Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Paris to Swiss Alps: Bernkastel (3/28/2017)

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 (continued)
Yep, it's still Tuesday!
Arriving in Bernkastel (KSS)
We arrived in Bernkastel at about 17:30, and there was an optional excursion of a walking tour and wine tasting, for which we did not opt. We did our own walking tour and meant to have a beer tasting for Kent.
These garage doors open right onto the street!
Hotel zur Post/Post Hotel (1827) on Gestade
Once again, a landmark is under renovation
(the Doctorbrunnen/Doctor Fountain)
Tamiko with the severely pruned plane trees (KSS)
St Michael slaying Satan
Pfarrkirche St Michael/St Michael Parish Church
(14C Gothic); its tower was once
part of the town fortifications
Kent in Karlsbaderplatz with the
Karlsbaderbrunnen/Karlsbad Fountain (>1990)
by Czech Jan Kotek from the town's sister city
of Karlovy Vary, which is Karlsbad in German
Karlsbad Fountain detail, with
a curving forked snake tongue
Kent with markings of floods over the centuries
Moselstrasse with a grapevine protected by the
green pipe on the left, rising up and over the street
A wrought-iron sign and half-timbered houses
More wrought-iron signs
A doorway; I don't think it is really a
Schatzkammer/Treasure chamber
Bärenbrunnen/Bear Fountain (1968) by
Johannes Scherl, Bernkastel gets part of
its name from the word for bear
The Bear Fountain spout is the head
of some strange creature!
Alte Römerstrasse/Old Roman Street
Marktplatz/Market Square with 16-17C
half-timbered houses with decorated gables
Detail of the decoration on the façade
St Michaelsbrunnen/St Michael Fountain (1606,
statue replaced post-WWII, by Hermann Paul Simon),
is backed by the Rathaus/Town Hall (1608, in
German late-Renaissance style) on the left
On one corner of the town hall are
the pillory handcuffs
Kent can't even get his hands through the cuffs!
But he enjoyed seeing Tamiko in cuffs! (KSS)
Spitzhäuschen/"pointed little house" (1416)
is probably the most famous building in town
Doorway on Karlstrasse, with the
ubiquitous grapes
We started hiking up through the vineyards. The Moselle River valley is famous for its vineyards, known for the best Riesling wines.
Apparently due to the steepness of the
vineyards, the vines are attached to vertical
poles rather than strung horizontally,
to minimize shadowing
As we neared the top of the hill, we found a picnicking group
We still had to climb up to the Burgruine Landshut/Landshut Castle ruins,
(built 1277, burned 1692), which is 750 m/2,460 feet above
the town, and promised to have a biergarten (KSS)
View of Bernkastel on the right and Kues on the left
Bernkastel through a castle window
The Viking Hild below us (KSS)
Vineyard gate over the Moselle River
Chapel above a zigzag path of Stations of the Cross
The first Station of the Cross (KSS)
After a brief rain shower, a rainbow over the castle ruins
We didn't make it over the bridge to the town of Kues; or the
other part of Bernkastel-Kues, since they had merged in 1905
Look who's here again!
Each evening there is a so-called Port Talk to review what was to happen the next day.
Tonight's dinner was The Taste of Germany event, with Michael Fischer on the accordion and a woman playing the barrel organ as they sang to entertain us during the meal of German specialties.

Next: Senheim Wine Tasting.

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