After our quick stop in Paris, our European vacation really got underway in the Frankfurt/Mainz area, where we had some great visits with generous and gracious friends. They did a wonderful job of acclimating us to German foods, customs, roads, and geography.

They also were great tourguides, and we enjoyed seeing many interesting and lovely sights in this part of Germany.

Our major tourist activity was a cruise on the Rhine River, and the pictures from that memorable day have their own page.

The pictures below are from some of our other outings:

Dreieichenhain • Rheingau • Kloster Eberbach • Mainz

Dreieichenhain is a charming village not far from the Frankfurt airport. We were given a walking tour of its medieval Altstadt (old town) by one of our Frankfurt friends.

Sally didn't pass up the opportunity to feed some of the birds by this picturesque Dreieichenhain lake.

The Rheingau is one of Germany's official wine-producing regions. As indicated by the name, the famous river runs through the region. We took a Rhine cruise a bit later in our vacation and pictures from that wonderful trip have their own page.

We spent a lovely day touring (and sampling) the Rheingau with our friends from the Mainz area. Highlights included a walk around the lovely village of Eltville (see pictures below), a picnic at the Eberbach abbey, and afternoon "tea" overlooking the Rhine at Schloss Johannisberg. The gorgeous views on the left were taken from our tea spot.

Eltville is famous for its rose gardens, and we were fortunate to be able to see them in their full-bloom glory.

Kloster Eberbach (Eberbach Abbey) is a medieval complex that offers many opportunities to tempt vacation photographers. And not just tourists: some of its interiors were used in filming The Name of the Rose in the mid-1980's!

The Abbey is also a vineyard (of course, being in the Rheingau). The vine view below is near where we had our picnic on the Abbey grounds.

It also has a museum and an impressive Romanesque chapel.

But, especially on the gorgeous day of our visit, it's hard to argue that the Abbey's best features aren't simply its lovely buildings.

Our last day with our friends was spent seeing some of Mainz's main attractions, including the Gutenberg Museum and their wonderful cathedral (where we happened to drop in on a choral rehearsal—what great acoustics!).

We also bought some provisions for our road trip at the Mainz outdoor market.

Fully provisioned, acclimated to German traffic rules, and ready to see some more of this beautiful country, we bid our friends Auf Wiedersehen and took off on the Romantic Road.