It is a warm and beautiful day and we are going on a grand adventure. We start our day with a bus to Bingen where we prepare for a boat trip to St. Goar. This will be a cruise on the Rhine River past world-famous rocky outcrops. We will see vineyards, quaint little towns, and grand fortresses.
I am just relaxing...preparing to board the boat.
Imagine an SNL skit - Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd...only a German version. They provided a short bit of entertainment.
Here are the Virginia representatives...Rick and me
If you gotta go, you gotta go.
We are on the boat and this is the first "wow" moment.
Having a great time Canada(IA), Ben(AZ), Karen(MI), Melissa (Canada), Nicole(PA) and Regina(NY)
Gary(TX), Tony(CA), Sam(IN) and Cynthia(KY)
Steffan(guide from Frankfurt), me, Melissa(NY), Pam(CO), Laura(CO), and Carmen(guide from Wiesbaden)
Klaus(TOP Goethe, Washington, DC), John(MA) and Rick(VA)
Nice little place
We got off the boat and rode the bus to Speyer. Here was a huge Cathedral. From the outside, you could see the different times the church had been repaired, added on to, etc. It was an enormous church.
This vessel was filled with wine...and all of it was consumed.
This is the Jewish quarter. This synagogue was bombed during the war. This was an entire settlement for the Jewish people in Speyer. The focus of the settlement was the Judenhog, the religious centre, with its synagogue for men and women and its ritual cold bath, today it is the only fully preserved mikvah in Germany.
The guide, agreed with what we had been told before, that the Jewish people really want the rest of the world to know that they are more than the Holocaust...they had a past before the Holocaust and they have had a future since the Holocaust.
This is the inside of the Cathedral.
This vessel was filled with wine...and all of it was consumed.
This is the Jewish quarter. This synagogue was bombed during the war. This was an entire settlement for the Jewish people in Speyer. The focus of the settlement was the Judenhog, the religious centre, with its synagogue for men and women and its ritual cold bath, today it is the only fully preserved mikvah in Germany.
The guide, agreed with what we had been told before, that the Jewish people really want the rest of the world to know that they are more than the Holocaust...they had a past before the Holocaust and they have had a future since the Holocaust.
This is the inside of the Cathedral.
We now go to our farewell dinner at the Gutsschanke Schloss Johannisberg. This restaurant sits above a beautiful vineyard. At the dinner, Ben(AZ) and I presented Klaus the Adidas soccer shirt from everyone in the TOP group. He immediately put it on and as far as we know, he wore it all night...as he had it on in the morning when we left.:) I think he liked it.
This was dinner...to go along with really delicious wine.
Me, Melissa(NY), Melissa(Canada) and Nicole(PA)
The view from our table.
This was dinner...to go along with really delicious wine.
Me, Melissa(NY), Melissa(Canada) and Nicole(PA)
The view from our table.After arriving back at Motel One is Wiesbaden...a bunch of us went across the street to the "movie in the park." 6 am will come very early and I have no clock, no phone (Karen told me she would knock on the door at 6)...so I left the hard core "kids" at the park.
Thank you TOP Goethe for a great, great Historical Adventure.
What a wonderful trip, Kel! Thank you for sharing. (((bighug))))
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