September 17, 2008

On Tuesday, September 16, we packed up and got ready to leave Waterloo and head for Koblenz by way of Liege, Spa, Recht, Sankt-Vith, Prum, Gerolstein, and Mayen. A group of friends from our Yacht Club were taking a river boat cruise on the Rhine and we planned to meet them on the 18th in Koblenz.
On the way out of Waterloo, we stopped by the site where 300,000 men did battle that led to the downfall of Napoleon. We found swords had literally been traded for plowshares. Most of the land had been returned to agriculture and all that was left to commemorate the losses was a large mound of dirt. Wars – what a waste!
We had planned to stay in Liege, Belgium but when we got there, the city was large and didn’t look very appealing so we decided to go on to Spa, a resort town centered literally around a large natural spa! We’re glad we did because we found a fantastic B & B. When we called to get directions, Robert, the owner said he would send his son to show us the way. The house, like the owner’s hospitality was like an American antebellum, southern plantation home with high ceilings and large rooms (unlike the postage stamp rooms up til now). We could have stayed there a lot longer but couldn’t convince the owners they should adopt another set of parents.
In the morning we continued on to Koblenz with a side trip SW of “Recht” to “Poteau, Belgium”, another battle field site, this time it’s WWII, Battle of the Bulge. The end results were the same. Nature reclaimed the ravaged landscape and all that remains is an underfunded museum with old military surplus equipment attempting to immortalize wasted resources.
While we were in the area we stopped in the picturesque town of “Vielsalm” on a lake for morning coffee. This time it wasn’t McDonald’s, but a pleasant café at the lake resort!
We drove on to Koblenz in sunshine, pleasant temperatures, a high of 18 C (64 F), through hilly, and mostly agricultural countryside. We entered Germany and found the Autobahn an interesting road to travel. I would see a car coming up in the rear view mirror, way behind, and tell Dorothea to try and get a video clip of their speed. By the time she turned on the camera and started the video, the car would pass and be a ¼ mile ahead. We were doing 130 kph and they would pass us going 45 to 50 mph faster. That’s about 210 kph.
We arrived in “Koblenz” around 4:00 pm and went through our normal routine of looking for a room for the night. We found a nice little hotel with a restaurant on the East side of the Rhine that had one room left. We got to our room, freshened up, had a little wine and cheese and headed downstairs for dinner.
It was a small dining room with another couple and also two separate single guys. All spoke a little English and we had an enjoyable time chatting with all of them. When we asked for a menu, we found out there was only one choice. The waitress who didn’t speak any English tried to describe the dish but only in German. No problem! Our new found friends offered to interpret but all we got was that the meat was oxen. As we seemed a little hesitant, one of the single guys finally said that it was the part of the male oxen that could not make the female oxen happy. Having read that Europeans eat all parts of the animals, that explanation conjured up images in my mind that I didn’t want to think about at dinner time. When the dish arrived, it didn’t look like a normal piece of beef, it didn’t have the consistency of beef and it didn’t taste like beef. Sometimes in emergencies, stored snacks serve one well!
The next day we had a great dinner with Constance & Bill Robison in old town Koblenz. We were invited to a delightful breakfast on their luxurious cruise ship the next morning and were glad to see several YC friends. It’s truly a small world! And they speak English! What a treat after 3 weeks of French!

Look for associated photo link we'll send via email.

Ed & Dorothea