This morning was full of change. Up earlier, we beat Carmen to breakfast, Leslie had chocolate cake with here chocolate-covered chocolate cereal, Carmen added ham and cheese to her salmon egg and I had jam instead of ham. Then we found out that my
Mom and Carmen’s Mom have a date. No one knows why that makes us nervous, but for some reason it does.

We packed up a couple of packs and headed to the taxi stand. A quick cab ride that was slightly less terrifying than normal and we were at the boat dock. The boat, the Traben-Trarbach, was there and ready to go so we boarded and snagged a pretty good spot on the stern upper deck, sheltered by the cabin. The Mosel is a working river and we passed several huge barges in the first few moments.

Last night the proprietor of the hotel had tries to talk us out of the trip. In bad English she tried to convince us it was a boring trip. We pointed out we were getting off halfway but that just made it worse apparently. But I am slowly brainwashing C Secondus (Carmen’s new name) and L Editrix to be water people and any boat is a good boat. We smiled, nodded and backed away slowly.

Oh and by the way, we’ve booked our rooms here until Thursday. No point in moving on as we still have half the city to see and a whole region to explore.

There are a lot of vineyards on the banks of the Mosel. A. Lot. Of. Vineyards. Carmen’s eyes have glazed over and even Leslie has to keep wiping the drool. It’s a sunny day and if we keep out of the wind, a wonderful way to see the valley.

There’s only one lock on our leg of the trip at Detzem and it’s got a big barge in it as we approach so we moor to the pilings to wait. Once the barge is clear we are first in but we have to wait for another, larger, cruise ship and the two private cruisers following. From the looks of things this is a deep lock.

Let us pause to discuss our traveling companions. We boarded at 9 am. I had a coffee, two tables back she had a glass of wine. At around 10, the couple across had their first round of beer. The table behind Leslie were on at least round two by 10:30 and the 16 year ok girl had downed her share of dad’s. We definitely aren’t in Kansas anymore.

Back in the Mosel we are now first in a chain of boats but we are moving fast enough that we can stop for passengers without losing our place. Grapes, grapes and more grapes, with swans and villages thrown in for colour. How could this be boring?

Upstream of Küsselrath there was one of the many semi-permanent holiday campsites we have seen, but this one had a trailer with a flagpole flying the Canadian flag.

Coming up from behind, an Eiffel-fly.de mini copter snuck up on us. This is a two seat (not side by side) open air helicopter-like vehicle sort of like an ultra light but with no wings. I would love a ride!

The boat got fuller and fuller at every stop and eventually we were sharing our seats: I hardly got claustrophobic at all. Eventually we arrived at Piesport and disembarked. It wasn’t the smoothest docking ever and I think the crewman didn’t realize we were getting off so he had started to cast off already.

First things first. The Weinstube by the dock for a dink and a quick bite.

Carmen & Bruce:
Halbtrockene
2011 Piesporter Falkenburg
Reisling Qualitätsweun
Weingut Joh. Haart

2011 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen
Riesling Spätlese feinherb
Weingut Reuscher-Haart

…and Leslie tried:
Liebliche
2011 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen
Reisling Kabinett
Weingut Reuscher-Haart

Leslie & Carmen tried the potato soup that had more sausage than potato and I had a salmon and scallion flambé.

Up and over the bridge and we headed for the tourist info place. It had closed at 12. We were so desolated we decided to go drink wine. We were pretty damn desolated. So the deal is you stop into a Weingut and they guilt you into drinking, then buying, some wine. It works pretty good, but they’re generous with their tastes… After acquiring a taste of 2010 Manfred Briet Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese feinherb we bought it and then added another from Kettern Matheus, this one from down the road (2011 Dhroner Hofberger Riesling Kabinett feinherb); then we hit a Weinstube called Lehnert-Veit on the river for some by the glass.

The weinstubes here are all lined up on the river to attract cyclists. Almost makes me think there might be something to this cycle touring thing. The one we found ourselves at even had a dock for passing boats.

C’s was a 2009 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling No 1 dry, Leslie went for a 2010 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese fruchtig and Bruce won out with his 2011 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Mineral fruchtig. The waitress obviously thought I was number one but eventually we got it sorted out and Carmen got her No1.

We all tried everyone’s wine and I think we all agreed Les’s choice was the one to get. So we did. A bottle that is… The lovely lady at the counter made friends with Carmen and let us know the cool place to visit for wine in Trier and encouraged us to try Saarburg as a day trip.

For the first time this trip I was a bit disoriented and I assumed the bridge I could see from my chair was the one we had come over. It wasn’t. So we left the Weinstube a bit later than planned and only had 15 minutes to make our way back to the dock to meet the scheduled departure time. But since the boat was over an hour late arriving this morning, we weren’t that worried. At least Carmen wasn’t worried. I am always worried about being late.

We hit the dock, which is more of a pontoon with a catwalk attached to the shore, about 4:20 for the 4:15 departure. So we sat in the shade and listened to the german-speaking kids jump in the river. But the sounds were odd for german. Huh, turned out they we’re English. Sounded more like German than Canadian.

Ok… Boat’s in sight. So I’ll stop for a bit, but someday I might tell you about Poozy Kat, Little C and the Awesome Possum. Then again, maybe I won’t.

The return trip included hang gliders, jet skis, water skiers — both advanced and beginner –, a beer for Bruce, a few seat changes, a 5 year old, very rambunctious and, at the end of the trip, very tired, a 3 way boat race and some beautiful light on the valley walls.

It looks like we’ll pull in around 8… Oops, it’s 7:45. Time to eat. We headed for the old quarter and turned in our customary circles until we found a traditional menu with some English translations so we knew what we were experimenting with. Carmen tried Rosti, I had schnitzel and Leslie had meatloaf. Some coffee and strudel afterwards and it was time for bed.

Tomorrow we sleep in and hit the Karl Marx museum… I think. Maybe. We’ll see.