Castle day...

Friday, September 23. Bright and sunny.

A sleep in morning and then a visit to the quaint town of Rudesheim. There we visited the Mechanical Museum where a gentleman has spent his life restoring ancient mechanical musical boxes, ranging in size of a small garbage container down to music boxes that fit on a dresser. Very interesting.

We hit the river Rhine at that town after bravely surviving the 68 locks that it took to get us here! The river is wider and very much busier than the previous days. It is almost a free-for-all on the river regarding cruise ships, commercial vessels, barges and day cruise ships. 

It is impossible to convey the sense of our day in pictures or words, I will just include as many shots as I can for you today, without comment.  

We ended our day with a dinner in a special Chef's Table restaurant, holding about 24 people and we were fortunate enough to have it for the time we were sailing through the Gorge area in the Rhine where is a long stretch of ancient castles. The light was not the best for photography but it was glorious.

When I first visited Europe in 1960 we travelled and stayed in this area, two guys on a Vespa motor scooter.  I remember sitting high up in the hills having a lunch of bread, cheese, salami and cheap wine looking down upon those Rhine Steamers as we called them, wondering who could afford to live like that. Strange how the world turns out, sometimes for the better. 

Great day for Fellette and I, Moe is under the weather and stayed on board today. 

We are overnight in Koblenz, sail in the morning to Cologne then off to Amsterdam and fly home Monday afternoon, arriving one hour after we leave.  (Time change!)




Inside the Mechanical Music Museum in Rudesheim. Some gent devoted his live to repairing and restoring old mechanical music devices. The noise of some is deafening. The mechanical workings are beyond complex, amazing. 


Those were the days of embellishment and spectacularism. [Is that a word?]


Does that look German or what?


This was effectively a Toll Gate on the river.


Oops, more music stuff.


Rhine Wine.


A Fairy Tale World.


What goes on in there now?


Or there?


Do you think they have ever been flooded?


















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