August 14

For the first Saturday in a while, I slept in a bit and hung around Ingelheim getting things cleaned up and straightened around in my apartment.  It was pretty relaxing, and very welcome.  In the early afternoon I took a train to Koblenz to meet Joe and Marc to hang out before Rhein in Flammen (it's a celebration with fireworks that takes place all along the Rhein river on different days, from Bingen to Koblenz).  We walked to Deutches Eck initially just to see what was up, then took a walk into the Alt Stadt, because there really wasn't much going on yet.  While we were there I managed to find an item that I had been looking for, to bring back to the States for a certain Jeff.  We had some supper in Joe's apartment then headed out to watch the fireworks from the campground across the river from the fortress.  For a while we walked around looking for a spot to sit.  The fireworks were pretty great, and very reminiscent of the Fourth in Grand Haven, but with even more epic music, in three movements.  It was pretty great.