Don's sister Sudie comes for a visit - all over Europe in 4 weeks!

With Sudie's visit, we start about a 4 week all over Europe tour! We started with the Rudesheim Ring Tour. We started in the lovely town of Rudesheim. Rüdesheim am Rhein is a town in the Rhine Valley, Germany. It’s known for winemaking, especially of Riesling wines. In the center, Drosselgasse is a lane lined with shops, taverns and restaurants.

We rode the chair lift up to Niederwalddenkmal, a monument located in Neiderwald, overlooking the valley of the Rhine. It was built in the 1870/80s to commemorate the Unification of Germany.

We then rode the cable car down to Assmannshausen. Assmannshausen is a small village on the eastern bank of the Rhine river, in Germany's Rheingau wine region. The village's vineyards are planted on steep, quartzite-rich slopes that rise steeply up from the Rhine. Quite distinct from the other Rheingau villages, Assmannshausen specializes not in white Riesling, but in red Spätburgunder, or Pinot Noir. The typical Assmannshauser wine is a ruby color with aromas of cherries, blackberries, fresh mushroom and a hint of smoke.

Then on the ferry to Rheinstein Castle. Burg Rheinstein possesses a working drawbridge and portcullis, which are typical of medieval castle architecture and defenses. The castle is open to the public. Just past the gift shop near the entrance is an opening on the left to the courtyard, which has views of the Rhine. Rheinstein's courtyard is known as the Burgundy Garden after the Burgundy grape vine growing there. The vine, which is approximately 500 years old, still produces grapes.

....and back on the ferry to Rudesheim where we visited the gorgeous Christmas shop for souvenirs and to the winery in the family basement to purchase our case of Spätburgunder wine.