Vikki: We are now in the heart of Rhineland and grape country, in another small village called Alsbach, about 20km from Koblenz. The village and other immediate surrounding ones are all about pottery and our apartment has some of the local crafts on display and for sale.
Koblenz is the point where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers join, with grapes vines and local vineyards dotted all along the banks.
Our drive here was a wet one, we had rain all the way and at times it was torrential and we did a bit of water plaining. Certainly weren't able to make use of the Autobahn as we would have liked, nor see fast cars zooming past much to the kids disappointment. Nevertheless we arrived safely and I'm glad to have that drive behind me.
Today we headed into Koblenz, to once again wander and check out the local sites. It was much bigger than I had expected with lots of shops and malls and quite modern. The city is known as the city of flowers and certainly there were many pretty perennial and flower beds throughout. We checked out the area known as Deutsches Eck (German Corner) where the rivers meet, and then up to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The kids got to check out another couple of local play areas on the way, one a water play area which was very cool, and just the sort of thing that would be great in Wellington. I'm looking forward to driving along the rivers to see the vineyards and small towns over the next few days.

Harley: Today we visited the Deutsches Eck, which is where the Rhine River and the Mosel River merge. We walked up 100 steps to get to the top of the Kaiser Wilhelm I monument which sits on the Eck. Next we went on a gondola to the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein. While we were there we spotted a metal coin souvenir machine so we cranked it round and a metal coin came out for free (it's meant to cost 1 Euro). We did that three times and got 3 coins so we gave one to another boy and in return he gave us a white chocolate Twix bar. We think the machine was broken. Then we wandered around the fortress and then went to a cool playground.