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German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents

SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter VI

May 26-27, 2003

RHINE RIVER CRUISE
Koblenz to Mainz

Tuesday, May 27

We didn't need to be at the K-D boat dock until 11 a.m., so we slept in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the hotel dining room. The Hohmann Hotel is an old building, with ceilings that must be ten or twelve feet high. This gave our room an airy feeling. In spite of being across from the train station and on a busy thoroughfare, we really weren't bothered by the city's noise last night. As in many of our other hotels, our room's windows here have roll-down shades made of heavy metal overlapping slats which work well for both privacy, and light and noise control. Our room and bath were really quite generous in size. The bathroom even had a wash stand for each of us, plus a nice deep bathtub.

An appreciated benefit at the Hohmann Hotel was the free Internet service. They had a computer set up in the lobby so we sent a quick message to Glenn and told him to send it to "everybody." That should keep him busy for a little while!

Date: Tue, 27 May 2003

Subject: hello from kobleny

hi, Dad - mom wants zou to send this on to everzbodz... she is getting frustrated with the kezboard 6 mouse.
love, karen

hello! at almost the last minute, karen and i discovered that we had free e mail access at our hotel here in koblenz. the european kezboard is different you will have to do some translating.

we are having a wonderful time in Germanz. Saw manz relatives, all so kind and hospitable to us. Todaz we sail up the Rhine from kobleny to mainz the best part of the castles and wine countrz.

We are stazing healthz, eating lots of good German food and learning how to haul a heavz suitcase over rough cobblestone streets and throw it on the train.

hope zou are well. love, barb and karen

All the tour guide books say "you must have good weather to really enjoy a cruise on the Rhine." Easy enough for them to say, but by last evening the skies had become overcast and I was afraid my third Rhine cruise would be just like the other two--under cloudy or rainy skies. But, no! When I peeked out the window this morning, the street and train station were bathed in brilliant sunshine. The evil raingods have been vanquished, at least for a few hours.

We took a taxi to the boat dock, and trundled our suitcases aboard the "MS Loreley" river boat shortly before 11 a.m. Obviously, most people do this as a day cruise and we were the only people boarding with luggage. But, there was a nice niche on the lower level where we could stash our suitcases, then we took the elevator up to the top deck and set up our river cruising post in comfy chairs under the shade awning.

There was a big dining room on the lower level of the ship, but between the cheese and apples we kept from breakfast and a nice glass of Rhine wine from the top deck bar, we made ourselves a fine lunch and never missed a single castle! Just as Glenn and I discovered when we took our Danube-Rhine river cruise two years ago, a river boat is a very relaxing way to travel.

There was an occasional announcement of a particular castle or town over the ship's p.a. system, but we learned much more from the Rhine River milepost guidebook which I had kept from the 2001 cruise. Going upstream against the river's very strong current, the Loreley made about ten kilometers an hour.

The castles and picturesque villages hugging the river banks came fast and furiously. Karen made good use of her big "birder" binoculars, to bring the castles (Marksburg in this picture) up close enough to see details that were just a blur to the naked eye.

A few of the many castle scenes from our seven-hour Rhine cruise:

Once we passed the "Mause Tower" we were pretty much past the really scenic portion of the trip and the picturesque castles which had appeared around almost every bend of the river.

By 4 p.m. (that's 1600 in Europe's sensible 24-hour clock system) the sunny day had turned into overcast skies, although still very comfortable air temperatures. We gave up our viewing post on the top deck and went down to the elegant dining room for an afternoon ice cream treat. We pretty much had the dining room to ourselves. In fact, almost everyone else had departed the ship before this point. We had a fine view of the river scenery from comfy dining chairs and stayed there for the final portion of the trip. There was still the occasional castle, or ruin, but now we saw bigger towns or cities instead of quaint little villages hugging the river's edge. The countryside flattened out too, and the hillside vineyards also disappeared. At milepost 507, Karen spotted three storks on wooded islands in the river. Apparently this is a gathering place for the storks when they are migrating northward.

We reached Mainz about 7:30 p.m. When we disembarked from the almost-empty Loreley, we trundled our suitcases up from the riverbank, looked expectantly for the waiting taxis--and there were none! So, we trundled our suitcases further into the city, stood on a busy streetcorner for awhile, ---and still no taxis! We knew from our maps that our hotel was a good long hike from the river and really didn't want to strike out hauling our luggage. Also, it was getting later and there was not much daylight left. What to do!

We found a telephone booth, but it had no phone book attached to it. Hmmm. Upon closer inspection of the phone booth interior, we saw a little sticker attached to the phone, saying "for taxi, call......" and Karen called. She was assured a taxi would arrive momentarily, and indeed it did. Another strong argument for knowing German when touring Germany. Maybe the dispatcher would have understood my English, but I doubt it.

A few miles and E8.50 later, we were at the hotel. We were glad we had guaranteed our room for a late arrival, but the Schottenhof hotel looked a little ratty compared to our previous accommodations in Germany. It had what may well be the world's smallest elevator. Room for only one person and (maybe) their suitcase. But, by taking turns and sending each suitcase up by itself, we got both luggage and us to our room.

By now we were getting hungry and made an exploratory walk around the block. Found nothing, so as in Koblenz, we ended up at the nearby train station. To Karen's satisfaction, we didn't see the McDonald's, as it was well-hidden. BUT there was a Pizza Hut right out in the open and we marched into that. For about four Euros each, we got two big slices of pizza and a Pepsi. This "bahnhof" is without doubt the snazziest one we've seen. Some of the other stations we've visited were doing remodeling, but Mainz appears to be finished. It had a nice assortment of bakeries, groceries, and shops of all description. While in the station, we picked up a snack to enjoy back in our hotel room, and also traced the route through the station to the train track we'll depart from early tomorrow morning.

Our hotel said it offered free Internet access, but the night clerk knew nothing about computers and at first said, "Nein, not tonight." But, we finally persuaded him to check with his computer-literate supervisor. He made a phone call, got instructions on how to turn on the computer, and Karen was able to send an e-mail to our host, Herr Seidler, in Mittenwald. We hope that he will meet us at the train station when we arrive tomorrow--it's a long hike from the station to his guest house.

This is the end of the chapter on our Rhine River cruise.

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