Mosel River in the Summer

Grapes grow all along the Mosel River. It is so relaxing to drive, bike or hike on a Sunday afternoon along the Mosel.

Cochem castle is always lovely.

We saw Beilstein from the other side of the river. It looked intriguing. A new place to explore.

Bernkastle remains a favorite place. We try to go there often. Though busy on the weekends, we like to go on a weeknight. We grab an ice cream cone and wander the town.

St. Castor is the patron saint of Treis Karden where there is a lovely church and museum.

Campgrounds dot the Mosel. We found a camp store to be a great place for a lunch.

Krov

Traben Trarbach
We enjoyed a River Cruise one rainy night. It was a farewell dinner for a friend.

Nurburgring Race Track

In the shadow of the Nurburg Castle, this world famous race track is less than an hour's drive from our home. For Bob's birthday I decided it was high time we get up there.
The event of the weekend was "Recaro Days" open to the public with open driving, cars on display, and individuals able to race their private vehicles if they wish to risk it.






Recaro sponsored the weekend event. I found out they make amazingly safe and comfortable seats. Bob pretended to take a snooze.
Cars were on display from serious BMWs with scissor doors, a Viper with a snakelike finish, to the Spongebob Mini-Cooper.






There was fast food and pin up girls.

From the top of the castle you can see the complex by the town. Actually there is a regular race track at Nurburgring, short tracks, and other racing venues at the complex. However the big draw that makes this place special is the 24 km race track that winds through the countryside in this region. It is the ancient volcanic Eifel; mountainous with inactive craters and hairpin turns. We left the complex in search of a lookout point for the race track through the woods. No grand stands.

Just a place off the side of the road to watch.

There's a Nordic Walk track around the entire race track. We started walking.

We found a great place to watch. It was like being at the beach. Crowds brought lawnchairs and beverages. It got busy in the afternoon. The race track did too. There was a vending stand too.

Our hearts stopped, to see a couple cars spin out of control. These were people like us driving out there. The adrenaline was palpable. Bob opted not to drive our car. Insurance doesn't cover race track damage.

Bob tested the track at the arcade.

I didn't get very far in this one.

http://www.nuerburgring.de/home.324.0.html

Knowing Bob's love for cars, someone had a Corvette birthday cake made for him this year at the office. We had to attend a formal event so he saved it to show me that evening.

Happy Birthday Bob!