1984 Luxembourg-Netherlands-Belgium-France
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Note to readers from the year 2010 - 16 years in the future from this trip report. I am trying to save these old pictures and trip reports. The pictures are faded and some of my observations are comical seen from this perspective. I didn't realize I could eat so much (I can't now) and I am amazed at the cream sauces! Anyway, enjoy this blast from the past.
Day 1, Friday - May 18th
The jet lag diet worked great! We have arrived in Luxemburg and just in the nick of time, the Iceland Air pilots have gone on strike. We can only hope they will settle by June 2nd.
Ken and Maureen met us - they are really nice. So easy to talk to and eager to show us everything. Ken works for the State Department and is living in Bad Godesberg near Bonn Germany. They were neighbors of ours in Virginia.
First thing we saw was an American Cemetery where General Patton
is buried, so sad seeing row upon row of white crosses and stars of David.
They all face forward and Patton's cross faces the troops. Very moving. It is a beautiful day, bright blue sky and all the apple trees are blooming.
They booked us into a little hotel on the Mosel River in Ehnen Luxemburg. It was a beautiful ride from Luxemburg, Maureen talking all the way. We passed through little towns with old buildings and narrow streets. Ehnen has a quaint old church tower sticking up from narrow crooked streets. We have checked into the Hotel Zimmer. Very nice - extremely European. The people are super. Maureen arranged for a light lunch of very thin ham slices arranged on a pretty plate and a light salad with oil and mild vinegar. We had an extremely nice bottle Rhine wine made just down the river. Very dry and good. We're eating here at the hotel tonight.
After a short nap, I sat on the balcony overlooking the river. I spied Maureen and joined her outside for a beer. Luther and Ken had gone looking for a pub. When they returned we all looked at the menu to decide what to have for dinner. It was such lovely weather!
We went inside and were seated in a nice room with a giant stone fireplace with Latin writing on it. I ordered a salmon in cream tarragon sauce and veal in cream passion fruit sauce. We had alight Riesling from this very town with the first course and a lovely 1976 Hermitage with dinner. They brought a complementary slice of light mousse custard and then I had a lime charlotte, so did Maureen. Ken had a sampler of all the deserts and Luther had brandy. By the way, everyone else had duck with onions for dinner. Maureen had a fish soup terrine, Ken had house pate and Luther had the same first course that I had. After dinner they brought a complementary plate of tiny tarts. We went for a drive after dinner and had brandy in a little pub.
Our room was all turned down for the night. It's really nice with an old wardrobe instead of a closet and a nice private bath. The beds are twins pushed together and are really soft. I like it.
Day 2, Saturday - May 19th
We got up at 7 and went running first thing. There's a very nice bike path that runs along the Mosel River. We showered and came down for breakfast of croissants. We packed up and were on our way.
The drive down the Mosel was beautiful. I've never seen so many grapes. We first stopped at a town called Trier where we went into a French commissary. It was very reasonable so Luther bought a bottle of Hennessey XO for 210F. Maureen got picnic stuff for a lunch. We also stopped at a roman amphitheater celebrating its 2000-year anniversary.
Continuing down the Mosel valley we saw lots o quaint towns and stopped at one called Bernkastle. It was very nice with little narrow streets and timbered buildings. We went into a butcher shop with a restaurant in the back where we had lunch. I had smoked pork, sauerkraut and potatoes. Maureen had a pig knuckle and Luther and Ken had fried sausages (which I tasted and liked) - all very German. We tried some of the local wine. Ken tells us that the farther down the Mosel you go the sweeter the wines. It does seem to be true.
Tonight we went to the "Club". It's just across the street from Ken and Maureen's house. They had Las Vegas night with a Barbecue dinner. Whoa, America in Germany! They had gambling with play money. I had a good time watching the people many of whom are Diplomatic Americans but the club is open to all so there were a lot of Germans there too. I'm leg tired tonight. Oh, I forgot about our walk along the Rhine which runs just in front of the town where we were. There was a nice park and bike trails. The Germans were all out biking and walking.
