Friday - Why Having Multiple Plans Helps

Thursday night Steph and I laid out a couple plans of attack for our two full days in Koblenz. One had us renting bikes and heading down the Rhine and the other was taking a boat tour down the Rhine or the Mosel Rivers. We even had the emergency backup, museums and indoor stuff (this is the last resort choice we keep on hand). On Friday morning plans took place slowly, due in large part to us figuring out just exactly what the weather had planned. As it turned out there were high chances of rain, and a storm front that was moving from east to west against winds that were coming out of the south. This all meant that the idea of renting bikes straight away and riding down to Boppard, 23+km south along the Rhein was going to be out on hold.

Our new plan of attack was to start by walking the old town of Koblenz and at least hitting the visitor information center. The city has some of the more eclectic of fountains we have encountered, and even the architecture can vary widely from building to building. After a bit of time in the altstadt we headed over to Deutsches Eck to take in the views associated with the confluence of the two major rivers, both of which are increasingly growing toward a bad flood stage. Steph's foot has been giving her problems so we decided that rain or no rain we should rent the bikes anyway and take a ride down the path along the Rhein as far as the weather would allow us to go.

We had looked at a couple of places the night before and decided that Zangmeister's was the place to start. It did not disappoint, and in fact far exceeded what to expect. Since it was already afternoon, and it was raining we were able to get two bikes for 20€ combined, half of what we expected. They also threw in the helmets and locks gratis. They were very nice, focused on being helpful, and an overall joy. Once we were all set up, Steph and I decided to continue with the idea of pedaling south and see how far the weather lets us get. Needless to say, we encountered sprinkling, spritzing, showers, and downpour conditions throughout the time biking. Fortunately I had a secondary part of the plan in mind, biking south about 6km to Koblenzer Brauerei for a bite to eat and a little sampling. I saw the brewery from the train on Thursday and noticed it had beer garden and restaurant. The original plan to go longer distance to Boppard fell through, but this showed up just in time as it was starting to pour. Thank goodness for Gore-Tex as we were mostly dry and had on quick dry trousers.

The brewery was a great place to have a bit of lunch and to sample their Pils, Bock, Kellerbeer, and Alt styles. We each found at least one to like, if not more and the food was excellent. Prices were awfully nice as well. Unfortunately they didn't have any tours or even a shop with which to work, but we came out happy and dry. They did not rush us at the brewery so that we were able to not only get dry but to out wait the rain. We were able to make a break for it back into town and only got a few showers along the way, meaning we were much less soaked than on the trip down there. 

Upon getting back into the old town we locked up our bikes and went in search of the 4pm coffee and cake. We were able to sit outside under the awning, and with outdoor heaters above us and enjoy a good coffee at Einstein's. After that we picked up some postcards, stopped in a couple of shops and wandered a bit more before grabbing the bikes and heading back to the hotel around 6pm. All told it was a very successful day in the rain and we enjoyed every moment of it, being able to explore things we would not be aBle to easily reach on foot or by public transportation.