Weekend Get-away

The agenda for the Osheim/Long weekend get-away was planned by Connie and began with a guided tour thru the famous castle in Cochem. This castle is situated high atop a hill over looking the Mosel river, the view from top is incredible. We knew ahead of time the tour would be conducted in German and decided it made the evenings entertainment more adventurous, yes?

There was a nice gentelmen on the tour who, every so often would translate something or the other for our benefit. Of course we four, being the only Americans, were singled out at the begining and given a written program to "follow along" actually we did a pretty good job of understanding the guide on our own, she spoke slowly and her body language conveyed much of what she was articulating. A few interesting items from the tour: The castle construction began in 1000 AD, there is a balcony that juts out from the building over 300 feet in with nothing underneath it, Connie commented "this is the where I would have my morning cofffee!"

The tour concluded and we were directed to the dining hall where a feast was served Medieval style......basically that meant-no silverware, lots of toasting, drinking, dancing, even an offering of snuff to all guests, the whole affair was a theatrical perfomance, and dinner included the biggest, and I might add, delicious turkey legs you have ever seen!

The weekend continued with sightseeing along the Mosel river thru wine country in and out of picturesque villages as well as a trip to the famous wine festival at Bernkastel-Kues. We planned our day so that we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, that way we could enjoy the fireworks display that would conclude the festival. First order of business when we arrived was to purchase wine tasting glasses that hung around our necks by a leather strap. Then we were off sample some wine and join the thousands of people wandering through the village. We quickly discovered that wine by the glass was the not the most economical way to enjoy the wines being offered. A sample averaged 2 Euro and a bottle cost anywhere from 5 Euro on up. This would also exlplain the empty bottles all over and also why we saw so many people walking around drinking out of full wine bottles. Judging by their behaviour they had started quite early in the day! We were also a little surprised/disappointed to see so many Americans there but there are quite a few bases within a short distance and they offered coach tours to and from this event.

The crowds gathered for the much anticipated fireworks display, everyone went to high ground and we found a spot on a bridge to watch. The display was timed to mostly American Broadway musicals, we heard only one German song and after about 40 minutes constant fireworks, the show concluded to Frank Sinatra's New York New York.............Now it was time for another adventure...........trying to leave. Everyone it seemed tried to exit at the same time, we were single file trying to get to out and we were crushed in between people, only able to move where the crowd moved, I was holding on to Terry like a life line, it was a little scary and it was a relief to get out into open air and then back to our cozy room in Koblenz.

The next day we headed back towards home with a stop here and there along the way, most notable was a qucik side trip to the castle Burg-Eltz, this castle is also open for touring thru November so we have added it onto the must see list for Kerry and Rit........The weekend was packed with lots of fun and we look forward to our next adventure.

love and miss you all