Germany: And On to the Mosel, August 7-9

It is hard to believe, but the Mosel river is even prettier than the Rhine river. On both sides of the river there are fantastic bike trails that are full of bikers. Most of them seem to be out on longer trips, because they have packed saddle bags and are prepared for all kinds of weather. It is very easy to find B&Bs -- just look for signs that say "Zimmer frei." Needless to say, there are innumerable restaurants that serve anything from breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, and, of course, the local wine.

We were recommended to stay in Brauneberg, in a B&B called Haus Liane. Check out their web page to get more pictures http://www.kriebs-mattes.de/. This recommendation was just fantastic. The Haus Liane is owned by a couple who also are wine growers and producers. Hubert is the vintner and Liane is his wife. Both seemed like wonderful people. Liane -- who runs the B&B (in addition to helping out in the vineyards) -- is almost a parody of a jolly farm wife. When we arrived, the first thing she did was pop open a bottle of wine, sit us down, and treat us to a few glasses. Their wine was the best that we tasted anywhere. And the breakfasts that Liane served up each morning were amazing -- enough to keep you going all day long.

In the evening, all the guests (there were two other couples staying there at the time) would sit together out on the back patio with Hubert and taste his wines and talk about the day's adventures or plans for the next day. He also showed us some great videos about the area and the wine growing industry here.

As usual, we found a place nearby where Thomas could practice his soccer skills.

We had planned to use Brauneberg as the base for some bicycle tours along the Mosel, but neither the weather or other circumstances cooperated. There is a bike rental outlet in Brauneberg, but unfortunately they had a "Ruhetag" (day-of-rest -- watch out for this. A lot of restaurants and other places have random "Ruhetage.") on Wednesday afternoons. So our plans to bike to the nearby town of Bernkastel-Kues further down the Mosel did not work out. Instead, we took the car to this little city 7 km away.

If there is any place on the Mosel where it is crowded, it would be Bernkastel-Kues. A lot of tourists were here, mostly from Holland, Belgium and other parts of Germany. We hardly ever saw any Americans during our trip -- anywhere. Needless to say, this place is unreal -- like a German version of a Disney-World version of a German town. Every house is meticulously restored and painted. Everything is clean and unbelievably pretty.

We just walked around the place and enjoyed the touristy sights.

This is Bernkastel from the Kues side. (The town is a combination of two towns, one on each side of the Mosel.) We did take a short cruise on the river from here.

The next day, Hubert the vintner was going to take a group of children from a children's home on a tour of the wine growing districts on the slopes of the Mosel river. This is the tractor and the covered wagon that he uses for this trip. In the wagon there are seats and a table in the middle.

Unfortunately, the weather was not the best. The view from the top of the mountain over the valley was limited by the fog and mist, but it was still quite beautiful, as you can see.

Thomas got to ride up front in the tractor with Hubert for a while, conversing with him in German.

Here is Hubert serving his guests some wine. The children got juice that he also produces.