A VISIT TO BURG ELTZ CASTLE NEAR THE MOSEL RIVER

Friday, September 29, 2000 Bacharach

Met Heidi & Kent at breakfast along with another nice couple from Arizona. All decided to met for wine tasting about 7:30 PM. The people from Arizona are Terry and Shirley and they have 6 children and 13 grandchildren. So...we've lots to talk about!

After breakfast, used the Internet to send out several joint letters to as many as I could write in thirty minutes. People were waiting in line and we had to wait about thirty minutes to get on the machine.

Walking back to the hotel, Jim eyed a wood carving for longer than normal and we ended up purchasing one to take home. The owner put the town name on it and signed the back. Very pretty piece for our kitchen at home.

I had a caffeine withdrawal problem. No coke or candies for two days and we’ve discovered that the coffee at Letty’s is decalf!!!! Oh my! Terrible headache as we were leaving for the day trip and absolutely no energy!

Left about 10 am to go the Burg Eltz castle which is located near the Mosel River but in the forest. It is 700 years old and still privately owned by the original family. The countess makes sure that fresh flowers are in each room that the visitors see. It is furnished, as it was about 500 years ago. It’s a rather long drive off the highway and then you walk down the road quite apiece from the parking area. But well worth the effort. Only problem was that the tour was in German and we only had an English sheet for information. Instead of walking back up the hill for only 2 DM apiece we were able to ride up in a van!! Ate lunch (sandwiches saved from breakfast in the car as we left).

Found a coke at a nearby town called Munstermailfeld to cure my lack of caffeine problem! Just holding the coke helped!! Will take my instant coffee with me tomorrow to add to Letty’s at breakfast! Jim enjoyed the church in this town also.

The weather is very mild today. We have short sleeves on with no jackets. Sun is out and it is a very nice day! After returning to the Mosel River we decided to continue downstream to see the town of Beilstein which is across the river from Cochem. It is very quaint, Cinderella quality. On a hill, with narrow streets, half timbered houses, wine cellars, etc. Looks like a fun place to stay in the future.

We used the timer on the digital camera with the mini tripod to take some pictures together. They came out pretty good.

Back on the road about 4 pm we decided to go up to the Autobahn to make for a faster trip home. Arrived back about 6 pm in time to rest before dinner and wine tasting! About 7 pm we left and walked over to Weingut Zum Gruner Baum’s place. He is the president of the local wine Club. We had soup and wine and the rest of the group arrived about 8 pm and we continued with more wine and cheese plates. Wonderful evening with new found friends; arrived back at the hotel about 10:30 pm. Took some digital photos and promised to e-mail them each some.

We all talked about the train noise. Jim said if they’d put doors on the openings in the wall then we wouldn’t hear the Whump..Whump…Whump every twenty minutes when the train goes by. But we really shouldn’t complain because Shirley and Terry have to change hotels tonight as Letty doesn’t have room for them. They are going to be in the hotel right next to the track but the hotel does provides ear plugs for them!