The Wisdom of Herr Jung: Herr Jung, a retired school teacher, led our walking tour of Bacharach. He was a unanimous gem of our tour so far, and even the kids hung on his every word. A kind-hearted soul, he spoke of the history of Bacharach and Germany, adding stories from his personal life growing up in this area. He spoke candidly about WWII, the Holocaust, being forced to join the Hitler Youth and his efforts as a school teacher to reach out to his Jewish students. At the start of the tour, he gave Pam a coin for singing the loudest during the morning greeting song. Later in the tour, Pam threw the coin in a wishing well, wishing for another 25 years of marriage.
Storming the Castle at St. Goar: In the afternoon, we traveled to the nearby town of St. Goar. We had a lunch in the town and then "stormed the castle" as our guide called it. We had another great local guide who took us through Rheinfels Castle. It was very interesting and rich with history.
More Castles and History: We took a boat cruise from St. Goar down the Rhine to Bacharach and our hotel. The narrated boat ride featured more castles and history. Being on the water, it was not hard to imagine traveling on a boat in medieval times, fearing the consequences of not paying the toll to pass each castle.
People Power: Once back on land, we played "the name game" which required us to go around in a circle and recite each tour member's name. This was fun, and although we were at the beginning of the circle, we knew all the names already. This was amazing since we'd only been together as a group only a few short days.