We got up early today for breakfast and checkout of the pension so we could travel to Burg Eltz before we set out for the Black Forest.

Burg Eltz is on the Mosel River, about an hour from Bacharach…or should be anyway! We spent an hour just trying to find a road that went through – so many road closures – with no detour! Once we finally got there, we took a fifteen minute downhill walk to see what Rick Steves calls his favorite castle in Europe.

Though I wouldn’t describe it as such, it is a great castle. It’s a complex of sorts – three homes combined to one secure “development” of wealthy landowners. The portion of the “castle” you can tour is a beautiful example of what life would have been like in the building’s heyday. We were able to tour bedrooms, the kitchen, and probably most interestingly, a Vegas-style room…because everything said there stays there! It was a place for the three families to discuss matters without fear of persecution – apparently a rarity in that day! (BTW – crazy old castle – the first evidence of a castle on that spot is from 1157! Wow!)

      And since then we’ve been making our way back to Zurich. We hit lots of traffic (fun on a 90* day with no air conditioning!) and detours so we missed shopping in the Black Forest…and we hit a major traffic jam on our way through the Forest (who knew?) so we were kind of disappointed – though we did see some absolutely gorgeous countryside so it wasn’t a complete wash!

    We are now headed to our last hotel – Holiday Inn Express at the airport. 9:00 flight means early to bed and early to rise for another big travel day.

It’s hard to believe this is all coming to an end. The prospect of returning again soon – or traveling again soon anyway! – is keeping me from being too sad, but I can’t help but already waxing nostalgia. I’m sure it will be worse tomorrow! 🙂

Until then…tschus!