Well, it seems that winter has just about arrived already here in Germany. The sun is starting to set before five o'clock now, which is a huge adjustment considering in the peak of the summer it was setting at 11 p.m. Not that I ever really see the sun set, because it is usually buried behind a solid sheet of grey that seems to encompass the entire sky as far as the eye can see. When the sun does reveal itself, it feels like the heavens have opened up and I just want to run outside immediately, throw my hands up in the air, and start singing. I think it's quite possible that I need to start taking some Vitamin D supplements, ASAP. Maybe I should even invest in one of those light lamps. Anything to avoid me channeling Julie Andrews and running through the neighborhood singing, "The hills are aliiiiiive!" (Wrong country for that musical, I know, but close enough.) And I can't remember the last day we had that was completely without rain. As a result, our dog Allie is constantly dirty and emanating a stench that resembles pond scum, seeing as she finds it relaxing to lie down in puddles of muddy water when we go for runs. It's lovely. I'm starting to feel like I now know what it would be like to live in Seattle, except everyone is speaking a foreign language, tractors and cattle crossings are the only things stopping traffic, and oh yeah the nearest Starbucks is probably at least an hour away. Just a few minor details.

But we're trying not to let the weather get us down. We've actually done a fair bit of traveling since my last blog update. In fact, I have learned I rather enjoy traveling in Europe this time of year because of the declining number of tourists. Just throw on a down jacket, a hat, and some gloves, don't forget to grab an umbrella (this is imperative no matter how sunny it looks) and you're ready to tackle almost

any adventure. About a month ago we were getting ready to welcome Thomas's parents for a two week visit. We had already planned a trip to Paris, but we figured it was imperative for us to also show them around Germany. Cologne and Aachen were of course on the must-visit list, as they are both very near our little town, but we also decided to venture out to some places we have never been to, but have heard wonderful things about. So in this post I will detail our adventures along the Mosel River!

Now, I had done a lot of the planning for our upcoming Paris trip so I let Thomas take the reigns for planning this one. And he did not disappoint. We started our journey in Koblenz. The historical importance of this city dates back to the Roman Empire, due to its strategically advantageous geographical position. In fact, the name Koblenz was derived from the Latin word for confluence, which describes the city perfectly as it is located right where the Mosel and the Rhine intersect. When we arrived in the city, we decided to first charge up our batteries with some fancy Italian coffees in the town center. So we sat outside with a view of yet another beautiful church, enjoying the warmth of the fleeting sun and a friendly dose of caffeine to our bloodstreams, before starting the day's adventure.

First we walked toward the Rhine. To our left you can see Ehrenbreistein Fortress. The current infrastructure dates back to 1815 when the Rhineland became a Prussian providence. Now, if you're as rusty with your 19th century world history as I am, you're thinking, "What the heck is Prussia? It sounds vaguely familiar..." Basically, before the European countries were defined as they are now, Prussia was a state of the German Empire. Koblenz was valued by the Prussians not only for trade and transport purposes, but also because its proximity to France allowed them to essentially keep an eye on those factious Frenchmen in the wake of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Interestingly, it was never attacked, but it was occupied by American and then French forces after World War I, served as a place for safekeeping of archives and cultural objects during World War II, then a refugee camp after WWII, and now, of course, it is a tourist attraction connected to Koblenz via cable cars. We didn't tour the fortress on this trip unfortunately. Maybe next time!

We continued walking past the cable cars until the land came to a point and we were surrounded by water on three sides. To our left was the Mosel (also spelled Moselle). So we continued our walk back toward the city center along the bank of the Mosel, which would guide us on the rest of our day's journey.

After filling our bellies with some tasty German food at a restaurant in Koblenz, we got back in the car and drove along the Mosel to our overnight destination, the quaint little town of Kobern-Gondorf. (Sounds like a name from Lord of the Rings, right?) Well we didn't see Frodo or Gollum, but it truly did feel like we were in the midst of a fairytale land, as we were surrounded by beautifully verdant hills of vineyards, patches of colorful riverside villages, majestic churches, and hilltop castles emerging out of the mist. Like the Rhine region, the Mosel is also known for its high quality Riesling wine production. Fun fact for all you fellow wine enthusiasts out there: At a whopping 65° degrees incline, the steepest recorded vineyard in the world is the Calmont vineyard, which is located on the Mosel in the village of Bremm. I learned this later, so we didn't actually seek this particular vineyard out, but during our drive we pretty much had our necks craned upward in admiration of the steeply stacked rows of vines, wondering all the while how the harvest had been safely accomplished on these seemingly treacherous hills.

