Altes Haus: a wine tavern in Bacharach. Photo (cc) flickr user candyschwartz

Perhaps, unconsciously, it had been my love of raw onions that had brought me to Germany in the first place.

I had tottered into “zum Rebstock” in search of food.  At first I had been drawn to the most impressively old—and, probably, most underhandedly touristic—of Bacharach’s wine taverns.  Altes Haus (Old House), it was called, and though the kitchen had already closed for the afternoon, the waitress had brought a glass of the local Riesling to my table while I perused a book about the area.