THE RHINE & ROTHENBURG- After arriving in Cologne we took a train down to Koblenz and hopped on a ferry there to cruise down the Rhine River. IT was beautiful, with castles and small towns dotting the hills on either side of the river. We got off at Bacharach and took the train into Mainz, where I bid farewell to Brett and Scotty and embarked on my solo mission for the next month, eventually to arrive at home on September 29th. In Mainz it rained the rest of the day so I just stayed at my hostel. The next day as i was leaving for Rothenburg, I noticed a frisbee golf course and played a quick game before heading to the train station.

Rothenburg is a medieval city, complete with a wall all completely encircling it. Although pretty much everybody there is a tourist, it is beautiful and gives you real sense of what those old towns looked like. The wall had a little area on it where you could walk, so I walked around the whole town. I had a pretty good lachmajun (turkish pizza) for dinner and then hung out in the hostel because it was raining again. The next day I headed for Lake Konstanz to meet up with Stephanie Philp.