Hiking the Apolloweg

As Magda's school year is winding down and we had a nice sunny but cool day yesterday, we decided to head out for a hike. We decided on the Apolloweg near Valwig. Valwig is a wine village on the Moselle just a couple of kilometers up river from Magda's old stamping ground, Cochem. The Apolloweg is a relatively short loop trail, about 7.5 km. You can make an 11 km hike by cutting off the loop after about 5.5 km and taking a side trail to Cochem and walking back to Valwig on the bike trail along the Moselle. Which is what we did.

Apollo Butterfly

The Apolloweg attracts many people this time of year due primarily to the butterflies that can be found along the way. We saw several on this trip including Painted Ladies (Europe's version of the Monarch), a Brimstone (so we think, a neon yellow butterfly), as well as assorted whites and yellows. We also saw a couple of butterflies that are the main reason that the Apolloweg has its name, Apollo butterfly. The Apollo inhabits steeps banks of the Moselle above Valwig and can be seen this time of year. It is a fairly large butterfly, mostly white with some black highlights and four red dots. It has rather restrictive dietary requirements and so can only inhabits only certain areas in central Europe. One guide book called it one of the most beautiful butterflies in Europe and noted that in some areas it has become so rare that collecting is now prohibited.

Last Station of the Cross

Of course this is not the only reason to hike here. It is a very pretty trail over the Moselle with wonderful overlooks and several interesting sights along the way. It begins, as almost all Moselle hikes do, with a climb. This time for about 2 km. Along the way, you pass the stations of the cross. This is a series of stone reliefs along the trail depicting the Passion of Jesus. You find this often on a trail leading out of a village along the Moselle. I guess that the churches in the villages want to remind you that you aren't the only one who has suffered, as you are trudging your way up the hill. The interesting thing about this stations of the cross is that the last station is a small chapel that sits atop an earlier Romano Celtic shrine to Apollo. The shrine was used by the Celts to determine the beginning of summer based on where on the horizon the sun appeared to rise.

Collected Steinpilz

Not long after reaching the top of the climb. we noticed a large beige mushroom. On closer inspection it was in fact a Steinpilz (boletus), one of the favorite edible mushrooms that are found here. This one was a little past its prime, but certainly a reason to keep an eye out for more. A few steps later, we found some younger ones. We filled my backpack with about 2 kg of them. It can be Steinpilze, wild raspberries, abandoned fruit trees, walnuts or a recently harvested potato field that can be gleaned, the opportunity to fill a backpack with some sort of edible prize is one of those nice surprises that you can have on a hike in Germany, even if it does mean carrying around a much heavier pack

Chior of St. Maria and Maria Magdalena

Not long afterwards we passed through Valvigerberg where the church of St. Maria and Maria Magdalena. In the 14th and 15th century, this church attracted pilgrims due initially to a picture that was suppose to produce miracles and later due to a papal letter that forgave the sins of anyone making a pilgrimage there. At its height, the church was welcoming 2000 visitors a day.

Hiking through the vineyards

After Valwigerberg, the trail passes initially through woods and then through the vineyards on the way to Cochem. In this case, I do mean literally through the vineyards. We had grape vines on both sides of the trail as we walked along. The vines cultivated in the traditional Moselle style, attached to stakes 1 meter apart. It's not often that you have trails that close to the vines.

We stopped for a drink in Cochem at a hotel directly across from the 19th century castle that looms over the city. Then covered the last 3 km back to the car in Valwig by walking along the river. Once back in Koblenz, the mushrooms were cleaned. Some were used for dinner, the rest were frozen. The ones used for dinner were sauteed with onion and bacon, then added to a Béchamel cream sauce. The sauce was served over pasta. A heavy pack can have its rewards.

Burg Cochem

Frannie's 10 Favorite Things about Germany

Frannie cracking a walnut

Frannie has settled into life in Germany. In point of fact, she has now lived in Germany longer than she lived with us in America. If you could ask her, I think there are some things that she obviously likes about life in Germany. From my observations, these seem to be her top 10:

10. Her kibbles - The kibble we feed Frannie come from a company called BritCare.  Their Lamb and Rice kibbles seem to have the right percentages of fat and protein. Plus there is no corn. Frannie seems to like the taste. We use it for her a normal feeding and from time to time as treats. There is no faster way to get her to come than to rattle her kibble container.


9. Walnuts - We're beginning to wonder if Frannie is part squirrel because somewhere along the way, she has picked up a taste for walnuts. We have have been finding walnuts around the house this winter, and the broken shell of walnuts on Frannie's cushion. Initially, we think she had been secretly taking them from a dish on a low table in the dining room. But now she is more open about it. Whenever we are cracking walnuts, she will come and sit next to us. If a nut were to fall and is not picked up right away. Frannie will casually stroll by the nut and without stopping, dip her head down, grab the nut and trot out of the room. In a couple of minutes, presumably after storing her treasure, she is back in position for the next opportunity.

8. Hundewurst - both of the butchers that we use make a hundewurst, a sausage especially for dogs. I'm not sure I want to know what it is made of, although the same can be said about the meat product in any dog food. In any case, Frannie is a big fan of hundewurst.. Sometimes we give a bit to her in her kibbles. The hundewurst always is eaten first.

