I titled this blog in Spanish (mostly) because I don't know the Dutch word for any of that. However, my mother will be proud because I'm learning the numbers in Dutch. Today was Number 1 - which is Ein. I'm so going to master this language, one word at a time. Anyways, here's the update.
1. Last I left you, I had just found out I lost my temp apartment and had to move into the new place. This is all fine, except for the fact that my stuff is not here. Truly, I love my new apartment. Great location, beautiful area, etc. However, it doesn't feel homey because I literally have an air mattress, sheets, 2 suitcases of clothes, a bowl, one set of silverware, bath towel and a cup. No internet either. Thanks to friends in Rotterdam, I tripled that amount of stuff by borrowing blankets, a pillow and useful kitchen items like a pot and pan, knives, etc. I don't know what I'd do without them.
2. As I sat there on the floor on Thursday night eating my dinner, I thought about how great it would be to get out of town the next day if for nothing else but to avoid staring at an empty apartment on the weekend. So I made a brash call and did it. I booked a hotel in Germany on Friday morning and drove that evening to the Mosel River Valley. All I can say is I'm so glad I did it because this week in the apartment has been brutal. It's just depressing.
3. Mosel River Valley - For those who haven't heard, it's near Cologne, south of Koblenz where the Rhine and the Mosel meet. It's not nearly as famous as other rivers in Germany, but the sites are just as credible and I would say worth a few days as other parts (having not seen other parts, I'm going to make a wild assumption).
4. The valley is fully of small towns that are your quintensential German villages. Some are gorgeous and relaxing, others are over-hyped, touristy and over-priced. Here's how I planned out my trip:
a. Since I had a car, I booked a room in a town that didn't have a train station. This guaranteed me a less touristy spot with less traffic and more quaintness. The hotel was Hotel Zeltinger Hof in Zeltingen-Rachtig. It was definitely worth the price I paid. Clean, comfortable and one block away from free city parking. Parking was right on the river, hotel was back in the village, was a tad disappointing as I was hoping for a view. But that didn't happen. I lived.
b. The trip there was mostly uneventful. I learned all about the Autobahn. Apparently, any major highway in Germany is technically the Autobahn, because Faith (the GPS) stopped telling me the speed when I crossed the border. I let Molly (the Toyota) loose to see what she could do for a bit and that was fun. Its a bit scary though when other people fly by you going 180KM/hour. Molly was not pleased with that.
c. On Saturday morning I got up early, partook in the German breakfast buffet experience (a tad scary, not something I would recommend) and then headed out for a walk down the river and to see the sites. There isn't much to see in the town I was staying in. In fact, there was nothing. Having established that in less than 15 minutes, I headed over to the local Tourist Information office to get brochures on what to do in the area. Here's one of the drawbacks to staying in a town that doesn't have a train station: They figure that everyone coming is German or Dutch. No english brochures or people who speak English.
d. I should point out at this point, that due to a series of mishaps in the Hague prior to leaving, I left my RS guidebook at home. I took this in stride, realizing that now I wasn't tied to an agenda and could just go with the flow. That's what I told myself at least. In reality, I was pretty upset that I did that. But as you will see further, it was for the best.
e. Having remembered that there was a cool castle just up the road, I decided to put it in Faith and see where it took me along the way. Well, Faith really tried to convince me that I wanted to take the fastest route possible, but I kept ignoring her and driving along the river. I loved that fall is here in Europe....the trees were incredible. All different colors and exciting things to see along the way. I only wish there had been more places to pull over and take pictures.
f. I arrived at Moselkern, the town I remembered RS recommending parking at and then hiking to the castle, Burg Eltz. What I didn't accurately remember was which parking lot to park at. Long story short, I parked at the free lot, which was 5 KM down hill from the castle. He actually recommended one that was 2.5KM and only 1€. I found this out by hiking the first 2.5KM to discover the parking lot. Oh well, I'm on a mission to get in shape too! The first 2.5KM were quite beautiful. Stream running alongside the road, trees dropping leaves of all colors, etc. It was gorgeous. The last 2.5 KM were really straight up hill, with the same stream and colors, but much more difficult walking. At this point, I had to really watch what I was doing for fear of falling, but the times I stopped and looked around, it was really spectacular.
g. The castle comes up out of nowhere on the last switchback headed up. It's really a site to see. RS calls it the best castle in all of Europe. If so, I've ruined castles by seeing the best one first. Kind of like seeing St. Peter's Bascilica as the first church.
h. I would give the castle 3 pyramids just like Rick. The views are great, the atmosphere was nice, the English tour was well thought out and planned. I enjoyed a brat and fries on the top of the mountain, which was good because I was famished after the climb.
i. I climbed back down and 2 funny things happened. First, I had just exited the last stair to head back to the trail head, when a lady gave me a funny look coming the opposite direction. She then proceeded to step off the trail about 2 feet into the woods and looked at me again. She then dropped her drawers and that's when I started moving quicker. Folks, there was a bathroom not 25 yards up the steps. No joke. SO Strange. Second, most know about my inordinate fear of dogs. I was walking back along a different path in the second 2.5 KMs, on a trail path instead of the road, which I'd missed earlier. I walked past a gate and this HUGE red pit bull (mouth as big as 2 of my heads) ran up to the gate and barked at me out of nowhere. I went into fight or flight mode, choosing flight and ran my typical 40 yard dash, losing my camera, purse and part of my soul along the way. It was the scariest dog related incident I've had in a long time. I realized that the dog was confined to a small piece of the fence line, which was mostly covered and walked back to pick up my stuff and pride. One of these days I'll conquer that fear. That day was not that day.
j. After all that exercise, I drove back to my hotel because I was exhausted. I spoke with reception at the desk, who actually spoke English and asked them what to do in the town. I then found out that the hotel itself is a bit of a legend. They have 150 bottles of Mosel Valley wine by the glass. The area is a huge producer, which I could see on my drive, but wasn't sure where to go for a tasting. Well, I was in luck, because I tasted right at my hotel. Fun stuff! I'm not a white wine person, but the wine was good. They are big on Rieslings, so I had low expectations, but it was actually quite good.
k. I then found out that the town I was in had a local Octoberfest going on every night. So I walked across the bridge and had my first German beer, pork Snitzel (mmmmm....sooo good).
l. I enjoyed a local oom-pah/rock band. I know you think those don't go together. But they so do. It was really funny. Lots of dancing, singing and just pure back door Europe excitement.
Tomorrow I'll update on the Sunday trip portion of the trip and hopefully get pictures up. I still don't have internet at home, so I've discovered the library for updates.
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