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On Saturday, April 22, 2023, Mowgli and I took a day trip to Koblenz, which is a bit south of Bonn on by the confluence of the Rhine river and the Moselle (Mosel) river.

It has an Old Town (like pretty much every town in Europe), a Deutsche Bahn train museum, that is volunteer run and gets the cast-offs from DB, including many old trains that are still functional. The Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is a 19th century fortress (on the site of previous fortresses as its location at the top of a hill by two major rivers made it a rather strategic location throughout the millennia), on the east side of the Rhine river, reachable by a cable car on the west bank of the Rhine, as well as roads on the east side. Because it was a weekend, and still colder out, none of the buildings were open, but the outside was open for people to walk around and explore.

After that we took a cab down to the Electoral Palace of Koblenz (Kurfürstliches Schloss) which used to be for the Archbishop and now houses government offices. It was getting late in the day, so there was some nice "golden hour" light shining on the palace.

I will point out that none of these activities included lunch, which was the second day in a row. (I did have a sizable breakfast while waiting for my laundry first thing in the morning. Sadly, no photos of either activity.) After dinner, we took the train back to Bonn.


001a-DSC_7005-header: The Trip to Koblenz and its Old Town 001a-DSC_7005-headertext:

Finding the route from the downtown central train station was a little tricky as there was no direct route. We had to take a local city train/tram that went across the Rhine to a town called Beuel, which is effectively a suburb of Bonn and then took a bigger train to Koblenz.

We got off the train and took a bus downtown to the Old Town. There was a central square with a statue of someone I only recently looked up, the town hall (Rathaus...make whatever jokes are appropriate about rats and wrath being housed there). Outside of that area is a more modern, commercial area with lots of shopping and such. I only took pictures of the older areas—the newer areas were not as photogenic. 001a-DSC_7005: Looking south at the Rhine heading east to Beuel, a suburb of Bonn, to catch a direct train to Koblenz. 001b-DSC_7006: The local train has an accordion middle, so it can make sharp turns on city streets. 001c-DSC_7007: Arriving at Beuel on the east side of the Rhine. 002-DSC_7011: Looking south, crossing the Rhine again, to get to the west side and Koblenz. 003-Koblenz_statue_Panorama: A Bronze statue of Johannes Peter Müller, who made discoveries about anatomy and more in the 1800, made by Joseph Uphues in 1899. 004-DSC_7017: The Koblenz Rathaus (town hall, government offices). 005-DSC_7018: Entrance to the Citykirche am Jesuitenplatz (city church) in the old town. 006-koblenz_rathaus_Panorama: A composite of a few pictures of the bells on the side of the building. 007-koblenz1_Panorama: A composite of the roof windows on the Rathaus. No way to crop it nicely. 008-DSC_7022: Above the entrace to the church. 009-DSC_7026: One of the twin spires of the Church of Our Lady is visible in the distance. 010-DSC_7027: The sign in the window says "Koblenz Autofrei!" (Car-free Koblenz). 011-DSC_7028-header: Deutsche Bahn (DB) Train Museum 011-DSC_7028-headertext:

Next up was a trip to the Deutsche Bahn train museum. It was elsewhere in town which would have taken quite a while to walk. We looked for a cab but there were none to be found. Well, there was one across a major road, but someone else was using it. So we eventually found a bus that dropped us off at the DB Museum stop. It was in the middle of fucking industrial park nowhere. After wandering around to no avail for a while, we went into some car lot (sales, repair, Mafia front, ???) and Mowgli asked where the museum was, and the answer was basically make 3 right turns as it was on the opposite side of the block, obscured by the fences and stuff by us.

We found it. They have a number of trains inside a building as well as a bunch outside in a yard. Many of the trains had stairs by the engine cab, to let people see them. And a few passenger cars were open to see how people traveled in some of the different eras. At one point, while looking in an engine cab, a volunteer came in and was talking to us about stuff. In German. I could make out a few things like how that train had both a diesel and a gasoline engine, but mostly Mowgli had to translate. I got the feeling he knew some English but probably not that comfortable with it. But he took down a chain rope and let us go, individually, since it was a cramped space, into the front where the actual engine was. That was neat. He also had explained about how some of the seats in the passenger car had been restored, while some were original. I think I asked something about ashtrays, since I didn't see any and figured 1960-era trains in Europe must have had ashtrays by every seat. I think they were on the front of the armrest instead of the top.

