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Pre-tour

We spent three pre-tour days in Germany with Marlon, my exchange student from 2015, and his dad Klaus. They live in Ernsthofen, a little village about one hour from Frankfurt. They were wonderful tour guides, showing us the beauty of the area they live in and ending with lunch with his family in Trier (how lucky were we that Trier is where the tour started!)

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Mom Wow!

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  • Walked on cobblestone streets in Michelstadt

  • Traveled on the autobahn.

Door of the Day

Kaub, Germany

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Our first European meal, and beer, at zur Sonne, a biergarten in Marlon's village.

We had a great flight to Frankfurt, Germany where Marlon and Klaus met us at the airport. Arriving a few days before the tour begins is a tip I read on the Rick Steves website. Taking his advice of fresh air and exercise we didn't let jet lag win. We explored Burg Frankenstein and Schloss Heiligenberg near Darmstadt. Then we walked around their village before dinner at the local biergarten.

Second day in Germany was spent in the medieval town of Michelstadt, chatting with the brewmaster at a local pub, walking on cobblestone streets and looking at all the timber framed buildings.

Third day in Germany was a busy one! First we walked around Darmstadt with Marlon. Darmstadt is about 25 minutes northwest of Marlon's village and the city where Klaus runs his engineering business.

Marlon had to catch a train to Mainz so then Klaus took us on a Rhine River cruise where we saw lots of hilltop castles, sloping vineyards and was surprised to see camp grounds! We love to take our motor home out and explore Oregon so it was fun to see German's camping, too.

We ended the day walking around Mainz, the city where Marlon attends college, and had a scrumptious meal at the Schonborn outdoor restaurant overlooking the Rhine. Over 18,000 steps today and tomorrow we start our Rick Steves tour!

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