We had the most delightful sight to look at each morning and evening out our window. We faced the Rhine river, and looked out towards the grand Cologne Cathedral and the Hohenzollem bridge. It's a beautiful sight, and it was a pleasure to watch the trains cross the bridge, or the cruise ships and barges going underneath it. There was a lone kayaker some days. Even the night lighting added a bit of beauty to it. It lacked a little something on snow days though. All four of these pictures were taken from our window. What a difference a day made!
We were undaunted. On this Saturday, we chose to leave the crowded city of Cologne, where no less than 15 river cruises had docked near the market. We knew that it would be overrun with people, and well, we're not really the crowd-loving type.
The snow and the fog made for a magical morning as we rode the train. The country itself is lovely, but there is just something about fog blanketed trees that speaks to me. I love the mystery of it all.
We travelled to Koblenz, a city whose name means "at the merging of rivers". Koblenz is situated at the point where the Mosel river (on the right) meets the Rhine river (on the left). The old part of the city was delightful, and it is where the market was held. We walked on centuries-old cobblestone, drank glühwein with the locals, and peeked at some of the crafts for sale.
After that, we walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial, a monstrous statue but a lovely lookout point. We saw one of the river cruise boats navigate the turn, and it was quite interesting to see how they did it. We walked to the point along the Rhine, and back again along the Mosel.
During the time we were there, this lovely gentleman played traditional Christmas carols for us on his accordion. He was really quite good, and I appreciated his efforts very much. What I especially loved was that he did it just for the joy of it, he wasn't accepting any donations at all. Now, that's the Christmas spirit!
The snow and the fog made for a magical morning as we rode the train. The country itself is lovely, but there is just something about fog blanketed trees that speaks to me. I love the mystery of it all.We travelled to Koblenz, a city whose name means "at the merging of rivers". Koblenz is situated at the point where the Mosel river (on the right) meets the Rhine river (on the left). The old part of the city was delightful, and it is where the market was held. We walked on centuries-old cobblestone, drank glühwein with the locals, and peeked at some of the crafts for sale.After that, we walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial, a monstrous statue but a lovely lookout point. We saw one of the river cruise boats navigate the turn, and it was quite interesting to see how they did it. We walked to the point along the Rhine, and back again along the Mosel.
During the time we were there, this lovely gentleman played traditional Christmas carols for us on his accordion. He was really quite good, and I appreciated his efforts very much. What I especially loved was that he did it just for the joy of it, he wasn't accepting any donations at all. Now, that's the Christmas spirit!
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