Along the Rhine and then to Brussels

Sunday, June 16, 2013
Brussels, Belgium
After our delightful breakfast at the Central Hotel in Offenberg (read the review), it was off to the railway station. Almost our last day and it has all been marvelous - I know I want to do something like this again! We took our time and left Offenberg at 10.28, instead of the one at 9.28, as we didn't need to be in Mainz until 13.00 --- and got off at Frankfurt Flughafen at 11.53. Flughafen is the airport - what have I done? Why are we here? Thank heavens - a train to Mainz turned up - this train is just a local train. So back on track - well, so I thought.

My timetable I wrote in Aus, before we left, was Offenberg to Brussels 11 .30 to 17.35 - something went wrong!! In retrospect, I should have written more notes re the various trains and routes. E.g. the trains east of the Rhine which aren't near the river and are quicker; the trains which aren't free on the Eurail Pass etc etc. I expected to do research on the internet as we traveled, but it wasn't always easy, or possible. Plus, once into the trip, it became a 'point of honour' not to pay for reservations (unless essential) or to pay extra for any trip covered by Eurail.

There was a real mess up with the trains from Mainz to Cologne. We planned on catching the IC2312 at 13.20 which would get us to Cologne at 15.05 - giving us 38 minutes to catch our train to Brussels. However, that train was running 30 minutes late and they couldn't guarantee a connection. I wanted to go via Koblenz and Bonn - not the other side of the river. (I missed going through the Black Forest because we took the 'easy' route.) The German trains were a bit awry because of the floods, as we'd noticed previously . So when a train for Cologne (via Koblenz etc) arrived at the platform, we jumped on. The time was 13.39 and the train was the IC2004. It was a really old fashioned train - had compartments like the old Agatha Christie movies. I spent most of my time in the corridor looking at the marvelous view of the Rhine. However, there were good points - we got to know our fellow travelers for one! One couple were Aussies that were spending a few months in the area - a fount of information. And an older German lady who understood us very well and loved to take part in the conversations.

The Middle Rhine stretch from Bingen to Koblenz is a river valley straight out of a picture book, with precipitous cliffs, steep vineyards, a castle perched on virtually every hilltop and pretty villages lining the river banks on either side. The Rhine was in flood as you can see from the photo of the island fortress "Pfalzgrafenstein" in the middle of the river near Kaub - the island, Falkenau, is covered by water . Pfalzgrafenstein was built in the 1300s and functioned as a toll-collecting station that was not to be ignored, as it worked in concert with Gutenfels Castle and the fortified town of Kaub on the right side of the river. A chain across the river forced ships to submit, and uncooperative traders could be kept in the 'dungeon' until a ransom was delivered. (The dungeon was a wooden float in the well.) Unlike the vast majority of Rhine castles, "the Pfalz" was never conquered or destroyed, withstanding not only wars, but also the natural onslaughts of ice and floods by the river. About twenty men could live there.

The mighty slate rock Lorelei rises up almost vertically to 132m above the water-level. Downstream, the river is at its narrowest and deepest (22m), so the Middle Rhine at this point used to be very difficult to navigate and the correct passage is clearly marked with buoys these days. Even in the 19th century, reefs and rapids made it extremely dangerous for ships to pass this point . The legend tells us, that a siren called "Lorelei" bewitched the hearts of the sailors and when they looked up to the rock, their boat crashed and they sank.

Then we saw Kats Castle, on the other side of the river as well, above the town of St Goarshausen. This magnificent castle stands on a ledge looking downstream. It was first built around 1371 by Count Wilhelm II; was bombarded in 1806 by Napoleon and rebuilt in the late 19th century, between 1896-98. It is now privately owned, and not open to visitors.

Another castle we got a photo of, and can name, was Marksburg above Braubach (before we got to Koblenz). Thanks to its formidable defenses, medieval invaders decided to give Marksburg a miss, and it is the best-preserved castle on the Rhine.

Great train trip. The train went through Bingen at 14.06, Koblenz at 14.41, Andernach at 14.56, Remagen at 15.08, and Bonn at 15.20. Arrived in Cologne at 15 .42 - ran down the platform, down the stairs, up the stairs ...... could hear a train arriving or leaving. Leaving - damn and blast, we missed it.

