Burg Eltz was incredible as far as castles go. It is 700 years old, & lots of the furnishings are 500 years old! It was never damaged by war, & has been owned by the same family all that time. In fact, one of its 3 sections in the burg is still occupied. Pictures were not allowed inside, so these will have to do.
There's a 1 1/2 hour walk to get to the castle OR a closer parking lot with a 15 minute walk. Thinking no problem, we took the short one which started out from the lot nice & flat; but it soon turned into the downside of a huge mountain! Going down is hard on the legs, & it did take longer than 15 minutes. When we got there, my legs felt like jello for a few minutes. Thankfully, a shuttle was available for the upward climb to the parking lot after the tour.
Here I am after the descent to the castle while waiting for the tour to start, smiling because I made it & knew my carriage awaited for the upside hike later:
We drove to Beilstein, a small town, for lunch, & just look at this smoked salmon salad Dave got:
Beilstein is on the Mosel, & here's a view across the river from there.
"Federweiss" is the term used for new wine around here. We drank some today that was a mixture of yesterday's crush & last week's crush. It looks just like what it is at this point--unfiltered fruit juice, kind of a beige, off white, color. The vintner told us the translation for feder is feather & weiss is white. Well, the wine isn't close to white like that swan yesterday, but he went on to say it means the dirty feathers of white fowl. Now that made more sense to me. The alcohol content is only 3% at this phase, & I liked it.
The harvest is just beginning here, so the grapes are beautiful on the vines at the moment.
We had one last dinner tonight here in Cochem, & Dave ordered these sausages that came with sauerkraut & mashes potatoes. He loved it. I think his German genes are showing, because he's loving all the sausages available.
I ordered schnitzel, & as you can see, the portions are huge. They brought me 2 large pieces, & I was able to eat only one. It came with a salad & potatoes, & I wanted to save room for dessert! That brings me to one complaint about ice cream desserts both here & in Belgium---they come with a festive sparkler thingie stuck in them. As if ordering ice cream isn't embarrassing enough, they have to call attention to it. Thank heavens the sparkly thing doesn't light up--it just moves around & shines.
For the record, we shared this delicious dessert....
Tomorrow we'll be heading back to Dana & Chris'. It will be so good to see them again. Chris' German tutor recommended we visit the Maria Laach Abbey on the way home, so we plan to do that. It's been a great 10 days of exploring. There was more than enough to see & do plus time for relaxing---a good mix.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I'm thankful to live in today's world & not 500 years ago...
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