola.

We took trains and buses to get us to the cute town of Rüdesheim am Rhein for a quick visit to taste the lovely wine and see the lovely area. The area Rhine Valley is well known for winemaking, especially Riesling wines. The town is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Rhine region.

After we got off the very packed train, we walked into the main part of town. Benjola pointed out the town Bingen and the University (Hochschule Geisenheim University) across the Rhine river and is well know for winemaking course and has its own vineyard.

As we got to the center of town, we came upon Drosselgasse which is a lane lined with shops, taverns and restaurants. We did some looking around and went into one dedicated Christmas store.

Up next was taking the cable car up to the top of the mountain / vineyard. What a view we had of the vineyards and the Rhine river. You can see allot of people traversing the roads and trails below. The area is open to visitors to stroll or hike. The forest here is called Neiderwald.

At the top is an observatory where you can enjoy the view and maybe have a bottle of wine. The temple or observatory was built by Count Ostein who loved this view and had it built in 1870.

We walked over to the Niederwald monument. It was built between 1871 and 1883 to commemorate the Unification of Germany after the end of the Franco-Prussian war. The first stone was laid on 16 September 1877 by Kaiser Wilhelm I. It is a huge monument and as Benjola said - to ensure the people of France knew that this now Germany.

We then walked to the other cable car which was more like a ski lift. There we found a beautiful old hunting lodge and a field of deer. Also fields of Rapeseed that is used to make oil. Down we went to the town of Assmannhausen.

What a cute quiet town with beautiful houses and buildings. We stopped to have a couple glasses of Reisling and a snack of cheese and bread.

Then back on the train to Weisbadner to collect my luggage and then head to Benjola’s apartment. She lives one stop away from Weisbadner where her work is. The town has a US base.

Lovely walk through the old town and garden of Mainz to reach her apartment. Nice walk to see her neighborhood. Met her lovely cat - who is not too sure about me yet.Leer más