August 18th

We tried to get in touch with Jake's parents, but never did. Guess they're out on a trip, or at least not answering their phone. Jake also tried and couldn't get ahold of them. Oh well, we still enjoyed our visit to Wiesbaden (mostly).

We stayed at a regular paid campsite near downtown Wiesbaden. "Wörther-See-Straß" is privately owned and it was a quiet stay. We decided to stay for 2 nights at €12 ($14.40 US) a night. Electric and water wasn't included, but super affordable. I thought the previous location was good, but here it was much better! €.50 (60 cents US) got us 1KW of electric, which ended up being around 4 hours. You paid via a machine and could enter money when you wanted. Water was also €.50 for up to 100 liters. We took about 60 liters of fresh water. Dumping waste water (black and gray) was free. For the 2 night stay, we ended up paying €25.50 ($30.60 US). Unfortunately, the toilet and showers were still closed because of COVID. 

We've now taken showers in the little motorhome twice. If you remember, there wasn't a shower door when we picked the motorhome up. We stopped at a general store and bought a couple sticky hooks and cheap shower curtain. The shower (and bathroom) is small, but there's enough room to clean yourself. The problem we have is the rental motorhome didn't come with a water hose. We've had to fill up twice with water, and each time a hose was available to be used. But now we need water again (soon) and don't have a hose to use. We'll try to buy a hose tomorrow.

We risked it and drove into downtown Wiesbaden to go to their bi-weekly open-air market. We love the markets in Europe. They're nothing like the cheap ones we usually find in the USA. No "Tupperware" or "Avon" makeup sold here. Just fresh vegetables, bakery items, meats, and other goodies.

Luckily, we found street parking for our 7 meter (23') motorhome within walking distance of the market. €5 ($6 US) got us 2 hours of parking. The market was great and brought back several fond memories of living here before. Of course, Connie stocked up on some fresh vegetables and some spices. An extra bonus was the market was in the shadows of the "Marktkirche" (Market Church) built between 1853 and 1862. A beautiful church with its tall towers. Unfortunately, it was closed from viewing due to COVID.

When leaving, I used an electric scooter rental (Lime) for the first time. It was fun, efficient, and quick. My 1.2KM trip back to the motorhome cost €2.60 ($3.12 US). Connie elected to walk back. 

Since our plans to visit Jake's parents didnt happen, we tried to get to the nearby Freudenberg Castle. But road construction blocked our route and we ended up going in circles. The GPS couldn't figure a way around the construction and we were getting pretty frustrated. 7 meters may not sound like a large motorhome, but with these small and narrow roads, along with the traffic, driving can be a challenge. We decided to try and find the local mini-harbor on the Rhine river for lunch instead.

Again, we kept running into different road construction blocking our route, which only added to our stress level. Finally, we got to the harbor safely. However, finding a parking space for us was impossible. I had enough! We headed back to the campsite for some cheese and wine.

Next stop - an hour away to where we used to live and work. I wonder how much it's changed in 35 years.