16 Sep 2011

Cochem (10 Km by Foot)

Breakfast at a German guest house is a mostly silent affair, like a library during school holidays. There are generally only two sounds heard during the morning meal: (1) the sawing of hard rolls being split in half and (2) the “Morgen” (“Morning”) greeting sung out by all whenever a new patron enters the room. All of this silence is typically too much for our talkative little Gina to tolerate, so it should have come as no surprise this morning when Gina embraced this greeting custom with gusto, belting out a surprisingly loud and full-bodied shout of MORGEN when the last couple walked in, as if she were sitting on a bar stool in Cheers and Norm had just dropped by. Classic.

Luckily for me, that burst of energy was the most intense activity of the day. Sure, we hiked about 10 km round-trip to a castle, but it was a gentle climb marked only by a few hundred stairs – way shorter than the typical day-off treks or tower climbs I’m dragged upon. Sadly though, when we reached the Burg Eltz castle it looked like this:

Apparently several of its many roofs need repair and this is the year to get that done. Oh well, it was a lovely little stroll nonetheless.

In retrospect, I’m not sure why I got off so easy today. Maybe it was just dumb luck that the castle wasn’t perched atop a pointy Alp. Or maybe someone besides me is actually a bit tuckered after nearly 6 weeks of uninterrupted cycling and hiking. Hard to say, but I’ll take this pleasant “day off the bikes” and store it in the memory bank for future reference.