Cochem

Last Saturday we went on a guided tour of Cochem. A friend of ours couldn't go, so offered her ticket to Jeremiah. I took Jer to the meeting place on base, expecting to go home, do laundry, and otherwise get ready for our vacation (which I will blog about in my next post), but when we met the tour-guide, she said there was extra room on the bus for me! I hadn't really dressed for the occasion--I was in flip-flops and no jacket or hoodie--but our other friends arrived with an extra hoodie, so I decided to go for it. (The weather has been pleasant, but it gets really cool at night). It was a long bus ride to get there. It's only about 150 km (93 miles) away, but on a charter bus it's always much slower. We are also used to travelling very fast on the autobahn, so it seemed slower still. None of us could stand to look out of the windows.

When we arrived there was some kind of classic auto show. The cars were cool, but we didn't have time to really look at them cause we were scheduled for a river cruise.
The boat was very relaxing. Almost nobody stayed below deck, but preferred to be up top basking in the warm sun and appreciating the picturesque landscape. The weather was great and the views were beautiful. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hills were so steep it's difficult to imagine anyone actually working on them. The vineyard had little "cars" on a rail that would take the workers to the top. It reminded me of the defenestration of Mrs. Deagle in the movie "Gremlins".
I snapped a lot of pictures from the boat. This is my favorite one of the castle.
After the boat tour we took a bus up to the castle. This was the coolest castle we've seen up to this point. It's fun to not only tour, but also to learn the history of the castles and the kings/rulers.
The courtyard was so beautiful! The castle walls were adorned with red roses trailing around the entire courtyard!
The tour inside was pretty fun. Some of the art was...interesting. On the dining room table there was a centerpiece statue of a naked man bent over backwards (I did not include that picture just in case it would offend...). We laughed trying to imagine having company over and eating as if there were nothing there pointing at us.
Besides seeing the cool rooms, furniture, and art, we learned that it was very expensive to be a knight. Only the wealthy or well-off men could afford it because the armor was so expensive. There was one knight that was over 7 feet tall and his armor was on display.
They also had a hunting room. The boar on the wall weighed over 400 lbs! I just can't imagine being a taxidermist. It grosses me out.
We learned that the people were allowed 400 liters of wine/day. They said the alcohol content was not as strong as it is today, but I can still imagine that if they drank their allotment they'd be pretty tipsy! The doors had extra large metal plates that made a V down to the keyhole, made so that any drunk could get the key in the hole.
On the way back down the castle ramp there was a guy playing guitar. I love classical guitar, so we gave him some change and listened to him sing his soft melodies. The bus stopped for one last view from above before heading home. Although my feet hurt by the end of the day, it was worth the trip. Wir mögen gern das Schloß.