Blogs from Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe - page 12

I am in Cologne, Germany. left Iran a few days ago. It was a good few weeks there. Although I travelled around and to some northern provinces in Iran, surprisingly enough, I haven't had much motivation to write about anything. My visit there coincided with the Moslem religious month of 'Moharam' and my dislike of religion and it's rituals chipped away from my motivation to write much. On the way to Germany, I spent a day in Rome and a day in Amsterdam. It is getting close to Thanksgiving Day. This old American tradition has always resonated with me more than other Holidays. As a tradition when my children where younger, around the Thanksgiving dinner, everyone shared what he or she was Thankful for in life? After a couple of months of being on the road, ... read more

Day 17: Cochem/Ernst 1st October 2014 After yesterday effort we thought we would take it a bit easy. Our usual breakfast has consisted of fresh bread rolls delivered by the lady who owned the accommodation with a variety of cheeses, sliced meats, tomatoes, jam and coffee and so we sat and had a leisurely brekky then got ourselves and Schmidt ready and we drove in to Cochem. The first thing we did was take a chair lift (yep I am facing my fears and winning) up this nice little mountain side where there is this great look out over the town and the village. It was lovely. We could have walked the 2.5K down but we all felt a bit sore from yesterday and so opted for the return trip on the chair lift. One thing ... read more

Day 14: Mainz to Rüdesheim to Koblenz 28th September 2014 The boat started cruising from 0600 so no run this morning. Probably a good idea as I may have thrown myself into the river ….. The weather has been glorious, perfect for travelling. Overcast and cool in the morning and as the sun gets through the clouds the day opens up to clear and sunny. Still needing a hoodie but its on and off all day. The visit to Rüdesheim was way too short. It is a touristy town but there are some interesting things to see. It is wine country so the whole village is embedded in vineyards. I will tell you about the vineyards later as they have a story on their own. This was the last of the 3 excursions Frank and I ... read more

Day 2. This was the drive from St Omer, France to Koblenz, Germany. We got up around 7ish, ready for breakfast and the morning meeting. Everyone was dozing from the night before, so people set off whenever they wanted. The trip was about 4 1/2 hours, but we did do about 80mph on the unrestricted German Autobahn, so it quickly flew by. We set off from St Omer on the hunt for diesel. Luckily, the 306 is quite good on diesel, so we used 3/4 of a tank from Somerset to St Omer, which we were amazed at. We found fuel on the border between France and Belgium, as did a lot of the other teams. Having not ventured out of Somerset apart from holidays, I was amazed at how they sold fuel over there. You ... read more

Rheinstein Castle was erected in 1323 under Archbishop Peter vos Aspelt. The castle was known in the middle ages as Fautsberg and was built because there were disputes between the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Palantianate regarding the Reichensteina and Sooneck castles. It is one of approximately 10 castles built along the Rhine to protect the Mainz territory and was never destroyed by attack as many of the other German castles had been. During the 17th century it gradually fell into disrepair. In 1823 it was purchased, renovated and restored by Prince Friedrich of Prussia to be used as a summer home by him and his wife Wilhelmine Luise, after Fridrich’s death in 1863 the castle once again fell into disrepair. In 1975 the Duchess of Mecklenburg of the House of Prussia, sold the castle to ... read more