notamermaid

Things are certainly looking better in Hungary and the river looks to have peaked at Vukovar as well. The wave is still in Novi Sad. Budapest gauge has fallen to 409cm so has been doing well but the decline in figures is now slow. That should not be too much of a problem now. It is raining in Bavaria so again we are looking at the German Danube. Passau gauge has risen to 631cm. A bit too high for comfort but the problems at the suspension bridge should still be small. notamermaid

Glad to read that others can get this feeling. We do not get much snow along the Rhine, the valley is too warm, especially in November. But it can happen in that month. A typical scenario is having snow in the Black Forest which you may well visit during an excursion and rain in the valley. Every year is a little different but as a general rule there is some snow for a week in December and then more snow in January and February. notamermaid

So to Rolandseck and the toilets. The station at Rolandseck has some wrought iron work and balcony/veranda that other stations along the line do not have. There is also a grand approach, like a drive, for carriages, with steps up to the building and platforms. The front view: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolandseck_station#/media/File:Rolandseck_Bahnhof.jpg from the page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolandseck_station Compare this to Weißenthurm further along towards Koblenz: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Weißenthurm,_Bahnhof_(2015-05-19).JPG The station became a meeting place, for folks of all sorts of life. The Wikipedia page is really good with describing this. Then, when such buildings were just a financial burden and not fashionable, some art lover stepped in. And that is were the story of the unusual toilets begins. The original toilet areas remained but this now being a "Kulturbahnhof" all sorts of people turned up and one of them was the British artist Stephen McKenna. And he spent quite a bit of time in the toilets - with brush and paint. Scroll down to read the English text: https://arpmuseum.org/museum/unser-haus/news/kunst-am-ort-stephen-mckenna-ausmalung-der-toiletten.html In 2004 the station became part of the Arp Museum. It is still a functioning railway stop - with a big history and an unusual interior. And the ferry? It still exists as a route. Now a modern car ferry, you can see what travellers see when on the Rhine through the webcam: http://www.faehre-honnef.de/#webcam notamermaid

It isn't called a Freistaat (free state) for nothing. Road signs tell you you are entering a different realm they are proud of. Joking aside, we do have cultural differences, the Rhineland and Bavaria. All friendly banter, we mean no harm. But you will never ever find me on an Oktoberfest type of event, unless I am invited by a good friend for a private gathering. When it comes to bashing other German-speaking folk I go for the Prussians in that thing called Berlin. Ha! notamermaid

That should of course read Linke Rheinstrecke. The left bank of the Rhine. It was built before the line on the right bank and has always been the preferred side for the better and faster trains. But not today! Completely unintended by me, my post coincides with the closure of Cologne railway station. This is electronic engineering works that have been planned for a long time. If you are in the city here is the unique opportunity to see the main station not in use. For those with a technical brain: https://db-engineering-consulting.com/en/projects/new-construction-of-cologne-central-station-and-left-bank-of-the-rhine-electronic-interlockings/ It also includes Cologne Deutz station on the right bank. The German announcement: "In der Nacht von Freitag, 27. September, 21 Uhr auf Samstag, 28. September, 5 Uhr wird der Kölner Hauptbahnhof und der Bahnhof Köln Messe/Deutz für sämtlichen Zugverkehr vollgesperrt. Dies betrifft auch die S-Bahn. Es wird ein umfangreicher Ersatzverkehr mit Bussen eingerichtet. Alternativ wird empfohlen nach Möglichkeit die Linien der KVB zu nutzen. Fahrgäste werden gebeten, für Fahrten in dieser Nacht deutlich mehr Zeit einzuplanen. Von nicht dringend notwendigen Fahrten von und nach Köln in dieser Nacht wird abgeraten." Shuttles buses and the advice to avoid all unnecessary journeys in and out of Cologne. notamermaid

It is quite typical for stalls, especially in smaller towns, not to except cards. My basic rule is: the smaller the place the more cash you need, the more temporary it is, the more cash you need. Christmas markets, small festivals, flea markets, tiny greengrocers. Kiosks are more likely to have accept cards, i.e. newsagents that also offer the lottery games. notamermaid

