HALFENHOF HOLIDAYS

May 27-30, 2011

We had a great sleep after our long day yesterday and all of the great food at the bbq. We were able to arrange our room for 4 nights. So, Saturday morning we rode back to the market for food supplies. As usual, I bought too much. We also arranged for a couple of bottles of Halfenhof wine.
Saturday afternoon Ernst took us on a tour. First we went up the hillside across the river, into his vineyards. There we could sit on a nice bench and look out across the river at the beautiful and peaceful views.

Wien-und Gastehaus
Halfenhof
E. und G. Baumler
Uferalle 14a
54470 Bernkastel
Stadtteil Wehlen
Telefon u. Fax 06531/6229
www.halfenhof.com halfenbof@gmx.de

Ernst told us how the government has been refurbishing the land. He seems to have some doubts about the benefits of this. When the old vines are removed and the slate is culled out of the soil, new posts and vines must be planted. This is quite expensive for the landowner, but apparently this program is not optional. Therefore some of the land lays idle. There also seems to be some reallocation of land, also not optional.
Ernst and his brother Guido both work jobs, but also have the wine growing and wine making business on the side. Their wine is delicious. They own several plots of vines, but they are not contiguous. The vines are planted right up the wall of the river canyon on very steep terrain. It must be a demanding job to maintain the plants, pick the fruit fertilize and prune,
As we toured the vineyards Ernst rattled off historical facts about the region, from Roman settlements to WWII. His family has lived in the house for at least 4 centuries. Ernst hopes to get more proof of earlier residency when he retires and he has the time to research the old land records in Trier.
We continued on our tour, crossing the river and going up the other side of the canyon where Ernst has some land for fruit trees. We climbed up a tall structure and from there we had fabulous views of the surrounding countryside.
Returning to the Halfenhof, Ernst then took us on a tour of the winemaking equipment and storage area, right under the house, He was very thirsty after all of this talking and poured us all some wine, which he guzzled down like water.
Sunday Don and I rode or bikes into the tourist part of Bernkastel. The business part of town is on the left bank and there is a very nice tourist area on the right bank. This part of the village has lots of hotels and zimmers, many restaurants and gift shops, We strolled through the town admiring the old half-timbered houses and enjoying the yummy aromas from the many restaurants.

From there we went up the hill to check out the castle for which Bernkastel is named. The first half of the route is on busy highway, so we pushed our bikes up the cobbled hiking path until we got past the highway, then we rode the rest of the way. The commanding castle sits high up on a hilltop with views of the river, which makes a big u-turn right at the foot of the hill. This was a very good defensive position back in the day.
Most of the guests left Sunday night, but starting on Wednesday there is a big wine festival all along the Mosel and everything gets very booked up from Wednesday through Saturday. I am worried about lodging for us.

Monday was quiet at the Halfenhof and we rode into the Tourist Information in Bernkastel to begin checking for lodging down the river., Of course, as usual, they know nothing about the zimmers beyond the county line, 8 kilometers downriver, so we will have to check at a Tourist Information center tomorrow.

Don had the idea that he wanted to ride the bike bus up the hill and then ride our bikes down again, so we got all organized, worked out the pickup time just up the hill from our Gastehaus, and waited there patiently. When the bus finally came the driver said “nothing doing. He does not pick up bikes at this stop.” and away he drove. So, we had lunch by the riverside and then rode into the next town down the river for information. No luck, the information guy had to go to Bernkastel to fill in, so we have no arrangement for the rest of the week.

The weather has been beautiful and blue and warm for the last few days.

MOSEYING ALONG THE MOSELLE

2011-05-27 Trier-Wehlen 71.5 km

May 27, 2011

The route out of Trier was quick and easy and not a lot of narrow, busy streets to navigate. We hit the bike path and set out along the river route for another day. Weather forecast was iffy again.

As we ride along the river path it continues to improve. Once in awhile we miss a signpost and a turn and have to correct. Trixie still wants to take us on the main highway, so we just ignore her,
We are seeing more and more cyclists now. Most of the groups seem to be family groups, with kids, mom and dad, and grandma and grandpa riding together. We also saw some very large organized groups of mostly older people. Don says at least 70% needed air in their tires. Several of the riders had motorized electric assists on their bikes, although, as long as you stay along the river there are few hills to navigate.
The scenery continues to be pretty, with green grapevines all along the route. In fact, the vineyards are carved way up the canyon side, several hundred feet of almost straight up and down terrain, and all planted in vines. Just about every spare piece of ground has a grapevine on it.

