Todays travel brought me to a town called Bad Kreuznach. It did not get it's name because some little boy named Kreuznach misbehaved. There are lots of towns in Germany called Bad something. Bad Ulm, Bad Homburg, Bad Saarow, etc. Bad literally means Bath in German and translated Bad Kreuznach is bath after cross. Many of the towns named Bad are well known for the wellness houses or spas where people come to relax and... well... bathe. It is located on the Nahe river, which flows into the Rhine. It is also in the famous wine country and the city actually dates back to the year 58 A.D. Yeah, that's old. Anyways when I got there I decided once again to make my way to the top of the mountains to visit the remains of an old castle which now hosts a neat little modern hotel that you can see in this pic:
To get there I had to go through the old town, which was a slightly shorter walk than yesterday, only around 63 miles. I thought I would walk the length of the old town, then double back and climb the mountain. In doing so I found a backdoor route that lead up a flight of stairs instead of a path, which meant a shorter trip but it meant stairs. Lots of stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. Forty six thousand three hundred and eighty-two stairs. I counted each one, or at least my thighs did. A fat out of shape guy should really think about these things before he gets halfway up ya know. Anyways I took a slight break and snapped this little roof top photo. Look closely at the right side of the pic. Those are two guys working on a new roof about sixty feet in the air on a cold windy rainy day. NO THANK YOU.
When I got to the top I spotted a huge dog and a couple of hippies sitting down drinking a beer. The hippies were drinking the beer, not the dog. The dog was sniffing around looking for a place to poo. Now that I think about it, the hippies were probably doing that as well. I walked around the place and went over to the castle/hotel. Great, more damn stairs. It was worth the hike though, awesome view of the hillside vineyards and the Paulskirche (St. Pauls Church) below.
I then took the path that winds down along the mountain. As usual much easier going down then up. The path takes you right through the vineyards, and you could easily steal all of the grapes you want. Of course this being November there weren't any grapes on the vine, not to mention the fact one would probably get punched in the face for stealing grapes, so I left the vines alone. I did take a bunch of pics. (get it? bunch like a bunch of grapes, get it?haha). Halfway down there is a building called a tea house. Did I mention it was halfway down? In a sense it was half way down, in reality, you had to walk three quarters of the way down, then turn right and walk back UP to get to it. Oh, and guess what? You know it, you had to walk up another flights of stairs. Yes, flights as in plural, as in three thousand six hundred and fifty four flight of stairs. Which totals out to , oh I don't know, somewhere in the neighborhood of 753, 879 total steps. And that view was crappy. Oh well. Back down I walked along the river and short cutted across a park and then through a nice little neighborhood where I saw this little scene:
That's right, freaking palm trees in Germany! This was a wellness house and I am telling you the people there must be doing awfully well because parked in the driveway was a super nice Mercedes and a freaking Bentley. Whoa. OK, a little more walking and then I came to the thing I really wanted to see in Bad Kreuznach, the bridge houses. These bridge houses date back to 1480! They survived the Thirty Years War, and WW1 and WW2. There is actually a cannon ball in the front of one of the houses, allegedly from the Thirty Years War. It amazes me how something over 500 years old can survive like this.
It was a long day, the train ride took nearly two hours for me to get back. I am pooped.
To get there I had to go through the old town, which was a slightly shorter walk than yesterday, only around 63 miles. I thought I would walk the length of the old town, then double back and climb the mountain. In doing so I found a backdoor route that lead up a flight of stairs instead of a path, which meant a shorter trip but it meant stairs. Lots of stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. Forty six thousand three hundred and eighty-two stairs. I counted each one, or at least my thighs did. A fat out of shape guy should really think about these things before he gets halfway up ya know. Anyways I took a slight break and snapped this little roof top photo. Look closely at the right side of the pic. Those are two guys working on a new roof about sixty feet in the air on a cold windy rainy day. NO THANK YOU.
When I got to the top I spotted a huge dog and a couple of hippies sitting down drinking a beer. The hippies were drinking the beer, not the dog. The dog was sniffing around looking for a place to poo. Now that I think about it, the hippies were probably doing that as well. I walked around the place and went over to the castle/hotel. Great, more damn stairs. It was worth the hike though, awesome view of the hillside vineyards and the Paulskirche (St. Pauls Church) below.
I then took the path that winds down along the mountain. As usual much easier going down then up. The path takes you right through the vineyards, and you could easily steal all of the grapes you want. Of course this being November there weren't any grapes on the vine, not to mention the fact one would probably get punched in the face for stealing grapes, so I left the vines alone. I did take a bunch of pics. (get it? bunch like a bunch of grapes, get it?haha). Halfway down there is a building called a tea house. Did I mention it was halfway down? In a sense it was half way down, in reality, you had to walk three quarters of the way down, then turn right and walk back UP to get to it. Oh, and guess what? You know it, you had to walk up another flights of stairs. Yes, flights as in plural, as in three thousand six hundred and fifty four flight of stairs. Which totals out to , oh I don't know, somewhere in the neighborhood of 753, 879 total steps. And that view was crappy. Oh well. Back down I walked along the river and short cutted across a park and then through a nice little neighborhood where I saw this little scene:
That's right, freaking palm trees in Germany! This was a wellness house and I am telling you the people there must be doing awfully well because parked in the driveway was a super nice Mercedes and a freaking Bentley. Whoa. OK, a little more walking and then I came to the thing I really wanted to see in Bad Kreuznach, the bridge houses. These bridge houses date back to 1480! They survived the Thirty Years War, and WW1 and WW2. There is actually a cannon ball in the front of one of the houses, allegedly from the Thirty Years War. It amazes me how something over 500 years old can survive like this.
It was a long day, the train ride took nearly two hours for me to get back. I am pooped.
1 comment:
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