Germany is awesome.

Im currently blogging from Essen, but in the last two days Ive been a traveling fiend. Ive hit up Cologne, Koblenz, St Goarshausen and every city on a 33km stretch of the Rhein river south of Koblenz.

My plans turned out a little bit differently than last predicted. Instead of going either to Aachen or Bonn I spontaneously hopped a train to Koblenz to spend some time riding a bike along the river. The really nice German receptionist at the youth hostel in Cologne called the Koblenz hostel for me and reserved rooms for that night. Before I knew it I was rushing to the Gleis (platform) to catch my train, as it left 4 minutes after I bought my ticket. I said goodbye to my dear Moroccan friend, we really did have a lot of fun together, and off I went. As the train rumbled through the upper section of the Rhein valley, I watched castles pass by out the window. The weather was wonderful and sunny, and the closer we got to Koblenz the more excited I got. Finally I arrived, checked my destination and the tourist office and rented a bike, and went off to find the hostel.

The hostel was across the river in Ehreinbreitsein, about a 20 minute bike ride. I could see it from the bridge crossing the river, because Ehreinbreitsein is not only a hostel, but the largest fortress Ive ever seen in my life. It was built in the 1820s by the Prussians after they destroyed a castle existing on the site. Of course, building a fortress means building in a place that is extremely hard to get to. To give you an idea, there was a chairlift that took guests to the entrance. But being cheap and stubborn I took the footpath. Ive never seen a hill like this in my life, the grade was pushing 16% to 18% and went on for ages. The bike that I rented weighed about 30 pounds and my backpack probably weighed about the same. So I went into competition mode and automatically started stomping up the hill as fast as I could muster. I passed some nice German couples who were tending their gardens and even though I gave them the friendly Guten Tag greeting they looked at me like I was insane...

I was rewarded when I got to the top and rolled through the fortress to the castle, over cobbled streets, tunnels and walls several meters thick. The view from the top offered a panorama of Koblenz, with its towering sculpure of Kaiser Wilhelm II on the peninsula.

I went to bed early, and woke up to some screaming children at 645am. I made the best of it and went to breakfast early. I managed to eat two meals consisting of yogurt, muesli, meat, cheese, bread, toast, chocolate cereal, mint tea, strawberry tea, coffee and dried fruit before departing on my bike ride at 10am. Looking out over the Festung (fortress) I was a bit worried that my bike ride was going to be ruined by a thick layer of fog that completely obstructed my view of the Rhein and city below. I decided that I was going to go fog or not and I started south down the Rhein.

As I was riding along, I could see the foundations of the famed Romantic Rhein castles. Fortunately at about 1215, the sun sliced through the fog and revealed beautiful vineyards that lacêd up the hills. I stopped to enjoy the view and since the fog had dissapated, I started taking pictures of every castle I came across. I got bored of riding and stopped at St Goarshausen to climb up the hill to Burg Katz (Castle Cat). It was closed to the public, but the view from the top was undescribable.

From here I turned back to Koblenz, and I finally started to feel tired. I had lugged that bike around for around 40k, and it definitely didnt fit me correctly. I ended up causing a minor traffic jam at a construction area because I was riding too slowly. Cars started honking and someone yelled something at me in German. Luckily I couldnt understand so I just kept going as fast as I could, because I really couldnt do anything else... it was actually really funny... I can just picture the line of cars behind me.

I collasped when I got back. All and all it was about a 7 and a half hour ride. But honestly, I dont think that youve lived unless youve ridden along the Rhein.

Well, if theres two things I love its cycling and art. Now Ive got my german bike riding fix I can go home satisfied...

xoxooxoxox
steph