We had a looong fun-filled day today on our girl’s trip.  I’m going to try and be brief when I describe it because I also took tons of pictures. 

We got up a bit early and caught a train from Candace’s town to Rudesheim, which is located along the Rhine River. 

Our first look at Rudesheim and the Rhine. 

First, we went on a scenic boat ride and saw several castles and landmarks from the boat. 

We bought Ruby and Jasper instant print cameras like our girls got and Ruby and Esme took lots of pictures.  Nova forgot hers at Candace’s house and was a little sad at first but we can print copies of Esme’s pictures if she wants to put them in her travel journal. 

Part of the boat package was going in this castle so we got off the boat to explore. 

The view of the Rhine from the castle. 

After the castle, we took the boat to Assmannshausen.  After walking through town, we got on a ski lift that took us up the rise into the forest. 

We then had a 45 min walk (plus stops) through the forest.  It was beautiful and there were some cool stops along the way like a giant fallen tree the kids could climb on and a man-made cave.  I didn’t take any pictures in the forest though. 

At the end of that walk was Niederwald Monument.  We then rode a cable car down back to Rudesheim where we are staying for the night. 

The girls had fun playing games like hand clapping games, “Criss-cross Applesauce” and others. 

First ice cream of the day.

Back to the hotel and pretty hot, tired and thirsty.  We took about a 2 hour rest.

Then we went out to dinner.  The girls played Go Fish and Uno Flip while waiting for food.  Food came and it was a hit with everyone.  Everything was tasty and we had just the right amount except for the salad which we underestimated.

After dinner, we walked around Rudesheim.  We looked in a few shops that were open and had a second ice cream. 

Apparently spaghetti ice cream is popular here.  To make it, they press it through a machine and top it with strawberry sauce and white chocolate flakes to make it look like real spaghetti.

The girls talked late at the ice cream shop until we all decided it was time for bed.  We retired to our hotel rooms and plan to do some fun stuff nearby before heading back to Candace’s house.