A Wine with my Rhein, Please!

This past weekend, we needed to go to the U.S. Embassy in Frankfort so we decided to take a longer way home through the Middle Rhein Valley. We got up early and drove three hours for our morning appointment. Afterwards, we took a route along the Rhein and I couldn’t believe the luck of the day we had in store for us. The weather was gorgeous, we came across some great places AND enjoyed a glass of wine in this wine valley. The Rhein Valley is famous for wine, so we took advantage of it.

The first place we stopped at was Bingen—“ …the starting point for the Via Ausonia, a Roman military road” linking the town with Trier. It’s also known for the story of the Mouse Tower. In short, the story is about a cruel ruler who treated his people poorly and killed many of them by locking them in a barn and burning it down. Supposedly he commented about hearing the mice squeak. When he returned to his palace, he was plagued by mice who caught him and ate him alive. Let this be a lesson to us all—be nice.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about Bingen to get a picture of the tower, but here is a picture of a castle up on the hill.

Here are a few pictures that got me shaking my head and laughing. The first picture is of a church I took as we were driving toward it. The second one is the van that’s right in front of the church that has “Unfucking-Glaublich (believable)” on the side of it.

We didn’t stay in Bingen long and drove up the Rhein until we came across this adorable German town called Bacharach. Loved it! Here is the plaque that was on the castle wall. I interpreted it underneath through Google translation, so it might not be totally right.

You city of magic and magician

You city Brentano and the Loreley

You rabbi city, you ghetto town

You catch the dream, distant gaze

In nets made of mud, stone and forget

And tie in slate

The root of the vine

Here are some pictures by the Rhein and when we walked into town.

This is the oldest house in Bacharach, built in 1420.

We enjoyed a nice glass of wine at this restaurant.

This was a circle area that had grapes hanging from wires in the middle of the street.

These are the ruins of a church up on the hill. It was built in 1280. I took several pictures of it, but this one is the best. There is a long story behind this church, but I’ll leave that out. 

We came across another area in town that was set around a stream. I went a bit crazy with the pictures.

These pictures were taken overlooking the town of Bacharach. We walked up to the church ruins to get a better view.

I took these when we walked down into town.

Where there’s no Freedom There’s no Happiness

We left Bacharach and headed to Koblenz. On the way, I took a picture of this castle on an island and then of a town and castle on the other side of the Rhein.

My last picture is from Koblenz. These are part of the Berlin Wall.

I hope you enjoyed some wine while taking this trip with me. Have a great rest of week!

Rhein Valley and Wine,

Bea

Autumn Song by Dante Alighieri

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the heart feels a languid grief
Laid on it for a covering,
And how sleep seems a goodly thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the swift beat of the brain
Falters because it is in vain,
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf
Knowest thou not? and how the chief
Of joys seems--not to suffer pain?

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the soul feels like a dried sheaf
Bound up at length for harvesting,
And how death seems a comely thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Burning leaves and hot chocolate,

Bea

Website, Book Trailer, and Publication, Oh My!

Hello Everyone,

I’m back! First, I want to wish everyone a wonderful autumn season. I know it officially hasn’t started yet, but where I’m from, it has. This is my favorite season of the year because it embodies so much of my favorite things; sweaters, jeans, FOOTBALL, beer, popcorn, burning leaves, mulled wine and so much more. I’m sure some of you are shaking your heads no, dreading the cold that will creep back into our lives soon.

Even though my blog has slept, I have been busy behind the scenes. On a personal level, my Love returned to Germany because he didn’t find a job. I’m still looking for a job too and working on my writing life. *drum roll*

I have officially launched my “author website.” This is a task I’ve been working on for months. It’s amazing how you think you have it completed and then you find a grammatical error, or something isn’t working properly. I’ve tested and tested, but I finally have to understand that it will look different on others' computers.

Stop on by and visit my author website. http://www.authordenisebaer.com/

Along with my website, I’ve been working on my book trailer for my poetry e-book. I have never created a trailer and I wasn’t quite sure how I should put it together. Most book trailers give short synopses of their book. I couldn’t quite do that with a poetry book, so I put in some lines from my poetry. You can find the trailer on my website, but here’s the YouTube video.

This is the beginning of my writing promotion and I would truly appreciate it if you could share my information with anyone and everyone.

Have a great day!