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
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I am taking a bit of a break from the Germany Travelogue to complain about the weather. Isn't that what everyone does? Isn't that one of our Constitutional Rights? Of course it is...there is some very fine print somewhere mixed in the First Amendment about weather related free speech.
And...dare I say that no one is exempt because there is nary a place on earth (or at least in the continental United States) that has perfect weather all the time? Admittedly some places come far closer to perfect than the Midwest.
Back in the days when I lived in Texas or even before that..in Arkansas, we (of course, I mean "I" but don't want to seem self absorbed) could be very smug when Northern relatives described bone-chilling snow storms. Yes, it's easy to throw them an insincere "you poor thing!" while we bask in the glory of 72 degrees in January.
Karma is a bitch!!! I am paying for each and every feeling of "better you than me" I selfishly felt as far as weather goes.
To be fair...when we ( and this time , I really do mean "we" as Hubby was a co-conspirator in wanting to live near our grandchildren) decided to move to Kansas. Admittedly we knew the weather was less than idyllic. There was sure to be some snow and some freezing temperatures. But as "middle of the country" states go, the averages here aren't extreme. It's not like we were moving to International Fall, Minnesota. (**shuddering at the thought**)
Average temperatures in International Falls
Yes, one could expect in a normal January to have lows in the negative numbers in Minnesota. BUT.....DO WE SEE ANY NEGATIVE NUMBERS IN KANSAS???
Clearly..we have been scammed.
NO! WE DO NOT!
Then how do you explain this?
I could be a good sport if it wavered a tad off of 21 degrees being the
low. I could except a day or two of...say...19 or 20. I could even be gracious about 19 or 20.....
but...seriously???? a MINUS 10 with a wind chill of MINUS FORTY....
Just when you thought you had safely put away any thoughts concerning the chaos associated with the holidays, I am here to give you one last nudge of Christmas. Yes, I realize the cruelty of showing you Christmas pictures. Enough already, you say.
Yeah...well...I will keep the Christmas part of this to a minimum...as best as I am able.
As you know I have been doing some posts about my recent trip to Germany and a big part of going to Europe in the winter is going to the Christmas Markets. (AKA Weihnachtsmarkt in Germany). The Weihnachtmarkt is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. The history of Christmas markets goes back to the Late Middle Ages in the German-speaking part of Europe.
My regular readers might remember that I am not a shopper. Actually, that is an understatement. I abhor shopping. So no one was more surprised at how much fun I had shopping in Germany. Not the actual act of buying stuff per se but the atmosphere surrounding the Winter Markets.
When I last left off on the post Next Stop Cologne we had spent the early afternoon touring the Cathedral of Cologne which happens to be the backdrop for one of the largest of the seven Christmas Markets that were in progress in the city of Cologne. Each of the seven had a different theme and unique quality about it.
It was still early in the afternoon on a workday, (Tuesday) so the crowds were relatively light.
This would not remain the case as the day turned into evening. BUT..even early in the day there is a festive mood that permeated the city as the people milled around looking through the hundreds of booths containing local crafts and food.
As a person that lives firmly in suburbia surrounded by big-box stores and can only associate Christmas shopping with the aggravation of increased traffic and long checkout lines, I have to say this was close to shopping nirvana. Cheerfulness abounding with happy friendly people walking around with smiles on their faces. Seriously...this might be what it would feel like to be caught up in the Twilight Zone.
There is no way in the space of a blog post to give you an inkling of how pleasant of environment this is but here is a slide show of some of the sights that transpired during the day into the evening.
It's not just the Christmas Markets, however, that make Cologne a fun winter destination. One could argue that the most perfect time to visit Germany would be in October for the obvious reason: Oktoberfest. I would of argued that point anyway as prior to this trip I would of said Spring is the absolute best time to visit Germany because of Frühlingsfest. Frühlingsfest is Oktoberfest's little sister that happens in the Spring....think smaller crowds, prettier weather and non-stop beer.
I have to tell you though, even the beauty of Europe in the Spring, can't trump the wonderful festive atmosphere that comes with these winter street markets. And while the beer may not be as free-flowing during the winter festivals, at least not in the same proportion as Oktoberfest there is always Gluhwein.
Gluhwein is a hot mulled wine that that is sold at numerous booths at every Christmas Market.
"Glühwein," which literally means "glowing wine," most often comes in a limited-edition, seasonally inspired and creatively adorned ceramic mugs. For a small additional fee, you can either keep this cute little mug as a memento of a visit to a particular Christmas market - often the year and name of the
town or city where you purchased your cup of Glühwein is inscribed on the mug - or you can return it to get your deposit back. As the proud owner of a number of these little mugs that will collect dust in the back of my cupboard, I would be a typical American that thought they were to cute to part with.
Due to the fact I can't drink alcohol, our mugs would of been doling out Kinderpunsch. Yes...I am in the minority of adults that have the shame of ordering Kinderpunsch instead of Gluhwein.
Outside of the Christmas Market shopping, I find European cities so much more interesting as far as shopping goes. Most German cities still have a thriving city center...what we would call a "downtown" in the U.S. I realize there are cities such as NYC or downtown Chicago still have urban shopping districts but so many of the city shopping areas around the states have migrated out to suburbia. The commercial sprawl that has become a mass of chain merchandisers and big box stores, no longer allow for strolling streets and peering into pretty window displays. It was a huge treat to walk around and stare into the pretty windows decorated for the holidays. Even those that didn't have seasonal decorations were fun to see.
Seems like this would be an honest merchant
A cute bookstore with a familiar face..if you are from Kansas
The city centers are very pedestrian friendly
Even during the winter people use sidewalk seating
The merchants provide lap blankets to go with your coffee and pastry
Aside from shopping, eating and drinking,.... there are a number of interesting things to see and do.
If you plan a trip to Cologne, be sure to bring a lock. Yes...a lock. Not because you need to protect your belongings but to add the the fence outside the train (Bahn) station. There is a custom there where people put locks on the chain link fence to denote their love...something akin to carving your initials into a tree but decidedly less destructive to trees.
locks of love
Many have little notes attached, nearly all have initials or names.
So...that's it for today. On a future post, I will be visiting castles and forts but for today we will stop and put Crabby Pants on a Merry Go Round...because in alter-ego land we can and not look foolish...or if we look foolish, we don't care.
Middle-aged (if I become a centenarian) living a middle-class life in the very middle of the country and continually struggling with the pros and cons of every topic. Seriously, conflicted.
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