Rüdesheim and Rhine Gorge

Photo 1: Lola from the crew show.

Photo 2: Typical window box but with chimed bells added.

Photo 3: Piano and violin cabinet in the mechanical museum

Photo 4: Doll orchestra

Photos 5 and 6: Castles along the Rhine Gorge. Note the ongoing restoration work on the second one.

Photo 7: Typical village and vineyards.

Photo 8: The Cat Castle. Just had to include that one :)

Photo 9: Sue with her favourite waiters, 'Paddy' and 'Sean', AKA Ryan and Garry.

On Monday night we enjoyed a show put on by the crew. There are certainly a lot of talented people working on this boat. Two of the girls sang lovely songs very professionally and the maitre d’, Tomas, and one of the singers danced Latin like experts. One of the guys did break dancing like a New Yorker. But the funniest act was performed by a male staff member dressed as ‘Lola’ with a long, pink curly wig with oranges safely secreted in an enormous bra.

On Tuesday morning we left the Main River and entered the Rhine. We docked at Rüdesheim and had probably the best time so far on the trip. First we visited Siegfried’s Mechanical Museum which contains 350 working exhibits of automated musical instruments made between 1880 and 1930. It was fascinating to watch multiple musical instruments set in cabinets all being played together simply by mechanical means. Some used piano rolls, others wooden rollers or round, flat discs to create tunes which remind you of merry-go-rounds. One even created the music of a whole jazz orchestra and another played three violins and other instruments in harmony. What amazing mechanical skill they had!

After that we went to a hotel where we were served the local Rüdesheim Coffee, a mixture of black coffee, sugar, local brandy, cream and a little chocolate. That’s what they say it is, but Phil tried it and reckons it is brandy with a small dash of the other ingredients. The concoction is flamed before serving to burn off the alcohol. Just as well or they would have had to carry Phil back to the          boat :). Sue was much more sedate…just a plain old hot chocolate for me. For a change we walked back to the boat.  Wrong choice as it took us through the local shops offering all kinds of goodies.  We had such fun, and found more things to send back from Amsterdam!!!

In the afternoon we sailed through the magnificent Rhine Gorge which is lined with many castles, some dating from the 12^th century, and vineyards sprawling down the hillsides. The Rhine is very busy with numerous barges and passenger boats, but that doesn’t spoil the lovely look of the countryside. We saw many famous sites along the Gorge including a monument to German unification (about 1871), the Mouse Tower and the Lorelei rock and statue. All this in comfortable chairs with drink in hand. So, what are the poor cold people doing in Canberra? Oh, and did we mention there is a heatwave moving towards us.  37 degrees by Thursday.  Break out the shorts and thongs!!! :)

Würzburg and Rothenburg

Photo 1:  Entrance to Residenz Palace

Photo 2: View of the Palace

Photos 3 and 4: Typical views of the Palace interior

Photo 5: Bridge with its own selfie stick :). There are many village churches along the river like the one in the background

Photo 6: Street scene in Rothenburg

Photo 7: Town Hall in the Square with high school band in foreground

Photo 8: View of the Square

Photo 9: Street running off the Square

Würzburg

On Sunday morning we docked in Würzburg and visited the Residenz Palace (the Prince-Bishops’ Palace) which was built in the 18^th century. It was inspired by the Palace of Versailles and it has to be one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. There is no way to describe it in words – just look at the photos and you will see why.

On the lighter side, the Palace has a wine cellar holding about one million litres of wine! It figures, as this town is the centre of a major wine industry and has a university with 27,000 students. Students + wine equals ……. :). There is a magnificent fresco painted on the vaulted ceiling in the centre of the Palace which depicts the four continents known in the 18^th century, so it does not include Australia. However our guide assured us that Australia is well represented by the wine cellar ‘down under’. Good save!

