On to Germany!

We got up and had a very nice breakfast at the location where we stayed last night. We then hopped on the road for a 2-hour drive to Cologne (spelled Köln in German), Germany. In Cologne, we parked under the cathedral and spent about an hour or so touring this magnificent church. We actually climbed 509 steps to reach the top of one of the spires. It was a heck of a climb, but once we were at the top it provided a fantastic view of the city and the Rhine river. FYI, it was just as difficult going down:  tight, narrow spiraling steps. We now know what a corkscrew feels like as it spins down through the cork!  We would do it again in a heartbeat!!!

A word about our poor little car. Once we crossed over into Germany we were immediately on an autobahn. While many of us think that the autobahn is one particular highway in Germany, it is actually the word for any of the highways and byways that crisscross the country. It is also commonly thought that there is no speed limit. Actually, there are sections with speed limits, especially when you’re going through cities and congested areas. But, along the stretches between populated areas, the drivers definitely throw caution to the wind. Well, our car doesn’t have a lot of get-up-and-go, but once at cruising speed it does a fine job on the autobahn. Along the unrestricted areas, we were probably cruising at about 75-80 mph. And as you’ll notice from the video, there were quite a few cars passing us up at about 100 or 110 mph.

We left Cologne and started our journey towards our destination for the evening. But along the way we made a stop at a Rick Steves’ suggested tourist location in the Mosel River valley. It is a castle that has been kept up and owned by one family for the last 800 years. It’s called Berg Eltz. It was quite literally one of the most picturesque locations one could imagine, especially for a castle. We were very glad we made the stop.

After Burg Eltz, we set off for the little town that is situated on the Rhine river called Bacharach. We didn’t get into town until about 7 PM. Once we were situated in the little studio flat that we rented for the next two nights, we walked along the main street and found a place to have a bite to eat. Interestingly enough, most places are closed for dinner by 7 PM. We were able to find a little restaurant where we had some wine and some food from their lunch menu. We also had a piece of wonderful cake for dessert. 

We are pretty tired from the relatively long travel day today. After driving, coupled with the million mile climb to the top of the cathedral and all of the other walking we did, we are ready to hit the sack. But after our little dinner and wine we couldn’t resist coming out and sitting on a walking path along the Rhine.

Agricultural note: the Rhine and Mosel river valleys are known as a wine producing region. The hills jut up abruptly from the rivers. The farmers have created multi-terraced vineyards on the sides of these hills like we’ve never seen before. It is a very interesting agricultural phenomenon. By the way, their riesling wine is second to none, at least in our opinion. How do we know? Well, we each had two glasses to finish off the night.

😁

Other pics from today: