notamermaid

I see on the map that rain was forecast for Munich during today, but more was due to fall further up the Isar and along the border with Austria. That looks pretty useless to me and Pfelling has shown no signs of reacting with a discernible upward trend to any rain. For now, I will concentrate a little on the Rhine where - let us say - the situation is a bit more undecided as regards sailing. The Danube in Bavaria is pretty clearly beyond all of that* this week. In this heat with nature all dry getting 30cm into the gauge at Pfelling is quite a task. And as you hint at this is not something we would want the rivers to accomplish in a day. notamermaid *good sailing for 135m ships

That is not a bad guess. But it is another river further South that I am looking for and there is no letter m in the name. notamermaid

Right, geography lesson. ("Nooo!" - "Yesss!) Who can tell me which river contributes the highest volume of water to the Rhine? This is an advanced class, so no multiple choice. notamermaid

No, not really. I understood it to mean that either the river had been kept artificially high, i.e. they retained less water and are now refilling the reservoir, meaning they are finished, or they will be doing some work on and off. AnhalterER1960 is closer to the area and the more technical mind, so I hope he will read my post in the near future. notamermaid

Trier - such an interesting city (I know I have mentioned this before ) but we can have a look at it again. This time, from a Letzebuergesch angle. The Luxembourg people when they have the weekend off, what day trips could they do? Naturally, Trier being so close it may be a good choice. The town in Germany is one of several suggestions that come from a Luxembourg newspaper. This is the article and I fully admit it contains some details I never knew about Trier: https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/travel/day-trip-trier-62834554de135b923673a320 The sooner I get to Trier the better, remember they have the huge exhibition on the end of the Roman empire this Summer (read a few posts back). notamermaid

So, what struck me as unusual is indeed unusual and some people have had a hand in it. I will explain. But first, the Elbe at Dresden. The level has steadily fallen and now correlates with the other rivers again. 65cm is really low: According to the BAfG, what happened at the Elbe was not all nature's doing. Here is the explanation for @AnhaltER1960 . Quote: "Aus technischen Gründen (Talsperren-Bauarbeiten) unterliegt die Wasserführung der Elbe derzeit stärkerer anthropogener Veränderung und entspricht weniger den na- türlichen Abflussbildungsprozessen." This basically means that "anthropos", here male and possibly a few female engineers and workmen, have been fiddling with levers, bolts, steel and concrete in the Czech Republic at the reservoir and altered the volume of water the river sends to Germany. notamermaid

According to local newspapers there was an explosion in the engine room and a fire broke out. Several people have inhaled the smoke. For more details please read (and translate): https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/explosie-op-cruiseschip-naast-centraal-station~b38c2497/ https://www.ad.nl/amsterdam/explosie-op-cruiseschip-naast-centraal-station~a38c2497/ notamermaid

Okay, that rules me out as an influencer. I am uninteresting, not going to tell anyone about my latest pair of shoes . I will leave that to the young blonde river maidens. So good to get a letter from Scenic. What a nightmare to have all screens going blank. And I am well aware of staff shortages still going on everywhere. Have had to deal with the fallout of that and covid sick colleagues recently myself. Hope things further progress for the better for the company. notamermaid

Sorry to read that. Best wishes for a quick recovery. notamermaid

The rain sweeping over Germany yesterday mainly came down beyond the Rhine valley, meaning the biggest amount will go beyond the watershed, feeding the Danube and its tributaries. But some of it hit the area around Lake Constance, so this should add to the Rhine's drainage basin. Will see how it goes. For now, no real change at Kaub: 70cm. Forecast suggests little change for today and tomorrow. notamermaid

Congratulations! Starting in Paris, city of love? I actually I prefer this Viking itinerary over the one from Amsterdam to Basel. Okay, you do not get to put a love lock on Cologne Hohenzollern Bridge, but the Moselle has lovely romantic spots. Hope you get some impressive sunsets. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Thanks for the rain dances and rain making implements and the dousing idea. I think we will have to use the beer garden method* as well. Pfelling gauge has dropped to 239cm but it has been even lower this morning so perhaps we will see an effect from rain later in the day. *beer is too valuable to pour into the Danube directly so drink lots of it in beer gardens lined along the river... notamermaid

Yes and no. You can do long training or short seminars, have a certificate or no certificate. It depends on who employs you and how outwardly good you want to present yourself (badges, certificate). You can join the association but for the more sporadically working guides this is difficult because the association wants you to do a certain amount of tours in a certain time frame. In Germany that is. Many German and European cities only allow their own guides, so you may have your guide travelling with you but he or she will then say in city X "your guide Y will show you around". Sticking to my own river, I could do some training and negotiating. For other areas, yes, not much of an option. But I could join a group of passengers... Would love to try out Scenic - alas - above my budget. That is why I jumped on the idea of free food and lodgings for writing and blogging. 😁 You are right, influencers just write. Never want to be that. Still, I tell you how lovely the Rhine is. I guess that makes me influence all of you! notamermaid

Thank you for the info. I guess that means you were possibly not able to return to the ship to sleep. Hope everything has turned out as best as it can in such a situation. So great that you were able to use two other ships facilities. You are right, low water levels pale into insignificance. All the best to you and everyone concerned. notamermaid

