Day 6 - September 17 - Koblentz-

By Ellen Outten


I woke early and left the room before Beth woke up.  Breakfast at 7 am was followed by an 8:15 departure from the boat.

Our bus took us about 20 minutes south to Koblentz.  We had a wonderful guide, Myra, who walked with us.  Since today is Sunday, the shops didn't open until 1 pm but some of the cafe's were.  

On our walk we had stops at the German square where we saw a few wall sections of the Berlin wall that was torn down


How do like how I framed the church in between the sections

Much of Kblentz was destroyed during WWII so there's little 'old' city left with most of the buildings being built after the war through the 1960's.

Our guide spent quite a long time at various locations discussing the French German war as well as WWI and WWII.

The weather was perfect, only getting really warm as we ended our tour.  

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Monument at the German corner where the Moselle river meets the Rhine.  

The confluence of the rivers
Cable car that transports you to the Fortress

Museum Ludwig houses a collection of modern art and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol.

Notice the cross on the wall, the 4dark triangular shapes. Part of the basilica st. Kastor

Building was built in the 1200'sfir the Knights Templar. One of the few to survive WWII bombing 

César Baldaccini (1921-1998) was a French object artist and sculptor


Our guide kept referring to the 'naughty Schangels' and we finally got the remainder of the story.  During Koblenz's 20-year affiliation (1794–1814) with France, the French soldiers invited the German women into their tents.  Nine months later there was a population explosion.  The Germans looked down on them, the French wanted no parts of them, but they were all raised proudly by their German mothers.  
The most common name at the time was Hans or Johann, which corresponds to the French Jean. However, the people of Koblenz had difficulty pronouncing Jean in French, and in the dialect of the people of Koblenz it became Schang which eventually became Schangel.
Their mothers told the children, when they were ridiculed by others to Spit on Them. They then became Naughty Schangels.  It's lost it's negative connotation since most of the population has affiliations with their parents and grandparents being, at one time, a Naughty Schangel.

Our guide even sang us a song about the naughty Schangels.

Statute of the Naughty Schangel spitting 


We were lucky to be able to enter a church, the St. Kastor basilica as services hadn't started yet. Our guide proved to have a lovely voice as she sang to us.








We were given some free time, about an hour. With the shops closed, a group of us stopped for a coffee before walking back to the bus and return to the ship.

Since lunch we have been sailing the Rhine and our program director has been narrating information about the scenery we pass which includes MANY castles.









We also passed many vineyards and it's amazing that they can pick them




Now it's time for a coffee demonstration.with alcohol.  The chef is making a specialty drink.

Later, Beth and I will disembark for dinner in Rudesheim. Dinner was good, typical German food.  Pork, potatoes and some music to have fun with.






From our stateroom, one of the Rhine's many castles.




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