This day our ride was very long. We had made a reservation for a room with kitchen in Wehlen, so we couldn‘t stop early, even though I was very tired. We had been warned that rooms could be hard to come by on weekends, so we made arrangements for two nights here.

But, as we are riding along the route now we are beginning to see many more ads and billboards for restaurants and zimmers. The whole atmosphere has become more welcoming to bicyclists, since we left Trier.

We were running late for our reservation and worried that they would give our room away, so we stopped and called again to reconfirm that we would be coming for sure and to save our room.

The ride went on and on and on and I was really getting tired. We had promised to be there by 5, and yet, when we ran into another couple on Bike Fridays, we HAD to stop and talk. John and Danielle, from Seattle, were very well traveled and interesting to talk to. They were currently just finishing up a 9 week trip in France, Italy and Germany. It was hard to pull away from the conversation, but we finally did and continued along the route,
Finally we arrived in Bernkastel and our lodging was just on the other side of this town. By now I was so tired that I didn’t think I could ride back, even the two miles from Wehlan to Bernkastel to go to the grocery store, so we stopped at the Aldi and I told Don I was going to make soup and salad for dinner, so not to expect much.

While I went into the very busy store to pick up breakfast and dinner items, Don waited outside with the bikes. He went over to talk to the group of motorcyclists that had passed us coming into town and then went back by the bikes. A fellow came out of the store and was having trouble loading all of his purchases on his bike rack and almost rode off without his beer. Don called to him and as a thank you the fellow gave Don a nice cold beer. When I came out he gave me one too. What a nice gesture.

We made it the last few miles into Wehlan and asked the local policeman for directions. Down the hill and turn right and we rolled into the driveway of the Wein and Gastehaus Halfenhof. We were gustily greeted by a large group in the side yard who were drinking wine and preparing barbeque. Our host shook hands and showed us where to put our bikes, took us upstairs and let us into our room.

What a nice surprise our lodging is. We have two spacious rooms, a kitchen-sitting room overlooking the river, and a large bedroom with ensuite bathroom. The kitchen is well equipped and spotless. We will be very comfortable here.

After our shower we went back down to visit with the barbeque gang. They had invited us to join them for some meat and wine and conversation. We had a wonderful time talking to our hostess, Pat, who is Arkansas born, and her husband, Ernst, and some of the guests who spoke English. The wine is made by the host, and we tried middle-sweet and sweet white, and they were both delicious. The meat turned out to be delicious crispy sausages, then beef, then turkey. The food kept coming and so did the wine. We finished with watermelon. Finally around 9 we said goodnight and went upstairs to a good bed and a good night’s sleep.

In the morning we evaluated our travel schedule and decided we are very far ahead of our plan, so we are going to lay over here for 4 nights if we can arrange the room.

People here are so friendly, generous and open and fun. We feel very comfortable and welcome. High recommendations for Wein und Gastehaus Halfenhof, halfenhof @gmx.de, www.halfenhof.com

LUXEMBOURG LAYOVER May 24-25, 2011

LUXEMBOURG LAYOVER
May 24-25, 2011

Our room is quite spacious at the Gastzimmer Masseria and having the little kitchenette is an added bonus. After a bit of discussion we decided to slay over for an extra day

We met a very nice guy who is also staying at the gastzimmer, Sanjay is a PHD who is working on a big safety review of the nuclear energy plant nearby. Sanjay is from Sri Lanka, but he has adopted Germany as his country now. He got his degree here, and met his wife, a mechanical engineer, here. He is a very engaging fellow, open and friendly, and we really enjoy talking to him.

Sanjay was going to the power plant to work, and he offered to give us a ride to Luxembourg, so we decided to go over the border and spend a day. The last time we were there it was -8 degrees Celsius, and we just froze walking along the old battlements. This was back in the 1980s when we flew over on the inaugural flight of People’s Express.

So, we arrived in Luxembourg and walked into the heart of town. There we saw the hop on hop off bus, so we decided to get a pass on that and we rode around the town looking at the sights and learning about the country.

Luxembourg is a very international city. As we walked along the streets we heard 15 different languages spoken. The locals are usually fluent in German, French and Luxembourgish and change back and forth with ease throughout their conversations.

The city has built itself into a huge international financial hub and there are lots of big business offices and modern buildings where the business of the world is conducted. This is also the seat of the World Court.

We stopped in the big market square for a nice lunch. I had salmon salad and Don had a 3 course meal, with a beer included, for only 8e40.

After lunch we walked down into the deep canyon that runs through the middle of town. I think the Vallee de la Petrusse was cut by a river, but now there is just a small stream running through it. There are nice pathways and gardens to walk through, and it was very pleasant, but I was not looking forward to hiking all of the stairs up again.

