Going South

 On the last travelogue post, we were in Andernach, Germany...So Many Castles, So Little Time.

After spending the day in Andernach exploring we met up  with a group of "new" friends for a lovely dinner.  The group consisted of  a Brit, a German, a Canadian, and 3 Americans.  It was great fun comparing viewpoints on so may things. The one dinner companion that spoke German told us the server wanted us to be "aware" that a large party was coming in, so we might want to settle our bills....hint, hint.  No parties ever came in and we staked out our real estate until near closing time.

The following morning, however, we were back on the road to head south to the city of Koblenz.

While Koblenz is only 12 miles SOUTH of Andernach, we were confused why the GPS sent us north.  Huh?? That can't be right.  THEN it sent us to the other side of the Rhine.  As both Andernach and Koblenz are on the west bank, we considered the possibility that perhaps the GPS was trying to sabotage our day. We considered briefly, just turning around and figuring it out without GPS help but figured we'd find it eventually.  The thing about Germany is that it is only about the size of New Mexico.  At some point you are bound to come to a river or road that is familiar.

After a number of  twists and turns,  we drove back over the Rhine and we did, in fact, get to Koblenz.
If you ever take a trip along the Rhine, this city is one to make sure to see, It is a unique blend of historical and modern.

My husband had been there several times and wanted to go up to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. He had been there in September and thought the tour was interesting and the tram ride was great for getting a bird's eye view of the region.

As luck would have it, and by that I mean bad luck...we maneuvered  our way up the winding, twisting roads to the top of the bluff where the fortress sits, only to find out it was closed. There were still plenty of things to be seen in the area but no tours and no tram for me.  In lieu of that,  we made our way over to the St. Kastor Basilica and the Deutches Eck (The German Corner) where the Rhine River and the Moselle River converge.  On the point of the rivers meeting is a monument to Wilhelm I (AKA William I)

Crabby Pants standing next to Le Pouce by Cesar next to the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art

On the day I was there is was cold and dreary but still very fun to walk around the Basilica, the monument and the promenade. Despite the fact that the fortress was closed, there were still a number of people milling around the church and  the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art.

After spending a considerable amount of time just looking around, we made our way into Koblenz city center.  There were 5 (at least that is what we could find) Christmas markets to keep us occupied for quite a while.

Are you someone famous?

As I mentioned, Koblenz's city center is an interesting mix of quaint and charming (as most historic European cities are) and very modern as well. After stopping at a cafe on one of the side streets for lunch, we continued on to a modern mall to warm up and have some tea/coffee. The cafe had a lunch crowd waiting for tables or we might of just parked there.

Normally, I try to avoid malls but on the occasion of both of us being half-frozen we decided that would be a great place to hang out for a bit.

I didn't take a pic of the mall so this is off the Internet

One of the things we discovered while sitting at the Starbucks, is that owners can bring dogs into business establishments.  Not just service dogs, mind you.   While we sat looking out the window at the children ice skating on an adjoining rink,several people came in to have coffee with their pets.

kids skating on the mall's ice rink

Sooo...my friends, that's where I will leave you today.  If you are interested in seeing some of the other photos, I have put together another slide show.

BTW...You will notice some of the pictures are clearer as those were taken in September by my husband when he had the good fortune to be there on a sunny day.  

So Many Castles, So Little Time

Those exit signs take a little getting used to.

Thought Number One:  Seeing New Places

After leaving Cologne, we made our way back to Weissenthurm to meet up with some friends for dinner. As

Cologne is only an hour north of Andernach, we had plenty of time prior to meeting at the Pfeffermuhle restaurant to finish our exploration of the ancient town.

One of the aspects of taking a trip along the Rhine is that each town will have at least one castle and some type of wall or fortress that remains from the Middle ages.  While the Rhine is far too long for me to post any type of a map to show you the various "castle" stops, I scanned portions of a map to give you the general idea.

These maps comprise less than 60 miles of the Rhine

In reality, this is a very small portion of the route we would be traveling over the next few days but from Cologne to Andernach, you can see that there are a number of castles in that stretch.

For today's post I am going to stay within Andernach, though. As I mentioned in my post The First Day, I had spent my first afternoon seeing some of the city and it's charm, but there was more to see.

