The Old and the Restless

Joshua's birthday party was at Springwater Provincial Park just north of Barrie. The shelter that was arranged fro the venue was an ideal place because it was right beside the playground and a short walk to see the animals. With the overcast weather and the prediction of showers, Margot was quite worried but it turned out just fine. As I was taking the photo of Joshua, Ella climbed right in there. Megan, Michael and Thomas came from the farm for the party. Thomas thought that the trucks for party favours were a great idea and grabbed one for each hand. Happy Birthday! For the last two weeks I haven't been able to play videos on any Blogs. A question to the "Help" on Blogger gave a response that it could be my browser. I went to the Apple store. All I had to do wea reset Safari. It was the cache that was full (whatever that means).

Brandon was excited to hear that we were going to Luxembourg "because it is famous". The first thing we did was to visit and taste Luxembourg's "Champagne".  (Brandon had juice but he was interested in the tour.) Brandon liked the fact that they speak French in Luxembourg. After that, it was back to Germany and a visit to the town of Nennig to see the Roman mosaic floor which was discovered by a farmer ploughing the field in 1852. The following day we visited Shengen which is in Luxembourg but also at the borders of France and Germany. The Shengen agreement in 1990 paved the way for the European Union. At morning coffee break in France we talked to the local Gendarme. A slight problem with the cycling path in France. The last night in Metz, France we had a party. Els, the boat captain talked about how she began in this business. Brandon entertained the group by telling a story that Peter, the first mate, had taught him. Bryn, Hervé and Alicia were able ...

Brandon and I didn't ride today either. My throat was still sore and Brandon thought he would like another day on the boat. The trip scheduled a slight detour up the Saar River so that we could visit the pretty town of Saarburg. Since I was feeling better in the afternoon and the boat had to dock 2 km outside of the town until 4:00 pm, Brandon and I walked into town. The centre of town has cafés on both sides of the river which leads to... ... a waterfall.  After dinner, a group of us did a hike up to the Saarburg castle. This is the view from the ground level of the castle. I didn't climb the tower, but Brandon did. He said it was "beautiful". A pause as we walked down from the castle.

From Bernkastel to Trier: Because my throat was so sore, and because Brandon stayed up until 11:00 pm playing cards while I went to the wine tasting, we didn't ride this day. It was interesting going through the locks. In the above video, you can see the the depth where we started and the height where we ended. It was relaxing just to watch the scenery. Peter, the first mate, entertained Brandon by teaching him magic tricks and telling him a story using paper folding as a prop.

Germany has completely shut down all nuclear plants and is now burning coal for electricity. There were many coal barges going up the Mosel. At breakfast each day ingredients were set out so that we could make ourselves a bag lunch to eat. The castle at Bernkastel. Unfortunately I did not tour the lovely town because I was developing a severe sore throat. That evening there was a wine and cheese tasting at a local wine cellar. I attended that hoping it would help my throat. It didn't.

July 30, 2011  ARRIVAL After a 6 1/2 hour train ride with three trains (and a mad dash pulling luggage to catch the third train), Brandon and I found Cochem. The third train, being a regional train did not have announcements nor a list of the stops. It would have helped, when asking other passengers about the stops if I had known that the "ch" in Cochem is pronounced as a "k". It was a relief to find a taxi driver who understood me and knew where the boat would be. Our barge... The Sailing Home After dinner I went for a short walk around the town. Others who had arrived earlier had done the one hour hike up to the restored castle. July 31  DAY ONE... COCHEM TO ZELL.... 40 km A view of the castle in the daytime Breakfast was at 8:00 AM. At 9:00 AM we were ready to go. The morning break was at the pretty town of Beilstein. The reason Beilstein is so well preserved is that it was inaccessible by road until around 1900. Going up the narrow street. The Mosel valley...

Alicia with her "baby". A lot of activity is on the trampoline. They let me sit as an audience while they bounce. During the summer children from 8-15 years can buy a "passport" that entitles them to choose from among 300 activities. Brandon took one class on the trampoline where he practiced doing a back flip. Yesterday he went with a group on the train up to La Chaud-de-Fonds to a "vivarium"to see snakes and crocodiles. Today he went on a boat across the lake to see a reconstructed prehistoric village. I see in the book that Bridge is among the activities he could choose. (He didn't). Rather than just looking at trees when going for a walk, it's more interesting to climb them.