Cologne to Rolandswerth: - the storms have arrived
As fate will have it, we stayed in the hotel in Cologne to avoid the storm, and just as we checked out Monday morning, with our bike fully loaded and ready to go on the street - torrential rain came followed by a fierce thunder storm. Like the rest of the city's residents, we stood under a storefront and waited it out. A few hours later, we finally left the city.
The head housekeeper, Sonja was very helpful and ran a good hotel. The fellow who worked at reception is from Trier on the Moselle R.
This briefly dropped the temperature and we rode under stormy skies along the Rhine, through Bonn and on to Rhein Camping Sieberngebirgblick at Rolandswerth. As there is no camping in Bonn, we didn't want to stop there for the night. Perhaps we'll camp a few nights and ride back to see the city and visit Beethoven's home. Just as we started to make dinner, the rains came and continued through the night. What a treat it is this year to have our Hilleberg Anjan tent. The extra room provided by the vestibule, has given us so much living space. We used the vestibule asa place to sit for the evening and read and eat our dinner.
On our way to the campground, we stopped at a bratwurst stand by the river and met this couple. They and their two children are leaving for Toronto Canada next week to live there for a year. He is a pediatrician and will be working at Sick Kids Hopsital - Sick Kids has a wonderful reputation and he is looking forward to the challenge of working there.
So many boats on the water - river cruise ships, freighters, oil and coal barges, pleasure boats - but there is only one Moby Dick taking tourists on a scenic day cruise on the Rhine.
An impressive sight overlooking the Rhine - a 5 star hotel which has hosted international conferences - most recently the Afghanistan conference. The hotel has a cooperative exchange program for students who work there. Canadian and German students work for 6 months here and 6 months in Canada.
Today, we had a lovely ride, ate great food, saw beautiful scenery, and yet we are constantly reminded that the personal moments of meeting people along the way are the highlights that we will most remember. The trip, this year is less about distance and more about experiences and the people we meet.
We met this couple, a retired professor in his 80's, at a cafe perched on a cliff overlooking the Rhine. They were very interested in our bike and gave us great tips on places to see along the way....notably Bad Breisig and the Roman baths.
