This morning, we sailed the Rhine from Boppard to Rüdesheim. It was advertised as a beautiful sailing, and it delivered. Time and schedule do not permit me to present a carefully-curated and researched set of photos, so here are three from the start of the sailing.
Rosh Hashanah begins in a few minutes; we will be spending the evening at a monastery for a wine tasting. Assuming we are not struck dead, I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.
Shana Tova!
We reached the end of the Moselle River at Deutsches Eck this morning. There’s a huge statue of Emperor William I at the promontory; it was erected in 1897, destroyed down to the plinth during World War II, and re-erected in 1993 after German unification.
We sailed up the Rhine, passing fairy-tale castles like Marksburg.
We reached Boppard just before lunch and took a quick walk along the Rhine. Boppard is a very cute town; here’s the house directly opposite our docking place.
Martin, our tour manager, says that the dog in this house’s window has been faithfully watching for at least 10 years.
We happened to be there for the annual Onion Market, which has been happening since the Middle Ages – these days, there were a lot of merchants selling random stuff (at least three booths with knives and other tools, several with yarn, and quite a few selling clothes that I’m sure were not made in the EU). I almost bought an articulated dental mirror to use when trying to look behind things at home, but didn’t like the feel of it – where is Edmund Scientific when you need them?
(Photo courtesy of Boppard Tourism)
We took a “Masterpiece Collection” excursion to Castle Ehrenburg in the afternoon. It was built in the 12th century and like Yoda, it looks pretty good for its age.
The castle includes a hotel and spa, but if you’re on a limited budget, you can stay in one of their medieval wagons.
There’s a beautiful church (St. Margaretha Catholic Church) across the Rhine; we won’t get to visit it (the nearest bridge across the river is an hour’s drive away), but I couldn’t resist taking its picture. They call themselves a “cycle path church” and offer air pumps and patches as well as spiritual blessings!
After dinner, we went for a stroll to the downtown. Things were very quiet, though the restaurants were busy. I liked the way Basilika St. Severus was lit up.
We arrived in Bernkastle early in the morning; we had a choice of a walking tour of the town or a strenuous bike ride, both followed by a wine tasting. We chose the walking tour. The ruins of Berg Landshut dominated the skyline.
The town is actually called Bernkastle-Kues; Kues was on the other side of the Moselle. Our guide told us about the St. Nikolas Hospital in Kues, which was founded in 1465 as a place for needy old men to live; it’s still a retirement home today!
Our guide took us into the Market Square, complete with fountains, Rathaus, and lots and lots of stores and restaurants.
German mailboxes (this one’s in front of the drugstore) are more interesting than the ones we have at home.
Our guide pointed out the Spitzhäuschen (Pointed House), an excellent example of the half-timbered buildings found throughout the market area.
We left the market square and stopped at the Bear Fountain (the bear is Bernkastle’s heraldic animal).
Our guide took us outside the old city walls so we could see a “Doctor Wine Cellar”, and then she told us the legend behind the name. We returned to the town through the Graacher Tor (the one remaining city gate) and saw plaques commemorating the Jewish residents lost in the Shoah.
We saw our first stolperstein of the cruise a few feet from the gate; they commemorate two Jews who had fled to Cologne and hidden in 1939, then moved to Bernkastel later in the war and were killed by an Allied bombing raid in January 1945.
That completed the walking tour; our guide then took us to Weingut Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler for a Riesling tasting (and explanation).
The wines were tasty, but I didn’t want to bring any wine home with me; Bernkastel wines are available in the US at decent prices, anyway.
We left the cellar and walked up to the castle; it was worth it for the views.
We went back to the ship for lunch, passing a roadside vineyard along the way; the grapes like very steep slopes!
After lunch, we went back to town for a little light shopping and exploration; I was somewhat surprised to find a monument to the town’s fallen soldiers from the World Wars, complete with Iron Cross, but our travel agent says that we’d see similar monuments in most small towns.
We left Bernkastel around 6 and began sailing upriver. The scenery was distracting, but we managed to concentrate on dinner (and some Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler wines) anyway.
We sailed overnight, docking in Schweich in the early morning hours. We went up on the Sun Deck before breakfast and enjoyed the dawn and the morning quiet before having breakfast and departing on our excursions.
Diane went to Trier; I went to Luxembourg (a new country!). My tour’s first stop was the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, which was established during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
Most (but not all) of the servicemen (and one servicewoman) interred in the cemetery died during the Battle of the Bulge, and there is a large map showing how the battle progressed, from the Germans’ first counteroffensive through their final defeat.
