Bernkastel

Lock Mess

Town Square

 

June 3, 2011-Pressing On

A detail about the Mosel River. It's a series of lakes joined by canals and locks. It has many bends and looks like a giant blue snake on a map.

Campers line the banks and families enjoy camping here as much as home. Most bring their bicycles and vie with us for the footpaths, streets, & walkways. They in no way give warning they're about to pass & I had to pull David out of harm’s way this morning.

I feel like a slug. So much sitting. Today promised more exercise. We followed Dewi into Bernkastel (pop. 8,000), the most lovely town so far. In 800 Charlemagne made a deal with the pope. If Charlemagne could be emperor of the holy Roman empire, the pope would be it's holy leader. Lanshut Castle was built around 993 by Celts & sits on top of a hill. It's a forty minute walk and it was a passing thought for the exercise. In 1700 the castle was hit by lightning and never rebuilt. In the fashion of the time its stones were used to build elsewhere.  

The half-timbered buildings in town were much more beautiful than in Cochem. Many were decorated in the reds, greens, & yellows associated with Germany. As we passed an old bath house, now a cafe, Dewi told us why brides carry flowers. In ancient times only the rich could afford baths more than a few times a year. It was a sign of wealth if a bride was sweet smelling and didn't need flowers to mask body odor. She said to take note that even today royal brides of Europe don't carry flowers. 

On the way to our early morning (11 AM) visit to the winery we passed a plaque to the Jews who were deported from Bernkastle in WWII. The winery is nicknamed the Doctor's Winery and dates from hundreds of years ago when a prince from Trier was very ill. Doctors couldn't cure him but a vintner here said his wine had healing powers and it did. Riesling grapes are the primary grape of the area and we were treated to four varieties of wine going from dryer to sweeter, all delicious. The Thanisch family cellar dates back 400 years and we sat there listening to an explanation of viniculture for an hour in the 55 degree constant temperature. That temp may be good for wine but I hustled out into the sun as soon as I could.

Food is becoming an issue. We really need to tell them at least a meal ahead to fix a dish with chicken instead of pork.  At lunch I had another salad bar and David resorted to a burger since the main was bacon sandwich, pasta with mussels, or wiener (pork) schnitzel. There was a German buffet for dinner including roasted whole suckling pig, pig knuckles, bratwurst, other sausages, pork meatballs. I could barely look at the pig as they paraded around with it festooned with sparklers. Wonder why there's never a whole roast cow on a buffet? We arranged for our potato leek soup to be served without bacon bits & I had roast beef. David ate beef, veal roast, & veal bratwurst. I didn't think we'd starve until I read the menu for tomorrow. Lunch has chicken rolled in ham, honey & mustard glazed ham at a carving station, pork meatballs,or schweinbraten. Dinner offers shrimp, but there's also beef, salmon, or crepes.

Be careful what you wish for. We went to Town Hall & got the key to the Jewish cemetery gate as well as a map. Either our map reading skills are rusty or they're still trying to do away with Jews here, but we were on our last legs at the end of the jaunt. I walked an hour straight up a steep hill & David went half way. We never found a cemetery of any kind and when I asked those who'd climbed higher they said they hadn't seen one further along. When I turned back I realized I was taking a different route down. With no cell phones I had to rely on the kindness of strangers to tell me that, yes, there was a man in an orange shirt sitting on a bench near a shrine at the fork in the road. We were reunited and toddled back to Town Hall to return the key. I needed to change for dinner. That or carry a bouquet.

There was a special reception for Inner Circle members of Grand Circle Tours. You qualified if you'd taken three trips with them. We've been on five. There was wine and hors d'oeuvres and a thank you from the staff. There are sixty-two Inner Circle travelers on this trip which is an unusually large amount, about half the number of passengers.

Puzzle chai (lives). I finally found the person with the authority to allow us to put the puzzle on a table and leave it there overnight. He's the head bartender and with the help on Egis, the evening singer/keyboard player, we prevailed on him for permission. He agreed that it made no sense to have large puzzles that can't be used.

Our after dinner entertainment was the staff holding a lottery to see who won products of Germany. They were clever about it and are quick on their feet. We won a tiny bottle of kleiner feigling. We're not sure but think it's vodka.

We've been divided into three groups since the beginning of the cruise and starting times for some city tours are organized by group color. We're in the red group so when we were assigned the later time for tomorrow morning we let out a big cheer. That's a half hour more sleep.

Tomorrow we'll be in Trier and they've arranged for a special tour of the synagogue in the afternoon. The total cost is 40 EU for the group. There are thirty-one going so it's really cheap. We'll pitch in extra for a tip. I think the organizers were really surprised at the interest. There are only three Jewish people on the boat.

Toby