I can see it coming: after weeks of traveling by foot, bike, and train, we’ll be getting in a car after we arrive back in the U.S. in a couple of weeks, and in those first moments of speeding down a road, there will be a frightful sense of danger. If you think there’s also a similar sense of danger in riding bikes here in Europe, you’d be wrong. Europeans have rigorous guidelines for acquiring a driver’s license along with strict rules for how you operate a car, which create a [relatively – Caroline] non-threatening environment for bicyclists that must share the road with 2-ton cars.

Enough of that, we have arrived at the Hauptbahnhof as we are leaving town for a couple of days.

This map found overhead on our train shows the stops we’ll be making on our way to Geisenheim in the Rheingau, translating to Rhein District. Wine grapes are this region’s claim to fame along the Rhein River, and we’re on our way to the 11th stop, Geisenheim.

While wine and, specifically, Riesling is a great reason to visit, we are traveling west along the river to visit family.

His Honorable Bundesrichter A.D. Herr Dr. Father Hanns Engelhardt and his wife, Our Lady of Geisenheim Vevie, have an apartment here in the town center. It’s been two years since Caroline has been able to visit while I had just seen Hanns down in Karlsruhe back in June. To celebrate our arrival, a bottle of Sekt (German sparkling wine) was opened.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first photo ever of Hanns and me. Yes, you see that right; I had a glass of water because alcohol in any form and I are incompatible.

I’ll probably overshare the following, but I want to write this early in the post: Caroline and I could not have been welcomed with more enthusiasm and heartfelt gratitude from Hanns and Vevie than we were. Seeing these two together is turning out to be a special treat.

When I say “together,” I’m referring to the situation that we’ve most often seen Hanns down in Karlsruhe, where he was a judge and for many years, he also served the Lord as a priest in the Anglican church for a local parish. Vevie meanwhile maintained the apartment in Geisenheim.

Originally, we were scheduled to arrive at 10:00, but as is apt to happen, we can’t squeeze as much as we would like to into day after day without paying with some small level of exhaustion that requires course corrections during our vacations. And so it was today that we had to delay our departure with us arriving at noon. After the sparkling wine, we needed to beat feet over to a local restaurant (there are not many in Geisenheim) which closes at 2:00.

With some obvious reluctance, our server sat us at 1:4o, knowing there wasn’t a chance we’d be gone by the time they closed. Somewhere around 3:30, Hanns paid the woman who took over for the man who headed out, and with that, we started our walk back to their place.

On our way to lunch, we passed the Rheingauer Dom as we were already late, but as we had to walk right by on our way back, I made my way over for a quick photo inside. Everyone else followed.

At the front of the church, Hanns shared some of his knowledge of procedures as they happen when service is taking place while the ladies continued their chat. On our way out, we stopped to light a few candles and offer a donation to the church.

The conversation flowed faster than the wine, but only barely. Yes, the warmth in Caroline’s cheeks is from the sense of joy we shared with family today, though there’s a certain amount that arrived with the libations.

After five hours of reminiscing and sharing, it was time for us to go check into our wine barrel, I mean hotel, while there was still daylight so I could capture some photos of our unique lodging arrangements.

From previous experience, we knew that there was a river trail that would take us to Rüdesheim, and that was the path we opted for.

No, these are not the wine barrels we’ll be staying at tonight. This photo was taken as a note to our future selves, reminding us that we might want to stay here at Rheingau 524.

Wow, was my exclamation as we approached this collapsed bridge. It is the Hindenburg Bridge in Rüdesheim and has been left as a relic of World War II when it was intentionally destroyed in the closing days of the war to slow the United States’ advancement. My photo does NO justice to the scale of elements; I’ll try to share another tomorrow if we walk by.

Weather is moving into the region with rain forecast to begin tonight, but in the case of this sunset photo, these clouds are a welcome addition adding drama to the sky.

Sorry, Mr. or Mrs. Swan, but we have no snacks that you’ve obviously been conditioned to expect when humans pass.

Time to check into Hotel Lindenwirt here in Rüdesheim.

Did you think I was joking about staying in a wine barrel? In the list of unique lodgings, this is certainly one of our most interesting.

How often do you walk into your hotel room and need to laugh out loud at your good fortune that you’ve snagged something that few people will find as enchanting as you do?

Into the old town, trying to spot something for dinner. Many establishments close at 8:00, which doesn’t leave many options.

I found the one corner that was scruffy enough to lend character to all the shiny new Disneyland-like points in this famous wine-drinking village by the Rhein River.

After dinner, we took a walk looking for a Spaghetti Eis (spaghetti-shaped ice cream I’ve described on many other occasions), and while all four shops we stopped in proclaimed to offer this frozen treat, all of them had already started their closing procedures at 8:30, and the first thing cleaned is apparently the whipped cream dispenser. First of all, good German ice cream shops do not spray fake whipped cream from a can with bright red words on it; they make real whipped cream that tastes like the real thing. Second, Spaghetti Eis without a bed of whipped cream is ice cream with strawberry sauce. Third, I was angry, not because I wasn’t willing to compromise but because these shops close at 9:00, and people visiting from other countries or are on Rhein cruises might forego dessert on their cruise ship or at a local restaurant in order to sit in a cafe and enjoy a parfait are going to be limited in their options to a scoop of ice cream or two.

When I came to Germany earlier this year, I talked with many a restaurant worker or owner who lamented their industry being closed for seven months due to the pandemic. Now here, with the tourism industry open again, the business owners who should be enthusiastic to welcome visitors back appear to only be concerned with their convenience, not my luxury.

Hey Rüdesheim ice cream shops, just shut your operations and leave dessert to the restaurants as you’ve left a blemish on this town. True that many come for the wine, but in such a small town as yours that supports nearly a dozen ice cream shops, it seems that tourism is integral to your economy. Either operate your business honorably for those of us visiting or go away.

And with that lament out of the way, we head into our Winkeler Hasensprung (rabbit jump) wine barrel. The name originates from a local vineyard’s hillside near the town of Winkel. As for the experience of sleeping in a barrel? The bed was inches too short for me, but that didn’t matter one bit as I made it work. Sure, sleep was a bit restless as I had to adjust my contorting position, but who cares? I slept in a wine barrel.