Castles of the Rhine

2022, November 6

This was a 21 hour trip down the Rhine gorge starting the night of the 5th.

I woke up - my curtains were parted a little so I could see if it was light out. And there was light. So I got up and opened the curtains thinking it was daytime. But it wasn't daytime - it was a full moon.

Full moon on the Rhine

I took a video with my phone and then went back to sleep.

When I waked up again it was about 7:30 and there were things to look at on the shore.

Hotel Konigstuhl

Rhein Hotel

Bad Salzig

After breakfast (poached eggs and avocado)

Me and the waiter

I put on my warmest clothes and coat and went out on the bow to take pictures of the castles.

Me taking pictures

Just as in Cologne, I had my dad's photos taken in 1950 and I wanted to match my dad's pictures. I did manage to match a few, mostly non-specific items like boats and vinyards. These 4 I did not get matched.

Konig Swinter

Castle on the Rhine - 1950

Bonn

Koblenz, Ehrenbreitstein fortress

They gave us a map with the castles on it, with mile markers and I hoped I could match up the castles on the map with my photos.

Castles list

Lots of luck with that.

Fall color

Boat ahead of us rounding the corner

They told us a story about this pub/church, but I can't remember what it was or how to google it

Vinyard

Burg Katz (cats)

St Goarshausen

Direction signs

Near Mainz, Germany, the Rhine River is narrow with three s-curves and steep canyon walls. The river is too narrow for two-way traffic; down-bound boats have the right of way. Radar doesn't work well, and ships don’t have the GPS/GIS capabilities we have in the U.S. The Germans have solved the problem by installing traffic lights on the river. Each triangle is one reach (upper, middle, lower) of the s-curves; a lit horizontal bar means there are no boats in the reach; left arm lit means there is a down-bound boat; right arm lit means there is an up-bound boat.

Ship going downstream

Up-bound boats have to hold at the lower light until down-bound boats have cleared the entire stretch of river before they can proceed.

Alstadt-Burg Katz

KM 555

Lorelei hill

Flags on top of the hill

Loreley sign

Freight train

KM 554

554 km: Maus Castle

Rheinfels Castle

Village of Wellmich

New RR tunnel built to look like a castle

Vinyards

Then about 10:30, I looked at the map and saw that most of the stuff coming up was on the right hand side, and my cabin is starboard. It was very windy and cold on the bow plus the sun was right ahead of us.

Lesley took a blanket up to the top deck to watch from there.

On the sun deck

I just went to my cabin and sat by the window and took photos of all the stuff on the right side.. I took almost 275 photos altogether.

Oberwesel

Bow of a barge

Green buoy

Ferry

Boat ahead of us on the bow camera

KM 546

Niederhelmbach

Rüdesheim Rottland

km 535

It was sunny in the morning, but it got misty and started to rain and it was cold.

Btomserburg - Die Burg A.M. Rhein

KM 534