When we got to the point we were ready to go back up to street level, we noticed some people going into a big opening in the basement of a building. Some kids on bikes whizzed past us and into the maw as well, so Don speculated that maybe there was an elevator in there somewhere. We tentatively entered the black mouth and sure enough! There is an elevator in there that took us right up to the city again. What a find!

We walked around town some more, taking some pictures and soaking in the hustle and bustle of the city. As 4 o’clock rolled around we found the inner city bus ramada and located our bus with no problem. We took the bus back to Perl and were dropped right off across the street from the gas Zimmer. We walked over to the market and picked up some ribs and fries to cook for dinner and then returned to our lodging.

Our host, JJ, speaks pretty good English, and also French, so we can communicate pretty well. He is a slim fellow, with a long grey goatee that curls dramatically up at the end, and a chin-length page boy hairdo, also gray, kind of an aging hippie with a strong capitalistic bent. The one conversation I had with him taught me that he is a yes-butter. Any suggestion or idea I had he gave me the old yes-but response. I got tired of play the game pretty fast and gave up conversing with him. Don got the rest of the fun. His wife, Rosa, is a beautiful Italian woman, but seems to be a bit shy and didn‘t interact with me at all.

Upon our return I went upstairs to work on dinner and Don was getting something from the bike trailers. JJ approached Don, voicing some criticism because we had used the kitchen to prepare breakfast and coffee.
Apparently the kitchen was offered to us to smoke in and have a drink, but not for cooking. But, we didn’t understand that. He complained that we had food in the refrigerator and on the countertops and had used the dishes and clogged the drain. Well, I did not clog the drain, but I was guilty of the rest. So, JJ wanted us to pay an extra 35e a night. Don demurred, saying that this was not the deal and a discussion ensued in which JJ brought up our rental rates in Mount Hermon as a comparison with his rental rates. Well, of course there is no comparison between Treetops and the gastzimmer, but Don had a difficult time explaining that. JJ kept asking for specifics, and it is hard to explain that everything at TT is top of the line, first class and meets a much higher standard. Don didn’t want to be critical of the facility, but still tried to get across the differences. Things escalated and Don finally came up to our room, rather agitated.

In the meanwhile I was trying to cook dinner and had discovered that there were no pots and pans to cook with. So I was improvising, cooking the ribs on a plate in the microwave and trying to use the aluminum container they came in to cook the fries on the stovetop. Needless to say, I was also a bit frustrated, and the kitchen was filled with smoke from the fries.

So we had our dinner and after dinner JJ invited Don down to his tent to have a beer, a kind of peace offering, we think. And we went to bed back on good terms.

Don had a restless night and was up at the crack of dawn, scrubbing the kitchen and getting everything spit spot.

So, our review of the gastzimmer Masseria in Perl is that the location is good, the rooms are spacious, the décor is funky culture, the price is high and the breakfast cost is very high. Don’t hope for any concessions or freebees here. Anything you ask for will have an added charge.
Skip this place the prices are out line, double what we paid in France and Germany for rest of our trip.

PERL-TRIER May 25, 2011

52.6 km

We set out along the Moselle River bike path and the very first think that we ran into was roadwork on the bridge. So we immediately had another deviation, but the rest of the ride went along pretty well. We didn’t get rained on and the bike route keeps getting better and better.

As we ride along the river edge we see groups of stately swans floating idly downstream with the river currents. Their long curved necks and white feathers make a pretty scene. On the banks of the river we hear the noisy staccato gobble-like call of the bullfrogs, wooing their frogettes and suggesting a little afternoon delight. But, when the swans near the route becomes eerily silent, while froggies snuggle into the vegetation and avoid becoming a swan’s hors d’oeuvre.

We rolled into Trier that afternoon and found a very busy city with lots of tourists. We rode right up to the main site in town, the famous Roman Gate, and the tourist information center. Don went in and arranged a room for the night.

The Roman Gate was built in 173ce and still stands in pretty good condition. In the 1100s the hermit monk, Simeon, came to live in the east tower. In the 14th century the Catholic Church canonized Simeon many people began to make pilgrimages to Trier.

We got a room at the Hotel Kessler and were very comfortable there. The fellow at the reception desk recommended a restaurant and gave us a coupon for a free glass of wine. So, after our shower, a stroll around the town, and a few photos, we had our dinner of Cordon Bleu and a nice dessert too and went back to the Kessler for a good night of sleep. We can recommend the Kessler for friendly service, moderate price, spacious rooms, and very extensive breakfast buffet.