Tuesday we took a train down to a town called Eltville. Little did I know that I would be visit one of the most stunning towns I had ever been to, or that we would be finishing the day in pure elegance in the town’s castle.
Tuesday morning, after taking the train down to Eltville, we briefly spent some time walking around the town together. After seeing some of the streets and looking at the older buildings, which I learned some of which were older than the United States, we decided to break up to get Icecream and some people went off to explore the town for a bit, before meeting up by the river that runs through the town.
I went with Professor Jacobs, Volker, and Sam to get ice cream and a smaller shop than the other people on the trip were getting ice cream at. We ordered our ice cream, and sat down to enjoy it as people typically do. Once I finished my ice cream, however, I remembered that I had seen a restaurant that had the word “Doner” on it. I was told by a friend of mine that had been to Germany many times in the past that I needed to go to a restaurant with this word in the title, as it would be some of the more delicious street food I had ever eaten. As a result, I decided to briefly step away from my ice cream companions to go order something from this restaurant. I decided on ordering a “Doner sandwich with cheese”, and was not at all disappointed with the results!
After getting my Doner sandwich and returning to the group I had gone with to get ice cream, we walked down to the river bank, and not only did I get to see a stunning ground-level view of the river, but also got to sit down and enjoy my delicious sandwich. We also some some bits of the old town wall on our way down to the river, which fit perfectly in with the old style buildings of the inner town.
After I finished my Doner sandwich and had some time to admire the river, we were informed via the group chat that there was a place down the way along the river that had delicious cold drinks, which was perfect as it was a rather warm and sunny day. I, as well as the nearby students from Germany, decided to make our way down to this building that we had been sent a picture of. Inside, I quickly learned that they had a drink called “Longwein” which was a mixture of lemonade, mint, ginger, and the local town’s special wine. This drink was absolutely delicious, and a perfect drink to have while relaxing at a table alongside the river. In the end, I ended up ordering two of these drinks because it was so amazing, and I had several flashbacks to lounging on the beach and a sea-side restaurant from a trip I went on to the island of capri many years back. It was an amazing and relaxing experience.
After enjoying our “Longwein” and talking for a while, we decided it was time to go explore the nearby castle, and as I soon found out would we actually be meeting the Mayor of the town in that castle.
We walked castle gardens for a fair bit, and I was amazed at how beautiful the flower displays around the castle grounds were, as well as the overall architecture of the castle itself. After a while I began to feel like I was no longer actually on earth, but in a fairy tale of some sort.
After walking through the gardens for a while, the castle began to close up for the day. Despite this, however, we went up to the interior part of the castle, where we met up with the Mayor of the town. We were then invited to climb up one of the towers in the castle, where several historical displays were setup, and when we get to the very top we were able to get a higher up view of the river and the surrounding town.
After concluding our tour of the castle tower, we then joined the Mayor in an upper-garden section of the castle where we enjoyed champaign, pretzels, and a dip for the pretzels that was incredibly delicious.
The reception lasted for about an hour and a half I believe, but after that we thanked the Mayor for this wonderful gesture, and sooner after returned to the train station in order to get back to our hotel. After getting back to the hotel, I decided to call it for the day there, as I had experienced a wonderful but eventful day.