Ehrenbreitstein on the right and Koblenz on the left side of the river

The small orange circle on the right side of the river (mid photo)is the location of our marina.  The bigger orange circle is where the Rhine and Mosel meet and there is a giant equestrain statue representing German unity.  (More about that in the Koblenz email.)  We took the ferry across our first afternoon but used the bridge to return and then both ways the second day.  So it’s not so far as it might look.

Mozart Globe though I always thought kugel was a noodle pudding my mother made.    I could have titled the photo on the left, “Kindle NOT!” 

Cycling/walking paths line the river pretty much the entire way.  How wonderful!

We didn’t visit the fortress but did eat at a kabob/pizza joint across the street from the lift that takes you there on the Ehrenbreitstein side.  You can also take a cross-river cable car from Koblenz.

“As the vine flourishes, and the grape empurples close up to the very walls and muzzles of cannoned Ehrenbreitstein; so do the sweetest joys of life grow in the very jaws of its perils.”

So did American author Herman Melville of “Moby Dick” fame write about the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, or Festung Ehrenbreitstein.

http://www.mygermancity.com/ehrenbreitstein-fortress

http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/  was an old newspaper article I came across telling about American soldiers taking possession of the fortress after WW 1. 

If you wanna see it you gotta go up…  Our friend Linda Levy on B’Sheret coined that phrase in Greece but it seems true of everywhere.

Looking into the town of Ehrenbreitstein

Looking back across the river to Koblenz

Rheinburg House had been our destination but it was locked up and under renovation.

Back down into town

The smaller black plaques are the more recent High Water Marks on the stone wall of the railroad bridge. 

     “January 10, 2011 – 05:04 PM   Flooding that inundated cities and towns along two of Germany’s most popular wine routes over the weekend began to subside on Monday. The region was spared the kind of catastrophic flooding seen along the Rhine and Mosel rivers during the 1990s.

The Rhine River spilled over its banks in Koblenz and parts of Cologne, causing shipping and other water traffic between the cities to be suspended. In Koblenz, where the Mosel converges into the Rhine, flood waters swept over the city’s main landmark, the famous Das Deutsche Eck (German corner) monument to German Emperor Wilhelm I.  (The bigger orange circle on the map.)

But the worst appeared to be over near Koblenz. "I assume that we have reached the peak (of floodwaters)," a spokeswoman for the Rhine Flood Center in Mainz told reporters. On Monday afternoon, water levels there remained stagnant.

http://www.spiegel.de/  shows the photo of Das Deutsche Eck

When he’d asked me for the camera, I thought Randal had intended to take a photo of the high water plaques.  No.  Randal liked the stone squares (think home in VA we’ll build one day) and later we stopped to admire the sone mason at work.

I stopped to admire the different artist “atelier” in the town.  Unfortunately none was open.

http://www.galerie-sehr.de/      and the Atelier of Anja Bogott  http://www.anja-bogott.de/

Dog walking has a universal language anyone can understand. 

Homes everywhere seem to be painted in bright colors.  The small arched doors lead to the cellar.

Lovely nautical inspired door.

And interesting roof design.

Randal confirmed with the car’s owner that the top is indeed painted with gold leaf.

Beethoven’s mother’s home is now a musuem but was closed the day we visited.

  “Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, to Johann van Beethoven (1740–1792), one of a line of musicians of Flemish ancestry, and Maria Magdalena Keverich (1744–1787), whose father had been overseer of the kitchen at Ehrenbreitstein. Beethoven was one of seven children born to them, of whom only Beethoven and two younger brothers would survive infancy. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770. Although his birthdate is not known for certain, his family celebrated his birthday on December 16. “

http://www.symphonyinc.org/node/151

Harbor master at the Kaiser Wilhelm Rhein Marina braiding a line.