Rothenburg

In the afternoon we took an excursion to Rothenburg, the best preserved medieval town in Germany. We travelled through a major farming district of low, rolling green hills with huge vineyards near the river and then other crops such as maize, sugar beet, rapeseed (canola) and wheat in abundance. Southern Germany is certainly very beautiful in summer.

Old Rothenburg within the original city walls is wonderful. The photos give a good idea of what it is like. We had free time in the town square and had the unexpected treat of listening to the North View High School Band from Grand Rapids, Michigan playing Big Band music and show tunes while we enjoyed iced coffee and chocolate. We didn’t really need to indulge but it was a good excuse to sit in the courtyard in the shade and listen to the music. The Band is so good they are invited to visit Rothenburg every four years. 

It was the Chef’s Dinner last night.  Each of the chef’s had to prepare their course with 3 options reflecting the passage through the river cruise.  It was highly entertaining and delicious too.  But I swear some of the chef’s looked about 10!!! Tomas (the maitre’d in the restaurant) comes to our table every meal to let Phil know what is gluten free, and how he can adapt things to suit his needs.  He always says “Surprise Dessert for you tonight”. And he always delivers!!  A really tough day at the office guys :).

Regensburg and Nuremberg

Photo 1: Regensburg cathedral

Photo 2: The old and the new. Original town entrance with later additions.

Photo 3: Regensburg street scene. Note the narrow street dating from medieval times and made for horse traffic.

Photo 4: Part of facade of Regensburg Town Hall.

Photo 5: M pa pa Hansi (see blog below)

Photo 6: Sue (middle) displaying great musical talent (see blog below)

Photos 7 and 8: We have left the Danube and this shows us going through a lock on the Main Canal.The drop is 25 metres (80 feet), the width of the lock is 12 metres and the boat width is 11.5 metres. Tight fit!!

Photo 9: Us on Main Canal.

Photo 10: Canal scene in Nuremberg old town.

Regensburg

We spent Thursday morning slacking off before taking a slow walking tour of the old town in the afternoon. Regensburg dates from the second century and is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany. It also has the highest concentration of pubs of any town in Germany, which says a lot about Bavarians and beer J. It is a lovely old town with one of the most massive gothic cathedrals we have ever seen – Saint Peter’s.

At the end of the tour we stopped at a café where we used vouchers to get sausages and sauerkraut. The sausages were nice but the sauerkraut was …. well …. sauerkraut. Not to our taste at all. But we soon saw an ice cream shop so, in keeping with our determination to fatten ourselves up disgracefully, we each had two big scoops of ice cream and loved it!

That night in the lounge we enjoyed a one man act by ‘m pa pa Hansi’, a very funny guy who plays the accordion and lots of other instruments with great skill. He ‘volunteered’ Sue to play the weirdest percussion instrument we have ever seen – which she did with great gusto! The photos and video I took will haunt her forever :)

Nuremberg

On Friday we visited Nuremberg. It is a busy, prosperous commercial city that has been attractively rebuilt in traditional styles after being devastated by allied bombing in World War Two. The medieval city walls survived better than much of the old city and when you look at these massive stone walls and citadels it is not hard to see why. Not much is left from the Nazi era. The site of Hitler’s huge rallies is now used for motor racing.

After a walking tour we had three hours of free time in the city centre so we walked and shopped and actually managed not to get lost (high five!). Being the adventurous types that we are – always seeking exciting new experiences – the first place we went to was ….. wait for it ……. Starbucks! OK, we are boring old farts but the coffee is reliable. Then we made a significant contribution to the Bavarian economy by spending up big on presents. This was such an exhausting experience, involving 5 kms of walking, that we just had to have ice cream to aid our recovery. We also managed to consume some of the local apple strudel to the delight of our taste buds.

It was a long day as we were due back to the boat at 6,00 pm, however due to unexplained issues with a canal lock it was after 7.30 that we got back. No more sailing dramas please! As a concession to all we had grazed on during the day we decided to skip dinner. What a hard decision to be faced with!!!