Kloster Maria Laach

There is an Abbey over 1000 years old on a Volcanic crater lake (Maar) that we stopped to see after our visit at Nurburgring. It was about 20 miles from Nurburg. The church was beautiful. The monks were chanting mass at the time so no photos were allowed inside, but we had a quiet moment of meditation and prayer to their beautiful music.

The complex is quite large, with a store selling seedlings and plants, a bookstore, and restaurants. There is also a 4 star hotel which is rather pricey.

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Parking on a Sunday is about 1.50 Euro between the Monastery grounds and the lake. The lake is about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot. The lake is quite large. Maria Laach is located off the autobahn between Trier and Koblenz.

http://www.maria-laach.de/aktuelles/aktuelles.htm The website of the Abbey in German

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Laach_Abbey English website Wikipedia

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http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/maria-laach-abbey.htm Catholic Website in English about it's history and things to see and do here.

Ulmen: Charming town off the autobahn

We often zoom past Ulmen as an exit from the autobahn between Trier and Koblenz. When we went to Nurburgring, it pulled up as a close Bed and Breakfast recommendation at http://www.booking.com/. We had no idea it was such a quaint town.

We drove in on this road. At first our GPS couldn't point us to the B&B. Then we realized it wasn't on a street. It was in the middle of the plaza in front of the town fountain.

The town is small. The church bells chimed. One person at the B&B spoke English with us there, but otherwise it was a very German experience. We loved it.

We wandered through the small town, through an old arch and down the cobblestone.

What a surprise it was to run upon a lake. They call it a "maar" because it is a volcanic lake. Thousands of years ago in the Eifel region, volcanos went off and left craters. These are lakes today. There are several around Ulmen. We walked around it in about 15 minutes. It was peaceful while you could hear the autobahn still in the background.

http://www.buergerstube-ulmen.de/