Rhein...land of the castles

Today was our day to pick up Jake & Shayne in Mainz, home of the Gutenberg Museum. We had a lovely European breakfast (well, most Chase as he opted for sleep over food, I guess boredom wore him out yesterday!) and went shopping. We spent almost an hour in a Christmas store that had more ornaments than trees in the black forest. You could spend a year's salary to decorate a tree! Thankfully, we walked out of the store with money left in our pocket and a personalized ornament. On to get a stein...not that we'll ever drink out of it, but one that will be a keepsake of Germany. We ventured back to the hotel to get checked out and ensure our teenager saw noon. Off to Mainz we headed, but getting out of the old district was not an easy feat. Once we found one of two gates into the old town, we made good time and arrived an hour early. The older kids were still in the museum, so we visited an old church near the museum (also the local Saturday market, great atmosphere) that was built in the 1300's, I think it was the Cathedral of Mainz. With still some time to kill we sat down at a bistro for a local brew, Bitburger. It was not one of the better biers we tried, but the people watching was thoroughly enjoyable. Soon Jake and Shayne came out of the museum, so the road to the Rhine River began. Our family road trip was less than an hour and we were in the quaint town of Oberwesel. Since we were going to cruise the river, we opted to stay in a B&B in a vineyard just outside of town. The Pursch's were the proprietors of the B$B, and we stayed in their vineyard. One important visual necessary, the vineyards are on very steep mountains, so a walk through the vineyard was not to be, nor could you see very far. To our delight, Pursch's shared some of their wine with us. We tried 4 varieties of Reisling, from very dry to semi-sweet. What we learned is their Reisling wine is not what most of us drink in the USA; and their family was 1 of ~ 11,000 winemakers in their province. They produce about 25,000 bottles a year on 10 hectares. We spent an hour visiting when the husband and wife, what a friendly host. We strolled the Rhine River and took in some of the local castles. According to one sign, there were 36 castles in the immediate area, not sure how many hectares. Since the older kids got up a 4 am we made it an early evening and were ready for our cruise on the Rhine.