Maureen says tomorrow we are going to explore some castles and eat out at a nice restaurant for dinner. With Ken and Maureen here I've not been too nervous but out on our own, who knows?
 Steep grapes |
 Grape vine |
 Trier |
 Luther in front grapes |
 Bernkastle |
Day 3 - Sunday - May 20th
A run down the Rhine started our day. It was brightly sunny after a tremendous thunderstorm last night.
Breakfast and then Maureen packed us a lunch bought at the commissary yesterday. We crossed the Rhine on a ferry to Knagwinter. Luther was driving Ken's 740i BMW with diplomatic plates and was in seventh heaven. We drove down the river road to Linz, a small town that has lots of medieval buildings. I took several pictures. Then we went on down to Brambach to visit Marksburg Castle. These castles are perched way up on crags overlooking the Rhine and are very impressive. They've been destroyed and rebuilt many times because there have been so many wars; the Rhine is such a major river.
We went on a tour; luckily it was in German and English because there was another group of Americans there. The tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours. It cost just 4 Marks each - not bad. It was very interesting. There was everything from torture instruments to toilettes.
 Marksburg |
 Marksburg |
 Brambach |
 Marksburg |
 Marksburg |
We went back to the car and had our picnic with a bottle of the Mosel wine. Duck Pâté, ham, French cheese, mustard and bread. Very satisfying. Then we recrossed the Rhine on another ferry to Bopard and continued down the Rhine seeing many castles along the way. At a town called St. Gore we stopped for a beer. It was across from here that the Lorelei legend began - a siren who lured sailors to their deaths. Then we headed home on the autobahn after climbing steep winding roads out of the Rhine valley. There was a beer garden in an old castle ruin perched right at the top. Very crowded. Maureen says no German is ever home on a Sunday.
Luther sped us home at 100 MPH - the roads are great here.
Later--
We've had a wonderful evening. We had dinner at St. Peters Restaurant. It's situated in the Ar valley, the only red wine producing area in the north of Germany - and the wine was lovely. The first one was very dry with full body. The second one was slightly bubbly, very fruity and dry. I liked the second best and so did everyone else so we got another bottle. The building where the restaurant itself was very old - build in the 1200s. There were stone floors and walls, tall stained glass windows and a giant tile fireplace. Up above us was a gallery that ran around 2 sides also with tables.
The menu was all in German and our waiter spoke no English. This resulted in a couple of glitches. Maureen did help a lot with translation. We had the same thing, an appetizer of cream of asparagus soup (it's only in season a short time so we were lucky) and a main course of trout caught in the Eider Mountains. It was in a cream herb sauce and perfect. The soup was interesting. It tasted slightly of mushrooms. Ken says that is indicative of the white asparagus from here. Ken had a smoked raw beef, which was sliced paper thin and served with creamy horseradish sauce on a cutting board. I tasted it and it was really good! Luther had what he thought was ragout of chicken but was really snails. He ate it and loved it (I tried some - marvelous). Then Luther and Ken had pork tenderloin in a cream sauce with spatzle. Looked good. For the grand finale Ken and I had an apple tarte flambé with calvados (for 2) WoW! - it was on a flaky pastry and not too sweet. Mouthwatering. Maureen had a white and dark chocolate mousse with strawberries. She wasn't wild about the dark chocolate - too bitter. Luther had brandy and a cigar - he smoked it right there in the dining room much to his pleasure. All in all a very nice dinner, Ken and Maureen have been excellent hosts and I've really enjoyed our stay. I almost wish we were staying longer. We've asked them to join us at Illerhausen. We hope they can make it.
Extra Pictures
 View from Zimmer |
 Bernkastle |
 Embassy cards |
 Bernkastle |
 Linz |
 Castle Keep |
 Marksburg |
 Luther driving BMW |