Today we were going to sleep in but then we realized the Middle Rhine Castle watch would start at 9am. I wanted to get up to the sun roof and get a good spot to watch. I mean, there's really no bad spot on the sun roof. The sun was out, and there was a nice breeze thanks to the moving boat.
The Middle Rhine is famous for the 28 castles that lines its banks. Viking gave us a pamphlet that was a map that showed the name and a little about the castle. It was exactly what we needed to keep track of the castles and later to the photos.
I don't think I actually took a photo of every castle, but I did a pretty good job of hitting almost all of them. Come along on the cruise with me.
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| Stolzenfels Castle |
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| Katz Castle |
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| Maus Castle |
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| A small village on the Rhine. |
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| I loved the terrace look of their vineyards |
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| Castle Rheins |
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| Fürstenberg Castle |
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| Pfalzgrafenstein Castle is the one in the middle of the Rhine |
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| Marksburg Castle. The grand daddy of all the castles on the Rhine |
The Program Director narrated as we passed each one. Most of the castles are now hotels or Youth Hostels. None are "operational" castles, if you know what I mean. I forget the date, but several years / decades ago, Germany offered the castles up for sell for 1 Euro. The catch? You had to have enough $$ to keep the exterior maintained historically accurately. You could do whatever you wanted on the inside, but you had to maintain the outside. In most cases it's been millions of euros required to do just that. What a brilliant thing for the German government to do. It kept their heritage and not at their expense.
By about noon we were docked in Koblenz. Koblenz owes its name to the meeting point of the Rhine and the Moselle - from "Castellum apud Confluents", Latin for "fort at the confluence", which over time became Koblenz.
Koblenz sits where Father Rhine and Mother Moselle meet. Where they meet is called the Deutsches Eck or German corner.
This is not a photo I took. I stole it from the internet so I could show you what I'm talking about. The river in front is the Rhine. The river behind is the Mosel. That cement area to the left of the triangle is where our boat docked. I literally looked out our room window and saw the William I statue.
Our walking tour of Koblenz started after lunch. I didn't find Koblenz overly interesting. It did play a role in WWII, but nothing was really left to see from that time period. 80% of Koblenz was destroyed.
Our tour started at the German corner and the Kaiser Wilhelm I memorial. Kaiser Wilhelm I is who brought about the unification of Germany after 3 years of war. In 1891 Wilhem II, the grandson of Wilhelm I, chose this location for the memorial. In 1897 the copper memorial of Kaiser Wilhelm I was inaugurated. It was then destroyed in WWII in 1945. In 1953 the riderless pedestal was dedicated as a memorial to German unity. It wasn't until 1993 that a reconstruction of the memorial was finally set in place. The 37 meter high monument stands proud now.
Our tour continued into the "old town" of Koblenz. Not too surprising it included a cathedral. St. Castor is a beautiful cathedral. Like the others we had seen thus far, it was simple in side.
Walking through town we saw this guy playing this thing. I have no idea what it is, but it's huge and it made a beautiful sound.
The rest of the city tour was relatively uneventful. We got to see their beautiful city hall. The top has 24 windows and at Christmas time they use these as an Advent calendar.
The weather was hot again, and so very humid. We heard thunderstorms were on the way, but before they got here we decided gelato was necessary to get us back to the ship.
Once back on the ship, they were not wrong about the thunder storm. First a HUGE wind storm kicked up. Janet and I got a little wind blown while sitting on the veranda.
Then the storm hit. We sat and watched it thunder and lightening for at least 30 minutes. The rain came pounding down too. I love storms. And while it was still humid and hot during the storm, it was nice to sit out on the veranda and watch it.
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