Sailing to Rudesheim

The ship left Engers early on Monday morning headed for Rüdesheim. We passed the Marksburg castle south of Koblenz during breakfast and entered the “castle heavy” portion of the Rhine around 9:00. Cruise director Hendrik sat on the sun deck and gave commentary that was broadcast both on the deck and in the lounge. We had great weather. It was cloudy early and cleared off as we neared Rüdesheim. We passed a river cruise ship that looked familiar. I asked Hendrik about and it was indeed the former Viking MS Vienna. Before that it was the Avalon Tapestry. Apparently Avalon gave up on the design that featured a drive unit that was actually a separate vessel at the back of the hotel ship. It was supposed to minimize vibration. I’ve pasted photos of some of the castles and scenery below. I know that there are a lot of them, but I picked them out of almost 400!

Hendrik narrating the castle stretch of the Rhine

Marksburg Castle

Former Avalon Tapestry cruising the Rhine

Container ship

Maus Castle

Aggie checking out the castles

Rhine ferry

Obligatory Lorelei photo

Campers at the Lorelei 

Tunnel "camouflaged" in WWII to look like a castle

Church at Oberwesel

Rhinefels Castle

"Punishment" basket at Rhinefels

After lunch we had options in Rüdesheim. We were driven into town on the little Rudesheim train that all the cruise lines use. It dropped us off at our first option--Siegfred’s Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum. We could also take the cable car up to the Germania statue, or we could just shop and walk around. I opted for the cable car and Vicki, Larry, and Ann chose the museum. They thought that the museum show would be about an hour, but it only lasted 20 minutes. So they had plenty of time to shop in Rüdesheim. Vicki was really looking forward to the Käthe Wohlfahrt store, but it was something of a disappointment. The store looked really picked over, and the merchandise wasn’t nearly as nice as what she’d seen in other Käthe Wohlfahrt stores. 

The cable car ride up the mountain was quiet and relaxing. The views were very nice. After a walk to the statue that celebrates Germany’s unification in 1871, I ran into a couple from the ship who were walking back down to Rudesheim, and we did the walk through the vineyards together. 

I was back by about 3:00, and met up with the family in town. We thought about doing the Rudesheimer coffee tasting at 3:45, but decided to walk back to the ship instead and relax in the lounge. 

When we got back to the ship, the AmaLyra had pulled up beside us, so we spent the rest of the day and evening in close quarters. La Strada classical trio of two violins and a guitar played after dinner. The ship set sail for Düsseldorf around midnight. La Strada is really an organization that operates on cruise ships all over Europe. I’m guessing that all their trios do pretty much the same numbers and arrangements. They seem to be very popular among river cruisers.

Artistry II rafted with Amalyra