Day 2: Boat trip up the Rhine to Koblenz

on the boat tour

As you can probably tell from the photos, we woke up to a rainy day... which I’m sure the spring flowers need, but it’s not so nice when you’re a tourist. Oh, well. We will just try to make the best out of it. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel (German rolls with jam, meats and cheeses, yoghurt, soft-boiled eggs, coffee) and then we got on a boat cruise down the river. We went with the current, and could see all kinds of vineyards, little towns and castles as we floated past. Very scenic. This part of the Rhine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and between Koblenz and Mainz there are about 40 castles total! 

 

It took about 2 hrs 15 mins to get to Koblenz, one of the largest cities on the Mittelrhein, a city that is over 2000 years old! Koblenz was built where the Mosel River meets the Rhine, and this “corner” is called Deutsches Eck, or “German corner”. There is a big Prussian monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I at this point. Opposite, on the other bank of the river, is the Festung Ehrenbreitstein, a huge fortress. We walked through the town, had lunch at a little cafe, and walked to the train station. The boat ride took 2 hrs 15 mins, the train took 26 mins!

Back in St. Goar, we caught the tail end of a little fair they were having for "Easter Monday". The ferry had a special - 1 EUR/person across the river and back. Both little towns had a fair. Not very good weather for it... Hopefully the sun will peek out a few times the next few days. Our hotel is right by the ferry station, so it's fun to watch the guy going back and forth. The driver is pretty talented to navigate the current.

On the ferry crossing the river

 If you can see on the wine glass to the left, German glasses always have a line for the liter mark, where the servers should fill them up. Typical for a glass of wine is 0,2 Liters  (6.7 ounces), and here you pay around 2.90 - 3.10 for a glass of wine. Mormor likes the standard size and both she and my mom commented on how inexpensive the wine is compared to the US! It's nice! You just sit down and order a dry Riesling, or pick off the menu, and they bring you something from the town next door! Amazing!

Prost!

where we had dinner tonight

warm apple strudel with ice cream and whipped cream for dessert...lecker!