It is September and the first real autumn storms have swept through the valley. The Christmas biscuits are in the shops. I am not ready for autumn, would have liked a longer summer this year. Must have something to do with the fact that I have not taken a holiday. Here I am eating vineyard peaches and sweeping the first autumn leaves out of the yard. Perhaps finally in October I will leave my country for a few days. River cruises - for me so near and yet so far. I was thinking that a short trip of a few hours on the Moselle might be nice. Have never seen the river beyond Winningen from a ship's view. I really enjoyed standing on the river bank at Unkel on the Rhine and watching the "MS Theresia", a regional excursion boat, arrive. There are quite a few boats on the Rhine and you can sail short and long stretches of it. The winter sailings to see the Christmas markets and lights are appealing but the cold weather is sort of keeping me from trying one out. notamermaid

Christmas market cruises with Viva Cruises: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Viva-cruises-adds-christmas-market-cruises-Germany?ct=river If I may draw your attention the Elbe offer - this is different from Viking in that it actually sails from Berlin to Prague and vice versa. notamermaid

Although the river is hilly and the Seven Mountains range is a delight, the river does not do as much meandering in the Lower Middle Rhine valley as in the Upper Middle Rhine valley (the Rhine Gorge). So at Unkel-Scheuren where the barge got stuck the river is somewhat wide. I do not know if river traffic even needed to be halted for the rescue operation. Likely, but not a given. From there looking downstream you can see the Drachenfels rock and its castle. The Drachenfels has always been a draw, a place for a legend and therefore a tourist spot from the early days of (leisure) travel to this day. And here I pick up this idea again: This is Rolandseck, a place you have probably never heard of before. It has a legend (no surprise, I know) attached to the hill and its Rolandsbogen on it but in the valley is the main railway line from Cologne to Koblenz which we will focus on. I say Cologne to Koblenz as construction on the line started in the major city and went as far as Rolandseck only. This was the end point for a while before the line was extended to Koblenz. Today, the line is called the "Like Rheinstrecke" and runs as far as Mainz. Wikipedia has a page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Rhine_Railway The line when it was designed to end in Rolandseck and connect to the ferry to cross the river to Bad Honnef - from there it is only a short distance to Königswinter and its Drachenfels - or use a steamer up the Rhine, got a statement end point in the for that time lavishly decorated station building, a far more extravagant structure than the standard stops had been granted. This we will have a look at - and its toilets... Info on the Rolandsbogen: https://www.bonn-region.de/sightseeing-and-culture/rolandsbogen-en.html To be continued. notamermaid

Riviera Travel adds the Victoria Mekong to the fleet: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/riviera-travel-adds-new-ship-to-mekong-fleet notamermaid

Certainly I do not want to criticize them, the geography of Germany may not be so easy to understand if you are far away in Australia, but there has been no flooding on the Rhine in September: https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/floods-on-the-danube-and-rhine/ Also important to note is the fact that the photo is of a ship hull transport stuck on the Danube in June. But there may be a few interesting notes in the text and in the comments for you. notamermaid

So with all that rain we have had the river in Germany is high and there is no risk of low water? Correct. The lower temperatures and the recent rain have made sure that the shallow section at Pfelling is not shallow and the German Danube will remain comfortable for sailing for a while. Well... that is if we do not get downpours again. Then it will be again a matter of fitting ships under the two low bridges. Quite frankly, A-Rosa is doing it best, they very often now let the passengers arrive in Passau and sail from the downstream ports (short coach ride). No problem with low bridges that way and no low water issues. But that is a different discussion. Pfelling gauge is at 423cm and will rise tomorrow. So will Passau in due course. A look back in the archives reveals that Pfelling gauge was at 296cm on this day last year and fell below the dreaded 290cm the following day. Quite a different situation last year. We are looking at a good week on the German river with some rain and a bit of wind, but compared to the Rhine and the hills in the Middle of Germany, where we have strong winds and storms with some heavy rain, the weather should be cool and mild. Right now, Austria has all lock chambers back apart from one. But available depth is reduced at two, which should not be a problem for river cruise ships more for the loaded barges. Repair work will happen at Abwinden-Asten lock in October. notamermaid

