Trier to Remich sur Moselle: Exploring Keith's ancestors

September 5, 2017

Another amazing day. We really poked around today, searching for all those Classens. And we found lots! But first came another delicious German breakfast. We loaded up on calories and headed down to the parking garage.

The bikes had lots of company last night.

We headed out and didn't get more than a few hundred metres before we saw an archeological dig. It was Roman baths and we spent some time reading the information (in English) and taking in the site.

Just a little eye candy on the bike path.

Imagine having this in your backyard. The Barbara Baths. The information was comprehensive and very well presented.

Then it was off to Metzdorf, that area crawling with Classens in the mid 1800's. Well, turns out it really was. Keith took many, many photos of gravestones, and we will have to see if we can sort it all out when we get home. It was a really interesting thing to do. I got quite excited by it. It is such a beautiful part of the world, and when I think of young people emigrating at a time when they would have no expectation of ever seeing their families again I am overcome by how brave they were.

From the CN himself: "My great Grandfather who imigrated to the US in the 1870's was from a little village called Metzdorf on the Sauer River about 15 km north west of Trier. He had 4 sons one of whom moved to Saskatchewan from the States - my grandfather Michael.

So we thought it would be fun to ride to Metzdorf and check it out. It is a very pretty setting situated on the east side of the Sauer River. On the other side of the river is the small country of Luxembourg.

We checked out the local church and cemetery. The family history book indicated that this area was "crawling with Classens" which is indeed the case with the number of Classens on the tombstones."

Beautiful vineyards. The Metzdorf area is all about the wine.

A World War 1 memorial in the churchyard.

The internet just slowed to a crawl. Once more pictures will need to wait until the morning. I have had too much excellent wine to stay awake.

Now this was a grunt. We were headed up to a Gasthaus. We got up there and they were closed! However, we were able to get directions to the cemetery, which was straight up a cliff, so it wasn't the only time I had to push the bike. The hill to the cemetery was so steep it reached the point where I just couldn't turn the pedals. The Classens in the cemetery had a nice view though!

Note the wind turbine on the hill in the distance. At least we didn't have to climb up there!

As for the rest of the story:
We then reversed our direction, still feeling so pleased about the whole expedition. We rode to a town in Luxembourg where we became a bit confused about which side of the Moselle we should be on. We actually knew we needed to be on the other side...but how to get there? We decided to contemplate the situation over a picnic lunch overlooking the Moselle. That is how we discovered the ferry.

So that's how you get across! There were a few pedestrians and a number of bikes. That is how we met Marius who lives in Essen and is on his way to Barcelona. He told me biking through Germany makes him appreciate what a beautiful country it is. I couldn't agree with him more.

We travelled with Marius until we arrived at Remich. We headed for a hotel and he carried on down the Radweg another fourteen kilometres to a camping spot. He was great company. It was a beautiful ride.

Our hotel, Hotel St. Nicolas and Spa has two pools, one indoor, one out, an amazing spa and sauna area and is wonderful. We started with a swim, followed by complimentary wine and cheese in the lobby, and then the most amazing dinner in the dining room. I feel I have done a completely inadequate job of describing the day and evening because of all the wine. Suffice to say it was awesome.

And more vineyards. A great deal of future wine.

Remich on the other side of the river. Very French. Our hotel proprietor speaks four languages.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 373 km (232 miles)

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