European Journal July 9, 2010

Our alarm worked (because I didn't try to use the snooze button!), and we were ready for breakfast at 7am. It was in the same restaurant at the Anker Hotel. The buffet was not what we'd had at our last two hotels. There was yogurt, cold cereal, cold cuts, cheese, bread, and rolls. We boarded our bus at 8am, and drove about 45 minutes to the town of Boppard. The drive was mountainous and had beautiful scenery.

We got on a small touring ship in Boppard to take a 2 hour cruise on the Rhein River.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we had a nice breeze. The ship had two floors, and there was seating on the top that allowed a great view. Bryan and I sat on top, enjoying the sun and breeze.

We saw several castle ruins and remnants of Roman fortresses. The small villages on either bank were very quaint and pretty, with lots of flowers and attention to detail. Germany was really much more beautiful than we had imagined it would be.

We saw Loreley's Rock... there's an old legend about a woman who sat on the very tall rock ledge and sang to seduce the sailors as they sailed down the Rhein.

We re-boarded our bus and drove until 1pm, when we stopped at a "Restplatz" (rest plaza) to have lunch. It was a very traditional German, self-service restaurant. The toilets were pay toilets, .50 euro, but you could get that money discounted (all of it!) if you made a purchase.

We got some Scniltz-something. It was egg noodles with a pork and mushroom sauce. It was very tasty. We had chocolate pudding for dessert.

We then re-boarded at 1:45pm and embarked on the long drive to Austria. The drive was lengthened by several car accidents and LOTS of traffic, as a result. I watched, in horror, as one of our group member's feet swelled to twice their original size. We had more delays, more traffic, and were even stopped by the German Police! It took them a very long time to go over the bus and driver's records. We could see the Tyrolean Alps, so the drive was at least made more interesting by the beautiful views.

We didn't arrive in Innsbruck, Austria, until 10pm! We had our dinner at the Hotel, Rumer Hof. It was a good dinner, with soup, salad, a boneless piece of schnitzel (pork), rice, and vegetables. Bryan and I had a Fohrenberger beer, as well. We had "Joghurt" with fruit for dessert.

The Hotel Rumer Hof was very pretty and modern. Moreso, when you compared it to our hotel in Andernach! There were elevators, and you could buy internet use for .17 euro per minute. We tried to use the internet, but it was remarkably slow, and we gave up after a short time. The weather was again, unusually hot for the area. There was no air conditioning, and it was 82 degrees in our room! We had a nice balcony with a view of the Tyrolean Alps, but no screens, and it was shared with the entire second floor, so we slept with the doors closed. Regardless, I think we ended up sleeping well after such a long day.Bryan had just discovered our "shared" balcony :)

This picture of the outside of our hotel was taken the next morning... it was too dark when we got in to take a picture!