Blogs from Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe

Prologue: Forecast: 19C with showers from 8am until 12pm with local thunderstorms Destination: Koblenz Distance: 36kms Leave from Hotel at approx: 9am Approx arrival at Koblenz: 12pm (very conservative) Scene 1 Act 1 - The Beginning Since it's a short days ride and breakfast isn't served until 8am we take our time getting up and getting ready. Breakfast is OK without being grand but we did manage to grab a roll with meat and cheese to take with us for lunch. Scene 2 Act 1 - The Departure We load up the velos and head off in light drizzle which is likely to accompany us all day. First stop is the ferry to take us to the other side of the river, 1km down stream. Before we leave I decide to give my rear tyre a ... read more

"Whatever comes , let it come, what stays let stay and what goes let go" Papaji This holiday seems to be one of taken whatever comes into our stride. It has never quite turned out to be what we planned but the unplanned seems to be coming together. This part of Germany has been interesting to say the least. Not what we expected and the weather is poor. Hat , coats and gloves weather. But at least there is something to see and write home about. Many years ago someone sent me a card from Ostende, one from the Swiss mountains and told me about Koblenz. He loved it and raved about it for years after. I never quite worked out why. It had never been on the radar. I knew it was the place where ... read more

Shortly after breakfast, the ship docks at Rüdesheim. By 9 am we are on board a mini motorized "train" that drops us off at the town's signature attraction: Siegfried's Music Cabinet. This museum is devoted to mechanical musical instruments and it's one of the largest such collections in the world. The collection and the museum resulted from the singular vision and passion of one Siegfried Wendel, who travelled the world collecting self-playing instruments and painstakingly restored them to working order. Our guide takes us through dozens of rooms, each filled with a variety of pianos, "orchestrions" and other contraptions that play by themselves. Most are wind-up instruments. Many of them use some type of perforated paper rolls to dictate the notes to play. Most are ornately carved and some feature mechanical figures that move in time ... read more

Am Sonntag bin ich kurz nach 10:00 aufgestanden und nach dem Frühstück Richtung Koblenz aufgebrochen. Dies war ein weiterer Ausflug von meiner Projektwohnung in Bad Homburg aus. Dabei hatte ich die Strecke durch das Mittelrheintal gewählt. Früher war ich hier schon ein paar Mal. Kurz nach der Loreley war allerdings die wichtige Bundesstraße am Fluss entlang gesperrt und ich musste einen weiten Umweg nehmen. Das war bestimmt eine super Idee eines schlauen Beamten. Irgendwann bin ich aber in einer Tiefgarage in Koblenz angekommen. An der Historiensäule vorbei bin ich zuerst zur Basilika Sankt Kastor und dann weiter zum Deutschen Eck. Dann bin ich die praktische neue Seilbahn hoch zur Festung Ehrenbreitstein. Die war auch ganz sehenswert. Zeit für einen Kaffee im Kasino hatte ich allerdings nicht, da ich bei Tageslicht noch zur Burg Eltz wollte. Dafür ... read more

Docked at a relatively big city, so the Internet connection should be good. We both slept in an hour later than usual. Roger until almost 6:00am and me a little before 7:00. It was overcast and brisk out on deck. At 8:30am we were again underway. The morning included a river tour and stories about the many castles along our way. The city of Koblenz is at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. As you approach from the south the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is above you and on the right. When we rounded the peninsula, to turn the boat around for docking, the very impressive statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I comes into view. It was built as a tribute to his unifying Germany in the late 1800s, destroyed by the Allies in 1945 and rebuilt ... read more