June 5th, 2017 – Mainz to Boppard & and Kelkheim, Gernany
Today is our last full day in Germany and tomorrow we head home. We decided to take a Rhine (or as the German’s spell it, Rhein) river cruise. We left the house by 7:15, so we could head to the town of Mainz to catch one of the river boats that sales up and down the Rhine river. We get to Mainz by 8:10 and there is a boat leaving at 8:30AM. We park at the Hilton am Rhine and it is just a short walk over to the river boat ticket office. We ask the agent if the we can go to Koblenz, she says yes. Once again, I learn that in Germany you have to be very specific with your questions. I’ll come back to this later.
With our tickets in hand, we hop on board the MS Godsburg. It is a large cruiser operated by KD (Koln/Düsseldorf) Ship Lines. It has a main deck that is indoors and is set up much like a large restaurant surrounded by large picture windows so that anyone sitting here has a good view on either side of the river. There is also a large open air deck up above, with low railings and cafe tables set up nearest the railing on either side of the ship. My research suggest that its best to be sitting on the left hand side of the ship when going down stream toward Koblenz, or at the very bow of the boat, however the bow is closed to passengers today. There is friendly waiters who are eager to take orders for food and beverages. There is a slight premium for shipboard service but not as much as I was expecting.
We start out bright and early on the upper deck. The ship’s initial point of departure is Mainz and there are only about 20 people boarding, so Elisa and I have our pick of the seats. We also purchased a map/guide of the sights we will see on this ride. We are seated on the left hand side of the boat near the front with unobstructed views forward and of the landscape on the left bank of the Rhine. It is 8:30 in the morning, the clouds are thick but the sun breaks through intermittently and best of all there is no rain in the forecast. I have my rain jacket with me just in case, and it is a good thing becasue it is downright cold out here on the water. Eventually, we head downstairs to get out of the cold.
As we leave Mainz the boat will be making several stops at towns along the way, and the ride to the end of the line will take over 3-½ hours and we are only traveling about 35 miles. There is a lot of barge traffic out on the river at this time of the morning. We see a great many barges heading upstream that are riding very low in the water, with their open holds carrying a wide variety of different cargo. We see coal, containers, sand and other raw materials. However mostly what we see are tanker barges carrying crude oil upstream, having picked it up in Rotterdam and taking it to refineries up river. We also see a lot of tanker barges carrying refined petroleum products back down stream – heading to Rotterdam where they will export them around the world. Between Mainz and Rudisheim, the scenery is mostly industrial. This journey takes about one hour.
As we approach Rudisheim, we see the dock filled with tourists – mostly Asian – waiting to board. With that is sight, Elisa heads up to the top deck to nab a prime spot before they all board. I stay back finishing my breakfast I ordered. When i head upstairs to join Elisa, I see the top deck is very crowded, we are lucky to have gotten our prime seats once again. The trip up river from Rudisheim is where things start to get really beautiful. We are headed into the Rhine Valley Gorge. In this section, the hills on either side of the Rhine are steep and dotted with many different castles. There seems to be the ruins of castles almost every ½ mile. These castles largely popped up in the 1400’s when Germany was not yet united and the land was carved up into over 350 nation states. The Rhine river was a key corridor for the transportation of goods into and out of the area. This was a time when there was no motor driven vehicles. Navigating the fast moving waters of the Rhine was treacherous and would require assistance from handlers and animals on the shore. The castles would pop-up along the way by self-appointed “Princes”, who were people with money and they would extract tolls and fees for services from the barges making their way up and down the river. Because of the valuable cargo moving on the river there were also robbers out there and barges could seek refuge or protection from the various castles in return for fees paid. As the castles popped up, so too did towns. The land that these towns would occupy were on lands claimed by the castle owners, consequently the people in those towns would have to pay taxes to the castle owners in return for the use of the land and for protection from mauraders. I suppose from this chaos of extortion modern governments would arise.
We see so many stunning castles along the way. Many are in ruins but others are very well preserved and have been rehabilitated to house hotels and restaurants. There is one stretch of river that makes some sharp bends and the river also narrows. Consequently the current runs fast here. There is a tall stone cliff on the right hand side of the river and they call it the Lorelei rocks. Legend has it that beautiful sirens would sing their enchanting songs from the top of the rocks and distract the sailors and they would wreck their ships. I think that the sailors of yore were simply looking for something to pin the blame on for any accidents they might have. Sort of the equivalent of – “oh, a cat ran out in front of my car, and I had to swerve into the tree to avoid hitting it.” Once we get past the Lorelei, we pass two castles on the right hand side that are very closely situated with one another. At the very top of the hill, between the two castles is a very large and high wall. Legend has it that these castles were owned by brothers who had a disagreement. They call the wall the “hostility wall”. The legend goes on to say that the two brothers would end up killing one another in church in the town below the castles. After about 3-½ hours on the river its about 12:00 noon, we are nearing the town of Boppard. It is about 5 miles away from Koblenz, our desired destination. We are told that the boat we are on will be turning around at Boppard and heading back down to Mainz. We ask what about going to Koblenz and we are told that if we wait in Boppard for 3 hours there will be a boat that continues on to Koblenz.Well, it sure would have been nice to have that little piece of information from the agent when I was buying my ticket. We don’t have time to wait another 3 hours for the boat to Koblenz.
