Day 19: St. Goar, Germany (Rhine Valley)

The day began with breakfast and a visit to the Anne Frank Museum. The line was fairly long and we were there before it opened. The Anne Frank Museum was moving. You felt as if you were living in the book, in her life. The way it was set up was that you walked around the house and you read excerpts of her diary. The history was also written in there. It was worth it going in there. Afterwards, we had free time. We are leaving Amsterdam at around 12:30 so we needed to assemble by then. A couple of us went around the shopping area in Amsterdam, purchased some souvenirs and had lunch in this place called Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. We found out that a Bike Race was happening so the city center was crowded and roads were blocked. It was quite fun, though, because music and such were happening all around us. At 12:30, the tour group walked all the way to where the coach was parked and we were headed to St. Goar, Germany aka Rhine Valley.

The drive to Rhine Valley was beautiful, especially when we were headed up the mountain. The foliage, the mountains, the view was just absolutely breathtaking. When we pulled into St. Goar, we visited a beer stein shop, a cuckoo clock store and a Birkenstock outlet. The beer steins were crafted so beautifully. It's quite a shame that I didn't buy one. They were expensive, yet worth it but I didn't think that it was imperative for me to buy one. I didn't get Birkenstocks or a cuckoo clock either. Cuckoo clocks were also especially crafted in Germany. If I remember correctly, Switzerland and Germany are competing with who first created the cuckoo clock. Nonetheless, I was content with buying myself a pin and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. The picture up there was taken across our hotel and I was absolutely in awe of it.

There was a wine tasting excursion that night that I didn't participate in. I needed to be responsible and finish my paper that is due via email the next day. Rhine Valley is famous for their Ice Wine and from what my tour mates have told me, it was pretty good. Oh well, I just need to visit Rhine Valley again at some point in my life.

Munich, Germany the next day!