Today the Rhine, tomorrow Paris

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It's Thursday and I haven't posted due to a lack of an internet connection.

Actually I would have posted Tuesday's blog before leaving Germany, but I was abruptly reminded in the wee hours Wednesday morning of the Cardinal Rule of writing electronically: SAVE EARLY AND SAVE OFTEN. I'm not sure what I did, but it doesn't really matter now. Suffice it to say that after writing a near epistle, this handy dandy little iPad slipped and one of my fat fingers (it's a good thing I didn't become a proctologist) hit something and "poof" everything was gone! But I was able to summarize it, more or less, on the long train ride to Paris yesterday (Wednesday).

Basically, Tuesday was long. We saw lots, I mean LOTS, of castles. We started by cruising down the Rhine, then we got off the boat and toured the ruins of what was the largest castle (and only one not conquered by Louis XIV) on the Rhine. Then we went by train to our primary destination for the day, Burg Eltz, a beautiful castle in the Mosel river valley dating from the 13th century. This castle, which was never ruined and survived one five year seige, has been beautifully preserved and furnished with it's original furnishings much the way it stood 500 years ago. The current presiding authority, the Countess of Eltz, traces her family's linage at the burg back 33 generations! Although finished and mostly furnished during thhe High Middle ages, this castle is anything but Medieval. These people knew how to live, and they lived well. But I'll save those stories and pictures for another blog entry so anyone not interested can skip it.

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Photos

Castle on Rhine
They're all cool, but they do start looking alike after a while

Reinfels Castle
When I said I'd like to see castles, I didn't mean from the top of one!

Vineyard
We figured this must be the patron saint of wine.

After the Reinfels
She's happy again, we are going downhill.

Nice Bathroom!
Burg Eltz has 20 indoor toilets - not to mention 40 fireplaces - to service its 80 rooms.

Eltz River
It's really just a creek, but we didn't let that stop us. Suprisingly, it was Lizze's idea.