Moseying down the Mosel

 Well, I haven't posted in a while because I've been so busy!!! Here's some photos of the day we went on the ferry ride down the Mosel to Bernkastel...which is also the day we got left out in the rain waiting for Robert.

Look at the "duckies" following their mother!

All of the hills are lined with vineyards. These people use every possible speck of land to grow grapes.

We got to stop at this thing that locks us in and lets water in from the higher side of the river. You raise up and then the gate lowers and then you go on your way.

This is the boat's side mirror, that it uses to look for boats coming up behind when it wants to pass...

The gate is lowering now...notice the stop light to the right.

Sheila and Robert had met the boat's captain the night before and we just happened to get onto his boat. He invited us up to the captain's cabin-thing and we all got to sit in the captain's seat. 

Bernkastel

Do you see this plate? I ate an entire pizza the size of this plate. I forgot to get a picture beforehand, so here's the after picture. It was a great spinach pizza.

After hurrying through lunch, we crossed this bridge to get to the roundabout where we said we'd meet at 2 o'clock. Robert thought we said 3...so we waited in the rain, got some ice cream and waited some more....

Grevenberg

These photos are from when we took a hike up to Grevenberg, the ruins of a castle that overlooked the city. It was built in the 1300s and was destroyed in the 1700s. The hike up was pretty easy. I slipped a couple of times on the wet Mosel stone. It's black and is on all the buildings around here. I think it's a type of slate. Anyways, there is a nice biergarten at the top of the hill, but I never actually got to go there. It might have been closed by the time we got up there.

The men.

Oh, Jamie...

This is a memorial for some war against France. I think it was the Franco-Prussian war, but I'm not sure. Apparently the monuments always face in the direction of the enemy. In this case, the eagle is facing west, to France.

Well, that's all for now. More photos later!

Finally home!

Photo time! I'll be posting photos little by little. Here's the first set.

This is a street somewhere in Traben Trarbach.

I love that the vineyards stretch up all the hills along the Mosel. The Romans who planted  the grapes and all the future wine growers sure did take advantage of the amount of space.

At the end of the street is the house I stayed at. Each of these vines is at least fifty years old. The leaves fall off in the winter time, but the branch stays. According to Robert, in the winter and fall, there are grapes all over the ground because they fall from the vines.

Can you believe the vines on this house??!! The vines even cover up the windows. It looks lovely, but it's a bit out of control.

This is the side of the tower that is attached to the house (on the left.) It was from the original wall that surrounded Trarbach. It belongs to the city and is closed up, so we never got to go inside. 

This is the Traben side along the Mosel.

Just more of the town.

This is the Catholic church just down the road from the house. It chimes bells all night long and all day long.

This is the house, built sometime in the mid 1800s.

I saw this vintage Jaguar and I really liked it.

That's all I have for now. I should probably catch up on sleep...night!