We just returned home from a very nice trip month long visit to mostly SW Germany and parts of northern Belgium. We flew into Dusseldorf May 1st and our route took us to overnight(s) stays in Koeln (Cologne), Wurzburg, Dinkelsbuhl, Norlingen, Assmannshausen, Oberwessel (at the Auf Schoneburg castle hotel), St Goar, Zell, Bernkastel-Kues, Trier, Ghent and Brugge. We stayed in hotels and B&Bs, enjoyed many meals, castles and walks etc. The weather was surprisingly great the whole time. If anyone has any questions about those areas or places along those routes I can tell you about what we enjoyed. <BR>

I knew I left out some place when I wrote the above. We also stayed two nights in Beilstein (that's on the Mosel). Two weeks of our trip was along the Mosel and middle Rhine.

Would like to hear about your impressions and experiences in Wurzburg, St. Goar, Trier, and the less traveled (i.e. non-Brugge) portions of Belgium. But frankly, I would like to hear a whole trip report. If you prepare such a report, pls e-mail it to me, or post it here. If you don't prepare one, at least give us a few highlights (and low points). Thx!

Hi Jeff: I have *intensions* of writing a travel report but I'm a notoriously detailed person so Lord knows when/if I'll be finished with it. <BR>I've spent hours writing a journal of our trip (mostly for myself and my Mom) and I'm not even to the second day of our trip yet (LOL)! I will tell you a bit here now though about the places you asked about (Wurzburg, St. Goar, Trier, and the less traveled (i.e. non-Brugge) portions of Belgium.). <BR> We spent 3 days in Wurzburg and really liked that small city a lot. We stayed at a mid-priced hotel called the Schonelieber at Theaterstrasse 5 (one interesting side point that we found out when we were at the local history museum at the Marienburg Fortress across the river was that that street was renamed Adolf Hitler Strasse from 1935-1945). Our double room without bath was 110 DM a night. Room was small & featureless but clean. Toliet down the hall was large and clean and few shared it. Buffet breakfast was better than the usual German buffet (more variety). <BR>Wurzburg has many interesting buildings and not many tourists (at least in May). At night many of the buildings and the old stone bridge (well, rebuilt replica as Wurzburg was almost totally destroyed in an Allied bombing on March 16, 1945 but you'd never know that now as it's been accurately rebuilt) look fabulous all lit up. Took some great nightime photos with a timer and tripod. Highlights of the city are the Residenz palace and garden (the bishop/prince's hidden toliet-desk is a laugh....one of a kind) and the Marienburg fortress. Wurzburg has a big university and many of the students hang out near the river drinking, but it's NOT rowdy surprisingly enough. The students just seem to gather in small groups, drink and talk quietly as they look at the lights on the river. We always felt safe everywhere at night and were so amazed at how quiet the people and streets were at night. <BR>One day we walked across the bridge and up to the fortress through a vineyard. Very nice walk. We ate dinner at two nice restuarants that I would recommend: Wurzburger Ratskeller at Langgasse 1 and especially Zum Stachel at Gressengasse 1 where we had a wonderful meal outdoors on a romantic patio. I will forwarn you that almost everywhere we went to eat in Germany (including these two places) had only menus in German. That was not a problem for us as my husband is a native German speaker, but it may be a problem for some folks so do go to Germany with a list of typical menu items in German at least. <BR>I see I already have run out of room so I will post about those other places you asked about under a new thread(s) labelled just for those cities so look there. If you have any further questions about Wurzburg post them here and I'll check back.

I'd like to hear about trier.

Anna <BR>We will be staying at Auf Schoneburg next month. Tell me about it, the room, the views, breakfast, dinner? Thanks.

We stayed at Auf Schoneburg two nights <BR>and really enjoyed our stay. We had to switch rooms as that was the only way to get two nights in a row, but actually that made it more interesting as each room is so different. The first night we stayed in room 38 which is not in the main building so it has no view to speak of, but the room itself was very nice. Large, with a separate library room filled with books, a CD player and TV hidden away in armoire, a large sunny bathroom and a nice bed in a nook. Rooms have a half-filled sherry decanter and a mini-bar/fridge. Numbers of tourists come by to look at the castle and, although they are asked not to go into the main building, they can walk around these other small buildings so there is less privacy outside. The next night we were in room 36, which was high up a narrow staircase in a tower section of the main building. The room itself was smaller and not as nicely appointed (no library, no CD player, TV on a desk) but it had a private balcony with a nice view of the Rhine on one side and a high meadow with horses on the other. I sat there and watched the birds fly into small openings in a ruined tower right across from me which was memorable. <BR> <BR>We ate dinner at their restaurant both nights and the food was good. Menu I recall was only in German (my husband is fluent so that wasn't a problem for us but do be aware of this.....most of the hotel's customers were American's so I don't know why they don't have an English menu). Most of the staff was pleasant and informative (except one ice queen head waitress). There are two nice "library" rooms for the guests in the castle. People had drinks or coffee there. We *loved* the outside patio but the staff kept telling us it was "too windy" to be out there. We didn't find it so and sat there a number of times to read or just look at the fabulous view of the Rhine below. It took quite a bit of convincing but we finally talked one staff lady into letting us have coffee out there in the morning. The weather was great and it was a very nice place to have coffee. Breakfasts were very nice...the best we had in Germany. Large variety of meats, cheeses fruits etc. They put out a plate of interesting little dishes on your table to taste. We noticed that the English list of what these dishes were left out some details (so American's wouldn't know several were internal organ meats we thought). <BR> <BR>At night the outside of the castle is lit up and looks very nice. The moon over the Rhine and lighted castle towers makes for a nice evening stroll. <BR>Ah, just writing about it and remembering it makes me wish we could go back there again soon! <BR>

Anna <BR>Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I can't wait!