Day 71 - What a hike

Today was tiring! Now I know why Germans are all so skinny, they climb mountains for fun! I woke up early today so I could meet everybody that was going on the hike on time. It turns out that due to the construction, I had the choice of either getting there a half hour early, or arriving only a few minutes late. Because a lot of problems with the buses have come up recently (like them being late) I decided to go with the safe bet and just arrive early, which would give me time to read my book. So I got ready and left before the rest of my family was even awake and arrived at the train station to wait for a bit. It turns out I needn't have worried because Rainer, the guy who would be leading us on our hike, was late. Since the train we were taking wasn't supposed to leave for another 20 minutes, we decided to wait. And wait. And wait. By the time the train we were supposed to be on had left, we were getting a little worried and irritated because we couldn't seem to get ahold of anyone. Finally, Rainer showed up and was really apologetic about being so late, saying that he would make it up to us later.

We got on the tram that would bring us across the river and once we got off, started our trek. We hiked up some of the steepest inclines I've seen to reach the Drachenfels. It was at the very top of one of the hills and has a tragic history as well as a legend. The legend states that there used to be a dragon in the castle that was slain by a brave knight, but I'm more inclined to believe the tragic story. It tells of a beautiful woman who loved a man named Roland. His love was so great, that to prove it, he went to Jerusalem to fight in the crusades. Years passed and the news of Roland's death reached the maiden at the castle. Saddened by the loss of her love, she decided that if she couldn't have him, she would have no one and joined the monastery on the island in the middle of the river down in the valley to become a nun. After a few years, Roland came back to be with his love as his death in the crusades was only a rumor. However, his love was already a nun and could not marry him any more. There's a house halfway up the hill that overlooks the island and the monastery, and legend says that Roland would sit at his front porch to try and see the woman that he loved but was never allowed to marry. The name Drachenfels comes from the type of stone that the hill is made out of called Drachen, but the dragon story is more fun than unfulfilled love.

This is where we were heading...with my camera zoomed in as close as possible

 A beautiful house half way up the hill

 From the top of the hill...so pretty!

 This wall was huge! Look how small that person is next to that monstrosity

And a picture of all of us on the hike

After seeing some beautiful views of the surrounding areas from the Drachenfels, we descended slightly for a bit before we continued our hike. Let me tell you, I thought the inclines were steep before, I wouldn't be surprised to find that we were walking along a 60 degree grade for some of the time on the rest of our hike. We walked all 7 hills (not all to the top) before we decided to go over a hill instead of spiraling around it. At the top of the hill, we found what used to be a military stronghold until they decided that living at the top of one of the tallest hills in the region was not that smart because food and water aren't in ready supply and decided to leave. Now it's an embassy for visiting diplomats (I think) and you can even rent out the place for weddings because the grounds are so pretty.

 The embassy/wedding place

A denser part of our hike

From then on, we descended the hills to get to a monastery that was secularized during one of the wars for our lunch. By the time we arrived, it was 2, and we had been walking for the past 4 hours. Rainer had a video on his ipad that showed the history of the monastery and how it would have looked before it was gutted for the stones that it was made out of. We sat down to eat at the restaurant on the grounds, and it was here Rainer made it up to us for his lateness earlier. He bought all the tables a bottle of white wine and showed us how it was supposed to be mixed with mineral water to enhance the taste. All in all, the meal was fun and I enjoyed the company that I had at the table.

 The only thing remaining of the monastery is this front dome

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom

At the end of the meal, we left to go to the tram that would take us back to AIB, and thankfully it was a gradual decrease all the way to the station. I got off with some others to go to AIB to wait for about an hour for the 6:30 mass. It was rather relaxing to just sit for an hour before going to mass, even if the entire thing was in German. At that point, it was getting to be a little late, so I went home and spent some time with my family before going up to bed.

Tomorrow is a meeting over our week in Berlin next week and a whole lot of classes, but Tuesday is going to be a work day due to the fact that our teachers are all going to a meeting is Dusseldorf. Hopefully we can get our Otto Bock project done before we leave for Berlin because we present at the end of that trip.

'Till next time!
Erin Z