Kurhaus Thea Bad Kissingen

... no chance of being understood. Blessedly, there is some recognizable tunes. Shuls is a dance machine.

We stopped on the main bridge at a cafe with a fire blazing and had coffee. We then returned to the ship for our optional excursion to Rothenburg. A Unesco site that is a completely walled in Medieval village from the 12th century. We had lunch at a quaint Italian restaurantm the owner from Naples. Best food of the trip!

This town is ...

At Bamberg we left the Danube-Main Canal. The canal was completed in 1992 and allows ships to travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea. This connection had been dreamed of since Charlemagne tried digging one in the 8th century. Another attempt was made in the 1800s but the advent of the railroad doomed it. It took 20th century technology to make it possible. The canal itself has 34 locks out of the total of ...

The fourth biggest city in Germany, with over one million inhabitants, Cologne (Köln in German) began life as a Roman colony or colonia (hence its name). Its location on the Rhine, at the heart of Germania, was key to its status as capital of the province. The city became a centre for worship, famous for the legend and cult of Santa Ursula, and built several splendid Romanesque churches, which survive today.

By the Middle Ages, Cologne was one of ...

We say good-bye to the little Gausthaus after breakfast in the half circle dining room. We are now going down the Romantic Road in, Germany. Our first town stop is in Wurzburg. The sights to see here are a couple of churches and the castle along with all the older style village homes and buildings.

The castle boasts having the largest fresco ceiling painting in the world. We go to the castle and purchase our entrance ...

So last night was a rather sleepless night, as the Europeans we share our rooms with don't like to shower and smell like heathens. Anyway, we woke up, had breakfast and headed to meet our tour to go to Dachau. The company who runs the free tours we've been on before and talked about at length was the same company that we took this tour with today. Additionally, we got 20% off for being guests of a participating hostel, and another four euro off for being student. Cheap way ...

... down into the wine cellar which is 260 years old.  It was a dark tunnel under the palace lined with barrels of wine and when we came to the end two long table all set up with glasses and 400 candles burning just like old times and we sat down to a wine tasting.  We tasted 3 different wines while we were told of the history and after an hour we left there to walk home to the ship as very happy little ...

... of the fortified castle (which also housed the parking for the buses!) Once Chris was able to peel me off every cool stone in the towering wall, we enjoyed the great city views. Wow. What an incredibly fortified castle this still is! Most of the castles we have had the opportunity to visit have been in some state of ruin, but the Wurzburg castle is intact. Marveling at the feat of building such a structure with its two sets ...

... side of the road takes some getting used to but so far we are managing, it was freeway all the way out of Holland at 100kmh limit then the road signs just changed language and we crossed into Germany then it was eyes in the mirror all the time looking for low flying BMW and Porche the fastest we saw was a BMW M5 it went past so fast that the bike shook, no speed limits on some autobahans. We had to refuel twice at 1.52 ...

... Frankfurt isn't killer hot like some of the other German places I have visited recently. Feeling a bit peckish, I grabbed a salami, cucumber, tomato sandwich - blah! My last night of the trip was spent wandering aimlessly, much like the last time I was in Frankfurt. Since Frankfurt is so boring, why did I come here? It's because it's a convenient transport hub - had I chosen to fly home from London, I'd have wasted a day getting back to London, lost ...

... m above sea level at Hanau. The river Mainin its natural state is a fast-moving stream unsuitable for shipping.In the 19th century the river was tamed and a system of dams and locksis now part of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal connecting the North Sea with the Black Sea

Lohr is said to be Snow White's possible birthplace.