What a lovely hotel - I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the rushing river which was exactly like the white noise that my phone app plays! The shower was good and we had woken to bright sunshine. We finally got to meet our hosts over breakfast - Andrea and Frank and Colin was presented with a bottle of beer as apparently today is Fathers Day in Germany and also Ascension day - I have no idea what that actually is! We sadly checked out of our lovely hotel and we were able to leave the car in its parking bay - a great parking space under cover.
We walked into Monschau and the sunshine was lighting up the houses even more than last night. We explored the houses and I bought a lovely ginkgo necklace and earrings with €50 that Mum gave a couple of years ago. Colin bought two large jars of the excellent Monschau mustard that we had enjoyed last night in both soup and as a sauce for my turkey.
We walked back for the car and then drove through the Eiffel National Park to a place that the chap in the tourist office had suggested was the best place to see if limited for time - that being Vogelsang IP which is now the centre of the park with interpretive wildlife galleries. There is also a full museum and collection of documents about the role the building had played before and during World War 2. This was primarily to train Nazis in Hitler’s propaganda with a view to being able to take control of countries invaded by Germany in the future. It is strange to look at photos of the buildings used in that way as they have actually changed very little since then.
If you ignore the Nazi connection, the location is stunning overlooking flooded valleys and wooded hills. Colin explored the historical museum about the buildings role during the war and I explored to museum about the wildlife and re-wilding of the area.
Later in the afternoon we returned to the car and started the journey down to Cochem on the Moselle where we will be based for the next four nights. We split the driving and I had the last stretch with only one missed turning. Our new accommodation for the next four nights is very impressive and very large with a wrap round terrace and stunning views of the Reichsburg - castle - overlooking the town. Our hosts - Christa and Winfried are lovely although they speak the same amount of English that I can speak of German so precisely none! Thank goodness for Google translate and conversation which although a little faltering with the data connection, enabled us to communicate. It was rather a shock to learn that all the supermarkets are actually closed today because it is Ascension Day!
After unpacking the car for the first time in a few days, we walked down into town to see if we could find anything to go with the emergency pasta and jar of sauce from M&S that I hadn’t expected to have to use so early into our trip. We hit lucky with a little shop named after me and found cheese, bread and salami to perk up the pasta. We had a very quick look at the Moselle before making our way back up the steep streets to our apartment. I then had to tackle a temperamental ceramic hob - I hate them - but just about managed to cook the pasta and heat the sauce. In the end it wasn’t too bad and at least we had food. I’m pretty tired now.
