Oktoberfest! (Part 2 - Ridin down the Rhine)

Our first destination on this whirlwind trip was a hop and skip down the Rhine River. It flows North (tidbit #2, eh?) from Switzerland to the Netherlands. You'll remember we crossed over it to catch the beautiful sunset during our first weekend in Cologne. We took a train for the entire two weeks from Cologne with a ‘rail pass’ where we could ride as much and as far as we could in a day, for ‘x number of days’ within a specified time period. Ours were valid for 2 months from validation (which you'll get fined if you don't do this prior to your first trip). There will be an entire post dedicated to German laws later.  

On our trek down the Rhine, we first stopped off at Koblenz, a small city where the Rhine intersects with Mosel River. It was a quaint, somewhat of a touristy town I’d say, but charming none the less. It was a beautiful day and claims our first stop at a ‘Bier Garten’ albeit small and nothing like those we would visit in Munich, it was still a nice stop and the pretzel made for a delicious snack! 

We didn’t make time to tour the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein which hovered over the river’s intersection on the opposite banks, but it looked like an interesting stop. It was very large so perhaps we’ll return one day to check it out. Koblenz is also near the Marksburg Castle, which Justin was able to see on a weekend excursion with co-workers in August. I’ll include pictures of the many castles we passed on our train ride, just please forgive the quality (or lack there of) as we buzzed past them on the train.

The Fortress on the hill. There's even a gondola

to take you up & across the Rhine.

Not sure what this is... It was
near a water level markings so we assume
it had something to do with the river level.
I just loved it's color! 

This is the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, or German Corner,
which faces north where the Mosel meets the Rhine River.
The link tells and shows that it was damaged by American 
artillery in 1945, then reconstructed in the 1990s.

Our first Biergarten!

A well-deserved break.

Prost!

As you can see, it's hard to capture the castles in the distance along the banks of the Rhine, especially flying down the tracks on the awesome rail lines.  Hopefully this illustrates how magical it is to look up and see a medieval castle situated on a mountain where they've been for hundreds of years!