Thursday Sept 29

Thursday Sept 30
Today was an easy day, still trying to recover from jet lag. We drove upstream along the winding Mosel below hanging vineyards through many small villages, each with their half timbered houses, rathaus and large green lawns along the river. Bernkastel-Kues was our destination. Set in a wide bend of the river, it is actually two towns, one on each side of the river, connected by a bridge. The largest vineyards on the river nestle into the side of the hills above Berrnkastel and spread along the river to towns in either direction. 95% of the grapes here are Riesling and, unlike those we usually see in the US, the wines produced are more dry (trochen) than sweet. We tried the red, rose and white of all kinds of the Mosel Rieslings and all are lovely. The town has quite a bit more bling and tourists than when we were here in 73, but the buildings and places we ate before still exist and are still charming, the dogs still sit at the restaurant tables with their owners, and we still shouldn’t drive after lunch. My lunch was “toast” with a spread of thin-sliced ham, pears with cranberry sauce, and a slice of smoky cheese melted over the whole top of the plate. Quite a lovely blending of flavors. I think the cheese was emmentaler, but can’t be sure.

Bike paths line both sides of the river, with hundreds of people biking on them. Every town or hotel has its bike rental place and it has quite obviously become another favorite pastime, along with hiking, for the german people. Nobody wears bike helmets so perhaps this is how the country limits their old age pensions…send the old folks out biking in heat and traffic.

Home for more Weinprobe ( a flight of 6 glasses) and a small meal of Flammkuchen. Flammkuchen is a very thin, light crust pizza. So thin it looks like they pour it onto a metal pan and then lay toppings on it before cooking for just a few minutes. We had onion, ham and chives in a very sweet cheese (brie?). Once again hard to name the cheese, but delicious and light meal. Off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber tomorrow.

Wed September 28

Wednesday September 28, 2011

Breakfast was a magnificent candle-lit spread in the old kitchen/hall of our hotel Haus Lipmann, a medieval mansion from the 1300s which has been in this family (Lipmann) for over 200 years. A long wooden table sits in front of a walk in fireplace with antlers, chandeliers and feudal weapons lining the walls. We ate our brains out –giant slabs of butter, bacon, eggs, muesli, marvelous little bakery pastries, fruit, etc, then set out to explore the downstream part of the Mosel valley. The Mosel runs 300 miles from the Trier/Luxembourg area to Koblenz where it empties into the Rhein. The boat traffic is amazing and peaceful, controlled by numerous locks which control the flow; it still floods regularly every winter, but is managed well at the time. The vineyards start high on the steep hills and run all the way down to the river, which has carved this path. Classy campgrounds run along grassy lawns in between the small towns. In 1973 we were amazed by the complexity of the family tents which were planted for each summer by families returning to the same site. Now, there are still the fancy huge tents, but they are attached to large travel trailers which set up their spots shortly after Easter each year and then accommodate family visitors till October. Dads, in the past, came in from work on the weekends and the rest of the family stayed all summer; appears to be a similar situation now. We understand many such campgrounds flood in the winter and so these will soon be removed for the winter.

We decided to trek off to Burg Eltz which is one of the best preserved castles on the Mosel. Started in the 1100s, it has been complete since before Columbus decided to sail off the edge of the world. The same Eltz family (and a mix of descendants) has owned it for 850 years. In that time it has never been damaged and only been besieged unsuccessfully once – for 5 years ; this appears to be due to its construction, family diplomacy, good marriages and perhaps some luck. We reached it by hiking 3 kilometers up a narrow valley from Moselkern and then climbing up lots of rock stairs. 80 rooms, 40 fireplaces, and 20 rain flushed toilets- it was quite comfortable for its day (as long as it rained!). A large conference room and courtyard provided a meeting place for the families who shared it (then and now) to discuss management of the complex.

