On yer bike!

The three of us hired bikes today from our hotel.  Riding down to Linzer Strasse, we headed south and spent some time trying to find exactly how to reach the Rhine.  It was very near, but we couldn't get to it.  In Rheinbreitbach, we saw some very large pumpkins growing in someone's front garden.  We found a bushy track, which led to a road, and we then had to stop for a passing train.  Soon, we consulted a map near Unkel, and continued on our way.  It was my first time on a bike in many years.  I really enjoyed it.  The only problem was the seat was really uncomfortable.

We stopped at Unkel for coffee.  We were in Willy-Brandt Platz.  Willy Brandt was Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974, and retired to and died at Unkel.  Renate told me that Brandt had been forced out of office because an East German spy had got close to him, and passed on many secrets to the East German Government.  Silly Willy.  

We continued riding along by the river.  Occasionally, numbered signs appeared along the path.  These indicate the distance to where ships are allowed to start sailing on the Rhine (in the direction of the river's source).  (The river flows north into the Netherlands.)  As we rode along, many other cyclists breezed past us, as did elderly pedestrians, young families with dogs, and a few kids.  Many elderly walkers trudged along with not one but two walking sticks, looking like they were about to go skiing.

Eventually, we came to the town of Erpel.  In this general area of the Rhine, it's the most northern part of Germany for the growing of grapes for wine.  At Erpel, this was reflected in the display of an old instrument for making wine, in the many grape vines that creep along the walls of the houses that line the narrow streets, and in those that hang across the lanes to the opposite sides.  We had lunch at Erpel in a place called Marktplatz.  There was a fabulous, tall plane tree just outside the restaurant that had been planted in 1887.  Plane trees can be found all over Europe.  But since we've been in Germany, plane tree leaves appear much more withered than in the south of Europe, a sure sign autumn is here.

After lunch, at 2.20, we started to head back to Bad Honnef.  It took nearly 90 minutes to reach the hotel.  After collecting our luggage, we walked the 50-minute journey to the boat pick-up point.  Our boat to Köln departed at 5.30.  We arrived there around 8.

On the road with our bikes...

Renate plots our course....

Jean plans strategy....

An old apparatus for making wine at Unkel. The advertisement is for a local candidate in today's German election.

We had a coffee at Unkel in Willy-Brandt Platz

At Unkel

According to Renate, from this point, there are 634 km to where ships are allowed to start sailing on the Rhine (in the direction of the river's source).

Me on the Rhine...

My first time on a bike in many years....

Grape vines hanging across the road at Erpel

Grapes at Erpel

At Erpel: looking towards Marktplatz where we had lunch

Where we had lunch at Erpel.  The plane tree was planted in 1887.

Me drinking a Weizenbier at Erpel

Cycling back to Bad Honnef, the Drachenfels came into view.

Sometimes cyclists must obey 'pedestrian only' areas along the Rhine.

We returned our bikes to the hotel, and walked the 50-minute route to the boats.

Us sailing past Königswinter with the Drachenfels behind

German Chancellor Angela Merkel: will she win a third term in today's election?

Bad Honnef and the Drachenfels

Jean, Renate and I walked into Bad Honnef this morning and made enquiries in the town library and afterwards in a bookshop about the history of the town.  We were trying to find any information about our ancestors that we possibly could.  We didn't find anything though.  I wasn't terribly disappointed, as I didn't expect to find much anyway.  I wrote to the Rathaus more than a week ago to ask if the authorities might have any information about where my ancestors lived in this town.  They replied, saying they had no information.  

We decided to go to the Drachenfels, or 'dragon rock', which is a 320 metre-high hill plus castle ruin which overlooks the Rhine.  The castle was built in the 12th century by the archbishop of Köln to protect the border to the neighbouring county of Sayn.  The castle was the seat of the castellan of Drachenfels.  We first walked all the way to Rhöndorf, and, after learning that a recent landslide prevented our ascent up Drachenfels from here, we made our way to Königswinter with the Strassenbahn (tram).    At Königswinter, we took the Zahnradbahn, or cog-railway, up Drachenfels to the top.  

At the summit, we spent ages admiring the views up and down the Rhine, the view down to Rhöndorf and neighbouring Bad Honnef, the endless forested area to the east which is the home of the celebrated Siebengebirge (seven mountains), and the many villages on the opposite bank of the Rhine to the west.  Here at the summit, there were a couple of restaurants, and we ate lunch.  Then, we climbed the steep pathway up to the actual castle ruin.  From here was an even better view.  I was in Bad Honnef last in 1987.  I really only remember how bushy it was, and it still is.  Back then, I also came up the Drachenfels.  But, again, all I really remember from that time is the panoramic view.

We caught the cog-railway back down the hill to halfway.  A sizeable castle, Schloss Drachenburg, was built here around 1883.  We toured extensively inside, and climbed the north tower.  Again good views of the Rhine.

After descending to Königswinter, we returned to Bad Honnef, and dined in the Altes Rathaus (old town hall).  We got back to our hotel in the far reaches of the town just on dusk.

Renate looking for the way to go.  Jean saying she thinks it's this way.

An 18th century chapel in Bad Honnef

An old-looking house.  Could my great-grandfather, Felix Thode, have been born here?

A view to the Drachenfels (on the hill) from Rhöndorf

An artist's image of the Drachenfels and the Rhine

We climbed to the top of Drachenfels by cog-railway.

At the Drachenfels summit.  Jean and Renate peer along the Rhine.

