CRUISING THE CASTELLATED RHINE VALLEY
CRUISING THE CASTELLATED RHINE VALLEY
We were up and out of the cabin by 7 am to enjoy this most scenic cruise through the Rhine Vally, a UNESCO World Heritage Area. We passed lush vineyards and cozy hamlets interspersed with impressive castles both restored and in ruins. One of the tour guides gave a commentary about the castles and towns we passed. By 9 am we passed the Lorelei Rock where a traditional Rudesheimer Kaffee (Irish coffee) was served. Took a lot of pictures of this area.
At 12:30 we arrived in the town of Rudesheim, a wine-making village on the banks of the Rhine. We took a tschoo-tschoo train for lunch at the famous and historic Rudesheimer Schloss. This was advertised to be a wonderful traditional lunch of Wiener schnitzel served to us in a garden setting with some live musical entertainment. Once again, the skies were devoid of clouds and the temperature soared to 94 degrees F. There was absolutely no breeze.
First the train - it was crowded and hot - ventilation consisted of open windows at the top - the bottom was closed in. It would have been OK if we were allowed to stand. After about 10 minutes we arrived at the restaurant - the garden consisted of concrete and tiled floors, some pots with flowers and some shade provided by plastic awnings. A German Ompah Band was in full swing - amplified by a poor sound system. They were loud! Once again, we found that all the seats in our area were taken and we were asked to take a seat right next to the band. We flatly refused to move. After a half hour the salad course arrived. After another half hour the soup course arrived. After 45 minutes, the main course of the aforementioned schnitzel arrived. All this time the Ompah band was belting out German drinking songs and the temperature was rising. They brought two bottles of the local wine to the table - one white and one red - neither chilled. Guess they felt that if we drank a bottle of wine each, we would start to enjoy this experience. The dessert course was inedible. We noticed that our Tauck guides had disappeared - no doubt to another quieter and air-conditioned restaurant. We said we were leaving and would meet them at the Musik Kabinett Museum at the appointed time of 2:30.
Now this was a highlight - we had a delightful guide who showed us from room to room stopping in each one to play these magnificent mechanical musical instruments. Many had automatons (animated figures). One machine had six violins which accompanied a piano. We even heard an old 78 of Doris Day singing Que Sera Sera. The Museum was located in a large home built in the 15th century - it was surprisingly cool and still had some of the original frescos and tile floors.
From there, we walked to the Seilbahn (gondola) to take a ride up the hills over the vineyards. Thank heavens the gondola was open and we had a lovely breeze. It was unbearably hot at the top and both of us were feeling the effects so after one quick picture, decided (along with most of the other people on our tour) to take it right back down again. It was a half-hour wait for the train so elected to slowly walk back to the boat. What a relief to return to air-conditioned comfort.
We have decided that we are going to ask more questions about meals taken off the ship. We may consider not going to the Viennese Gala at one of the palaces. The menu didn't look that great and we have to ride a coach from a town outside of Vienna to Vienna in our "formal clothes". Our boat catches up with us in Vienna.
We ate in the Bistro last night where we were served French cuisine. The wines were the best part of the meal - Rothschild Burgandies both white and red. We then went to the lounge where we watched other passengers take the mike in a "golden oldies" singsong. I'm really really old - most of the songs were from the Beatles era.
Tomorrow we get to relax as we have a full day of cruising ahead of us. We cannot use the sun deck for the next three days as the bridges are so low we could be decapitated. We also cannot open our windows as sometimes a very strong vacuum is created when the boat travels through the locks and we go through many of them here. Guess it's air conditioning for awhile but as the weather may be in the nineties it may be a good thing.
We were up and out of the cabin by 7 am to enjoy this most scenic cruise through the Rhine Vally, a UNESCO World Heritage Area. We passed lush vineyards and cozy hamlets interspersed with impressive castles both restored and in ruins. One of the tour guides gave a commentary about the castles and towns we passed. By 9 am we passed the Lorelei Rock where a traditional Rudesheimer Kaffee (Irish coffee) was served. Took a lot of pictures of this area.
At 12:30 we arrived in the town of Rudesheim, a wine-making village on the banks of the Rhine. We took a tschoo-tschoo train for lunch at the famous and historic Rudesheimer Schloss. This was advertised to be a wonderful traditional lunch of Wiener schnitzel served to us in a garden setting with some live musical entertainment. Once again, the skies were devoid of clouds and the temperature soared to 94 degrees F. There was absolutely no breeze.
First the train - it was crowded and hot - ventilation consisted of open windows at the top - the bottom was closed in. It would have been OK if we were allowed to stand. After about 10 minutes we arrived at the restaurant - the garden consisted of concrete and tiled floors, some pots with flowers and some shade provided by plastic awnings. A German Ompah Band was in full swing - amplified by a poor sound system. They were loud! Once again, we found that all the seats in our area were taken and we were asked to take a seat right next to the band. We flatly refused to move. After a half hour the salad course arrived. After another half hour the soup course arrived. After 45 minutes, the main course of the aforementioned schnitzel arrived. All this time the Ompah band was belting out German drinking songs and the temperature was rising. They brought two bottles of the local wine to the table - one white and one red - neither chilled. Guess they felt that if we drank a bottle of wine each, we would start to enjoy this experience. The dessert course was inedible. We noticed that our Tauck guides had disappeared - no doubt to another quieter and air-conditioned restaurant. We said we were leaving and would meet them at the Musik Kabinett Museum at the appointed time of 2:30.
Now this was a highlight - we had a delightful guide who showed us from room to room stopping in each one to play these magnificent mechanical musical instruments. Many had automatons (animated figures). One machine had six violins which accompanied a piano. We even heard an old 78 of Doris Day singing Que Sera Sera. The Museum was located in a large home built in the 15th century - it was surprisingly cool and still had some of the original frescos and tile floors.
From there, we walked to the Seilbahn (gondola) to take a ride up the hills over the vineyards. Thank heavens the gondola was open and we had a lovely breeze. It was unbearably hot at the top and both of us were feeling the effects so after one quick picture, decided (along with most of the other people on our tour) to take it right back down again. It was a half-hour wait for the train so elected to slowly walk back to the boat. What a relief to return to air-conditioned comfort.
We have decided that we are going to ask more questions about meals taken off the ship. We may consider not going to the Viennese Gala at one of the palaces. The menu didn't look that great and we have to ride a coach from a town outside of Vienna to Vienna in our "formal clothes". Our boat catches up with us in Vienna.
We ate in the Bistro last night where we were served French cuisine. The wines were the best part of the meal - Rothschild Burgandies both white and red. We then went to the lounge where we watched other passengers take the mike in a "golden oldies" singsong. I'm really really old - most of the songs were from the Beatles era.
Tomorrow we get to relax as we have a full day of cruising ahead of us. We cannot use the sun deck for the next three days as the bridges are so low we could be decapitated. We also cannot open our windows as sometimes a very strong vacuum is created when the boat travels through the locks and we go through many of them here. Guess it's air conditioning for awhile but as the weather may be in the nineties it may be a good thing.
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