Today's route finally took us across the the east side of the Rhine in order to bypass the urban area of Bonn. An uneventful but enjoyable ride before the heat of the day, mostly along the riverside. We've moved beyond the most picturesque part of the Rhine into the more densely settled and more industrial north. Still pleasant, though. At one point when we stopped to double check our route an aggressively helpful German man insisted that we continue along the river when our directions clearly indicated we needed to turn inland. Following our sister-in-law Sarah's dictum "Just say yes", we thanked him for his help and took a water break until he was out of sight, then continued on our correct way.
We stopped in a suburb of Cologne; could have continued to the city center but it would have been an extra hour of riding, and we aren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Our hotel is fine except no A/C and no fans. i.e., not so fine. We survived, and had a good dinner in a Biergarten.
The general scene all along the Rhine has been people getting out and enjoying themselves. Each town has a promenade along the river and a dock for the many small tour boats. There are many campgrounds with people in small travel trailers seemingly installed for the summer. Lots of cafes and gelato. Eating out means eating outdoors.
There is much more marine traffic on the Rhine than on the Danube. Big motorized barges carrying bulk cargo or sometimes oil are almost always in sight. They are mostly manned by families. On one we saw an above-ground pool on the after deck. There seems to be a protocol that sometimes the ships pass starboard-to-starboard; I haven't figured it out. The river is currently low, but even so it flows fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment