Blogs from Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Europe - page 56

We arrived at Bad Salzig, and into a heatwave. Bad Salzig is a pretty spa village along the Rhine, a short distance from Boppard, south of Koblenz. It is in one of most scenic parts of the valley, which is narrow and heavily wooded with some castles appropiately placed atop certain cliffs. Next day we went for an amble into the hills above Bad Salzig. We were glad of shade as the temerature climbed, the haze was not brill for photos. We descended down into Boppard, to find the open air swimming pool was geschlossen . That was a bit peeving, considering the temperature was a steady 29C. However, after we went into town we came across a fest. A few years ago we came across the Weinfest in Boppard and this time we arrived at ... read more

After leaving Switzerland we drove to Rhine Valley in German, heading for Heidelberg. We stopped along the way took get to learn more about the history of steins and their origin. We pottered through the small town then went to a winery, deep down in the basement, for wine tasting and cheese. This particular winery specialised in Riesling grapes, so we tried a variety of white wines. We spent the night at a hotel referred to as Grandma’s house, and it was like that. There were rooms and corridors and little sitting areas all over the place. We were a bit unsure when we arrived, as everyone got their they announced which room they had been allocated and were directed to different parts of the hotel. We however were told that we had to stand aside ... read more

I had a wonderful, leisurely morning in Trier, tying up the loose ends of sights I didn't see last night. After the now-usual hearty German buffet breakfast at my hotel, I hiked down to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, an archaeological museum that Rick's guidebook made sound very exciting. He wasn't wrong, not in the least... the wonderful Roman floor mosaics and funerary monuments were right where he said they would be. However, about half to two-thirds of the museum is closed off and utterly empty. I discovered from a German-language poster (yes, I read much of it all by belf) that they are remodeling in anticipation of some major Karl der Große celebration in 2007... new air-conditioning (desperately needed, for certain), better accessibility of exhibits, new elevator, etc. Seems like all of Europe wants me to ... read more

After an arduous hike last night through Mainz to the Stefanskirche, which seemed to me to be in a rather unsavory neighborhood, I decided it would not be practical to attend Mass in the morning before my action-packed day of travel. This may have been a poor choice, because after weeks of hot and blindingly sunny weather, for my Sunday morning Rhine cruise I got thick cloud cover and haze. Ugly cruising weather, ugly photography weather. Nevertheless, I did cruise the most scenic part of the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz, where there really is a castle (or ruin) at every one of the many bends in the river, and every quaint half-timbered little town has at least one huge, majestic cathedral towering over it. Amusingly, our little ship, which originates in Rüdesheim, was packed from ... read more

Hi everyone! We are now in Cochem, the second c is silent. This place is small and very quiet, which is much appreciated after Pragueand it´s crowds. We got here on the 19th and we stayed at a youth hostel that was completely deserted. A couple schools were coming in the next day so we had to find a new place cause they were all booked up. We ended up getting a great deal on an apartmentguesthouse that has it´s own living room, bedroom, full kitchen, porch and even... washing machine! And for only 20 euro. Amy and I fought over who got to use the washing machine first, I won of course... It´s a good thing because I had started to take dirty clothes out of the bag and decide which one smelled the least, ... read more