It was a cold, windy morning (50 degrees) and forecast was calling for rain.  Still beautiful buildings

and gardens on our way out of town.

Once again, it was an enchanting morning of castles and vineyards,

vineyards and castles.

This castle, Schloss Stolzenfels,

was known for it’s 19th century style of living, can you image?

Luckily for all (I am sure) one of the camera’s batteries died, so we didn’t get shots of Every Single Castle to be seen along the Rhein; and that is a Lot!

The ride was not without the beautiful small towns

at every turn in the ever snaking river.

We stopped for lunch in Bingen Am Rhein

at a little butcher shop

that served a divine lunch, Bratwurst mit gravy, mashed potatoes und green beans.

On our afternoon bicycle stroll through the countryside, we ran into Reinhold and Christoph,

brothers that enjoyed biking; Reinhold relating his stories of biking in Australia, where he currently lives.  They invited us in for wine, but with 20 miles left to go, we knew we’d never make it all the way, if we took them up on their offer.

At 50 miles the threat of rain was real.  We tried to outrun it and actually beat most of the rain drops.  But we flew the last 14 miles, to make sure we did not get drenched; quickly passing small gardens and farmettes.  Finally made it  (64 miles) to our destination, Mainz, 13 B.C..  The town (among other things) is the center of German wine trade; hoping to find the one we fell in love with in Koln.  Also, the Gutenberg Press did their first moveable printing here in 1450 A.D.
Didn’t see much (photographable) before dinner and bed, so hopefully will catch a few of the monuments on our way out of town in the morning.