Instead we walk around this quaint little town and we learn that settlements in this location date back to Roman times around 4BC. The settlements would expand and grow through about 12AD. Roman walls and thermal baths are found in the area. By 12AD the Romans would be pushed out the Saxons. Boppard wouldn’t re-emerge until around the 11th century. Because of its location, it is fought over occupied by many different groups. In the 1400’s there is a 30 year period of wars and during that time the town of Boppard would be occupied by the Spanish, French, Swiss, Bavarians and Prussians. As the feudal system began to develop in the late 1400’s Boppard would pledge it’s allegiance to the Counsel of Trier. In return, Trier would protect the city and its prince. However, the city would have to build a palace and taxes would be collected from the people, further subjugating them. It sounds like a tough life back then if your weren’t a 1 Percenter. It’s now about 1:00 and we decide to fine a place for lunch. We need to get to the train station by 3:00 so we can make it to Elisa’s friends house by 5:00 in Kelkheim which is near Frankfurt.
So, we look at this one restaurant and we see that there are about 10 tables inside with most of them empty. There are also a few tables in front of the cafe outside and in the shade. Over all it doesn’t look too busy, we thine we’ll be able to get a quick bite to eat. As I sit down at one of the tables inside the restaurant, I have a view outside and I"m looking out on the plaza and I see an area with about 30 tables under umbrellas. It takes our hostess about 15 minutes just to give us menus. That’s when I notice that our hostess along with one other waiter, are also waiting on the 30 tables out on the square – all of which are full of diners. They are doing their best to keep up with all those tables plus the ones inside, where we are sitting, and the ones right out front. We feel really sorry for them because they are really overwhelmed. We finally place our orders after waiting 40 minutes. Our food comes out by 2:15, we wolf it down and are dashing to the train station. We see a sign pointing across the street to the ticket office. We dash over there but it’s closed. I’m assuming we will have to purchase a ticket on the train. As I figure out what track we will be leaving from, Elisa decides she needs to use the restroom. By now it is 2;30 and our train arrives and departs at 2:44. I see that there is a ticket machine on the landing where the train will be arriving. I go up to buy our tickets. The first machine I go to is not accepting my credit cards. It’s now about 2:38. I find another machine, finally it is working – I buy our tickets. It is now 2:40. My phone starts ringing, I’m sure that Elisa is wondering where I’ve gone since she doesn’t see me in the entry way of the station. I dash back down and urge her to come onto the platform. We are finally on the right track with our tickets in hand and the train arrives on time at 2:44. Once again Minerva is with us and everything works out.
The train ride is very smooth and quiet. I don’t know how those Germans get this trains to run so quietly. If only they could do that with Bart. I takes us about an our to make our way back to Mainz. By now, my phone is totally dead from having taken so many pictures on the river boat ride. Elisa’s phone is also very low. The challenge is to figure out how to walk the mile from the Mainz train station to the Hilton Hotel where our car is parked. Normally, we would use my phone’s GPS and maps to help guide us, but my phone is dead. I take a look at a rough map that we have and I have a good general idea of the direction we need to go. For some reason, Elisa does not have confidence in my dead reckoning skills – it might have something to do with the fact that my nickname is “wrong turn Rex”. I’m pretty sure I’m going in the right direction, but she is sort of in a panic. Fortunately, her phone has just enough charge left in it to lay out a course on the GPS and we are in deed going in the right direction. After about a 15 minute walk we see the Hilton Hotel sign in the distance. We are back to our car by 4:30. We have to be in Kelkheim by 5:00 and our GPS now says we are 36 minutes away. Close enough.
If you read yesterday’s blog post, you know that we reconnected with Terri, one of Elisa’s high-school friends, whom Elisa had lost contact. We had such a good time reconnecting, with them we made plans for dinner at their home in Kelkheim. Today was a German Holiday for them and it would not be too much of an inconvenience. They make us a fantastic dinner. Gary has deep fried a small turkey that has a garlic and herb rub on it. It tastes great. Terri has made some asparagus. – Elisa is thrilled because it’s so hard to get veggies when eating in restaurants here. Terri also make some really tasty roasted potatoes. The capper to this great dinner is the homemade Creme Brûlée that Terri has made. She has a little trouble getting the torch to stay lit so she can caramelize the sugar on top but Gary gets it going. It is really good
Terri and Gary live in a beautiful home in this suburb of Frankfurt. It is sprawling and occupies 2 levels plus a basement. They have been leasing it since they arrived in Germany over 6 years ago. The owner did an excellent job of renovating it. The home is very unique, in that the basement which occupies the full footprint of the home at one time had a dance studio and pub in it. This is fantastic, since Terri and her husband Gary love to entertain. What also makes this the perfect home for them is that Gary used to operate a karaoke and DJ business. So he has plenty of room to set up his sound system and all of their parties include karaoke down in the basement / dance studio. Elisa thinks she has died and gone to heaven. She loves to sing karaoke and she hasn’t really been about to do it since we moved into the new house. She, Terri and Gary sing several songs and I must say they sounded great. I am a happy audience for them.
As we begin to roll up on 10:00 pm we need to head out and let Terri and Gary get their rest so that Terri can go back to work tomorrow. Also, we need to re-pack our bags and get ready to head home to California tomorrow.
So this may be my final Aufwiedersehen. I will write an epilogue to this installment of my Backroad Blues Blog.
I’m so long winded, that I’m sure few of you have had the time or inclination to read my ramblings. I do it so I can remember what we’ve done on our many trips. I also do it so that I can share our experiences with all of you.
Thanks, Rex
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