St. Goar

We had already driven past this town along the way to Bacharach, so we knew of the impressive castle overlooking the town. It was 4pm and we had driven past the place we intended to park but stumbled upon another stellplatz along the Rhine. It was more expensive then the one in Bacharach, however we parked right along the bank, had electricity for 1 euro and unlimited internet for 2 euros. This was a different kind of stellplatz, as it was called Fun Boat Marina. So yes, there were plenty of boats. We had to go out onto the dock to use the bathrooms that were filled with spiders. For me, this was an awesome place to stay. Across the river we had a view of a small town and another castle high up on the valley walls. Next to us was the boat marina and I told Julie at least 3 times that we could be docked there too if we got a boat instead. The (small) marina had bathrooms, showers and a bar. If you were to turn your back on the river, you would see a very steep valley wall with St. Goar’s Castle perched up to the right. I imagine Julie liked it too (read North Bay’s entry to see why she might disagree), unfortunately Julie wasn’t feeling great at all so it was hard for her to show my enthusiasm for the place. When we arrived in Bacharach, our original plan was to spend one night see the sights there then take off for St Goar and Cologne the following day. Instead we stayed 1 day in Bacharach and 2 in St Goar before leaving for Cologne. The drive from to Bacharach was pleasant and quick, it is only 15 km away, so when we arrived in St Goar we knew it was too late for us to make Cologne too which is why we stayed at this stellplatz. The walk up to the castle is extremely exhausting, especially after a day of walking up to another castle earlier that day. Once we reached the top, we learnt that we were too late to gain access to the castle, so this meant we needed to head back down and see it the next day. By this point, Julie was in rough shape. She couldn’t stand, sit up or talk with out making herself feel worse. That evening, Julie and I used the internet to upload all our pictures, update all of the blogs and spend the time to get everything we needed to in order. It took 9 ½ hrs to upload all the pictures and update the blogs. So by midnight I suggested for Julie to get some sleep, and she did. I stayed up to 3 am to get everything uploaded because we were leaving for Cologne the next day. We got up very late the next day and I managed to get Julie up to the castle a second time. The castle itself was pretty cool. It’s the largest we have been too, and they had a huge cave system to explore as well, if you brought a flashlight……So we didn’t see the caves. The castle itself had many dark passageways, at times we felt they should have provided flashlights. We were hopping to get into town to buy some much needed bread, but Julie’s condition was getting worse and after an argument, I convinced her to stay another night in St Goar. It was around 4pm when we got back to the van after visiting the castle and once we paid for the spot (cheaper this time because we didn’t need the access code for the internet, as we got it the night before) I spoke to the guys to find out how to get the electricity going again. It was 1 euro for 12 hrs of use, and that’s about average. That night we watched movies online, The Bourne Ultimatum (Good movie, but again, nothing like the book), The Simpson’s Movie (Good movie, lots of laughs), and finally Rush Hour 3 (Funny, just like the first 2). It was a much needed break and we hope to do it again soon, but only when we can find unlimited wireless internet access.