Travelling down the Rhine

 Monday, 5th October, 1981         Beethoven country      overcast but fine

Slept beside the Rhine in the car park.  Very nerve racking.  John parked between a caravan and a large truck so it wasn't as windy as it could have been.  

Last night we walked into Bonn Centrum to see Beethoven's home.  He was born in 1770, Australia's year.  On the way out of Bonn we saw a policeman with his machine gun patrolling outside Arab consulate.  At Melden we stopped to shop and were having morning tea when the lady spoke to us, she is off to Australia next Thursday.  Lucky Lady.  Her husband is English and they are going to a wedding in Brisbane.  We fill the larder then continued our way up the Rhine - beautiful country - the mountains one side with Vineyards and little white houses.  A castle every now and again rears its gables through the trees.

We continued through beautiful countryside to Bad Breisich where there are thermal baths.  It has little narrow streets with older narrow shopfronts.  The River Pavilion is closed to traffic and has private hotels all along the river front.  We are in Rheingold country now.  We are heading out towards Mosel country.  On to Remagen where we had lunch.  Had difficulty in buying brown wholemeal buns - ended up with French rolls, which were very nice.  

Remagen is a little village on the Rhine.  The railway bridge at Remagen over the Rhine was captured almost intact by the Americans on the seventh of April 1945 and helped to speed the final invasion of Germany.  Soon afterwards the bridge collapsed and has never been rebuilt.  

On to Koblenz where the Mosel River meets the Rhine, the promenade along both rivers is 8 km long and meets at the Deutsches Eck.  It was given this name in 1216.  Some of the buildings date back to 836 AD.  The Kastor church and Our Lady’s demonstrate harmonious combination of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque architecture.  There is a wine village, an exact reproduction of a winegrowing village.  Vineyards line the surrounding hills with unusual castle style buildings amid trees.  The village has buildings late styled as the village - now a city - was razed during the war.  We are just opposite the Deutsches Eck watching the Rhine and Mosel passing by.

Deutsches Eck, Germany

In town, during our walk, we had seen an Australian van like ours so left a note.  About 7:30 p.m. we were watching when the kids became excited - the van had arrived at the camp and amazing thing was, it was people we all knew.  John went to school with Bert Rose.  They lived up behind us at Wyadra Avenue when the children were at school.  Another Aussie couple joined us - Mike and Annette.  They had all been on a boat ride on the Rhine.  Bert and Nan have three girls, Yvette, Tammy and Carolyn.  We had a stimulating evening till midnight.  We need some English conversation every now and then.

Bert was a butcher from Narrabeen - knew him years ago - has his shop at Narrabeen bus terminus. 

Tuesday, 6th October, 1981                   fine and cool

Slept in after our evening.  Then breakfast and casually prepared to begin another day on the Rhine.  Saying goodbye to Philip and Annette, Bert and Nan Rose and the girls we headed off up the winding river bank.  Grape vines dotted the left banks, leisure boats and barges ploughed up and down in the swiftly flowing river.  Little Tudor villages dotted each side of the river with their churches proudly displaying the spires.  There are lots of ………..? in Europe.  At Kapellan we stopped to enquire re boat across the other side but had to be content with a photo - no transport across.  Old homes lined steep narrow lanes down to the riverbank where the foundations of houses are stoned up quite high to hold back the Rhine in flood.

We drove on through Rhens - a real old village with houses leaning towards the road.  The castle Marksburg stands majestic overlooking the village of Braubach.  We had lunch in a park before we moved on to Boppard, a Roman walled city at one part of history.  The children wanted to ride in the chairlift way above the town, so John sat with Rae, and I with Sean and away we went with much trepidation way above the world. 

My mouth was dry, hands clasped tightly on Sean.  Eyes open sometimes, we slowly lifted way up into the trees, grapes grew calmly below us, though the skies were dark and threatening there was very little wind.  As we rose higher than sight from land, Sean commented how quiet and calm it was.  He talked to me to calm my racing pulse and  feeling we would fall.  And it was worth it - every tremor.  The view was magnificent.  

We walked through the shrubs to a lookout, John did some video work and I took some photos from the hill overlooking where 4 lakes meet.  Coming down was definitely better than the ascent.  I was glad to reached terra firma.

The view from the top took in Schloss Liebenech, Stennenberg and Leibenstein castles on the hills above.  We passed through Bad Salzig, St Goars. Hausen Village could be seen on opposite bank through St Goars, Oberswesel to Bacharach.  We passed Lorelei, the sharpest point in the Rhine where legend has it sailors in days gone by heard her singing and failed to navigate the sharp turn and went to their watery graves.  It's so hard to imagine oneself on the Rhine.  It is magnificent!  Bacharach is a small village with the most antiquated typical Rhenish, Renaissance homes and shops, narrow streets.  In every town there is a Rathaus -the town Hall.  We found an area right on the Rhine bank, swans swimming tamely by and now and then the calm sound of a tug.

Wednesday, 7th October, 1981                      fine and cool

Woke to the beautiful sound of bells at 7 a.m.  They tolled for 15 minutes, for whom the Bell tolls, not me.  I went back to sleep for an hour, awoke to a beautiful sunny, but crisp day.  Leisurely breakfast and off down the Rhine to Bingen to spend the day.  We did divert up a hill to see castle Burg Reinstein.  The manager came running down when we parked and started to say something in German when John answered in English he said quickly "next tour in five minutes" and took off.  

As we arrived in Bingen the ferry was preparing to go, so we vacated that van in the fastest time yet,  caught the ferry and took off up river to Rudesheim.  Sandra wanted to have her birthday here so we bought the day forward and decided to eat out at a lovely restaurant in Drosselgrasse - a delightful street in the heart of town with leaning shops and restaurants very narrow.  In every eating house a live band is playing - the one we chose had a Dutch man and wife team who played and sang delightful music - German, Dutch and Waltzing Matilda for us.  We danced to a great beat, "the chicken Song”, had a fantastic meal for only 88 deutsche marks about $33.  John, Rae and Sean had bratwurst; I had Weiner Schnitzel and San a salmon, and a beautiful cappuccino coffee.  John had beer served in a huge glass boot.  We loved it so much we went back for afternoon tea.

The kids had been dying to use the chairlift up to the "Niederwalddenkmal" so after lunch we all lined up.  San brought tickets and was third in line for the chair when she took off, handing us our tickets as she went.

We were kind of forced on before we could reneg.  Rae and John, Sean and I.  It was a lovely trip after, nothing like Boppard was.  It was a covered car like chair and it was lovely.  

All the way up we were saying how mum would have liked this, and up there on top saying wish San was here when up she popped.  Had cashed in token then decided it was now or never and hopped on board the chair before she could change her mind, so another had conquered her fear of ascending.  We spent some time admiring the view then came back in the chairlift, Rae and I led the way, John and Sandra then Sean on his own. 

We walked for awhile around the old streets, and had afternoon tea. Then caught the ferry back to Bingen, but before that we strolled down a wine cellar - a huge concrete cellar, Sandra hesitated on the steps in case the owner closed doors as he stood up top and his wife "like a spider" encouraged us all in - she had a drink in our hands before we could say Jack Spratt, then said three marks! She didn't give John his change back and kept selling the wine at rapid pace and before we knew it she had sold a bottle - we couldn't get out quick enough.  Back to the van, a camping area out of Bingen, baked beans on toast and a contented five into bed -the weather continues to be perfect.

 

Bonn to Bingen, Germany