Day 1 - The Day Between The Clouds.

It took a full day of traveling (flights and layovers) to get from Nashville to Newark to London and then finally to Frankfurt. Seriously? Yes, seriously. Because of the time differences, it was basically daylight the entire flight(s)...this is what I saw out the window...for nearly 11 hours:

Clouds above and beneath...clouds look the same everywhere...fyi.

The scenery changed when I landed:


Yay! Brad was there to meet me at the gate in Frankfurt! He had already spent a week in Italy, walking around Rome and Florence ... and then got to relax a bit in Baden-Baden before meeting me in Frankfurt.

From the airport we took a train to Bacharach, a small village in the Rhine River Valley. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!  The pictures below don't do justice to the amazing cobblestone streets and beautiful flowers and breath-taking views of medieval castles...

That first table with the white umbrella is where we ate dinner.  I had jagerschnitzel for the first time...and Coke Light! Brad had some sort of meat (surprise!) and a Coca-Cola Classic! 

See the dates on this gate to the city? 1322 and 1366!

This is the oldest house in the village - built in the 1300s (Altes Haus).

We walked up the hill toward the castle to get a view of the village. I thought the church was gorgeous.

Brad decided to check on the vineyard...wanted to make sure things were progressing as they should. The grapes were tiny. I hope that's normal.

One of the many pictures we that Brad took of us with scenery in the background.  It's worth mentioning that at this point it's about 9:30pm. Yes, that's pm.  The sun didn't go down until 10pm or a little after. It was nuts.

We made it to the top of the hill. This is the back of the castle (now a hostel).

Finally the sun went down, and all of the village streets were lit up with strings of lights.

Nashville, Newark, London, Frankfurt, and Bacharach. Day 1.