What do you do during a pandemic and all travel restrictions apply and no hotels are open and no tourist sites and no stores, and even the birds are on lockdown in the trees? Simple: you need to visit a small town that is so gorgeous that you won't depend on tourist sites or hotels to be open. Enter Koblenz.

Koblenz is about an hour's drive from Frankfurt, which can seem like a decade whenever you're traveling with kids in the back. Think that Smart Phone or iPad are fool-proof choices to protect against boredom, the kids hitting the ceiling, and breaking into the "Are we finally there?" chorus? Even if it is, the kids don't need much to set them off. They are cramped in the back. All it takes is a little nick of the knee or a breath in the wrong direction, and it's on. Then comes the threat from the driver's seat about pulling over, going back home (a dumb idea, I know. They would actually welcome that), no phone, etc., followed by a truce that would make Panmunjom look like Disneyland.

Once we do reach Koblenz, we decide to cough up the few Euros needed to park in a public space as opposed to searching all afternoon for the perfect parking space that will prevent us from getting proper exercise. Koblenz itself is the home of the "Deutsches Eck," or where the Rhein River meets the Mosel. When you reach the spot, there's the huge monument dedicated to Kaiser Wilhelm I, first Emperor of Germany and the driving force for the country's unification. There are dozens of stairs to reach the base of the monument, where people can enjoy a better view of the rivers and snap away with their Smart Phones. 

Sadly, the cable cars taking you across the river to the fortress Ehrenbreitstein are closed, as is the fortress itself, all Covid victims. It's a shame, really. Though I had seen Ehrenbreitstein before, I never got to take the cable car that was only constructed in 2010.  Great views and photo opportunities wasted. Instead, we walk through the city, take a look inside a shop or two, and brave the weather, which can be stormy at intervals. Churches, among them St. Castor, are closed. We stroll the gardens of Schloss Koblenz, located along the Rhein River, then marvel a little more at the narrow cobblestone pathways of the Altstadt, or old city.

Centuries ago, people (as in army regiments) came to Koblenz with a view of occupying the city. A city located at such a crucial intersection as the Rhein-Mosel was sure to garner plenty of interest, which would culminate in the construction of the citadel at Ehrenbreitstein. Today, no occupying forces remain. If anything, Koblenz will disarm you with its charm...with or without a pandemic.