They have a big turntable out in the rail yard. Beyond that are the rain lines for the Koblenz station (which is pretty big). There are no fences, just a sign saying to be careful. It was a neat place, though no food to be had (I didn't want to get a candy bar at the gift shop). 011-DSC_7028: A control for switching tracks coming in and out of a station. 012-train_cab_Panorama: Composite picture of the cab of an old train engine. 013-DSC_7041: Switches/circut breaks in an engine cab. Note "Funk" (radio). 014-DSC_7042: The view from the engine cab. 015-train_engine_Panorama: The diesel engine in front of the cab. 016-DSC_7048: The gas engine behind the cab (unique to this engine). 017-DSC_7051: I hung off the front of a cab to get the right height between the two trains. 018-DSC_7052: An old Trans-Europe Express train. 019-DSC_7054: Nazi-era train with covered swastika (Nazi iconography is generally illegal). 020-DSC_7057: Mowgli taking a picture of me taking a picture of Mowgli taking a … 021-DSC_7059: People could ride a small "garden train" around the area, operated by a kid. 022-db-turntable-Panorama: A panoramic picture of the functional turntable with trains on the spokes coming off of it. 023-db-turntable1-Panorama: It's pretty deep, but it has to support a lot of weight. 024-DSC_7072: The actual live rail yard in Koblenz. A sign does warn to stay off the tracks. 025-DSC_7074: Back in the old days... B&W picture of a rusted truck from an engine. 026-DSC_7076: A post-production sepia-tone image of the rusted components on a train engine. 027-DSC_7077: A little tunne to do maintenance underneath a train. I didn't want to crawl. 028-DSC_7081-header: Cable Car Across the Rhine and Up to the Fortress 028-DSC_7081-headertext:

After the DB Museum, we took a cab (phoned one, as there was a big-ass sign for one right by the bus stop) back downtown right by the Rhine river. The cab driver was friendly and talking to Mowgli about how things have changed and such. (The kids these days, you know?) It was in German so I could only get the general flow of the conversation, not details though Mowgli filled in a few blanks later. While there are various ways to get to the next stop, the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, the cable cars provide a very scenic way to do it.

And the trip is quite impressive. Because it was still March and a cooler, windy, cloudy day, in mid-afternoon, not that many people were going up to fortress. We had a car to ourselves, so I had both cameras out: the phone for wide shots and the Nikon with a telephoto lens. I bounced around all sides of the car taking pictures. The view over the Rhine and up the hillside was really nice. 028-DSC_7081: The cable car station on the west side of the Rhine River. 029-DSC_7079: The cable cars heading over the river. 030-DSC_7080: Cable cars heading towards the Fortress. 031-IMG_20230325_114858112: Just after entering the cable car at the station. 032-IMG_20230325_114903587_HDR: Starting to go up then across the river. 033-IMG_20230325_114908180: Passing the tower with the Rhine River just ahead. 034-IMG_20230325_114914208: Weeee!!!! 035-IMG_20230325_114918558_HDR: Looking back at the station by the river. 036-IMG_20230325_114922170: Passing people heading the other direction. 037-IMG_20230325_114948532_HDR: Looking south at the Rhine river. 038-IMG_20230325_115008971_HDR: Crossing the Rhine river towards the fortress. 039-fortress_Panorama5: The Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. 040-fortress_Panorama4: The Ehrenbreitstein Fortress from a cable car. 041-IMG_20230325_115134706_HDR: The fortress as we cross onto the east side of the river. 042-IMG_20230325_115137448_HDR: Looks like a Super Happy Fun Slide out of the fortress (with a sudden stop). 043-IMG_20230325_115141141: Train tracks, road, then fortress on a hill. 044-IMG_20230325_115150576_HDR: Looking south a Koblenz on the east side of the Rhine river. 045-DSC_7086: A bonus mini-castle (or fancy old house)? 046-DSC_7087: Some sort of...guard building for the fortress maybe? 047-IMG_20230325_115311298_HDR: Looking at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers from a cable car. 048-IMG_20230325_115314733: Looking north of the confluence of the two rivers from a cable car. 049-DSC_7088: Building in the fortress (nice little balcony). 050-DSC_7089: 051-DSC_7090: The cable car ride to the fortress. I like this picture. 052-DSC_7093: At the bottom of the hill of the fortress. 053-DSC_7094: An old house near the fortress (I don't know). 054-DSC_7097: Now, where are we going? Oh yeah, Ehrenbreitstein Festung... 055-DSC_7099: Where we're heading... 056-DSC_7103: The cable car crossing the Rhine. 057-DSC_7104: Cable cars over the Rhine. 058-DSC_7105: Koblenz on the east side of the Rhine. 059-DSC_7106: Koblenz on the east side of the Rhine. 060-DSC_7107: 061-DSC_7108: 064-DSC_7112: Approaching the top, looking back down to the starting point. 065-IMG_20230325_115328964_HDR: The station is in sight. 066-IMG_20230325_115335174_HDR: About to reach the outer wall of the fortress. 067-IMG_20230325_115344630: At the edge of the fortress. 067a-DSC_7110: The fortress lower cortyard within the outer wall. 067b-DSC_7111: Passing the lower courtyard. 068-IMG_20230325_115342489: Approaching the station. 069-DSC_7096: Entering the station. 070-IMG_20230325_115437390: Right after exiting the cable car. 071-IMG_20230325_115516794_HDR-header: The Koblenz Fortress 071-IMG_20230325_115516794_HDR-headertext:

