Living in a Castle

Yep a real castle! It's so very exciting! When I walked in the staff was so fun and welcoming! She said, "Go checkout your room and then come back and have a beer! We have foosball, a games room, a cafe, a sitting room, a ballroom, a fitness center, and you are welcome to walk around the castle, and come back at 6pm for our buffet dinner". I liked this place already! It was fun walking around all the dark stairwells and halls just to see where they led. I'd tried pulling on random doors just to see what would happen; Some are locked, but many are open and they lead to new stairways. At first I noticed that the hallways and stairways are very dark, but you would expect that from an old castle. You wouldn't think to look on the wall for a light switch, but if I did it would have been easier to navigate. This place was awesome! The rooms are pretty modern though. The cool thing is the price: I paid 25 Euros for the room and 7 Euros for an all-you-can-eat German buffet. It was delightful! I'm here with a big group of High School kids. I asked their adults/teachers in very broken German what they were doing here. They said that they were with a German theater group and that they were having an intensive practice section. They must have saw the glimmer in my eyes because they invited me to watch their run-through later that evening. I was so excited. At 7pm I made my way to the ballroom for the show. The performance was all in German so I didn't understand very much, but I did pick-up on the storyline....and a few curse words. I felt like an honored guest, it was stupendous! After the show I went up to my room and had a glass of Riesling. A bottle of Riesling bottle was only 10 Euro and not because it's a cheap wine, but because they make it in Bacharach. Next to the castle are several vineyards.

The following day I slept in missing breakfast entirely. So, I got dressed to head for town. As I was walking around the outside of the castle I noticed all these other hiking trails behind it. Oh, and I also found their pond and a frozen waterfall leading into it. Anyway, I decided to hike some of the trails before I went down the hill to grab some food. The hike was very refreshing! I was walking along this ridge and you can see the town below that sits along the Rhine.

Town of Bacharach

After my hike I took a path toward the town which was a little bit of a challenge, but it passed along some old buildings which was pretty cool. Again, the town was dead! Barely a sole! It was nice though because I felt that I had it to myself. I did see one older man walk in to a small pub and it was extremely quiet outside, but once he opened the door you could here much talking, laughter, and clanging of utensils. I decided that I must go back there when I got a little more hungry. The town is pretty small, but I had fun venturing the side alleys that lead to wishing wells, cute mosaics, and stairwells that led to little private homes. Every turn provided a new and exciting treat. I made my way down to the Rhine and walked along this small park at it's edge.

The Rhine

I decided to back to that pub I discovered earlier, but it was closed. Their sign was pulled in, the door was locked, and there was no sign of a soul. That's ok, it was time to make my way back up the mountain anyhow.

When I arrived back at the castle I had my coffee and espresso and was able to talk to Heather and the girls on Skype. Abby sent me an e-mail from her iPhone while we were talking and Lily had too much fun dangling her sock in front of the video so I could see. After our chat, I went down for dinner and noticed that more people had arrived from a couple of other small groups. There was one young girl sitting by herself so I asked if I could sit. I can't remember her name, but she was from Japan, worked in China, and studied in the UK. We talked most of dinner and had a couple of beers. It was nice to finally have someone who spoke English because up to that point I hadn't communicated in English much, but I heard German everywhere from the students running around. After dinner I took advantage of the good Internet service and planned out my next day. I needed to make my way to Innsbruck, Austria to meet Sabine on Saturday. I decided that I really wanted to get to Bavaria and see it's capital. I'm too excited and I know I'll have the time later, but you know....it's on the way!

Leaving the castle was tough. It was too beautiful and it was a very relaxing place, but I could easily get sucked into staying much much longer. I'd like to come back when the town is a little more lively, but I'm glad I came when I did. As I left the castle I noticed that my watch was on a wrong setting and it was much later than it was. I had 30-minutes to gather my things which was mostly packed already, but I was reading and had maps and junk scattered while I was eating breakfast. I grabbed my junk and raced down the trail to catch the train. If I missed this train then I would arrive in Munich at closer to 6pm and not 3:30pm. This has to do with the limited train service in Bacharach and also my connecting train in Mannheim was a 3-Hour bullet (ICE) train ride which are the BEST! It took me only 15-minutes to run down that hill from the castle. I was amazed AND out of breath.

Too bad I had to leave!

Outside of Castle

Court Yard

Walkway

View from Back