We didn't really have a game plan for the rest of the day, so we just drove along the Mosel and enjoyed the sights, stopping for the occasional picture and then continuing on until we stumbled upon another pause-worthy sight on our aimless but amusing journey.

Here below are pictures from our stop at the whimsical town of Niederfell. The town is overlooked by yet another ethereal mountainous castle. So we wandered the cobblestone streets for a little bit before we made the trek, by car, up to the castle.

Unfortunately, the inside of the castle was already closed for the day, so we did not get to tour the inside. But we were afforded this panoramic view of the river valley right as the clouds parted, giving way to a few final rays of golden brilliance before the sun dipped below the hills on the horizon. It was the perfect conclusion to a busy day of travel.

The picture below is the view from our cozy little bed and breakfast. We settled into our beds immediately after dinner that Saturday night, in anticipation of an early wake-up to embark on our next day's adventures. I believe we planned to meet for breakfast at 8:30 the next morning, which is reasonably early for a vacation in my opinion. However, this little village had different opinions on a proper wake-up time for this particular Sunday morning. At 6:30 am, I was awakened by what sounded like a marching band outside my window. Still groggy from sleep, I rolled over in bed and glanced at the time on my phone. "I must have been dreaming," I thought to myself. I tried to go back to sleep, but only a few minutes later I heard yet another crescendo of approaching brass instruments. I am completely lucid at this time but, still unconvinced, I got up and opened the curtains in disbelief to see a small group of people marching through the streets below our window. I watched them march by below us and then disappear, only to reappear a third and final time a few minutes later before they finally finished their parade through the town. The whole time there was not a single bystander on the street. Because, like me, they were all still trying to sleep! Apparently they were celebrating some type of holiday, as we later found out from the owner of the bed and breakfast, who laughed and shook his head and said, "They do that once a year." We just happened to have picked the one weekend of the world's earliest morning parade to stay in Kobern-Gondorf. Lucky us!

Our final day of our weekend trip began at medieval Burg Eltz. As you have probably gleaned from my post already, in this area of world there seems to be no shortage of amazing castles. Growing up, I had a very vivid imagination and an affinity, or maybe more accurately an obsession, with Disney. Some things never change though. Since we moved here I have been secretly cultivating a "castle bucket list". And when I had a night to myself a few weeks ago when Thomas went out for a guy's night, what do you think I did? I brewed a kettle of tea and watched Beauty and the Beast of course. Because that's what any normal 30-year-old does on a Saturday night, right? I guess I am both a child and an old person at heart. Anyway, I was inspired to re-watch this classic Disney movie after this trip, and I think you will see why.

When we arrived at the parking lot for Burg Eltz, we were told we could either take a shuttle directly to the castle, or we could walk. It was only a little over a kilometer away, from what we were told, so we chose the latter, and we began our brisk trek through the woods.

I wasn't very well dressed for a hike. This seems to be a recurring problem. Apparently I need to just start wearing hiking clothes every day because you never know when you might have to trek through the forest or up a mountain. Soon my toes were numb and my fingers were icy and blanched. It seemed like we had been walking for much longer than a kilometer, and all I could see were trees and the breath in front of my face. Each time we came to clearing I kept thinking, "This has to be it." But each time I was greeted only by creeping mist and more trees.

Until finally I turned a corner and gasped. We found it!

Entrance into the castle includes a tour in English, so we first visited the treasury room while we waited for the tour to start. We were very pleased to discover that, even though the castle has remained relatively untouched for hundreds of years, the amenities on the inside have been modernized to include heating. Unfortunately for some reason we were only allowed to take pictures inside of the treasury, so I have none of the castle rooms and ornate dwellings that we saw on the tour, but we all really enjoyed it.

The oldest part of the castle (pictured below) was built as far back as the ninth century.

After we had our fill of castles, knights, and medieval tales, we left Burg Eltz (this time via shuttle) and made our way to our next and final stop, the town of Monschau. Since there wasn't really a convenient direct route from Burg Eltz, it took us a while to get there but I think it was worth it. If you are ever in search of an idyllic German town, Monschau will definitely fit the bill.

And even though the town is known for its mustard, rightfully so because it is delicious, I couldn't help but sample and buy a ton of these. I don't remember what they are called in German, but they were basically various forms of gingerbread with nuts and covered in chocolate. Delicious.

And that concludes our adventure down the Mosel River and back. I still have more trips to document so stay tuned!