The current Koblenz Fortress (Ehrenbreitstein Fortress) was completed in 1828. It is a UNESCO World Herritage Site since 2002.

The hill was originally settled in the 4th millennium BC and the fortifications were built in the 10th/9th centery BC. It was a Roman fortification in the 8th/9th centuries. A castle was built there around 1000 and had been extended over the next several centuries. The castle was turned into a fortress in the 16th century and was occupied by the French several times in the next 2 centuries. When the French withdrew from it by a treaty but blew it up in 1801 to prevent giving a fully functional fortress back to the Germans. It was then rebuilt from 1817 to 1828, with France paying 15 million francs towards it by a peace treaty and survied WWII.

The fortress has several museums, restaurants, and has concerts and plays outside.

And nothing there was open when we were there. So we walked around the grounds and took pictures on the overlook. No lunch was to be had. It was also really windy. 071-IMG_20230325_115516794_HDR: Map of the fortress grounds. 072-DSC_7113: <KVACK! KVACK> (German ducks!) 073-fortress_Panorama: The outer wall of the fortress. 074-DSC_7119: Mowgli taking pictures. 075-DSC_7118: Mowgli pondering if the sign applies to him… 076-IMG_20230325_120803246: Shitty panoramic photo of the upper courtyard. 077-IMG_20230325_121001000_HDR: Upper courtyard of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. 078-IMG_20230325_121008362: Upper courtyard of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. 079-fortress_Panorama1: Outer wallof the fortress (maybe?). 080-IMG_20230325_121118740: Upper courtyard passage in the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. 081-IMG_20230325_121205033: Frank finds the secret of the Fortress! (It's just a light on the floor.) 082-DSC_7123: Crossing to the lower courtyard (maybe?). 083-fortress_Panorama3: A building in the fortress. 084-IMG_20230325_121324348: A model of the layout of the fortress. 085-IMG_20230325_121332645_HDR: Entrance to the tunnels at the fortress. 086-DSC_7128: A close-up of the fortress stonework. 087-DSC_7129: A close-up of the fortress stonework. 088-IMG_20230325_121929561_HDR: German Eck from the overlook. 089-IMG_20230325_121949758: Looking north of the confluence from the overlook. 090-IMG_20230325_122011519: Looking south down the Rhine from the overlook. 091-DSC_7130: Not sure whose heraldic eagle this is but he's got a thumb!

Updated answer: Addendum (July 2023): Amazingly, this is the second time ever that an unknown person on the Internet has sent me an email answering my question! (The other was in 2005 about my 2002 trip to Peru.) Felix writes:

It's the eagle of the Kingdom of Prussia, the state that existed from 1701-1918 until Monarchy was abolished and Prussia was converted into a Free State of the 2nd German (then democratic, constituational federal republic) Empire.

And Felix's answer is supported by the current wiki page on Prussia. Yay! 093-DSC_7133-header: View of the Rhine River from the Fortress 093-DSC_7133-headertext:

The fortress is 118 meters (387 feet) above the Rhine River. A balcony with an overlook (and a telescope) has a great view of the Rhine River, the Mosel River and the confluence of the two rivers at the German Eck, and Koblenz itself.

