hotel schwan in oestrich-winkel.
during our vacation week in march my dad got sick and thus we decided to not stray further away anymore and give him some rest. on the first day of him being sick he still felt able to do some evening strolling by the river rhein in oestrich-winkel and therefore we made the small trip to enjoy a bit of fresh air and the last light of the day.
oestrich-winkel is a small town in the rheingau region, in the midst of vineyards & directly next to rhein river. it's a really charming little town ( as is basically every town & village in the rheingau or rhein area, i guess :P ) and i visit it quite often ( obviously, it's not far away from wiesbaden & pretty perfect for trips on days off or on sundays. )
there's an old loading crane, which is one of the landmarks of oestrich-winkel. it was formerly used for wine-loading, as the little town was always part of the production & marketing of wine. it is one of very few of these specific types of cranes still existing in germany.
overlooking the river in the direction of eltville.
hotel schwan has a long tradition of hotel business in oestrich-winkel, in fact since 1628, which is quite some while, don't you agree? it's a beautiful timber-framed building with a very nice view onto the river. a lot of it still is giving away a medieval feeling but there are certain mid-century additions, such as this swan sign. schwan is the german word for swan, by the way.
another silhouetty picture of the crane.
not far away from the hotel schwan you can see the church tower of st martin's. on the roof of the hotel there's another swan, a weather vane flying in the wind.
close-up.
we didn't enter the old city on this little visit, just stayed near the river & enjoyed the warm sun rays. the days prior to this evening were always very cold & windy, at times also pretty rainy, so it was a delight to just hang out in the early spring sun.
lone tree in the water.
some boats seemed to have floated a little bit too far off the shore. there's always a lot of water running down the river at this time of the year, as the snow in the more mountainous regions is thawing and therefore feeding the river. oftentimes there are little floodings in february & march drowning the little floodplains.
some egyptian gooses have boarded the boat, but i doubt they will find any treasures inside ;D
a gray goose enjoying the sunny weather as well.
there's a little car-ferry crossing the rhein river and connecting oestrich-winkel with ingelheim on the other side. it's called michael & is a favourite of my dad because he too is called michael :) we sat down a while and watched the ferry land & depart.
i discovered a super mario mushroom!
river sunsets ♥
last picture of the crane.
a random installation i found on the way back.
what about the others? can you tell me what you think of when you read such a thing? it can be anything, let your fantasy run free & maybe leave a comment, telling me what you might be thinking about stumbling over this random sculpture.
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