It’s a round a two hour drive to Cochem and we arrive at 11:20 – it’s roasting hot, over 30 degrees. We make our first stop at a supermarket type place to get some basic provisions for the flat and I buy a pair of sandals – the Birkenstocks I got recently don’t seem to fit me despite apparently being my size – this is somewhat typical of many things which happen to me (I think anyway...)
After an initial look round the town we head up to the overlooking castle which has an interesting history and you can find out more here : www.burg-cochem.de
The tour of the castle was great, secret passages, tales of monks getting drunk on five litres of wine each everyday (the nuns were only allowed three) etc etc.
The castle was originally built around the year 1,000. 300 years later it was pawned (along with Cochem itself and another 50 or so nearby villages) to the Archbishops of Trier by its owner, King Adolf of Nassau, to pay for his coronation as German Emperor. Neither he nor his descendants could ever afford to get it back.
Then, when Louis XIV’s troops invaded the Rhine and Moselle in 1688 the town was completely occupied and the castle was set alight and blown up on May 19th of 1689.
The castle remained in ruins until 1868, when a Berlin businessman, Louis Ravené, bought the ruins and the surrounding land and began rebuilding it in the then popular Neo-Gothic architectural style.
It was seized by the Nazis from his family in 1942 and then was owned by the state after the war. In 1978 the castle was bought back by the town of Cochem.
After the tour we had lunch on the castle terrace overlooking the town before leaving Cochem and heading down-river to Traben-Trarbach, a little town we stayed in two years ago. We took a break there and enjoyed a drink at the Alte Zunftscheune, a restaurant we’d been to on our previous visit.
We arrived at Bernkastel just before 4 and found the flat. The owner, a lawyer, owned the entire building, letting out a restaurant below the flat. It was brilliant with a huge front room with a breathtaking view over the river, and a pleasantly cool back bedroom. We were introduced to Thiero the dog who lived in the back garden, which we were free to use as we pleased (the garden not the dog...).
We couldn’t have hoped for a better place.
After unpacking, we went out for a wander around the town – we’d discovered it last time on a boat trip from Traben-Trarbach. We stopped off in the main square with its 600 year old statue and fountain and enjoyed a drink at the Rathaus (Town Hall). It was 32 degrees.
We went back to the flat and had the wine and water we’d bought earlier at Cochem then went round the corner to an Indian Restaurant for dinner. The conversation of our four American co-diners was intriguing but I still can’t work out what they were doing in Germany. Three girls, two of whom looked like extras from Happy Days while the third was a dead ringer for the asian girl in Charlie’s Angels, and a guy who looked like he might have been in the army..
Anyway, the food was great and afterwards we walked down to the riverbank and bought some ice-cream.
On the way back into the flat, I noticed a bouncer at the door to the basement of our building.
I didn’t think anything more of it and we went upstairs and watched the end of a game in the FIFA Confederations Cup – all the winners of the various championships plus Germany (hosts of the next World Cup) and Brazil (World Champions) – there’s probably nothing about it in the UK because England aren’t involved...
On switching off the TV we noticed thumping music. As the night wore on, it got louder and louder until it got to the stage where we could hear every note the Crazy Frog was singing...
At 2:30 I went down to discover there was indeed a club in the basement. The bouncer told me it was open till 5 in the morning.
At 5:15, the thumping finally stopped. I’d had no sleep...
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