On Good Friday Bodra & I got on a coach at Reading station before 7am. Other passengers started their journey at 2am from somewhere called Dudley, so we were pretty lucky. The coach was pretty average & the guide was a husky lady with pretty lame-o jokes. Bo & I kept ourselves amused reading & dozing. We drove through the UK, France, Belgium & Germany, getting to our hotel after 8pm. The room was cosy & simple & the dinner was pretty cruddy but I enjoyed my bier!!
The following morning we wrapped ourselves up warm & piled back onto the coach. Our destination was Burg Eltz- the 12th Century Eltz Castle. We walked the last 800 metres or so after parking near the Antonius Chapel & as we made our way along the path. The heavily fortified Castle appeared below us. We could see a gated entrance-way, lots of pointed roofs & turrets, white oriels (bay windows) & red & white timber-frame structures, grey-brown stone walls & blue-grey slate roofs.
I was amazed to find out that the castle had been housing the same family for 33 generations. The castle is divided into three lines of the family- The Rübenach and Rodendorf families’ homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The three lines of the House of Eltz are called the Eltz of the Golden Lion, Silver Lion & Buffalo Horns.
As we were guided through the castle we were shown the Entrance Hall to the Rübenach House which is now the armoury. There was quite a collection of weapons there- firearms, Halberds, oriental daggers including a parade sword made out of the jaw of a swordfish, bows with quivers & arrows. Then we went into the Lower Hall which had a chandelier made of antlers & colourful Flemish tapestries hanging on the walls in an attempt to keep in some warmth. Into the Bed Chamber whose walls & ceiling were all covered with creeper vine paintings. This room had its own chapel built into a bay window. Then down into the Knight’s Hall which was in the Rodendorf House. One of the things the guide told us about this room was how there were two symbols which indicated the sort of behaviour that could go on in here. One was a court jester mask which meant that everyone could express their opinions openly, but above the doorway as you left the room was a red rose of silence which indicated you weren’t to speak about the issues discussed after leaving the hall.
Then we descended a spiral staircase in a counter-clockwise direction down to the next floor. We were told the staircase was designed to aid the defence of the castle. In those days of battle there were certain rules that you must abide by, for example you can only fight with a sword using your right hand. So the aggressor advancing up the spiral stair-case would have the central pillar obstructing their attack. This made me think- what happened to make us lose these rules of battle?
We went past a room where I saw a bear on the floor- a hunting room. Unfortunately this room wasn’t accessible- I would have liked to have lain down on the bear. Lastly we went into the Rodendorf medieval kitchen. Apparently there are maybe 3 or more kitchens in Eltz Castle which makes sense as there were at least 100 people living in the castle. There was a massive chopping block in the kitchen- like a tree trunk really. I have no idea how they would’ve lugged it all through the castle.
Afterwards we had a wander through the treasury where I spotted a golden Bacchus stuck inside a vat- a drinking vessel apparently.
We got back to our hotel & snoozed while it snowed outside. On Easter Sunday we did a river cruise along the Rhine from Koblenz to Rudesheim I think. At Koblenz we saw where the Moselle River meets the Rhine. It was really freezing there, exceptionally windy. The river cruise was pretty boring- I guess the lack of sunshine & blue sky hindered our passion for the countryside, & the Loreley didn’t stand out as much as I thought it would. We had a good game of dots- I don’t know what it is called but the one where you make squares & put your initial in it… I won anyway! 
We had a yummy lunch in Rudesheim- succotash which is a like a bean stew!! We wandered along the Drosselgasse & tried some sweet white wines there but they weren’t anything special.
On our last day of touring we went out to Trier which is the oldest city in Germany, founded in 16BC & is also where Karl Marx was born. It was really misty & cloudy. Firstly we had a bus tour of the area. The guide tried to describe the architecture of the city which we couldn’t really see due to the clouds. He told us about how he spent a lot of his years down by the river digging for old Roman coins. Then he took us for a walking tour as well but we weren’t too interested in it. We started off by Roman Baths, then over to the Trier Palace. We went into this massive hall & the guide sang us a Gregorian chant so we could hear the impressive acoustics. Then Bodra & I walked around the Porta Nigra- Black Wall which is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It was built in 180-200 AD. I had trouble filming it so that it was all in view- it was quite massive. Lastly we stopped in Cochem. Bodra & I climbed to the top of the village to check out the Reichsburg Castle.
Yesterday we woke & found icing sugar covering everything outside. It certainly made the barren vineyards surrounding us look more picturesque. We endured a long bus ride back to Reading & we were really relieved to get home. We are now looking forward to having a holiday in a warm country… hopefully France will be warm in June/July when we get there to visit Kenny & Tatiana.
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