Koblenz Warnings and Dangers

On the little ferry boat - lots of loose coils of rope on the deck. Dozens of pairs of feet everywhere when the boat is packed! It's the sort of thing I notice when I am wearing my *responsible adult* hat! (Or as one of my colleagues preferred to be called *Die GruppenFuehrer* :))

beware of this statue of a evil little boy. fortunately for me i knew of it's evil intent but a friend of mine was not aware of it. my friend was staring at this statue of a some what grotesque little boy. he commented about rust around it's mouth. then the statue SPIT on him !!! i almost fell to the ground laughing !

Every couple of years the rivers Rhine and/ or Moselle burst their banks and towns and villages of this area are occasionally swamped. People who live close to these rivers have, however, accustomed to this event. Everyday life will hardly be affected by smaller floods.
But when strolling the Rhine promenade at Koblenz you will find badges on bridges or walls that will illustrate how high the water level can actually rise. The worst flood of the 20th century occurred in 1993 when both rivers were in flood at the same time. The Rhine level rose to an incredible 9,52 metres on December 23rd 1993 (the average value is below 3 metres). More than a quarter of Koblenz city zone was flooded, many roads were closed, navigation was abandoned.
As mentioned above: serious floods occur only occasionally and usually they are predictable. Huge rivers like the Rhine don't develop high water "over night".
In case there's a current risk of high water there are a couple of home page that will inform you about water levels:
http://www.hochwasser-rlp.de/
(This page is in German only but there's a map illustrating flood levels)
http://www.wetteronline.de/pegel/Rhein/Koblenz.htm
(The Rhine at Koblenz is esteemed to be in flood after topping the level of 4,50 metres)

Beware!!! never drive around Germany in an old 1986 BMW with dark, dark tinted windows, and try to pass up a German cops who are looking for some fugitives from the Netherlands, or this will end up being you!!
I didn't get a ticket or anything, they just asked me questions and searched my car (without a search warrant....they can do that here) and let me go.

As in every city be careful at night in dark streets like Bahnhofstraße, in pedestrian underpass/Subway or on the walkingpath from Ehrenbreitstein to the castle. If you don't feel save, better take a taxi.

For groups it should be no problem, but women who walk alone shoud not walk through lonely streets at night.