Good day!

Based on some tips from travellers and an urge to see
German castles, I toured through western Germany on a
return trip to Paris, and it was definitely
worthwhile, maybe one of the best stops! 

I stayed in an medieval fortress on a cliff in
Koblenz.. really cool...with a chairlift ride to it..
I was hoping to stay in a castle hostel along the
Rhine river, but it was fully booked. :(

First stop before the castles was Koln (Cologne) -
Wandered the entire city, it's okay, but only the Dom
there is of real interest.  A real good find there was
genuine Turkish kebabs in the Turkish quarter.  Really
stuffed and really good.  I arrived late back in
Koblenz after Koln, and ended up taxiing it to the
fortress to make curfew.  I told the driver to hurry,
and it became a pretty wild ride as the Mercedes hit
120 through narrow town streets...

The fortress hostel was one of those standardized HI
hostels, so i finally got breakfast that was more than
baguettes and jam (aka continental breakfast)...
needless to say, i pulled out all my ziploc bags and
packed enough to eat for the rest of the day.

The castle tours were amazing.  Key hint: take the
tours downstream along the rivers.  I started my tours
from Koblenz, always upstream, and spent 1-2 hours
more on the river than if I went the other way. But
from Koblenz, you can go along the Mosal or Rhine
river, as they meet there.

Most of the castles along the Mosal river are bombed
out, so the tour is pretty boring.  I recommend taking
a train to Cochem to see the Reichsburg castle - it's
really nice.  

The ULTIMATE castle stop is to take a local train to
Moselkern, and then take a one hour hike to a hidden
castle in a forest.  It's in its original condition,
'cuz it's so hidden that it was missed by the bombers.
 The hike seems like some long hike through an
enchanted forest - and I questioned many times if I
was on the right path because the castle never came
into view - and suddenly, the castle appears almost
out of nowhere.!  It's exactly like those beautiful
white castles we see in pictures, and is definitely
worth a day trip.  I hiked late 'cuz I wasted the day
on the Mosel river tour, and missed going in, but next
time, I won't for sure.  

The Rhine River ferry tour is much better, and
shouldn't be missed.  Castles pop out almost every 10
minutes, and they're bigger and better than the Mosal
castles.

Also, there are student discounts for the ferry tours
along the river.  I didn't ask the first day, and
missed out on a heavy discount.

As for food, I didn't sit down and dine properly so I
can't say much.  All I can say is that the Oktoberfest
sausages and Bratwurst is not much different than the
street dogs here, not even as good as the stuff in
Kensington market in Toronto... it's just a dog and
German mustard - no other toppings... but the
Currywurst was interesting.

Communication was a little more difficult, so next
time, I'm probably going to study some German a month
in advance before returning to explore the rest of the
country.

Next stop: Paris (part deux)


Jesse