Woke up this morning to the ever present sore throat and now a chesty cough. Alan got me a lovely hot cup of tea and and we sipped on that whilst watching the magical scenery drift by.
We have reached the mountainous area and this cold misty morning made the castles and villages look very medieval and spectacular.
This stretch of the river boats approx 1 castle every 1.5kms so plenty to see. Our cruise director, Robert, gave a commentary starting at 8.30 which was very entertaining with the history and old legends, including the Lorelei who lured sailors to their destruction. We did the scenic cruising from the loung as it was bitterly cold outside, Alan just ducked out every time he wanted a photo. I stayed rugged up with a hot cuppa.
Hadn't even had time to digest breakfast when a early lunch was put on so we could disembark at 1245 in Rudesheim.
In Rudesheim we visited the mechanical musical museum. We were expecting to duck out the back as we could not see how we would survive this 45min tour but we were pleasantly surprised. The building and the collection of musical machines were incredible - one did 16 different instruments. They had been restored and the house they were in dated back to the 1300's. It too was well worth the visit. So it turned out to be a very pleasant and educational 45 mins.
From here we wandered down the street to a beergarden for a free tasting of the local coffee. The speciality here is made in a special coffee cup with 2 taspoons of sugar, drowned (and I mean drowned about 1/2 cup) with a very health splash of warm brandy which is ignited then espresso poured over to douse the flames and a massive dollop of whipped cream and chocolate. You are not allowed to stir the coffee as the layers need to remain. Absolutely delicious and obviously the brandy did me the world of good as it stopped my coughing for a good 3 hours!
We didn't have enough time to do the gondola ride and walk back thru the vineyards. The vinyards are build on the extremely steep slopes of the hills - they are so steep machinery can't operate here so walking thru the vineyards didn't appeal to me anyway. Instead we wandered the cobbled streets, poking our heads in and out of shops and tasting the local wine, which proved to be very good and cheap so we stocked up on a few bottles.
By this time the sun had finally come out and the temp must have risen at least 10degrees as we wandered back to the boat. Back on board we finally got to open our sliding door to let in some fresh air (and dry Alan's socks) and now updating blog before we head down for another delicious meal with too much wine.
We have reached the mountainous area and this cold misty morning made the castles and villages look very medieval and spectacular.
This stretch of the river boats approx 1 castle every 1.5kms so plenty to see. Our cruise director, Robert, gave a commentary starting at 8.30 which was very entertaining with the history and old legends, including the Lorelei who lured sailors to their destruction. We did the scenic cruising from the loung as it was bitterly cold outside, Alan just ducked out every time he wanted a photo. I stayed rugged up with a hot cuppa.
Hadn't even had time to digest breakfast when a early lunch was put on so we could disembark at 1245 in Rudesheim.
In Rudesheim we visited the mechanical musical museum. We were expecting to duck out the back as we could not see how we would survive this 45min tour but we were pleasantly surprised. The building and the collection of musical machines were incredible - one did 16 different instruments. They had been restored and the house they were in dated back to the 1300's. It too was well worth the visit. So it turned out to be a very pleasant and educational 45 mins.
From here we wandered down the street to a beergarden for a free tasting of the local coffee. The speciality here is made in a special coffee cup with 2 taspoons of sugar, drowned (and I mean drowned about 1/2 cup) with a very health splash of warm brandy which is ignited then espresso poured over to douse the flames and a massive dollop of whipped cream and chocolate. You are not allowed to stir the coffee as the layers need to remain. Absolutely delicious and obviously the brandy did me the world of good as it stopped my coughing for a good 3 hours!
We didn't have enough time to do the gondola ride and walk back thru the vineyards. The vinyards are build on the extremely steep slopes of the hills - they are so steep machinery can't operate here so walking thru the vineyards didn't appeal to me anyway. Instead we wandered the cobbled streets, poking our heads in and out of shops and tasting the local wine, which proved to be very good and cheap so we stocked up on a few bottles.
By this time the sun had finally come out and the temp must have risen at least 10degrees as we wandered back to the boat. Back on board we finally got to open our sliding door to let in some fresh air (and dry Alan's socks) and now updating blog before we head down for another delicious meal with too much wine.
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