Not really a Ring trip, but as Birgit & I were in Cologne for a Carnival event on the Saturday night, and the Ring is less than an hour away, we thought it would be rude not to pop in while we were in the neighbourhood - even if all we'd be able to do is have a quick wander on the snowy track.
The Carnival event was very German and very impressive:
Our hosts gave us carnival 'medals' to commemorate our participation:
The hats are traditional carnival wear too!
The quality of the medal gives you an idea of how seriously the Germans take this carnival business:
Birgit would have a reasonably long drive back, and her company Merc was insured for any driver so long as she is in the car, so I drove to and from the Ring.
The Merc is an automatic and a diesel to boot, so you couldn't really have a greater contrast in driving experience to the 968. But it's actually enjoyable in its own way: it eats autobahn miles for breakfast, and even on back roads you glide along very pleasantly. Where the 968 encourages you to put your foot down and chuck the car around, the Merc just suggests you sit back and enjoy the view. When you arrive at your destination, you don't feel like you've done any work at all.
We let the GPS sort out a route, and with one moment of confusion where we missed a turning, we ended up on a very scenic road:
We came in on the road past Brunnchen, so stopped off for a look. Navigating the car-park was, um, interesting. Most of the other cars there were 4x4s, and the Merc reached a point on a slope when it declined to go any further, so I had to reverse into even deeper snow and hope it would get out again. Fortunately it did.
There were quite a few people walking round the snow-covered track, as well as some attempted sledging. Unfortunately the snow was a bit soft and deep for sledging so we watched people pull their sledges up Eschbach and then pull them back down again.
Brunnchen looks very wide when you can't tell the track from the grass:
I think I've only once before seen the car-park totally empty:
Birgit's Merc had never been to the Ring before so we naturally needed a photo:
We headed up to the Castle restaurant for a late lunch. The castle itself looked very atmospheric in the snow and mist:
There was no question about what lunch had to comprise:
Not quite the view of Nurburg we're used to:
It seemed from the receipt that they gave the Merc a drink too:
And then it was time to head back to the airport for my flight home. I attempted to pick up ratecards for all the different car-hire companies there, but half of them didn't have a printed ratecard, saying that prices changed all the time. Still, there were five companies there, so if you ever need a hire car at short notice, you can find them between terminals 1 and 2 at Koln-Bonn airport.
Now I'm just off to JW's site to find out if it's Easter yet.
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