Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Rhine Pictures

More pictures from the Rhine River.

Day Two on the Rhine

Guten morgen! So the Rhine cruise on KD line is perfect for Eurailpass hikers and bikers. This is how we did it...
1. Camp in Cologne (Koln) and board the 9:30 am ship to Bad Honningen. Arrive at 3:25 pm.
2. Camp in Bad Honningen. Camp is nice and right at the dock where you get off ship. Wi-fi and a super nice little town and lots of time for a swim in the chilly Rhine.
3. Next morning board the KD ship at 8:05 am to Mainz. The bread truck arrives to the office at 7:50, so get some fresh rolls for the ship before boarding since you will be on it until 7:30 pm.
4. Beautiful views of the castles and natural beauty along the way. When you get off in Mainz, you can get to the campsite by crossing the big bridge to the island and using the pedestrian walkway. About a 25 minute walk. The campsite is roomy and beautiful. Make sure you enjoy the culinary delights of Chef Johann Nemitz at the outdoor restaurant next door. He makes the best vegetable pasta with cream sauce I have EVER had. Resonable prices too.
5. Next day walk the 300 meters to Mainz-Kastel station to main connections.

Everyone should take advantage of this Eurail Pass bonus. It would have cost almost $400 if I bought Rhine Cruise tickets.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

From Belgium to the Rhine

We spent a great day in Bruges Belgium and continued to Cologne Germany at that point we boarded a run River cruise ship down from Cologne to Mainz. Many people don't realize that the KD lines include a trip down the Rhine with the Eurail pass. Riding down the Rhine River on a cruise ship is a lot slower but it's a great way to break up the train rides. The Rhine River is very cold but refreshing, and you get a great view of the castles along the way.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

From Paris to Bruges, Belgium

We packed up in Paris and began a trek to Cologne Germany today. As always, plans change! I don't know how anyone can have set plans and reservations over here. We would have waited 2 hours to get a reservation on the high-speed TGV out of Paris, missing the train anyway. We looked at the RailPlanner app and switched plans to Brussels, Belgium. On the train we read about a small midieval town called Bruges. Our book said if you have one place to visit in Belgium, it must be Bruges. Nate wants a waffle, Chelsea and Stace want chocolate, and I will have a Pilsner Urquell. I will take some pics and upload them tomorrow. It seems wi-fi at campgrounds is hit or miss so we hang outside McD's or Starbucks for access.

Some great news, Nate and I were able to change our flights for the return leg for 25k United miles. That way we don't have to leave early leaving Stace and Chelsea in Greece. I doubt they would come back!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

France

We took the ferry from Dover to Calais and then took a train to Lille France which was a disaster. Lille had no camping spots and it was very scary and dirty. We jumped on a fast train TGV which goes at a hundred and seventy miles per hour to Paris. When we got off the train in Paris another disaster are we had an attempted scam but ended up getting in to our campsite around midnight. The next day we went into Paris and had a spectacular time. Paris is beautiful easy to get around and the people are super nice. We toured another two days in Paris and are now about to leave to Cologne Germany which is fairly central in its location so we can visit Belgium and The Netherlands on day trips. We'll then work our way to eastern Germany and then down to Austria. Things are going great.