Tearful goodbyes and photos and then into the car to Bingen to catch the ferry. Got there with time to spare only to find that I needed to have validated our Eurrail pass. Nevermind - it was only €53.80 so we haven’t eaten into funds too much. We just have an extra days travel to look for. More tearful hugs and then it was on to the boat.
The Rhine Trip
The trip down the Rhine was quite spectacular. The boat was crowded with Japanese when we got on and they had takem all the sun deck seating. We found ourselves a table to stand at next to some French Harley riders, and when they disembarked claimed their chairs. By this time we’d engaged in conversation with an Aussie couple from Perth, Louis and Shirl, and a German guy Gerhardt Ott. The stop before the Loreley saw a whole pile of Indians get on and sudden;y the boat was chocker with everyone wanting to get photos of the rock. I’m not sure what I expected, but the rock outcrop was surely impressive.
Gerhardt had quietly been offering snatches of conversation and trying to help us get seats from the Japanese. After the next stop when all the tourists got off the five of us joined at one table and a pleasant cruise ensued.
Gerhardt is a doctor who later in life turned to what he felt was his calling which was to help the poor in the third world. He has set up a corporation to do this in a not for profit way and travels to Africa, India, Nepal and Bali. We talked about many things along the way, about how one can feel like a foreigner in ones own country, the changing nature of Western society. He only happened to be on the boat because it was his birthday and on that day you can travel for free, so if he is in the country he does the Rhine trip through to Köln. A very gracious man who I’m pleased to have met.
Koblenz
Then it was time to leave at Koblenz. Off with everything and then get sorted. Stamps, film, postcards, toilet. Denise went and then I went looking but before I could find them I saw two people walking, the woman, blonde and with a distinctive walk so I called out "Kirsten!" and it was them. Back to Denise, put the luggage in the car and then off to see the old town, have some lunch and then walk some more - to the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle.
Street musicians abounded and lots of people. Saw three slabs of the Berlin Wall and found that Kirsten was a girl in Berlin when the wall went up overnight and she was frightened that her father who worked daily in the East wouldn’t be allowed back in to the west. The family moved to near Köln soon after that, and her mother still lives in the town they moved to.
Then we went up to the great fortress overlooking Koblenz, Der Ehrenbreitstein, which had been on the site for 1,000 years pretty much. We discovered there was a historical festival going on and K & R thought it too expensive, so we totted up and decided it wasn’t – as it turned out it was even cheaper because senior citizens got in at reduced rates and they thought I had to be over 60 – huh! but who’s arguing. Inside there were people dressed up in all kinds of costumes - military, medieval, and even older - Tartars, Huns, and Goths – but there were also the Goths of today’s era walking around in their black clothes and capes too. Stalls and demonstrations of old-time crafts and activities – axe throwing & archery for the kids; sword-fighting, cannon firing, plus all the new age versions of Celtic, Tibetan and any other kind of mysticism, plus the pot fumes. Catriona and Paul would have been in their element!
Then it was home on the Autobahn to Köln. We had such a lovely welcome and enjoyed our first hours with Rüdiger and Kirsten.
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