The next free for Eurail passes train was another 4 hours away - getting us to Brussels at 9.35pm. We'd still have to get to the hotel. However there were two Thalys trains - one at 16.43. Because we'd missed our connection, we were given a 'claim form' and told we could claim our fare on the Thalys train. So on the Thalys train we got - along with a lot of other extra passengers! We were lucky - we got two of those dinky fold down seats near the exit and the luggage racks. I think we just rested the backpack on one to start with (while we waited for a seat), then as we realised there were more people than seats, we grabbed the other one as well! This train was no quicker than the ICE train, but it was a private train. First up they asked for some exorbitant sum of money, and we said we had a Eurail pass so got a discount. "No" - and then "I'll check on that" . We didn't pay until over halfway throught the trip (should have got off once we'd crossed the border). And we didn't even get a seat after we handed over the 66 Euro!

The regular trains were fine - I'm so annoyed we gave in and paid money just for the convenience of arriving early. But it was all so cheap - we've never got around to filling in that claim form! [We finally filled in the form on 10 October - wonder if we'll get any compensation? Apparently the trains are often late and it wasn't just because of the floods. The form is Fahrgastrechte-Formular and we finally found a translation of the entire form on google. It still wasn't easy to understand though.]


Arrived at Brussels at 18.32 or thereabouts - Gare du Midi Zuid station is BIG. We had no idea which exit to use to find the way to our hotel. I got a photocopied small scale map from someone returning to England - but it didn't help much . Even a local couldn't figure it out - he asked a taxi driver. (We wouldn't have been game to do that as the taxi would want the fare to take us there.) We still ended up walking practically all around the station's perimeter. As it happened we'd been heading in the right direction in the first place, but as there were no road signs ..... grrrr. It took 30 minutes to get headed in the right direction. And we checked every turn from there on. Took us about 25 minutes (and about 18 to get back the following morning - lol.) Boulevard de L'Europe, Avenue de Stalingradln, through Place Rouppe Plein, and straight on to Rue du Midi - easy once you've done it once!

We'd booked at the Bedford over the internet. It was 69.05 Euro ($99.75) so we weren't expecting much. Wow - what a surprise! We really did get a last minute special deal! It was like a slightly rundown posh hotel. It was quite big, over 300 rooms, so impersonal. But we had no complaints - apart from the free wi-fi only being in the lobby . Breakfast was great. This was our cheapest accommodation by far (as it included a wonderful breakfast) - sometimes those booking.com late specials are brilliant! After we'd checked in and deposited our bags in our room (up in the lift and then along a few corridors), we went exploring as per usual.

Headed along Rue du Midi towards the Grand Place. Heaps of signs now!!! The area from the station to this area had seemed a bit seedy, but it all perked up when we reached Grand Place. And the prices went up accordingly - lots of tourists too. Not that we'd passed a place to eat that had looked at all enticing. Nothing around this area beckoned as a place to eat.

" ... Brussels' magnificent central square, Grand Place. It boasts the country's best baroque guildhalls, the beautiful Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), museums, pavement cafés, chocolate shops and intimate cellar restaurants - a combination that lures visitors in droves. Hidden at the very core of the old town, it's revealed as you enter from one of six narrow side alleys (Rue des Harengs is the best) - a discreet positioning that adds charm ."  From Lonely Planet.

We'd made it back to Rue du Midi and were trying to remember what was between us and the Bedford (as a place to eat), then we spied a church down a side street and went to take a look. This church "Our Lady of Assistance" (Notre-Dame du Bon Secours), on Rue du Marche au Charbon, proved worthy of the name! We didn't notice any 'metalheads, gothics and punks' - but it was certainly different. And we had a great well-priced feed at a place that had a painting of a kookaburra on the wall. Had a couple of drinks while we ate, slowly, and watched the world go by. Not many middle aged tourists around, but it certainly wasn't scary at all - was a much better atmosphere than the crowded tourist area.
And I didn't eat any chocolates at all!
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