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Sunday
11th. July 2010 .... (Temperature: 24˚C -
33˚C)
Our day began with a 4:00am wake up call. We weren't really surprised to
see Antonia waiting for us with a taxi driver in the foyer. She could so
easily have stayed in bed and let us leave the hotel and make our way to
the airport under the cover of darkness. But she is so dedicated to
doing her job well that she made the extra effort to bid us farewell. It
is little wonder Peregrine Tours gave her their best European guide award
last year. A job well done!
We arrived at the airport after a very fast taxi cab journey. As we
checked in we saw John McEnroe and his entourage checking in alongside
us. He had played an exhibition match against
Goran Ivanišević the day before
we reached Dubrovnik. John was cool and hardly said a word all flight.
Our flight was uneventful and we arrived at Frankfurt Airport just after
8:30am. We had our passports stamped again as we entered the European
Union and went in search of a hire care. As with our previous
experience with Frankfurt, it is a series of labyrinths and no
destination is closer than 500mters. Hertz, Budget, Europcar didn't have
a car unless it had been prebooked.
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Finally Avis found a Fiat Panda for
us. It was a great little car and with the two of us and our
luggage it could match most cars on the autobahn and
cruised along at 130 - 140kph with ease. The big Audis, BMWs and
Mercedes had little difficulty in passing us at around (we
estimated) 180 kph. After taking a few wrong
turns and being completely lost for about half an hour, we found ourselves on the A3 autobahn.
Unfortunately the A3 autobahn which was to take us to Rothenberg was
under construction in a few places and we were reduced to a crawl in
those stretches of road. We drove 450kms in total. |
We arrive at Rothenberg ob der Tauber (Rothenberg odT)
at about 1:30pm and parked the Panda (€3).
Rothenberg is a Medieval town that has been restored and is nearly
devoid of cars. There were plenty of tour groups walking the streets and
invading the souvenir and novelty shops. It is very picturesque with
wonderful gardens outside the walls, and street upon street of Medieval buildings.
It is a walled town, surrounded by a 2 km. 14th. century wall that has been
restored after being damaged in WW2. As we arrived, the Wisconsin Choir, who was on tour,
was performing in the 30+ degree heat plus high humidity in the market square. They were
excellent; singing classical music through to Gershwin.
After a couple of hours wandering the streets, we made the 2 hour
journey back to Frankfurt Airport and returned the Panda. (Hire + Petrol
cost € 108 + € 40 = € 148). Petrol was € 1.454 per litre which is approx
A$2.10 per litre. If I had let Avis fill the car rather than do it myself, they would have charged € 2.85 per litre!!
We arrived at the Mecure Hotel in Frankfurt just after 6:15pm after a
long day, and had a football final special dinner comprising of a
hamburger and chips and a glass of beer at the hotel.
Monday
12th. July 2010 .... (Temperate: 21˚C - 35˚C)
It was another fine, hot, humid day. We had a lazy morning as we waited
for the rest of the tour group to arrive. We had rolls and coffee for
breakfast at a local bakery and did some washing.
We spent time catching up on our washing etc and at 3:30pm we
met up with Elisabeth, our tour guide and went on a bus tour of
the centre of Frankfurt. We passed through the Saxonhausen area
where the local population go and drink their cider and relax.
Then past countless buildings named after Goethe who was born
here in 1749. One of Goethe's achievements was to have been
engaged 26 times and marrying for the first time when he was in
his late 50's.
Although we didn't get close to it, we saw a very ornate
church/cathedral in the distance. |
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Tuesday
13th. July 2010 .... (Temperature: 18˚C -
30˚C)
At 8:00am we boarded our bus and set off to St. Goarshausen in the Rhine
Valley. The journey took about 90 minutes, the last 30 minutes we was
through vineyards with the Rhine River on our left hand side. At 10:00am
we boarded the "Loreley" river boat and started our 3 hour journey up
the Rhine to Rűdesheim. The countryside was stunning and we passed
numerous castles. We passed the 130m high Loreley Rock. Legend has it
that a nymph sat naked on the rock combing her golden hair and singing
to the boatmen as they made their way up and down the river, luring them
to their deaths on the rocks below... and hence the "Lorelei" which has
become a folk song.
We arrived in Rűdesheim had lunch in
one of the local restaurants did a quick look around the town and caught
the bus back to Frankfurt.
We were dropped off in the main
square and explored for awhile. We had a light dinner of quiche and
salad.
I was asked by the lovely Mimi from
a troupe of American street performers to help set up their tubular
steel "tripod" so that they could do their aerobatic/acrobatic
performance. My task was to put my foot on one of the tripod legs to
stop it from slipping until the whole thing was set up.
We watched their performance the
caught our bus back to the hotel, arriving at about 7:15pm.
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