Day One in the Mosel

Day One is a long one as usual starting with the 9 1/2 hour flight to Frankfurt from YVR. Rather uneventful other than two passengers who were adamant about getting two seats together on a full flight where none were available. As the plane was taxi-ing down the run way, they were still standing in the aisle refusing to take their two middle seats. Turns out they were also claiming that they lost their boarding passes and could only communicate via an interpreter. Funny, but later they were able to order apple juice and red wine in English when the food service started. The flight attendant commented loudly how great it was that they were now able to speak english.  Hmmm...

Our Lufthansa flight arrived at Frankfurt Tuesday, September 12th around 11:30 am local time. It was a sunny and very hot day in Germany with a high of around 30 degrees Celsius. We arrived early for our Alamo car rental pick up (airport) so had some time to rest before the two hour drive to Trier. I had arranged for a 13:00 pickup time and we arrived after a long walk through the airport around 12:00. We were seen fairly quickly to register the paper work, but as we left there were long queues at many of the car rentals.

My usual method of using my cellphone in Europe is by utilizing a local SIM card in my unlocked iPhone 4. I inserted my German Vodafone SIM card, but it wouldn't recognize my password to unlock the SIM card. I will need to get into a Vodafone store in Trier tomorrow to reactivate. It was fun sitting in the airport waiting for our 13:00 pickup time and hearing all the different languages and accents around us. Airports are so full of energy. Plus, airports usually have free wifi service! Yeh!

Those of you familiar with our previous holidays will already know that we typically endure a love/hate relationship with GPS units. We both had mild heart-attacks when we thought Randy had left the German map card back in Vancouver for our new Garmin GPS unit!!! But all was well and we typed in the address for our first Airbnb apartment (Trier) to get on our way.

Our Alamo car rental is a Ford C-Max. Lots of room for our three suitcases and future wine purchases. The vehicle is diesel powered with a fair amount of acceleration. Manual transmission that is easy to operate. Both of us are registered to drive the vehicle. For the entire trip duration we are paying about 420 Euro which is a good deal. 

It is very sunny and warm on our two hour drive to Trier. Rolling farmland with some forests on the hills. Some vineyards as well. Many vehicles pay zero attention to the speed limit. We had forgotten about driving in Europe with the incredible numbers of trucks and semis on the roads. Our new Garmin GPS beeps whenever I go more than 20 kms per hour over the speed limit. The drivers here are excellent and will pull over as soon as they pass in the left hand lane. We get our first views of the Mosel river from very high above as we near Trier. Pretty exciting and such a beautiful valley. 

We encounter great parking karma when we arrive at our Airbnb apartment in downtown Trier there is parking right across the street. We discover the front door to the apartment is locked but a resident shows up within about one minute to unlock the front door. There is an unlocked side door we could have used. The keys are under the carpet at our first floor apartment. In Deutschland, first floor is really our North American second floor. It took us a long time to figure out how to unlock the door though as there is a trick to be learned. The Airbnb apartment is exactly as advertised so all is good. Very quiet street surrounded by other apartments and close to a recommended small restaurant. 

Problems trying to figure out the free wifi address and then password, but Lana texted the owner and we quickly received the information. The internet works pretty quickly here. Lots of tall windows here to let in the breeze. Lana needs a "power nap" before we get started. She naps from around 15:45 until 17:00 so that makes for an easier transition. I can't nap and don't want to try. I take some of our "NoJetLag" homeopathic pills to counter the grogginess/jet lag. 

OK, where is Trier and why are we starting in Trier? As you can see below from the map it is west of Frankfurt and very close to Luxembourg and the French border. Both the Saar and Ruwer rivers flow into the Rhine river near or at Trier. The Mosel wines are marketed as "Mosel/Saar/Ruwer" on many of the bottles as they are considered the same "appellation" for foreign and domestic sales. In reality, they are different terroirs. Also, it is the farthest point of the Mosel region so better to finish our trip closer to Frankfurt than farther away. Staying in Trier we can easily get to both the Saar and Ruwer wine regions.

 Trier is Deutschland's oldest city "Deutschland's Alteste Stadt" courtesy of the Romans who built this city as their northern European capital.

Old school parking meters in some places in downtown Trier.  Not digital nor any credit cards. Notice the minute hand? What generation are you?

Interesting store where we were walking. In Vancouver we call them "sex shops" and here they are called "Fetish Shop". In English language that has a different connotation.  ;-) BTW, not sure if it was open or closed?

We decide to make the fifteen walk to En De Lauben restaurant located beside the Mosel River. This casual place was recommended in a blog by some hikers. Before we leave, Lana uses her iPhone to confirm the walk and I copy down Google Map directions. Typical European community where there are no real grid patterns to navigating the streets. We do find the place based on the address as the title of the restaurant is not the same as that in the article. We find a great spot so we can view the river traffic and enjoy the sun. 

For my first Mosel wine, I order their 2014er Maximin Grünhaus Abtsberg Riesling Kabinett restsüß-C. It is 0.21 litres for 5.40 Euro. At this point in our trip one Euro costs us $1.47CDN dollars. Yikes! Oh well, the wine glass order is still much cheaper than in Canada and the pour is generous to a Canadian or American pour. The wine is golden coloured and medium-sweet. More importantly, it is tasty and works well with my order of food.

Lana's order of Pork medallions in a fresh mushroom cream sauce and spätzle (German noodles). Very yummy and a typical example of German comfort food cuisine.

Randy's order of "Münchner Wurstsalat" being a wurstsalad with Emmental cheese, gherkin pickles and various onions with house bread for 9.80 Euro.  Really great salad that is very common to this area of Deutschland.

This is where our restaurant was located. You can see a boat moored on a dock. Lots of cyclists, joggers and walkers on the path. Plus, the restaurant patrons get to enjoy the river and ambience beside the river while dining. Must be a fantastic place to enjoy Oktoberfest! Total cost of bill was 40 Euro inclusive of a 'rounding up' tip for the server.

Time to get going as the sun drops below the hills around 19:00. Once the sun had set the temperature was more tolerable. We walked along the Mosel river after dinner and back to our apartment. Using Lana's iPhone we could figure out another way back to the apartment. Plus, we could explore our new neighbourhood. There is a neighbourhood supermarket just around the corner for some water and fruit. Also, we are very close to the Altstadt (old town) so that will be helpful in future days. 

I uploaded our photos to Picasa Web Albums Uploader as that is how our get our photos into the blog. When I tried to begin the blog the cursor would not show up in the text section! Plus, when I did get it to start it wouldn't move to other areas. No chance of getting our first blog done before exhaustion set in. No post of day one on day one. Lana has been fast asleep in bed for quite a while already. Good for her. We'll figure it out the next morning which is what occurred. Lana made some changes and I just had to accept the fact the cursor won't show yet I can type where it is supposed to be.  YEH! The blog works.