At the confluence, the German Corner (Deutsches Eck), sits a statue of William I, the first German Emperor, mounted on a horse. The original status was destroyed in WWII but a replica was created in 1993.

At the time it was cloudy, gray, and windy, and late in the afternoon, so facing the west back, I was taking pictures into the sun. That tended to make it harder to meter and wash out a lot of the colors. 093-DSC_7133: Silhouette of the monument and Rhine river overlook at the fortress. 094-IMG_20230325_122242661_HDR: German Eck overlook with colorful locks (and my finger in the corner). 095-DSC_7136: Mowgli by The Tree of Wonderment overlooking the Rhine river. 096-DSC_7137: Monument by the Rhine river overlook at the fortress. 097-DSC_7138: 1993 Replica of original 1897 statue of William I, 1st German Emperor. 098-DSC_7139: Deutsches Eck (German corner) at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. 099-IMG_20230325_122502595_HDR: Confluence of the Mosel and Rhine (German Eck) from the fortress overlook. 100-DSC_7140: The overlook telescope with the Rhine in the background. I like this one too. 101-DSC_7142: A boat launching ramp on the Moselle River. 102-DSC_7147: Soccer fields just north of the confluence on the Rhine. 103-DSC_7148: Shooting into the sun, a darker version of the confluence (German Corner). 104-barge_Panorama: A barge on the Rhine. Not perfect stitching, but close enough. 105-DSC_7150: Front of a barge on the Rhine river. 106-DSC_7152: Back of a barge on the Rhine river. 107-DSC_7154: A birdhouse in the woods. I like the lighting. 108-DSC_7156: The Rhine Viewing Platform (didn't know it until now). Looks like it was open, but it was kind of cold and windy on the ground and I was ready to move on. 109-DSC_7158: I assume the green bushy parts are nests and not truffula tree tufts. 110-IMG_20230325_131225490_HDR-header: The Electoral Palace of Koblenz 110-IMG_20230325_131225490_HDR-headertext:

The Electroal Palace (Kurfürstliches Schloss) was commissioned by and the residence of the Archbishop and Elector of Triel, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, built int eh late 18th century. In the 19th century, it was the official residence of the Prussian Crown Prince, who later became Emperor Wilhelm I, while he was the military governor of the area. It is now used for various federal government offices. It has been a Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.

During WWII, in 1944, the palace complex was bombed and only a shell remained. It was reconstructed from the original plans in 1950-51.

Because it was getting late, and it's a government building, we remained outside and I took pictures only from the front. 110-IMG_20230325_131225490_HDR: A wide angle of the place. Interestingly, HDR looks OK until you zoom in, then it looks a bit weird and muddy. 111-DSC_7162: The ionic columns on the palace. 112-palace_column_Panorama: A vertical panoramic picture of the ionic column on the palace. 113-DSC_7168: The wrought ironwork on the balcony above the central entrance. 114-DSC_7169: The top of a column. 115-DSC_7170: The balcony above the columns, with the blue evening sky above it. 116-DSC_7176: The top of the palace (plus a jet contrail by the cloud). 117-DSC_7179: The wrought iron around a lamp on the balcony. 118-DSC_7180: The bottom of the balcony. 119-electoral_palace_Panorama: The archways of the palace. 120-DSC_7181: The beginning of the sunset. 121-DSC_7182: The direction where the late night light doesn't help... 122-DSC_7185: A plane in one corner and crescent moon in the other. 123-DSC_7177: MOOOOOON! 124-fortress_Panorama2-header: Waiting for the Night Train to Bonn 124-fortress_Panorama2-headertext:

After dinner in Old Town at a Thai restaurant, we walked to the train station. I bought some chocolate covered cherry candy at a newstand in the station and was later horrified to find it had a highly alcoholic goo inside (which tasted terrible to me). From the platform at the station, we had a good view of the fortress which was illuminated by flood lights. I took a few pictures of it. A crescent moon was out too. It was hard to get the exposure setting correct for both of them, so I cheated and took two pictures and combined them in Photoshop (manually). The trip back to Bonn was uneventful. 124-fortress_Panorama2: Two shot composite of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress at night. 125-DSC_7190: Another view of the fortress. 126-DSC_7191: A train at the station going somewhere else. 127-castle+moon: The crescent moon over the fortress (2 shot composite to manage the exposures). 128-DSC_7196: MOOOOOON! 129-DSC_7197: The train back to Bonn/Beul sits at the station biding its time. Bottom: