November 21 - Cochem

Cochem is a fairy tale village that is very scenic. It's popular for wine growing and is located in the Mosel valley. Follow the Moselle where you meet the Rhine to Koblenz.

Cochem has a population of 6,000 inhabitants. It's the most visited village along the Moselle river. It's dominated by the so-called "Reichsburg" Castle. "Reich" means "empire" or "imperial" and "burg" beans "fortress." Thus, the Reichsburg is the "Imperial Fortress." the village itself is quite small and their are charming lanes and medieval houses along every turn. The village of Cochem i located on both sides of the river Mosel, with the main part of the village being that part just under the Reichsburg Castle.

Koblenz is a lovely town of 115,000 inhabitants, located at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. The old town is squeezed in between the two rivers and is located just steps away from the ship. The point where the two rivers meet is called the "Deutsches Eck," or the "German Corner." Here, there is an impressive monument dedicated to Kaiser Wilhelm I, who resided in Koblenz at one time and is quite a local hero. The confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers is dominated by the largest fortress situated anywhere along the Rhine river, the immense Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. Built over 1,000 years ago, the fortress was destroyed several times throughout the ages and was finally rebuilt by the Prussians after its last destruction. Nowadays, it houses several museums as well as a youth hostel. The fortress is gloriously illuminated in the evening.

Cochem
This morning we visited the town of Cochem and toured the Riechsburg Castle. It's hard to imagine that at one time, it was the summer home of a family from Berlin who earned their money in the iron industry. It was very cold today, and none of the shops were open as it was Sunday, so we all decided to go back to the ship.

Mustard Factory
From the ship, we walked to a mustard factory where we heard a tour of how they make the mustard in German. It was so strong, it burned your eyes, and they didn't wear goggles. We had a short time to go back to the room and unwind before lunch.

Lunch
At lunch, the two ladies who went to college together joined us again. Then, we went back to the room and took a nap as we drove down the Moselle River to meet the Rhine river. The Rhine river is loaded with castles.

Koblenz
We docked in Koblenz at 7:00 p.m.

Dinner
Dinner began at 7:00. Tonight was the wine themed dinner. Before dinner, we started talking to Cathleen from San Fran (who was originally from the Chicago area). She was on board with her husband, Duncan, and her mother-in-law. We all ate dinner together. It's such a small world!....It turns out that Duncan used to be a Salesman for Simonize to car washes and he knows Greg Mruk! How weird is that? Now, he's a Police Officer in San Fran. We had a great dinner and great conversation again. Mom and I had steak.

Kathleen talks a lot about religion because she converted to Catholicism and she would also like to get pregnant. They are the same age as me.

We went to the show afterwards that was opera-style. It was very crowded, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to upload my photos in the Aft lounge. I even got mom to come down and read her book.

On the way back to our room, mom wanted to stop for a cookie, so I got some tea and there was a piano player/singer who was very good. We watched for a little while and talked to the couple from Texas. They love Oprah Winfrey.

When we went back to our room, we weren't tired because we took naps, so we read and I turned on the movie SEX IN THE CITY, but I fell asleep after the one girl fell off the camel.