My Passport’s Travels

part 2!

Emilie checked the gangplank connecting our ship to our neighboring ship after we docked in Koblenz.

Six others and I met Michael, our tour guide at Guest Services in the lobby for our tour: The Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. Michael is an actor with a passion for the history of the fortress. He came in full costume of an early 1800’s English gentleman and told us that after we rode the gondolas up to the fortress, we would step out of a Time Machine to the year 1836. He took on the persona of an Engineer, a lieutenant in His Majesty’s Corp of Engineers, who was enlisting us to help with his espionage on the fortress.

At the gondola exit, they had a replica of the fortress for visually impaired people to use. We saw them regularly throughout Europe.

During the holidays, the fortress is leased out by a company that does a light display and Christmas market in the evenings, which is why the lighting was so unique in some places!

He explained how the fortress was bounded on three sides by shear cliffs down over 300 feet to the Rhein. On the fourth side, anyone trying to tunnel in would be heard through the network of tunnels they had already built. The entrance to the main gate was overlooked by multiple cannon and rifle windows.

If they made it past that – the next wall entry was also guarded by 8 cannons and 16 rifle windows (we helped him count to be sure the information was correct). Further in, he showed us the stone ramparts of the interior buildings – all of which are bricked in arches for extra strength.

I got to help check his numbers with this wall – he had me pace off meters to check the length – all while being very nonchalant, of course. He encouraged the others to help provide cover by singing a traditional Prussian folk song – Valdarieeeee, Valdaraaaaa, Valdarieeeee, Valdara-a-a-a-a-a-a! (Sadly, I almost lost count because I was singing along!)

The interior buildings were only connected by bridges, so if one building was breached, it could be cut off from the others.

We finally made our way into the “Palace Court” – the grand parade grounds. Interestingly, the fortress was never attacked directly. Michael said historians believe it was at least in part because of it’s design.

It was time for the Engineer to go back into history, but Michael explained a bit of the more modern history of the fortress. Since approx. 1917, the ownership has changed hands multiple times between the Germans, French and the US. He had a banner with all the flags from the different countries in their order, but in the middle was a plain brown flag – which is what he used to represent the Nazi ownership. I thought it was an interesting way to handle such a dark period for Germany. It acknowledged the history, without using the actual emblem.

We were given 15 minutes free time to enjoy the view, which was spectacular!

Look! Our longship! We’re the one on the river side.

Back down the gondola, where Michael gave us directions to the nearest Christmas Market and bid us farewell.

I checked in with Mom, who was feeling better, but not ready to leave the ship, then headed into the markets. I passed a realtor office on the way, just in case anyone’s interested in moving to Koblenz.

The first market was the Sternmarkt (Star Market).

The market is built around the History Column, which tells the story of Koblenz.

I tried the Eierpunsch (egg punch), expecting it to be spiked eggnog. And while it was spiked, it was actually warm and tasted great! According to Google – it’s a base of egg yolks, sugar and white wine, often with vanilla, and spices (particularly cinnamon) that’s heated gently, then topped with whipped cream.
https://dirndlkitchen.com/eierpunsch-recipe-german-eggnog-cocktail/

After exchanging my empty glass for a clean one to keep, I realized it would probably be smart to eat something. So I wandered a couple blocks over to the next market and found a focaccia stand and had a piece with prosciutto and tomatoes. Just the thing I needed! This market was a little busier, with an extension accessible through a lovely tunnel that was all white and gold with cherubs. – although the extension was just alcohol and sweets.

This computer screen was in the window of an office I passed by. “Server not found”

After enjoying my snack and the atmosphere, I realized I was about done, so I headed back to the ship. But realized that I needed to see one more thing. The statue of Kaiser Wilheim I that stands guard where the Moselle meets the Rhein was about 100 yards past the ship. It stands almost 40 meters high and is spectacular.

Finally, it was time to head back to the ship. I’m still not used to how easy it is to come and go on the Viking ships. I walked down the gangplank, through the other Viking ship’s lobby and into ours before needing to show any proof of belonging there. And they never x-rayed anything.

I was glad to see Mom was up and about. We visited about my day until it was time to head to dinner. We both had the French Onion Soup. Mom had the chateau briand, but only ate a bit of it, not because it was bad, but because she didn’t want to tempt fate. I had the German-style ravioli (??), which was a cheese-based pasta stuffed with spinach and ricotta. The filling was fantastic – and to be fair, Paulo, our server tonight, had warned me the pasta was much firmer than people are used to. Dessert was Carrot Cake!

After dinner, we headed down to our room to wind down and head to bed. Viking had left a gift of cinnamon-candied almonds for us! What a lovely end to the day!