The Rhein and Mosel

Long time, no blog. Getting difficult to find internet cafes or the time to visit one, but the tour is going great and we are having lots of fun (except when feeling the effects of hard work on the bike!!!). So here's what we have been doing since last connection with the www:

July 9th

We spent the day exploring Mainz, but were unable to see any museums since it was a Monday.

July 10th

The weather still hadn't cleared up completely so we decided we would catch a train to Trier on the Mosel river. This meant that we missed out on riding some of the Rhein, but we needed to make up some time. We took a regional train to Koblenz and then changed to another to Trier. The regional trains are not that quick, but they are cheaper and easier to get our bike on. After ariving in Trier we set up camp at the local campingplatz and explored the city for a bit.

July 11th

We spent the day in Trier, visiting some of the attractions, including the Karl Marx House (where he was born), the toy museum, the Stadtmuseum (city museum) and the Porta Nigra (Black Gate - from when Trier was a roman city).

July 12th

With fine weather we got back on the bike, riding from Trier to Reil along the Mosel. The steep hill sides of the river valley were mostly covered with vinyards, like some parts of the Rhein and Neckar valleys were. Reil was just the small town that we stopped at after deciding we couldn't go any further (plus it had a REAL campingplatz; with a biergarten).

105km.

July 13th

From Reil we rode to Cochem; a touristy town on the Mosel that we spent the afternoon in.
50km

July 14th

Getting very warm... we rode to Remagen on the Rhein, via Koblenz (where the Mosel meets the Rhein). We had planned to stay at Remagen because there was a pool near the campsite, but as it turned out we were too late and it had closed by the time we got there. :-(

97km

July 15th

Another day on the bike: We decided not to stop in Bonn so as to make up some more ground, and so went through to Cologne. It was a very hot day (37°C) and we were very exhausted when we got to the hotel we stayed at, 10km North of Cologne (in Leverkusen). We immediately went to the local pool to cool down.

80km

July 16th

Rest day. We investigated Cologne, but again we were in a city on a Monday, so no museums. We didn't realize this at the time because we had managed to lose track of what day of the week it was. We must be on holiday.

July 17th

Visited a few attractions in Cologne:

• Schokolatden (chocolate) Museum
• Römisch-Germanisches Museum
• Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (worlds finest collection of 13th-19th century art)
• Kölner Dom (largest cathedral in Germany).