All of us tourists in Cochem,

I love rainy weather! Anyone who has known me for more than 45 minutes knows this. I really enjoyed all of the cloudy, rainy weather in Denmark, it was right up my alley. I was thankful, however, when we woke up on our first day in Cochem and the sun was shining. The rays shone in through the thin gauzy curtains giving everything in the hotel room a glow. The birds were chirpingand the little brook behind the Hotel Holl was babbling away. It was basically the perfect circumstances to wake up to!

After breakfast in the hotel, some of us decided to walk around town before heading up to Cochem Castle for a tour. The town is very cute and just what you would expect, half-timbered buildings and the clock tower that stands tall above the little square. The square

itself is full of people, mostly tourists, looking for something to buy. There are little wine bars, lots of restaurants, clothing shops, places to buy embroidered tablecloths, gelato stands and of course the touristy shops where you can buy all sorts of not-authentic German souvenirs. It's a bit hectic wandering around the streets of Cochem but still a good time. At least we don't stick out terribly as tourists, because they're everywhere you look. There were families, tour groups, bunches of little blue haired ladies and even young people like us. The one group of tourists that I really enjoyed observing were the bikers and there were a lot of them. Their bikes are parked out in front of every hotel and there's even a Harley Davidson shop on the way up to the Castle. Some of these European bikers remind me of the bikers I know back home. It's a little comforting to know that the people here live just like we do, they just speak different languages.

The castle tour was fun but not terribly interesting on paper. It's one of those things you wouldn't appreciate if I told you about it. You have to go see it for yourself.

After the castle, and a few more hours wandering around town, Natalie, Katie, Kristen and I went off in search of libations!

We found them in the form of Spatburgunder and Riesling at a wine bar, a wine tasting where we bought a couple of bottles, and a couple of pints in a restaurant on the walk back to the hotel!

We hung out in the hotel for a bit and played some cards before deciding to walk to the disco at the end of the street. We had some beers and tried to dance to German club music (which is quite the workout by the way). It turned out that nearly everyone there was from somewhere else. Cochem is a hub for tourists visiting the Mosel valley and lots of them like to go out dancing!