Mainz, Rhine Valley, Koblenz
Trip Start
May 21, 2008
1
30
39
Trip End
Jul 01, 2008
Mainz, Rhine Valley, Koblenz,
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany
Thursday, June 19, 2008
In the morning we visited the world famous for the Bible there. The old printing presses were very interesting; some of us had a go at trying to turn the wheels of the press. It would have been very labour intensive.
Wandered through the town, visited another lovely Cathedral made of red sandstone. In the window of a little shop, I got quite a giggle, but there was a display of china Cows. Don't know if you can see there was cup in the centre "Cowachino"., really cute.
On the edge of the river, there was an amusing slippery dip; the kids would have loved it, sand pit around slide going down the back of the whale
Gutenberg Museum ( no photos inside)
.In the afternoon we sailed through the Rhine gorge, this stretch of the river has many castles and villages. It brings fairy tales to life, you can just imagine the princess imprisoned in the tower, waiting for her handsome prince to rescue her. In reality most were built to collect the tolls along the way in old times. There are many vineyards along the way, built high in the hills, one feels the pickers would have to have one short leg, the slopes are so steep. The vines are often planted vertically, so the grapes receive the most sun.
We sailed by the legendary 'Loreley Rock" , the deepest and narrowest point of the Rhine. It was windy, and with the wind blowing through the gap in the door, it almost sounded like she was calling us sailors to doom..(Wandering mind fantasizing).
Along the way, we were served more delicious food by our Chef, see the photo, Gary trying to convince him to come and live with us, (I am such a lousy cook) sadly for him but he didn't succeed, probably lucky for his waist line. I am sure we have all grown slightly larger on this tour, thank goodness for the many walking tours
The route through the Rhine Gorge
.We moored for the night in the town of Koblenz ducking round the corner into the Mosel River. It was soccer night, Germany was playing and there was much joviality and noise in the town, and then when they won the match there was car horns, church bells, crackers going off until the wee hours. And it wasn't even the grand final.
Koblenz was really just like any city the world over, had been mostly re-built due to being largely destroyed in the War. Lots of shops and traffic. There is a large fortress overlooking - "Ehrenbreitstein Fortress". The next day we are sailing for Bonn and Cologne., 4711 anyone?