As we pulled into town we parked next the the giant fortress wall that remains fairly intact around the town.  Considering the town is over 2000 years old, the old town is full of historical remnants.  While the wall and castle were built in the 12th Century, much of the wall and towers still remain  in fairly good shape.The castle was destroyed by the French in 1689.  That would be when the French also put the "dent" into the Round Tower, that I talked about in The First Day post, as well.  

One of the things that I found interesting, is how the people of Andernach incorporated the wall into building homes.  There are homes that are built to back up into the wall.

A portion of the remaining wall

As we walk toward the castle remains

Cute little windows in an ancient wall

Does living in an Medieval Tower cost more than  in a Medieval wall?

Wonder how many tourists stare into this person's window.

From this angle you can see how the homes are built into the wall.

Looking back at the wall from the castle ruins.

One of the remaining walls and keep of the castle.

Walking along the Rhine toward the Bastion

A toll booth on the River Rhine

Very classy toll booth, don't you think?

Thought Number Two: Remembering the Places We've Been






Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage
Networking between bloggers and to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments

The First Day

I know some of you purists out there that feel the need to think in a systematic, organized way are wondering why I am posting "Day ONE" when I already posted a post named Day Two. [Day Two link] Well...because it's my blog and I  can play fast and loose with the timeline...but in reality that post was referring to the day, I posted it...not what we did on day two.  The REAL Day Two post will be coming soon. 

So...to bring you up to speed,....when I first got into Germany, I landed in Frankfort at 11:45 AM  German time...but, of course, that is 4:45 AM Kansas City time.  I know some people struggle with jet lag but that has never been the case for me.  As  a regular member of Club Insomnia, being awake at 4:45 wouldn't be out of  the norm anyway. 

The Guest House where Hubby  was residing is  79 miles down the autobahn (or 127 Km if you prefer the metric system) away so we first had to get back to his place.  I might point out to those of you that haven't been to Germany before, you might want to brace yourself for a really fast commute.  While there are speed limits, no one ever uses them.  Hubby was going over 110  and people were passing us like we were sitting still.  I am fairly confident that some of them were calling us "pussies" but as I don't speak German..so I am not entirely certain of that. 

After dropping off my bags in his room, I was anxious to go see some Germany. Weissenthurm is a small little town with a couple of notable historical sights but on that first day, we went 6 miles to Andernach where hubby has been  working the last three months. 

I have been to quite a few German towns but Andernach  is one of the most interesting, quaint and charming towns along the Rhein in my opinion.  It is, also, one of the oldest towns in Germany having celebrated a "Bimillenary feast" in 1988.

A few other little facts....  First of all, the pronunciation isn't "Ander-nak".  It's something akin to "On-der-nuukk"...with the nuk part sounding like you are trying to clear your throat. 

Andernach is a town of about 30,000 people.  It sits on the left bank of the Rhein River and the people there have there own German dialect. The dialect is considered Low German.  One of the local residents that had a working knowledge of English told me that they can't understand the German (High German) spoken in other parts of Germany.  I was tempted to say "Welcome to my world...I can't understand any of you"  but I thought that might not make the best impression.    Their dialect, by the way is called Annenach.

Andernach was settled in 12 BC by the Romans.  The town is surrounded by the medieval remnants of the fortifications that surrounded the town.   There are also, the remains of a castle, a toll bastion, and a geyser. Yes, you read that correctly...there is the world's highest cold water geyser is in Andernach, Germany.



But back to our tour...One of our first stops was the Round Tower. 

The Round Tower is one of the original 5 towers, two gates and wall that acted as a fortress for the city. Construction of the tower began in 1440 and completed in 1443.  The French troops of Ludwig XIV tried to blow it up in 1689 but all he managed to do was knock a bit of a dent into it. Currently it is a museum open on weekends allowing visitors to walk up to the top.

Ludwig XIV dented it but didn't destroy it

climbing, climbing, climbing

view from the tippy-top of the tower

After leaving the tower we walked through a historic church and then toward the  the downtown area where there was a small Christmas Market and a pageant taking place.

Going through one of the old fortress gates toward the town square

Getting closer

Nearly There

Let's Eat,  Drink and Be Merry

This was a tiny little market compared to the ones we went to later in the week. At this point it's time to head back to Weissenthurm but we return to Andernach to see the castle, bastion and geyser.  Crabby Pant's Tour bus  will pick up where we left off on the next post...

To Be Continued...