Mainz & Worms

The next day we visited Mainz in the morning where we went through the Gutenburg Museum and yet another cathedral.


















And we sailed during lunch and then arrived at Worms - another magnificent cathedral amongst other attractions.

Rudesheim

After the morning of gloating over Castles on the Rhine we arrived at Rudesheim. Our tour first took us to Bromserhof - the house dates from around 1300 and now houses Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet - a wonderful collection of self-playing musical instruments, some of which are shown here.













After playing with the musical instruments we walked down the hill a little way to a beer garden where we indulged in Rudesheim coffee and were entertained by the local musicians. The coffee was not your normal coffee!!!! And the musos did play Waltzing Matilda for the Aussies amongst us. There is a small street in Rudeshiem which advertises that it has 2,300 seats for drinkers in their beer gardens - what a way to go!








And on a more sober note the Adlerturm was build around 1500 for storing gunpower (apparently today it holds the money of one of the banks)!

Rhine Gorge

This magnificent building is the Rheinfels Castle overlooking St Goar










And just across the otherside of the river is the Katz Castle









It wasn't all castle - the trains are a constant in this part of the world, as are the barges, and the image of them appearing from the hillside is a contrast to the castles above.









The Pfalzgrafenstein Castle by Kaub was originally built by King Ludwig to collect tolls on the river.









And this could be the Rheinstein Castle.

The Rhine Gorge

The next morning we sailed down the Rhine Gorge - my first image, as I looked out the cabin, was this castle - Stolzenfels Castle, Kapellen - it was magnificent in the dawn light.






Not a castle this time - but one of the many pretty towns we passed by.










And I did rush up on deck to catch the sunrise over yet another town!









Marksburg Castle and Braubach









And another little town.









This day ended being an eating day!!! Because we were staying on board for the morning we tended to have a later breakfast. At around 10.30 the crew brought some German sausages, pretzels, etc and wine on deck for us to indulge whilst taking in the scenery. An early lunch at 12.00, before we visited Rudesheim where we also went to a beer garden to indulge in Rudesheim coffee (plus be entertained by musicians). Then dinner!!!!!!

Cochem

The afternoon of 16 April saw us visiting the town of Cochem. I particularly liked this fountain - once a year they hook up an enormous wine vat and it sprays wine instead of water - very civilised!











This castle towers over the town and is beautifully restored inside - I love the work on the upholstery of the chairs and the lamp shade had an interesting story which currently escapes me!






















The buildings inside the castle.













And the steps down into the township.

Luxembourg

That afternoon we drove to Luxembourg - unfortunately it was a Sunday and the only things open were restaurants - the clothes etc in the shops looked lovely (and expensive so perhaps it wasn't a bad thing)!

This is a beautiful city but we did seem to spend a lot of time looking down on its beauty - I would have loved the time to explore at the lower level.

Trier

Our next stop was Trier - the oldest town in Germany.
This Pink Palace - the Electoral Palace was started in 1615 and built next to the
Roman Basilica which was built early in the 4th Century AD







This is part of the walls of the Cathedral - the stone work to the left (which looks newer) was actually built in 326 AD and the older looking stonework was much later.









I was fascinated with the House of the Three Kings - there were no windows on the ground floor and the door was on the first floor and required a ladder to use it - now that's paranoia for you!










And the Porta Nigra show the remains of the city wall build in the 2C.

More of Bernkastel

Our mode of transport up the 130 metres to the castle - the driver never got out - I don't think he was very confident of the brakes!

The view of the town from the castle - you can see how tiny it is.

Bernkastel

The first town we visited on the Mosel was Bernkastel on 14 April. I discovered that the Germans have a very quirky sense of humour and seem to show it in their statues - this one was all about a doctor who took ill but he was looked after in the local castle by drinking the local wine continuously - what a way to go - this part of the statue depicts part of the story.





I think this was the oldest house in the town - they are all so cute.










And this is the door to the storage for the vineyard towards the back of the small town - the vineyard is below.




















And this is the castle - I did climb the tower and took some photos - see the next entry.

Mosel River

The next few days saw us sailing down the Mosel River - I must admit this is a wonderful way to tour - no unpacking - wonderful food and wine! These are some of the images we saw when floating past - the first is us in one of the many locks - we had to collapse the sun shade so we could fit under the bridge.




A castle behind one of the many vineyards - it was good to see some hills after the flatness of the Netherlands - but I wouldn't want to be working in these vineyards.

Another of the villages we sailed past.







We didn't have to lower the sunshades to fit under this bridge - I imagine it is part of one of the autobahns.


A closer look at the vineyards - every bit of space is used!

Coblenz

Late on the morning of 13 April we arrived at Coblenz - this is where we were to leave the Rhine and sail down the Mozel River.
Our tour, was once again, very interesting and full of the quaintness of the cities in this area. The first image is of parts of the Berlin Wall which were given to the city on some auspicious occasion which eludes me at the moment - something to do with Coblenz being recognised as the centre of parts of Germany (sorry my history lesson has been forgotten already).



One of the old monastries has now been converted to an art gallery for modern art - whilst we didn't go inside we did see this wonderful sculpture which is by a world famous artist - sorry can't remember the name!












This ancient gate was in the same area as the thumb above!


And then I started taking photos of the manhole covers - this is the symbol of the city of Coblenz - the spitting boy - there is also a statue (with him regularly spitting water) but I couldn't get a really good photo.