First of all there was no place to park in Worms.  Also if was Germany’s Fathers Day and most stores were closed.  In Worms we visited a Luther monument dedicated to the Reformation.  It had a large statue of Martin Luther and four previous reformers in a park where we sat and drank a glass of wine.  We also visited Wormser Dom which is located on the highest point of the inner city of Worms.  The original building was consecrated in 1110 and mostly finished by 1181.  In 1521the Diet of Worms declared Martin Luther a heretic.  We are now in Speyer and will spend two or three nights here.

Encircled by the Elz River the 850 year old Eltz Castle has been the family home of the Lords and Counts of Eltz for more than thirty generations.  Today, Eltz Castle is owned by Count Karl, of the Silver Lion and the Buffalo Horns, which has retained sole ownership of the complex since 1815.

We could not take pictures inside but I bought a postcard of a beautiful heater and took a picture of it.

After we left we saw off in the distance a huge cathedral and decided we had to see it.  I took several pictures of the cathedral but didn’t get the name of it or the town it was in.  No one has been able to tell me what the name is.  Oh well.  When we got back Susan got a haircut.

Tomorrow we leave for Speyer, Germany.

Today we changed hotels and are very happy here.  Directly in front of our room is the Cochem Imperial Castle or Reichsburgh Cochem.  The castle was built in 1027 and laid to ruin by Louie XIV’s army in 1689.  The current castle was rebuilt in 1868.  We took a tour and I took many pictures inside and out of the rooms, ceilings, furniture and other things. Our plans for tomorrow is to visit another castle.

We checked out of our hotel and decided not to take the boat trip and drove to Bernkastel-Kues.  There were stunning views of the vineyards.  At the tourist shop we ran into a grandmother and her grandson that we had met on our walking tour of Trier.  We joined them and road a bus to Burg Landshut which dates from the 11th century.  It was destroyed by fire in 1692.  Though still in ruins, the castle offers one of the grandest panoramic views in the Rhineland.  Then we had lunch with our new friends.  We enjoyed them very much.  After lunch we drove to Cochem and walked around the town and saw the a beautiful castle high on a hill.

This town is considered the wine capital of the Moselle Valley Region.  I had a glass of local Riesling wine for lunch and it was fabulous.  Even Susan said it was great.  We love our hotel called Hotel Vier Lowen and may stay 2 or 3 days here.  Tomorrow we are taking a boat ride to Bernkastel-Kues which is a quaint riverfront town and a must-see village on the wine route with stunning views of vineyards across the river.

Today, after having a great German breakfast we went on a walking tour of Trier.  We visited two Roman Catholic cathedrals.  In one they were having a brass orchestra concert and we sat and listened for an hour.  On the walking tour we learned a lot of history of this ancient city.  Tomorrow we hit the road.

I have been unable to post because our hotel internet doesn’t work.  We went to a coffee shop down the street and it now works.  We have taken the Hop On Hop Off trip twice and have seen ancient Roman ruins dating back to 16 B. C.  We took a short boat ride and a tourist train ride around town too.  This afternoon we will take a walking tour of the city,  I am unable to figure out how to post pictures and I send them to Susan’s nephew and he will post them for me.  Tomorrow we  begin the Mosel Valley Wine Tour.

The flight went well except I thought I would never feel my butt again.  The airport at Frankfurt is HUGE and we had to walk a great distance to go through customs and get our luggage but we managed.  We got our car at Hertz and took off.  We found a nice hotel in Frankfurt near the old town square.  We had a great dinner at Romer Pils Brunnen.  Tomorrow we will head for Trier.