Jun 15, 2013 - Cologne (31 May - 5 June)

We left Paris early in the morning (left apartment at 6 AM for an 8:04 train from Gare du Nord) on the 31st of May. We were bound for Cologne to meet with our friends, Reinhardt and Jutta Merzdorf, with whom we would spend the month of June exploring Germany (Leverkusen, Dusseldorf, Rhine River Valley, Jockgrim, the Black Forest and Munich), Switzerland (Interlaken, Montruex, Bern and Lucern) and Austria (Vienna) and the first two weeks of July exploring the Dordogne region of France. Wow, we are dizzy thinking about all this! Reinhardt and...

May 29, 2013 - Dusseldorf

May 29 2013 We biked about 1 mile today for a total of 323 miles. Woke up to rain, which persisted all day. It has become cool also. Back from the sunshine. We left Cologne on the train for an easy ride to Dusseldorf. After finding a Hotel - Hotel Bismarck - dropped off all our gear except bikes. This hotel is pretty interesting. the seems from another era, lots of pictures of Otto Von Bismarck. He unified Germany in the latter part of the 19th century. Went to the Hauptbahnhof and dropped bikes at the Radstation. We then, with umbrellas...

May 28, 2013 - Cologne

May 28 2013 We biked about for a total of 2 miles for a total of 322 miles Today was sunny and warm, only a spritz of rain in the early evening. Did not amount to much. It was our best day weather wise on trip. After breakfast and getting to know our Bett and Bike owners, we went to catch the train to Cologne ( Koln). Buying the ticket and getting on the train was easy in Boppard. We managed to get an express train to Koblenz. From there we caught another train to Cologne. Cologne is famous for it's Cathedrel (Dom). At one time it was the...

May 25, 2013 - Monschau and a second trip into the Eifel

It was promising to be a good day so we decided to have a second drive into the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park. The first road we drove was via Eupen in Belgium across part of Hohes Venn, the Belgium part of the national park. This was across high plateau land mainly heath lands. Due to road closures and following the detour signs we ended up in a small town of Monschau. We had seen a castle from the road above the town and thought it looked interesting so we drove down to the town and parked up. We had noticed a number of tour buses and as...

May 24, 2013 - Cologne or Koln.

We had intended to move the coach to Cologne or Koln but we couldn’t find a suitable campground or stellplatz. We decided we would have a long day and drive to the city. The autobahn was good except a short delay due to road works. The only thing you had to be aware of was the BMW’s etc hammering it doing 100mph plus in the outside lane! We followed the signs to the city centre and found a car park. As we walked out of the car park we found we had parked right under the cathedral. Really convenient! The cathedral looked impressive but dirty...

May 23, 2013 - Kornelimunster and a first drive in the Eifel National Park

We woke up to a rather grey and wet day so we spent the morning finding the local supermarket and doing some much needed shopping. After lunch the weather was slightly better so we headed to the small hamlet of Kornelimunster as we had picked up a leaflet on the town. It was a lovely little town which had once been a place of mediaeval pilgrimage and also had Roman connections. From there we decided to do a short drive into the area of the Eifel National Park taking some of the lesser roads which twisted and turned and went up and down...

May 22, 2013 - Aachen- Stunning cathedral

The German city of Aachen sits on the border of Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. The city was founded around thermal springs being a place of settlement long before the Romans came. After the fall of the Roman Empire the city was ruled by the Franks (the northern kings who ruled most of western and central Europe). The one king who had the most major impact on Aachen and reflected in the history of Aachen today was Charles the Great or Charlemagne, King of the Franks from 768 AD. He was also called the “Father of Europe” uniting most of...

May 21, 2013 - Heading to Aachen

After a few quiet days we got a reasonably early start travelling from Schloss Moyland to the city of Aachen. We had a good journey and arrived early enough at the Platz fur Camping Aachen to pick one of their large pitches specifically for larger motorhomes. Each pitch had 16 Amp electricity, water and grey water drain. They also had a very accessible black waste disposal point. The charge for the night was 15 Euros for everything. We set up and then took Daisy for a walk in the nearby park.

May 18, 2013 - Saying hello to the Rhine

The weather was not that good so we decided to do a bit of a drive tour to have a look at the Rhine River. We headed for the small town of Rees and discovered a lovely river side walk with sculptures and old town walls. The river was busy with regularly transport barges going up and down. We then drove on to the larger town Emmerich which although had a promenade is was more touristy. Again the barges kept going up and down the Rhine! Our final stop was the town of Kleve. Where we walked up to the Swan Castle home of Anne of Cleves, the...

May 17, 2013 - Romans not in Rome!

It was still cold and grey but not wet so we headed first to the nearby small town of Kalkar. The market square was dominated by the 15th century brick Gothic Rathaus a very impressive building. We enjoyed a gentle wander through the streets and looked inside the St Nicolai Church. This church had an amazing collection of nine Gothic altars all carved in wood. In reading the information about the high altar we learnt that it took three craftsmen twelve years to complete! From Kalkar we headed to the outskirts of Xanten to the LVR-...

May 16, 2013 - Schloss Moyland

We had moved to Womopark Moyland a stellplatze next door to Schloss Moyland in Bedburg-Hau. The journey went well; the only tense moment was just turning into the stellplatze trying to avoid the many signs. The stellplatze was huge with over 50 numbered places and in fact was really a campground in all but name. We found a spot and set up. Again like the last stellplatze we paid at a machine for the number of nights we wanted and at 15 Euros for three nights it was a bargain. In addition we had to pay 2.50 Euros for 24 hours of electricity...

Apr 2, 2013 - Cologne, Germany

Great day in Cologne! Took a tour bus into town and took a walking tour through the cobble-stoned city. The huge cathedral is the main attraction, so we went back to the ship for lunch and a little nap, then walked back into town. We saw the Cathedral's Treasury down in the basement and then took the 509-step climb on a narrow spiral staircase up into the steeple. What a workout! We wandered around the town for awhile and then caught our tour bus back to the ship. Up to the lounge for drinks with our friends and then dinner. We were having...