August 29, 2005

ay 6:Pretty much a full travel day, as I sped up to Nurnberg, skirted Frankfurt am Main, and then by Köln and Bonn to just outside of Königswinter. I'm going to be heading down the Rhine from here, just taking it easy and shooting some pictures. Interesting to me, at least are the names of many of the towns I'll be going through…names like Remagen and Koblenz are names that have been central to many WWII movies I've watched.

 

Day 7
I may have made it 30 miles, but I'm pooped. First off was Koblenz, where I parked under the parking area in the center of town, and walked down to the confluence of the two rivers, the Rhein and the Mosel, where there's a huge statue. I then noted some ruins up on a hill, and took a couple of hours trying to find them, the first hour driving around, the second hour taking a mile hike through a cemetery. I figured out I wasn't going to find it and went back to the car. As I was driving out, I saw a sign for Fort Konstantin, which turned out to be hidden behind some apartments, oddly enough. Walked around looking at the setup for an open air theatre they're having tonight, and across the city with beautiful views. Hopped back into the car and headed on South. Stopped at one castle which turned out to be closed for some work, and then came upon St. Goar. This town came highly recommended in one of the two guidebooks I had, so I stopped and found a parking place. Then I walked a couple of miles back to the center of town only to find that the tourist information shop, where you can often book rooms, closed at noon. So, I walked back to the car the two miles, and headed up into the hills, and found a nice, clean and quiet B&B. Not quite a hotel (no dinner) but comfy enough, and considering the amount of walking I've done today, it'll be fine. Of course this does point out the fact that food on this trip has been semi-optional. Breakfast always, but lunch or dinner is only sometimes. I've had some outstanding dinners, and some OK lunches, but today I've not eaten since breakfast, and I really feel like I need to. I think I can afford to miss a meal here or there, especially since on the 3 flights over they fed us 4 times, plus a steak I had in the Newark airport… at a place that prices itself like a Ruth's Chris, but sure doesn't meet the expectation. Anyway, I've got an orange fanta in the fridge that won't suit for dinner. Oh, orange fanta over here isn't he same we have in the US…it is much more like Orangina (sp?) a mix of real orange juice and carbonated sugar water. Quite good!

Day 8

As I sit here in the sunshine, transferring files from the flash cards for my camera onto the hard drive of my computer, I have to wonder about the economies of travel destinations. It used to be that huge amounts of film were sold as people took pictures with their cameras. Today, I am self contained, with my own rechargeable batteries and multiple flash cards, in addition to a laptop on which to drop them. I can only imagine that all the kiosks that used to sell a significant percentage of their daily sales in film have moved on to other stuff.

In the meantime, it's the afternoon on Sunday. I started the day in St Goar, on the south side of the Rhein, and toured the castle there, which purports to have been (according to Rick Steve's book) the largest of all the castle ruins on the Rhein. Absolutely fascinating. Pictures will be forthcoming, but this place resisted quite bit of strife, until Napoleon came through. The purpose of most of these castles appears to have been to stretch large chains across the river, so that they could collect fees from people using the Rhein to transport goods. Think of the Rhein as the Missisippi of Germany, a huge navigable river that cuts through the country side. These days, both banks have train tracks with both passenger traffic (the quietest damn trains I"ve ever (not) heard) and business traffic. I have to wonder what the economic difference between transporting stuff by barge or by train is, as there is still considerable barge traffic.

In any case, I'm heading back north west on the north side of the river, and will meander about as necessary :

Meandering completed, and I'm comfortably ensconced in Emmelsbach, just south of the Rhein gorge. Had a wonderful dinner (although apparently Chicken is not ever on the menu, I've yet to see it, other than the now 2 KFCs I've seen), but I'll have to admit, there was some very strange muzak playing. I was just sitting minding my own business, a thing you tend to do when by yourself in a restaurant where no one else speaks a language you understand, and suddenly I realized I recognized the music playing. It was a horrible rendition of "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. Followed by a song I didn't know the words to, but remembered (maybe Kiki Dee, if she did anything other than that song with Elton John?) , then Annie's Song by John Denver, Ebony and Ivory by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, then Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney, Greensleeves, and finally I'd Rather be a Hammer Than a Nail by Simon and Garfunkel. All of this in some obscure german style muzak, making all of the tunes bland, slow, and excruciating. Ah, well….the price we pay for being older is the pop songs from our youth show up in restaurants as muzak.

Day 9
Incredibly kind folks in the Hotel. Not only did they ask me when I wanted breakfast, but the lady of the house suggested I pack up what I hadn't eaten, to take for lunch. On top of the excellent steak, it was actually quite enjoyable. However, I got about 20 miles down the road before I figured out that today is Monday, and pretty much everything that is public, and open on the weekend is closed on Mondays. So, I changed my plans without too much fuss, and struck out for the Nurburgring, and environs. I took in the museum, drove around the track, tried to visit the castle there (closed on Mondays, mind you…), and then took a hike up to Höhe Acht, which was a monument erected by someone to commemorate something, at the top of a hill. Near as I can tell, it was around 1906, give or take. Anyway, it was about a klick straight up a hill of gargantuan size. At least, it seemed that way to this old and out of shape guy : Anyway, I got up to the top in about 45 minutes, with a few rest stops, to take pictures of course. So, I'm climbing up the stairs inside this thing, and dealing with my innate fear of heights by focusing on the stairs in front of me…when my head got even with the floor of the top and open space. I was immediately swarmed by about a thousand flies. I have no idea why they were up there, but I immediately ducked back down, swatting them out of my hair, my beard, my shirt, the sweat on my neck, pretty much everywhere. Bleh. So, I decided that the top of this thing wasn't really where I wanted to be, so I walked around the base and took some pictures. When I get home, and have time, I plan to intersperse pertininent pictures in this text, so watch this space. They'll be small thumbnails, but enough to illustrate what I've been nattering on about. Special note for Steve and Bill…this tower was about a mile from the Nurburgring. You could hear the echoes of the cars and motorbikes tooling around, just like being at Mid-Ohio. Tres cool. :

Once again, the evening becomes my frustration time. I'm looking in Solingen for a damn hotel. Here in Deutschland, they don't stick them at the exits of the highway, but instead hide them in the middle of each town, none with the same kind of sign, driveway, anything. So, I'm driving around for 90 minutes looking for a place. Found one at about 15 minutes in, but it was too snooty and too expensive for cheap ole me. So, after driving around a bit more, I ended up at a slightly less expensive hotel in a different town.

Only a couple more days before I head back….