.... Here we are, @ural guy From another thread, your question: "Just wondering, but have you ever been to Ferropolis, the big industrial mining open air museum? We are arriving 10 nights early for a Danube cruise in November, and are going to spend 10 nights between Erfurt and Dresden, before we take a train to Prague, where our Vantage portion of trip starts. Looking at places like Quedlinburg, Freiberg...we'll have a car for 5-6 days." To be honest, I do not know where Ferropolis is. Okay, I know now: https://www.ferropolis.de/en/ This means I have never been. Looks great at first glance. I am not familiar with the East, but can tell you that people rave about Quedlinburg. Would love to go there. Erfurt has got a great cathedral (Dom) with a famous bell. Not sure how much AnhalterER1960 reads in the background. He lives in the East and is the expert. But there may be others who can give you some ideas about the area. notamermaid

Jet propulsion correct. At least that is how I understood it. Don't really know where the ships are right now, not sailing in Summer. As for that museum, etc.. I pull this over to the water cooler. Just a sec... notamermaid

That's it. Now we just need contacting by Scenic or another river cruise line. notamermaid

For the 135m ships I will stick to those figures, seeing that 290cm is official from the mouth of a hydrology person. But a captain may attempt it when the level is at 278cm depending on direction they sail (there is a slight difference in the laws of physics between upstream and downstream sailing which I cannot explain, no navigation I can do .) Or even 276cm. I really have no way of knowing any more details. The shorter ships fare just a little bit better, but again I have no details. What you can do is follow ships on vesselfinder. See how the ships do in the next 48 hours. https://www.vesselfinder.com/ Right now I cannot see any ships sailing between Deggendorf and Straubing, but that may just be coincidence as tour operators will want to be in towns at this time still. I would start by following the Monarch Empress (110m) which has left Passau and is now in the lock direction Vilshofen. ETA Regensburg 27 July. August 12 is still a long way away in river level terms but I am a bit skeptical about the Danube returning to normal levels by then. Just no way of knowing before, right now I would say, a week before you cruise. and even then a full day of rain can make a big difference, a slight difference in level I mean, but the crucial difference as regards sailing or not. Let us see what tomorrow or rather the rain during the evening brings. Rain is sweeping over the Danube as I write. If you would like to follow the developments, you can do this here: https://www.dwd.de/DE/leistungen/radarbild_film/radarbild_film.html#buehneTop notamermaid

You have given me an idea there... On the Rhine we have a Burgenblogger, a gentleman or a lady is appointed to write articles on things relating to the area and put them online. For that purpose the person is given a room in a castle. Not sure how long the appointed period is. If a company gave me a room on a river cruise ship I would be happy to write stories along the way, you know, sailing up and down my river with an international crowd, listening to the stories of the US American ex-soldier meeting the retired British engineer, or the two lovely Australian ladies on their first visit to Germany, etc., etc. Oh, the stories are endless! Good that Scenic has been in touch with a letter. Sure helps to understand what has happened - it was obviously major, really major. notamermaid

Well, Harwich to Hoek van Holland still exists. But Dover to Ostend may be an idea. Talking of no fly cruises: I wonder what Viva Cruises will offer there, a Eurotunnel package should be in really. So easy to get to Cologne or Düsseldorf by train, errr, em, slight cough, normally. notamermaid

Viva Cruises want to increase their presence (and their market share) in the UK by publishing their first English-language catalogue: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/viva-cruises-looks-to-boost-uk-presence-with-release-of-first-english-brochure notamermaid

From travelmarket report: https://www.travelmarketreport.com/NicheLuxury/articles/River-Cruise-Lines-Prepare-to-Deal-with-Low-Water-Levels-on-the-Rhine So the Rhine and the Danube. Are they not preparing on the Elbe? Basically, they do not need to, or let us say, they have learnt the hard way on the Elbe and the tricky itineraries are not even scheduled for Summer anymore. But details of that can sporadically be found in the thread on the Elbe (this year and in past years). notamermaid

Article on CC: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/7042/?stay=1&posfrom=1 Rather than the so often dramatic context online news puts the low levels in, mostly because it is a valid concern for the transport of commodities on the Rhine and also on the Danube, here the context is river cruising. I like the fact that it quotes the agency: "Drought and high temperatures are straining Middle Europe's water balance," BfG said in a statement. "In many cases water yields in rivers are rather unusually low for July. As a consequence, navigation is facing increasing obstacles. While fairway depths are reduced at some stretches, Germany's complete waterway network is still navigable. ..." Text put into bold by me. The rivers are not drying up, not the navigable ones anyway. One note: Since the article was written we have learnt that a few itineraries on the Rhine have indeed been altered. notamermaid

Well, I understated the distance a bit, i.e. it is a little bit of a drive still from Basel but if you fancy a different pre-cruise or post-cruise experience you can go to Lake Constance and the Bavarian Riviera at Lindau: https://www.lindau.de/en/experience-lindau/parks-gardens/bavarian-riviera/ Unfortunately, a few excursion boats are now struggling with the low water at Lake Constance. The Lake is very deep, so the problems are obviously close to the shores. Most are still sailing but the level should not fall much further for them. The graph: 331cm is not officially low but it should be higher at this time of year. Hopefully the rain that is forecast for tonight will help. No impact, i.e. a rise at Maxau gauge, is forecast in the next 36 hours. Kaub gauge is at 69cm and following what happens upstream in the valley of course is not expected to rise either. Can the rain prove this wrong? I am skeptical but let us see tomorrow. notamermaid

Not much change at Pfelling: 242cm. Rain in Bavaria forecast for late evening and during the night. notamermaid