After the hike, we were quite hungry so moved on to Cochem with another majestic castle and medieval streets. We did some “weinprobe” (sampling). We drank a marvelous halb trocken (medium dry) bottle of Riesling along with the Gaststaette Noss specialty of pork or beef in another green pfeffersauce. (They grow and butcher their own meat so it was better than most you find in Germany.) Along with the meat came a stack of perfectly crisped fries which were only improved by the pepper sauce “gravy.” Mark had similarly perfect potato croquettes (read tater tots). I’ve tried for years to match a pepper-sauce meal we had in Munich in 1999, without success; obviously, I have to renew my efforts in that direction. The giant castle complex above Cochem was completely redone in the 1800s – we did not hike up and visit it…too much wine. The lovely little yellow train which took tourists around town would have been fully appreciated by the grandsons. We enjoyed walking along the riverfront promenade through the open air market which lined the street nearby…a place to buy just about any needed (or desired) article of clothing.

Home for a short nap to sleep off the Riesling, and then off for dessert. Apfelstrudel with vanilla eis and Sahne (whipped cream) – hit the spot. Tomorrow we head upstream instead – to Bernkastel-Kues and perhaps Trier or Luxembourg.

Pix Sept 27 Tuesday

Tuesday = 27th

The wedding in Phoenix was lovely. We left very early Monday morning to catch a flight to Frankfurt with a 3 hour layover in D.C.. Mark got some 4 hours of sleep on the plane while I got minimal – closer to 2. We arrived about 8:45 a.m., picked up the car and headed north to the Mosel River (Beilstein) with a lunch at Bacharach on the Rhein. We passed by numerous old castles on the sides of the Rhein as we drove north. Not much has changed since 1973…vineyards down to the river, lots of barges and Rhein river tours passing by. Half of the drive was spent getting K’s cell phone to work – guess that is a change since 73. Took a small (3-4 car) ferry across from the east to the west side near Bacharach. Bacharach is a lovely small medieval town (established sometime well before 1350) with a great castle which is now a youth hostel. Hiked around a bit and then we searched out the spot (we think) in “the altes haus” where we had wine 38 years ago. Lovely old tilted waddle and daub buildings with the German poems printed on them. Spaghetini with pesto sauce, roasted pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes and amazing grated parmesan, Carpaccio (thin sliced boiled and dried beef) with a balsamic vinegar and chives dressing. Yum. First had basil pesto with cousin Judy Etschmaier in Heidelberg area, a bit south of here in 73. This time though, Judy, no little green bugs. After lunch we drove the very back roads over the hills between the Rhein and Mosel valleys…single lanes and the old nuvi garman worked hard to get us here. Dropped down from the high plateau so similar to the hills outside of Danville PA where we lived for 4 years 71-75 into Beilstein on the Mosel. Unexpected landscape from other parts of Germany we have seen in the past.

We are currently recovering from, or enhancing (depends on your view point), our jet lag with a lovely dry Riesling spatlese from a nearby vineyard. Sitting on a small grapevine covered terrace at Haus Lipmann in Beilstein. Accessible only by river until the early 1900s, this small peaceful town now has a tiny foot ferry crossing to a bike path on the north side and some extremely vicious protective swans…takes a good kick to get on and off that ferry. Our room is four floors up a tiny narrow winding staircase, dad’s knee is now swollen, and the room is the size of the top floor of our house. Large old timbers supporting the ceiling, large “matrimonial” beds with folded over down duvet covered quilts, bidet…I do love Europe. Dinner appears to be spectacular from what I see around us. More later, with recipes if possible.

So, dinner was indeed special. We first had game soup. I can’t even begin to figure out what all was in it…broth bullion?, some balsamic vinegar, sour cream floating on top, served with a rolled thin pastry cheddar type cheese-stick. Then, I had the traditional green peppercorn steak covered with a cognac cream sauce and a pile of fresh green beans lightly steamed, Mark had a venison steak with chanterelles in a red wine sauce with a roasted cranberry pear…both meals with crisp thin sliced fried potatoes. Side plate of bread with toppings to add of sour cream and chives…and bacon fat. Frugal Germans don’t waste much. Crème brulee for dessert. Our first oink of the trip. Short walk around town and a trip to sleep at about 8. We both woke up at 4 to watch large black flat barges slowly slide by in the dark, but managed to get back to sleep until about 8 this morning and head down to breakfast.