7. Butterbrot - Put some good German butter on a piece of German bread, what's not to like. It is one of Frannie's favorite things about Germany as well as mine. Every breakfast, she lays quietly between us waiting for one of us to cut off a small piece of bread for her and butter it. She has a second sense about when we do this. Not sure how she knows we are doing it, some movement on our part gives it away. But Frannie will immediately get into a sit and wait to receive her treat.

6, Fleischwurst - When we go to the butchers, Frannie has to wait out in the car for us. Dogs are allowed in most stores and restaurants, but grocery stores and butchers don't allow dogs. But she doesn't mind, because she knows that her patience will be rewarded.  The butcher will always give us a small piece of fleischwurst for the dog (they do this for young kids that come into the shop as well, trying to get them hooked while they are young). Frannie has learned to expect this treat when we return and enjoys her part of the bounty (as do we).

5. Cheese - I don't think Frannie will every go back to Koger cheese again. Especially the Kroger "Swiss" cheese with the drilled holes. The Emmentaler that she gets here is just so much better. The fake Emmentaler and Gouda from Holland are also pretty good. Her favorite Swiss cheese is Appenzeller. However, "cheese one" for her is French. We're talking the gooier, the riper, the smellier the better. Open up a nice ripe Camembert, and you have Frannie's complete attention.

4. Hikes - When we start to collect our boots and get ready to head out for a hike, Frannie's eyes widen and ears perk. She won't let us out of her sight, prancing from one of us to the other, occasionally touching our hand or leg with her nose to make sure that we are aware she is there. She absolutely does not want to be left behind because hiking is one of here favorite things. When we arrive at the trail, she is ecstatic. She starts by prancing proudly around the parking lot, waiting for us to get our boots on. On the trail, if Magda and I are walking together, she will be out in the lead. If we are separated, Frannie will station herself between the two of us, trying to keep us both in sight. I guess that is the collie in her. If we walk through a field, Frannie will take off  running in a big circle as fast as she can. Then she comes prancing back with a big doggie smile, happy as can be to be out.

3. Ike - Ike is Frannie's boyfriend, or at least Frannie thinks so. Frannie is normally a very quiet dog that doesn't care much for other dogs. However, there is something about this Belgian shepherd that changes her whole attitude. When she see Ike, she runs over to him barking and inviting play. If there is a field, she will start running around the field in circle, hoping Ike will follow. One time she was so involved with her running that she ran right into a light pole. It startled her so, that she forgot about Ike and run back to me looking for protection from the pole. For the next week, she would not walk near one of those light poles. I literally had to walk her or sit her near those poles to make her deal with her fear.

2. Boiled Pig's Ears - When we were doing obedience training with Frannie, the instructor kept insisting that we needed to find some treat that will get Frannie excited. We found some that she found interesting, none brought real excitement. That was was until our housekeeper brought a bag of frozen pig's ears. We boiled them and refroze. Now whenever we bring them out, Frannie will jump on us wanting a piece. It is the only thing that we have come across that will make her jump on us.

1. Magda - there is no doubt what is Frannies favorite thing in Germany. When Magda is at work, she lays around waiting for her return. While she will walk with me, she is hardly excited about it. About an hour before Magda is expected home, Frannie turns into a doggie radar, ears perked for any sound from the stairs. And when she hears the right footsteps on those stairs, she will run back forth between me and the door. If I open the door for her, she scurries down with her tail flying to meet her number one thing in Germany.

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The Next Level in Parking Garages

If you have driven in a German city of any size looking for a parking spot, you might have noticed signs like the one pictured here. The signs not only give directions to nearby parking garages, but also tell you how many places are available at each garage. The idea is to help save time, gas, traffic congestion and pollution by leading drivers directly to a garage with empty parking spaces.

Signs like these are possible because all the parking garages uses a similar system to control entry and exit from the garage. The driver pulls a ticket from an automat, thus initiating the lifting of the gate allowing the driver to enter the garage and then lowers the gate At the same time the automat is able to reduce the number of available parking spaces and transmit that to a computer to update the signs all over town. On returning to the garage to pick-up your car, the ticket is paid by inserting the ticket in an automat typically near the garage entrance. The automat figures the cost and displays it to the driver. Once the driver has paid, the automat marks the ticket as paid and returns the ticket to the driver. The driver then has about 15 minutes to find his/her car and leave the garage. At the garage exit, the ticket is inserted into a third automat. This automat lifts the gate allowing the driver to exit, increases the number of available parking spots, transmitting the change to a computer to update the signs and lowers the gate after the car has exited.

A new parking garage has opened in Koblenz that takes this idea to a new level. At the end of each row, there are two signs. One tell the number of parking spaces available in the row. The second tell the number of avail parking spaces if you continue further in the garage. Now in a nearly full parking garage, this is a pretty neat thing. No more driving down row after row looking for one of the last open spaces, hoping that someone else does find them first. But how is this done? I mean there are no gates on the individual parking spaces.

Well no, but there are sensors over each parking space. Here you can see that the sensor glowing red has detected our car in the parking space it monitors. Meanwhile, the sensor over the empty parking space next to us glows green.

Dinner for One

As I noted in a blog last year, watching the British comedy sketch "Dinner for One" is a New Year's Eve tradition in Germany. The film is broadcast on a number of television stations at different times during the day. Here is a link in case you want to join the annual fun.