Travel
Castles, hikes, day trips, scenic drives, regional history, wine routes. Place-based, evergreen.
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Wegelnburg at Sunrise: Highest Castle in the Pfalz (572m)
Stop 1 of 1 · Wasgau Ridge Sunrises 1Wegelnburg On Sunday morning 24 May 2026 the three of us drove out from Kaiserslautern at 03:40 to climb the Wegelnburg, the highest castle ruin in the Pfalz at 572 meters above Nothweiler[1], in time for sunrise. It is a sandstone Felsenburg (a castle built directly on…
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Anniversary on the Rhine: When the Day Trip Doesn’t Read the Itinerary
Post 5 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary, May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein Our second wedding anniversary was a Wednesday in May, and we had the day planned to the minute. Coffee at Backhaus Lüning in Bingen at eight. RB26 to Bacharach. Train south to St. Goar. Italian lunch at…
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The KD Cruise St. Goar to Bingen: Seven Castles in Two Hours from a Covered Deck
Stop 4 of 5 · A Rhine Anniversary Day: Bingen, Bacharach, St. Goar, and the KD Cruise 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein The KD Rhine cruise castles sequence does most of the work of a Mittelrhein day for you. From the covered deck of a southbound boat between St. Goar and…
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Bacharach in Half a Morning: A Walk Through Germany’s Most Beautiful Wine Town
Stop 2 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary: May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein It was the morning of our wedding anniversary, and Bacharach was the first real stop after breakfast in Bingen. We arrived at 09:57 by RB26 from Bingen Stadt, walked the Altstadt for about seventy minutes, and caught…
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Europa-Denkmal Sankt Germanshof Day Trip: 1950 Border Crossing Monument
A sunrise stop at the Europa-Denkmal in Sankt Germanshof, where 300 students from nine countries staged the first symbolic border crossing of post-war Europe on 6 August 1950.
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Deutsches Weintor Day Trip: The 1936 Wine Route Arch in Schweigen
Stop 4 of 4 · Sunrise to pastry: a Wasgau & northern Alsace day trip 1Europa-Denkmal (DE) 2Fort Schoenenbourg (FR) 3Wissembourg (FR) 4Deutsches Weintor (DE) The Deutsches Weintor in Schweigen-Rechtenbach is a 19.2-meter sandstone arch built in 1936 as the southern terminus of the Deutsche Weinstraße, with a 1945 US Army inscription carved into its…
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Wissembourg Daniel Rebert Day Trip: Pastry and 1870 Battlefield
Stop 3 of 4 · Sunrise to pastry: a Wasgau & northern Alsace day trip 1Europa-Denkmal (DE) 2Fort Schoenenbourg (FR) 3Wissembourg (FR) 4Deutsches Weintor (DE) Wissembourg sits four kilometers south of the German-French border, an Alsatian town that has changed sovereignty four times since 1871 and still keeps the look of a medieval Free Imperial…
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Fort Schoenenbourg Maginot Day Trip: WWII Bunker Tour for Americans
Stop 2 of 4 · Sunrise to pastry: a Wasgau & northern Alsace day trip 1Europa-Denkmal (DE) 2Fort Schoenenbourg (FR) 3Wissembourg (FR) 4Deutsches Weintor (DE) A Fort Schoenenbourg Maginot day trip from the Kaiserslautern Military Community area drops you 30 meters underground into one of the largest preserved artillery fortifications of the Maginot Line, roughly…
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Bingen as Rhine-Day Base Camp: Where to Eat, Where to Park, Which Station
Stop 1 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary: May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein A Bingen Rhine day trip from Kaiserslautern works because the town sits at the southern hinge of the Mittelrhein UNESCO corridor: park once, eat early, take a train north into the gorge, and ride a cruise back…
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St. Goar in Rain: Closed Restaurants, Basement Asian, and the Castle That Got Away
Stop 3 of 5 · Rhine Anniversary, May 2026 1Bingen 2Bacharach 3St. Goar 4Rhein KD Cruise 5Anniversary Mittelrhein A St Goar day trip from Kaiserslautern is what the Mittelrhein looks like once the morning weather report stops being true. We arrived by RB26 from Bacharach at 11:07 on our second wedding anniversary, with an Italian…