Rhine Gorge and Rudesheim,
Germany: July 24
We cruised the
spectacular romantic Rhine this morning.
Beginning at 9 am, Jean-Loup gave us a running commentary & pointed
out the famous castles. We heard lots of
castle legends and also sailed past the Loreley Cliff. All I can say is WOW! Here are just a few of the castles that we
saw: Stolzenfels, Lahneck, and Marksburg
Castles; Sterrenberg and Liebenstein Castles; Maus Castle, Katz Castle,
Rheinfels Castle; Gutenfels, Pfalz and Schonburg Castles, Stehleck and Sooneck
Castles and more… The landscape is hauntingly beautiful. Here are just a few photos of some of the castles. My camera just couldn't stop itself!
Avalon offered
a traditional German lunch today that included lots of German specialties…
sausages, sauerkraut, apple kuchen, and much more. It was very nice and set the tone for our
visit to Rudesheim!
Our included
tour today began with a little train ride to the hilltop vineyards where we sampled
the local Reisling wine.
Following the great wine and scenic photo-ops, we took the train to the city center where our tour took us to the Museum of Mechanical Instruments (or Siegfried’s Musik Kabinett”). The instruments ranged from quaint to bizarre all housed in a 16th century building. One that caught my eye was the tiny sterling music box with a little bird… so beautiful and delicate! Our guide informed us that we could purchase a replica in the museum gift shop; so of course I headed after the tour only to discover that the least expensive one was priced at 1650 Euro. I came out empty handed. Next up on the tour was a wine tasting but again, we opted out and instead found a cafĂ© with sidewalk seating where we enjoyed glasses of wine, German beer, and people watched before heading back to the ship. On the way back to the ship, we stopped in a couple of shops where I snagged a few German souvenirs.
Following the great wine and scenic photo-ops, we took the train to the city center where our tour took us to the Museum of Mechanical Instruments (or Siegfried’s Musik Kabinett”). The instruments ranged from quaint to bizarre all housed in a 16th century building. One that caught my eye was the tiny sterling music box with a little bird… so beautiful and delicate! Our guide informed us that we could purchase a replica in the museum gift shop; so of course I headed after the tour only to discover that the least expensive one was priced at 1650 Euro. I came out empty handed. Next up on the tour was a wine tasting but again, we opted out and instead found a cafĂ© with sidewalk seating where we enjoyed glasses of wine, German beer, and people watched before heading back to the ship. On the way back to the ship, we stopped in a couple of shops where I snagged a few German souvenirs.
