The Rhine - Rudesheim to Basel
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Stolzenfels On the way to Rudesheim A drink on the deck of the ship on the way to Rudesheim: cognac, sugar, burn off the alcohol with a torch, coffee, whipped cream. By the time we got ours the torch wasn't working so we got all that alcohol. Oh, boy!!!!!!!! Ehrental Another Rhine Castle This is the statue of the Loreli. It was really difficult to get a good shot, as she was directly in the sun. But we passed her and they played the song on the loudspeaker.
Everyone seemed to be working on their churches. Our two passtimes - reading and playing triominoes. We have been trying to buy a set in Las Vegas with those little tile holders but can't find one. Every kilometer of the Rhine has a marker. Viking River Cruises gave us a book, which has the town of Lorchausen at this number. This castle in the middle of the river has scaffolding surrounding it.
We found this old RCA dog on a shelf of the Music Museum featuring antique mechanical musical instruments. This player piano had actual violins which were mechanically played. We went on an optional tour to a monestary for wine tasting. When we got there the guide was waiting for us at a different place so the bus driver said to get in the bus. About 6 did, including Rich. Then he closed the door and took off, leaving the rest of us. In a few worrisome minutes he came back with the guide. Whew! Here we are in the first room tasting our first of 6 glasses of wine. When we walked into the room, it was completely dark with candles lit on all the kegs from the previous picture. (The picture is actually a postcard we bought.) It was a very mysterious feeling. This is another of the rooms where we drank another wine. The guide is in an orange shirt. See the Camelback? The woman in black sitting on the left is also from Las Vegas but not with our group. The columns you can see on the wall have flowers painted on them. More of the monestary
More of the monestary I went on the tour of Heidelberg while Rich recovered from a gall bladder attack. He's had about 10 of these attacks since October but this was the first since February. This is Heidelberg's castle ruin. Another view of the castle. It's set up for an outdoor concert. I noticed that a lot of the old castles and churches sponsor events. Well, that didn't stop me from having beer with lunch with our GE group. As we're walking back to the ship, one of our group yells out, "Hello, Atam Rao." Atam worked with the group in San Jose and was in Heidelberg on vacation. Small world! We docked the ship in Germany and bussed across the Rhine to Strasbourg, France. It is known for the number of storks that nest here.
The European Parliament meets here. A group of kayakers in the many waterways of Strasbourg. Along the canal After a day lounging on the ship you'd think he'd be running circles around us. Of course, the wine barrel doesn't hold wine any more. Mozart played this organ.
Another view of Strasbourg Milan served us a special cake for our 38th wedding anniversary. He was a most popular waiter. Ginger brought us balloons and a card. We ate with Evelyn and Claude Solanas, who are stilling living in Morgan Hill. A Black Forest hat for women (so Rich is a comic!) I think the red pom poms indicate an unmarried woman.
The real owner of the hat. We stopped at a place in the Black Forest that had this teeter-totter. You don't find these in playgrounds anymore. We didn't buy it. This artesan gave a demonstration on making Coo Coo Clocks. This was our other souvenir of the Black Forest - Black Forest cake. Now, who did you think the other fork on the previous picture was for?
We have finished touring the Black Forest and have been bussed to this dock - in the middle of nowhere! The ship has been held up in a dock so 200 people are milling around looking anxious. Unfortunately the kids on the motorcycles had other plans for this dock - girls, swimming and smooching! Here comes the ship and we load in about 5 minutes. But.... one of the deckhands had to stand over the hole in the dock. Rich's left side is on the right side of the picture. We went through a lot of locks, but either at night or while we were off the ship. We went through this lock during dinner. These people were performing for another ship docked at Basel. We had to get on a tram to get into Basel. The ticket machine at the dock took Euros, which we had, but the ticket machine in downtown Basel didn't. We couldn't get the ATM machine to accept our cash card so we just went back to the ship within the hour allowed on the ticket. Getting Swiss franks was a big hassle.