On the road with Jim and Pat: Hello again from Karlsruhe, Germany

Hello again from Karlsruhe, Germany

Wednesday Evening; August 20, 2008 (fifth travelogue of this trip)

As has been the case with the last few travelogues, I am starting this one while traveling from Ratingen back to Karlsruhe, Germany (on Monday 8/18). Except this time, it is a bit slower form of travel. We are on a boat cruising from Koblenz to Bachrach on the Rhine river. This is a cruise we have taken many times. It has a very large number of Castles on both sides of the river (and one in the middle).

We arrived in Ratingen Sunday afternoon and were greeted by Irina's dad who had a roses for Pat.

Our hotel was very nice and had a great European style breakfast included. It is located (here)

Yesterday we toured Ratingen.

One of the stops was the Water Castle (see photo) which used to be an old farm (update: Irina said that this building was first started about 1100). As the photo shows, it is very picturesque. We also walked through the town market place. There are some gorgeous old buildings including one of the original houses (1600s, I think – later information from Irina it was built in 1472).

We went to Irina's sister Karin's for a great lunch and then to another sister (Birgit) for afternoon coffee and cake (a typical event in Germany). From there we returned to the hotel for an hour of rest and then to a family dinner with all of Irina's family. The dinner was at a restaurant that used to be an old water wheel powered mill. All of Irina's family was there. That includes her two sisters, one brother, her dad, two spouses and 6 nieces and nephews. The Birts and Shepherds had each given the nieces and nephews shirts (the Birts had shirts made with their kids' names on the back and a map of Iowa with a star showing where Prescott is located on the front – the Shepherds gave them Bronco shirts). They seemed very happy with the shirts and we took several pictures including the group photo (see attached). Irina's brother Andreas treated us to our dinners and schnapps for Bill and I. Unfortunately, Matthias had to remain in Karlsruhe because he was on call at the hospital.

Our trip to Ratingen was very special to us and we had a wonderful time.

We took a brief walking tour of Bacharach and then boarded a train for our return to Karlsruhe

Note: I am a few days behind, because there is so much going on and so little time to write. I am going to post this today (8/20) even thought I have not covered the last two days. Hopefully I will catch up in the next few days.