The Drachenfels is a popular place to come.

The ruin of the castle

Looking south from the ruin to the summit below, and further to Bad Honnef at left and the river Rhine.

Us with the view

Schloss Drachenburg

A deer in the gardens

Schloss Drachenburg 

Last day of summer

It is 20 September, the last day of the European summer.  The first day, 21 June, was our last day at work.  Two days later, we flew out of Australia, and we've been in Europe since 27 June.  To us, it seems like a very long time.  Every day, I wake up and take note that I am still in Europe, and still on this holiday.

Jean and I are both getting excited about returning home.  I remember some years ago, a North American airline advertised 'home' as one of its most popular destinations.  It will be great to get home, and see familiar faces again. 

The Rhine river, between Koblenz and Bad Honnef, does not have terribly many castles on its banks.  We saw quite a few more yesterday as we headed towards Koblenz.  Which is a bit disappointing.  Along this stretch, you see some industry; some medieval-looking houses; churches with tall, sharp spires; towns; railway lines occasionally on both banks; and, of course, tall, green rolling hills smothered with trees.

The 200 metre high hills that follow the course of the Rhine are made up of large, sloping, jagged slabs of rock that poke out at the sides.  Often, pine trees line the very top of the hills.  As you sail along the Rhine, the hills themselves roll up and down, rising from ground level to their height of 200 metres or so and down again, like massive waves on a wildly disturbed sea.

At last we arrived at Bad Honnef, where we were met by my cousin, Renate.  It was great to see her again.  Together, the three of us walked the very long distance to our hotel.  Renate said that, in former times, the hotel would have been out of the Bad Honnef boundaries!

A modern German shopping mall: narrow with no cobbled streets, in Koblenz

The Liebfrauenkirche 

This memorial remembers the 1,000 people killed in Koblenz in the last days of the war.  The nearby church, the Liebfrauenkirche, was 87% destroyed.

A map of the Rhine area

The boats along the Rhine love kids.

Jean on deck

This could be Canberra.

A passing church

Jean laughing at a joke 

Last day of summer: notice how rugged up we are

The Rhine appears to be quite wide in places.

Another passing church

A passing castle

We were met at Bad Honnef by my cousin, Renate, the lady to the left under the sign.

From Heidelberg to Koblenz

Yesterday morning, we spent a few more hours strolling around Heidelberg.  Fortunately, the rain had subsided.  We walked along the river Neckar down to the Alte Brücke (old bridge).  There was much information there about when the river has flooded in the past.  I think it was in 1784 that the waters rose nearly all the way to the top of the bridge.  But that's not all.  Flooding is a regular event, with the water levels rising high at various times in the 20th century, and as recent as 20 years ago.

We caught the 13.55 train to Koblenz, where we arrived at a quarter to four.  Fifteen minutes after leaving Heidelberg, we stopped in Mannheim, and it was not too long after that that the scenery became more interesting.  Between Stuttgart and Heidelberg, the scenery had been very green, with rolling hills.  The landscape had reminded me of the very best kept golf courses I've ever seen.  But now, after Mannheim, the Rhine river soon came into view.  The Rhine seems to flow along a narrow valley, with hills on both sides.  Quite often, you would see a castle on the hill, beckoning foreign passengers to put down their books and newspapers and peer out the window.

Once we arrived in Koblenz, we followed the ridiculously long trail to the Tourist Information office, and accidentally found our hotel.  We never went to the Tourist Info office.  After checking in, we walked down to the Rhine, and headed along to a boat ticket office, where we purchased tickets along the river to Bad Honnef.  We then took the cable car over the Rhine and up the hill on the left bank.  There is an elaborately built lookout tower there, offering sweeping views up and down the river.  Not only the Rhine.  Koblenz is where the river Mosel drains into the Rhine.  We witnessed much commercial traffic as well as river cruises on the two rivers.

There is also a fortress on top of the hill here, and I never got round to finding out what prisoners were kept here, but it's at least a few hundred years old.  We toured the fortress quickly, and flew back over the river in the cable car.  We then walked around the large statue of William I, and walked along the Mosel a little, stopping momentarily to inspect the pear trees with plenty of fruit on them.  Shortly, we took a left turn, and eventually found a very nice restaurant in which to have dinner.  The waitress accidentally brought lamb cutlets instead of filets.  But I didn't mind.

On the river Neckar in Heidelberg, approaching the Alte Brücke

On the Alte Brücke, the Gates to the city of Heidelberg

At Heidelberg: passengers stepping off a boat

At Koblenz, we caught a cable car across the Rhine...

...and climbed the hill to an old fortress...

Near the old fortress, this elaborate lookout offers sweeping views up and down the Rhine as well as over the city of Koblenz.

From the lookout, one can see the river Mosel draining into the Rhine.  A barge carries coal in the foreground.

The old fortress at the top of the hill on the Rhine's left bank

The walls were roughly 45-50 feet high.

  Not much chance of prisoners escaping.

A statue of William I watches the Mosel drain into the Rhine.

This is a memorial to the victims of the division of Germany.  The middle block shows the date 17 June 1953 - when demonstrations against conditions in the former East Germany were crushed by the East German government.  The right-hand  block shows the date 9 November 1989 - when East German leader Egon Krenz allowed East Germans to cross freely into the West for the first time.  The Berlin Wall began to be dismantled shortly afterwards, leading to the Reunification of Germany in 1990.

The reverse of the memorial shows the blocks are an L-shape, indicating these are probably pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Charming Koblenz