Day 12, Visiting the Andernach Geyser
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
This day turned out a little different then we planned. After our breakfast, we
went to the shopping street because Dick needed to buy some things. When we
returned at the hotel, Dick was not feeling well so he went to bed with a few
aspirins and I had to do todays trip, to the geyser and the "Laacher See", on my
own.
Our hotel, the "Gastehaus der food-akademie"
Shopping street in Neuwied
Dick had given me his notes with the location of the geyser but when I came
that place, I was in the middle of some river docks area with cranes loading
ships. This was not where the geyser was.
A big crane, loading a ship
Again, I was happy with my Tomtom. I looked for the tourist information office
and left the docks to go there to ask for information. On my way to the tourist
information office, I saw a sign about the geyser but I did not find the geyser.
I could not, because you can not get there by road but you have to take a boat.
So I had to buy a ticket at the geyser visitors center and had to wait an hour
and a half before the next boat left.
The bike at the geyser visitors center
When you do the trip to the geyser, you are expected to walk through the geyser
education center with all kind of video and other displays about the inner part
of the earth, vulcano's and geysers. Not bad but mostly a little to much targeted
for schoolkids.
"Grandpa" telling a child about
geysers in an animation video
Fortunately, they sold good cappuccino in the souvenir shop and restaurant but
even after I finished my cappuccino and had called home, I still had to wait an
hour for the boat....
I did not want to wait inside so I took a walk on the bank of the river and soon
found a interesting building, "Das Bolwerk".
Bulwark on the bank of the Rhine
"Das Bolwerk", the Bulwark, was built between 1659 and 1661 as a
customs station, controlling the shipping on the Rhine and also
as an ice-breaker to protect the city walls.
It is now a war memorial for victims of both World Wars.
The memorial in "Das Bolwerk"
In the distance, I could see the autobahn, going around the hill, above the
forest. The Germans sure do know how to build a nice autobahn
 .
The autobahn along the Rhine
And then, the boat to the geyser, the "Namedy", arrived. I was one of the
first passenger that got on the boat and soon I was sitting at a table with
a cappuccino and a piece of pie.
The "Namedy"
Cappuccino and pie
At a few minutes after one o'clock, the boat left and I went to the deck to
take some pictures.
The geyser visitors center, seen from the boat
On the river Rhine
There are some really big ships on the river
An old crane on the river bank
The Rhine is wide !
About twenty minutes after we left, we arrived at the quay at the
peninsula called Namedyer Werth, a local nature reserve, where the
Geyser Andernach lies.
We had arrived
You can read about the history of the geyser on the site of
Geysir Andernach.
It was a few hundred meter walk from the boat to the geyser through the beautiful
nature reserve. When I was at the source of the geyser, I made a picture of the bubbles
the CO2 made in the water, even when the geyser was not active.
CO2 bubbles
We had to wait a few minutes (you can not rush mother nature) before the
geyser became active but then it was spectaculair to see the sixty meter high water
column blow in the air.
The geyser
A lot of people enjoyed the spectacle
It took a few minutes and then the geyser became lower and lower until it stopped
blowing and everybody walked back to the boat.
The bank of the Rhine in the Namedyer Werth peninsula is sure a piece of idyllic
landscape in the Rhine Valley. If you look at that river beach, you would expect
a wild animal coming out of the forest any moment.....
Idyllic landscape
When all the passengers were back on board, the "Namedy" went back to the
geyser visitors center.
The bell of the Namedy
While on the way back, I had a nice potato salad with saucages and a coka-cola
for lunch.
In the tourist information, they talk about the "idyllic" Rhine Valley and on
some places it sure is.
The "idyllic" Rhine Valley
Some other places, not far from the idyllic parts of the Rhine valley are a
little less idyllic. Here the nice timbered houses and vineyards had to make
place for the industry.
The not so idyllic places are important too.
Nevertheless, a lot of the Rhine valley sure is very beautiful and I enjoyed
looking at it and taking pictures of it, from the deck of the boat.
The beautiful Rhine Valley
Now I had seen the geyser, it was time for the next item on Dick's list, the
Laacher See (Lake Laacher). I found the location of the Laacher See on
the GPS map of my Nokia smartphone and entered that information in the Tomtom.
It was (and is) near the village Wassenach.
On my way to Wassenach, I saw a castle, hidden in the forrest beside the road
and fortunately, I found a place to stop and take a picture.
A nice castle
It was difficult to find a place where I could walk to the Laacher See but after
I had ask a warden at a campsite for directions, I found a place to park the
GoldWing and a path to the lake.
It was a fifteen minute walk on a steep footpath through the forrest in again a
nature reserve but finaly, I saw the lake and it is beautiful.
The Laacher See
The Laacher See is a caldera lake and a potentially active volcano !!!
The caldera where the lake is now, was formed after the eruption about 12,900
years ago.
This peaceful lake used to be an erupting vulcano......
Some day this vulcano will erupt again and wreak havoc in a big part of Europe
but nobody knows when.....
To get to the lake, I had to walk down, but to get back to my bike, I had to
walk the same path, but now I had to go uphill. I was happy when I finaly saw
my GoldWing.
United with my bike again
I was getting thirsty from walking to the lake and back so when I saw a big
supermarket on my way back to the hotel, I bought a big bottle of water.
That tasted good !
I bought water at a supermarket
Back at the hotel, Dick was feeling a lot better and we went to the restaurant
for coffee and I showed him some of the pictures I made today.
At six we had a fine dinner. We had the "pasta of the week" and it was nice
with asparagus and a good sauce.
The waitress gave us the advise to walk to the bank of the Rhine, near the
hotel. It was only a few minutes walk and well worth the walk.
A "tower" to measure the water level in the Rhine
Canoes are drawn on dry land....
.... and stored in the boat house
The bridge over the Rhine in Neuwied
It's the end of a nice day
After our little walk, we went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, if Dick
is feeling healty enough for the trip, we will ride home.
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