Auf Wiedersehn Cochem

After four hectic days we leave the charming little town of Cochem and head to Heidelberg.  We chose Heidelberg for its geographic location, more than any other reason.  Rick Steves says to give it a miss and didn't have anything to say about it, so our expectations were low.  We met a very friendly cabbie at the train station and drove through a fairly modern, non charming town.  As we approached our hotel for the next four days the buildings began getting nicer and having more character.   We pulled into the Market Square and were blown away.  Our hotel, the Goldener Falke, is located right on the corner of the square directly behind the Cathedral.

Our hotel was constructed in the sixteenth century of stones salvaged from the castle ruins. It has a wonderful restaurant and service to tables in the square.  We took advantage of the slow travel day and camped at a table in the square.  We dined in the hotel restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderful meal served by the charming Dominique.  As dusk was settling we strolled around a bit and took some photos.

Ramblings.  Cochem is lovely and is Germany's answer to Victoria.  The average age of the tourist is 80, if you use the serving staff to help lower the average.   Like Victoria the streets are rolled out between 9:30 and 10:30 in time to greet the first of the grey wave.  The streets are then rolled up again at about 6:30 p.m. as the tour buses head out of town.  But just like Victoria, Cochem has charm to spare.  

Rhine cruise vs Mosel cruise.  I found the differences in the two cruises very interesting.  The Mosel cruise is like driving a pleasant country back road.  The Rhine cruise is like driving the highway with barges acting as semis and river cruises as buses.  The Mosel is more structured for the native German tourists, i.e. little or no English.  The Rhine is more international in flavour and is narrated in six different languages.  The Mosel, being a smaller river, has steeper banks which makes for more interesting vineyards.  The Rhine, being larger, has generally gentler slopes but has more castles. On the Mosel almost any usable land is utilized for vineyards.  Some of these vineyards are so steep you can't imagine how they tend or harvest the grapes, you would either have to repel down from the top or have trained mountain goats pick the grapes.  However they do it, they make great wine.