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| Glenn's Journal for 10-10-02 - The Rhine River We set the alarm for 7:25 am on Erin's watch which means that she will awake, roll over and cuddle, and then arise around 20-30 minutes later. We had a schedule this morning as the boat departed from Bingen at 9:30 am. The hotel price included breakfast, which was not too bad, and off we were by 9:10 am. We checked at the counter to verify if we needed tickets but we did not as our Eurorail pass would work for today. The trip up the Rhine was spectacular and lasted 3 1/2 hours. There are many castles along this section of the Rhine along with many quaint little towns. We wished we had the time to see every little town and castle along the way but time was not permitting. The castles along the Rhine have an interesting story to them as the owners built these castles to hang chains across the river to collect tolls from any boat that tried to pass. Many castles were built and many people became wealthier. We arrived into Koblenz around 1:00 pm where we huffed our way to the Hauptbahnhoff (Train station) before just making the 1:37 pm train to Koln (Cologne). From here we transferred to the 3:02 pm train to Brugges where we planned to arrive around 7:00 pm. We actually made our train connection in Koln, even having time to gather lunch before the train departed. We were a little late getting into Brugge but we were still in town by 7:30 pm. We had checked the internet yesterday for places to stay in Brugge and, upon checking a map of the city, we headed out to check on a few. The first one we came upon was full but the next few places were not. We finally found the Hotel Passage, near the train station and center of town, for 12 Euros per person per night for a dorm, or 35 Euro for a double. Tonight we opted for the dorm but will decide in the morning if we will change into a double. We ended up in a dorm room with 3 Canadiens and 2 Australians. To say the least Erin was the only women in the room. The hallway, which consisted of 5 rooms with probably 4-6 per room, had 4 toilets, 2 urinals, and 1 shower (for 20-30 people!!!). We sufficed but in the morning we will probably change to a double. After setting our bags down in the room we were ready for dinner. The Hotel has a restaurant and bar area in which we had dinner. I had lasagna and Erin had a chicken stew (to help her oncoming cold) with 2 complimentary beers. Erin had both, of course, and I opted for a soda. After dinner we went upstairs and read before "hitting the hay". Tonight Erin would take some Nyquil to help her cold. |
| St Goar and Bacharach are a few of the many quaint cities along the Rhine. |