There are 5,076 graves on the site. It’s a sobering experience.
We then drove into Luxembourg City for a walking tour. We parked outside the old city, near the State Bank.
We saw the defensive fortifications which kept Luxembourg independent through most of its history as we crossed the bridge into the main part of the city.
We walked to the Monument of Remembrance, dedicated to the Luxembourgers who served in the Allied Forces in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War.
Our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral.
The Cathedral is only a few blocks from the Parliament and the official residence of the Grand Duke, which has (of course) a guard of honor.
Our guides turned us loose for an hour of exploration before we had to return to the bus; I enjoyed a glass of the local cremant sparkling wine with my friends Karen and Rick and then went in search of interesting shops and souvenirs (with limited success).
After lunch, Diane and I took the bus into Trier, which has the most Roman ruins of any city in Germany. The bus dropped us off just outside the Porta Negra, which led us into the city center.
We bypassed the shopping district and headed towards the Palastgarten near Constantine’s Basilica. We wandered through the Palastgarten and spent a little time watching a fountain.
We walked by the Kaiserthermen (Imperial Baths), which was started by Emperor Constantine I but never completed. I guess the new administration didn’t want to fund it!
We walked over to the New Trier Synagogue, established after WWII by 14 returning Jews and some Allied soldiers. The congregation grew significantly with the influx of Jews from the Former Soviet Union, and it now numbers about 500 members.
Our next stop was in front of the Karl Marx Museum, located in his birthplace on Brückenstrasse.
We started walking back to the Porta Nigra to meet the bus back to the ship. The Grasshopper Fountain, dedicated to the Trier Carnival Society caught Diane’s eye.
Trier has a lot of fountains; the last one we stopped at was St. George’s Fountain in the Kornmarkt.
It was a hot afternoon, so we stopped at Eiscafe Siena for a delicious lemonade before getting on the bus for the ride back to the ship.
When we got back to the ship, I tried to take out the camera battery to recharge it. It had started to bulge out, so it was hard to get it out; I was able to give it to the ship for safe disposal. I’d already gotten a refund for the batteries, so I guess I can’t complain!
We had our first excursion of the trip this morning, a tour of Cochem Castle, about 300 feet above river level. We had a choice between riding there in minivans or walking up on our own and meeting our guides there – one guess which we chose!
The MS Olympia was moored just down the road from us; they specialize in Bike and Boat tours. They claim that this particular tour is “suitable for unpractised cyclists”; I’ll take them at their word.
We walked with a couple of our friends; the castle beckoned at us from the bridge over the Moselle.
We got to the castle about 10 minutes before the minivans, so we had time to enjoy the view.
The first castle on the site was built in 1000, passed into the hands of the German Kings and then to the Electors of Trier. It was expanded in 1332 and reduced to ruins by Louis XIV in 1689. Louis Ravené, an iron and steel magnate, bought it in 1868 and rebuilt it as a summer cottage for his family, who owned it until 1943 when they surrendered it to the Third Reich because they couldn’t afford the taxes. West Germany took possession after WWII, and the city of Cochem took over in 1978 and turned it into a tourist attraction, showing the castle as it was when Ravené owned it.
We walked back down to town; the grapes are a very dark purple, so I guess the harvest must be imminent.
Our route back to the ship took us past Cochen’s Shoah plaques – Germany has done a much better job of facing ugly history than the US has.
The Jewish Community in Cochem – Lost on November 9, 1938, Reichskristalnacht. Due to the destruction of the synagogue and schoolhouse on Oberbachstrasse. In remembrance and warning. Given on November 9, 1988.
Jews lived in Cochem for hundreds of years – the Mayer, Goetzoff, Hirsch, Dahl, Haimann, and Simon families were victims of the Shoah. In remembrance and warning. Given on November 9, 1998.
We passed something else you wouldn’t see in the US – wine vending machines. There were also vending machines which sold cigarettes, vapes, eggs, and cream cheese (as well as more usual goodies like candy, sodas, and ice cream).
We walked the opposite side of the Moselle to get a photo of Pegel Cochem; it’s a small building along the waterfront which memorializes floods of the past and contains gauges to measure the current river level. The “clock” at the top of the building shows the current level (about 220cm); you can also get the data on the Pagel Cochem page from the German government’s Undine Information Platform, but what fun would that be?
The ship left Cochem while we were having lunch, and we’ve been enjoying the scenery all afternoon.
Tonight is the ship’s “70’s Party”; I will not be posting photos.