mkf. “There’s always a bed in a cornfield!” For the last two or three years a canny pub owner in Germany has been offering bed & breakfast at a “Thousand-star-hotel” using this song from the 1970s. And it is just that: in a cornfield under the stars. But not quite the thing for the eight, ten or fifteen or more thousand pilgrims from all over the world making their way to Schoenstatt and Rome in October 2014. No, we aren’t offering a bed in a cornfield, but one in a hotel, which is at the outside one-and-a-half hours by public transport from Schoenstatt. That was the result of a discussion between Dr Berthold Link, General Manager of Team 2014 and the tourist representatives of the region. B&B accommodation is available along the banks of the Rhein and Mosel Rivers, one of the most beautiful tourist regions in Germany, and quite possibly beyond.
Rather like the football teams
“Chile is coming with Travel Security.” This is the company that took the Chilean football team to the World Cup in South Africa. This information, connected with the information that other countries, like Brazil and Paraguay which will be sending large numbers of pilgrims, have already started planning with their Travel Bureaux, made the day. All that is now needed in Germany is a central Incoming Bureau for the international guests. This bureau will see to all the further details, so that the whole arrangement is organized between the professional agencies. Dr Link gave the assurance that Team 2014 would pass on this recommendation to the various countries, so that they can coordinate their journeys through travel agencies. The Rheinland-Pfalz tourist information bureau will cater for the much smaller number of individual travellers, most of whom are expected to come from Germany.
If all join in …
Along the Rhein and Mosel Rivers, and in the Eifel, there are pubs and hotels in idyllic surroundings. Since they are small, they are more suitable for smaller groups, which could then travel with their own bus. There are larger hotels in Koblenz, Bonn, Cologne, Mainz, Wiesbaden or Frankfurt, all within at most 90 minutes by train from Schoenstatt. These would be an option for larger or very large groups.
Of course, a great deal still remains to be done, and the success depends on whether all join in. After all, it is a pilgrimage! But – no one has to sleep in a cornfield!
At the end of the discussion the tourist agencies began to dream! There probably won’t be a cable car, but there could well be a regular ferry service between Koblenz and Vallendar. … That would mean that even though they are on pilgrimage, the visitors from other countries could enjoy a trip on the Rhine while taking part in the centenary celebrations of the covenant of love!
Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
