We decided for our first wedding anniversary which was last week that we would hold off and celebrate it while staying at the Berg Reichenstein.

We booked in for 7:30pm and went down to the bar about 7pm for a drink before dinner.

We ordered a couple of bubbles and they were quite now  (tide looked a bit out)

At 7:30pm they asked us to go into the dining room and we asked if there was anyone else eating, and the lady said they had one other booking so rather cold atmosphere compared to the last dining which was in Cochem where it was loud and excited.

We did not order from the multi course menu as the other options looked good.

Chris had

• Salad with Quail and Quail Eggs with Mango - 14 Euro
• Main was a Pork Chop (Pork Cutlet) with a nice jus, cabbage, red onions and potatoes - 25 Euro

Pam had

• White Asparagus Soup with Croutons and Bacon - 9 Euro
• Brown Trout with Gnocchi - 22 Euro

First come a bread course with some very nice warm crusty bread (Germany seems to have great bread) with butter and a piped creme fraiche with paprika.

We then received a little dish which was lovely - can't quite remember what it was exactly but it had croutons and bacon and a potato texture.

Next up was the actual starters - first up Pam's Asparagus Soup

and my Quail dish

YUM

Next up was the main courses - Pam's was the brown trout

and mine was a pork cutlet.

This was the best pork cutlet I have ever had and my quail dish was stunning.

Pam was also very happy with her dish as well.

We were quite full after these two courses so we did not eat desert but they the came out with a little box of two chocolates which were also stunning.

We had a couple of glasses of bubbles each and with the meal the bill was 106 Euro.

Very very good food......

We arrived at the castle shortly after 2pm after stopping off at a town called Bacharach. The town was pretty deserted and most shops closed. We found out later there was just not enough people so they just don't open. 

We checked in and were shown or room which looked nice but was small. We looked at our booking.com sheet which said it had a balcony and also a bath. We were told only the suites had a balcony and baths.

The lady said she would check if you can change....... 15 minutes later we are shown a far better room (a suite - same price) which has 2 windows and a bath but no balcony. 

But it also has a full on river view. Ah nice...

Breakfast was 12 euro 50 cents each and we decided to pay the money even though it is quite a bit but there was a lot of food there.

We also had some water, Orange Juice and a couple of espresso's each,

We woke up early and needed to get some food in for the day ahead. It was very cold - 0 degrees with a strong wind around so I walked to the bread shop and bought a bread stick and a couple of pastries.

We ate them up and then cleaned up the little apartment which only took a few minutes.

We had arranged a CAB to take us to the train station - we could have walked but with 2 bags each and a very cold morning the taxi was worth the 6 euro.

Our train (22 euro) arrived on time to take us to Koblenz and it was a nice little journey of about 40 minutes stopping at 14 stations along the way.

Once we arrived at the Koblenz railway station we bought a couple of espresso at 1 euro 30 cents each and then caught another cab to take us to the Avis car rental depot. Avis did not have a depot at the train station and it was about 200 euro cheaper to pick it up away from the train station. The taxi fare was 10 euro and 60 cents.

Once we arrived we had the option of 2 SUVs- not sure why SUVs probably because they were the only automatics available but we did see a Porche which would have been nice (auto as well).

I choose the Ford as it was a little but smaller than the Suzuki and it only had 6000km on the clock.

We got the GPS converted to English and worked out where we were going and headed off.

After dinner I took this photo from the bridge of the Cochem Castle all lit up at night.

We went to a restaurant tonight that is rated at #4 in Cochem called Pizzeria Da Vinci.

Chris had a schnitzel and Pam had the white asparagus.

The meal came to 32 euro and 80 cents for the following:

• 1 Sparkling Water 700ml - 4.90
• 1 Schnitzel - 9.50
• 1 side dish of Broccoli - 2.50
• 1 side of Pepper Sauce - 1.50
• 1 side of onions - 1.50
• 1 Asparagus - 12.90

Along our walk back to the apartment we came across a few wine shops selling their wares. They are small places that only sell their own products so not like a typical wine shop.

Our first one I only took a photo through the door but we tried 3 wines and bought a bottle of Kernel Spatlese 2014 for about 7 euro. The winery was called schlossbergkeller.

Our next shop was closer to the main town and was a lot more commercial in nature with lots of products to sell including lots of liquors and spirits in glass jars. Quite expensive prices as they sell it by the 100ml.

We tried 3 wines and then I asked about their ICE wines which are quite expensive 30-50 euro per 1/2 bottle.

A tasting was 2 euro 50 cents for these wines and it was per little (very little) glass.

Since it was costing 2 and 1/2 euro per glass I said I would like the most expensive one since they cost the same. 

The guy poured it and it was corked - how terrible - the bottle was 1/2 empty and they had been selling tasting and they never tried it.

He opened another bottle and this was good, not corked but he still charged me for the tasting - he should have given it to me for free.

The wine was stunning but I am not going to pay 50 euro for it.

We did buy a cheaper wine at 8 euro 80 cents - 2014 Riesling Grauschiefe - 9%. It was from Walter J Oster - http://www.weingutoster.de/eng/home

We went to the little Information building to find out our options to get to the castle. We found out we can walk - about 20 minutes or take a taxi about 18 euro.

We opted for the 20 minute walk and it was about right - Pam had to stop a couple of times for a rest on the way up but overall she did very well.

The walk took us through a nice little square as can be seen below.

We then continued on from a little map we received from the information shop. 

We were quite lucky as the weather was good at this time of day.

We decided to not go on a tour of the inside of the castle as it is a forced tour with a German guide. You enter and exit as prescribed by the guide which sounded a bit too formal for us so we went to the cafe instead. We grabbed a couple of beers - a dark beer and a pills - the pills was pretty crappy and felt quite watery.

A nice place to sit for a while and ponder the view and thinking this is better than sitting in the office on a Tuesday back home. But then sitting in the office pays for me to be able to have these thoughts.

The castle has an interesting mural on the top of it which you don't see normally.

A pathway to somewhere?

We then we decided to walk back down to the village below and stopped at a couple of wine houses to try their wares and buy a bottle or two.

After breakfast we went to the little wine shop next to the cafe where we bought some Fig Balsamic yesterday and decided to try some more things out.

We ended up buying a little bottle of Riesling Vinegar from http://weingut.goebel-schleyer.com/ and a Riesling bubbly.

The little 200ml bottle cost 5 euro 30 cents, the Riseling bubbly was 9 Euro.

We went to a little cafe and had breakfast - Pam had waffles and Chris had a Ham and Cheese roll.

The waffles were 4 euro 90 cents and the Ham & Cheese roll was 5 euro 90 cents and a couple of coffees each at 1 euro 90 each.