Interesting. Budapest is basically accessible but the South is a different matter. I have no info on what level triggers the river traffic ban and when the authorities choose to lift it. Falling levels of course mean that the situation eases, not that sailing is allowed... and what individual companies decide is best on their itinerary. Still, the Amaverde left Budapest for Giurgiu during the night so that is a good sign. And a few others' tracks are showing them as sailing. The Victoria is about to enter Budapest for example. notamermaid

From Novi Sad it is 1,255km to the mouth of the river, or at least kilometre zero. The Danube is fast flowing now but it varies so much, it can be between 6km and 10km an hour. If anyone wants to calculate when the wave is in Romania... Russe (for Bucharest) is at kilometre 488. notamermaid

About the accident at Remagen, which turns out to have been at Unkel-Scheuren actually. The push convoy "Don Zimmani" from Belgium was sailing downstream during the night when a cable connecting the lighter with the barge snapped. This made it drift, so the captain managed to steer the ship closer to one embankment and threw the emergency anchor. This brought the vessel out of the navigation channel and it could not free itself from there. This is what that looked like in the track: Help swiftly came in the morning in the shape of the barge "Johanna": By lunchtime the Don Zimmani was already free and on her way. She is now docked in Cologne Niehl harbour. That is the dock that many Viking ships call home in winter. notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. It is difficult to establish for me in detail what is happening on the Lower Danube. I see that river traffic has been running out of Novi Sad today. The Excellence Empress has been sailing in the area so things are looking okay: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:19.3/centery:45.4/zoom:11 Novi Sad is on flood warning level one and rising. It will peak on 27 September most likely. The river will be very high but stay under the level of 2013. I cannot establish if a river traffic ban is likely. Flood warning level two is unlikely to be reached. I have mentioned before that the river in Romania was on a relative low. That is also true for Serbia. For context, this is Bezdan in Serbia: It would be great to have more information from those sailing in the area. notamermaid

That is basically correct and is not a marketing thing. Over the years I have seen it confirmed on the Rhine, not so much on the Danube. But it applies there as well. It is important to know that it is only a few centimetres difference. However, this could be all the centimetres that are needed at the time one sails. notamermaid

That's right. It was a tragic outcome of a construction that was supposed to be sophisticated and was all well planned. Terrible for the victims and their families. Lessons were learned from that. Construction work on prestressed concrete bridges of that type have been handled differently since then. Incidentally, I worked for some years in a building that had a prestressed concrete roof and was resting on a minimum number of pillars. As a later alteration covered some of the concrete we never got to see the chemical reactions in the structure. It was only when the (small) building had been knocked down that we saw how the concrete had been "eaten". That was an uneasy feeling. Of course, my mind also went back to the Salzbachtalbrücke near Wiesbaden (not over the Rhine) which was so dangerous that it was blocked to all traffic within minutes and all work on it stopped for several months and absolutely no one allowed on it, not even a single person to retrieve their tools. It was stabilized until it could be knocked down. notamermaid

Rain - that means the river is rising, right? Yes, it is. There is quite a bit of rain coming down over the whole valley and the adjoining hills. The map for tonight shows some warnings: This will bring Maxau gauge back to the long-term mean and make Kaub gauge rise well. Figures above 200cm are basically definite (now at 163cm). This signals a good start to October and no sign of low water well into October. notamermaid

I have returned from a trip to the river banks in the North of my state, it was cool, miserable and it started pouring down. With the sun setting so early now it feels like the first day of autumn that should be ended with a hot chocolate and a nap on the sofa just before dinner and bed time. But it was nice to see a different view of the Rhine. I also noticed lots of posters and advertising for flea markets and wine festivals and harvest fests (Erntedankfest). Driving past Remagen I tried to spot the barge (a "Koppelverband" or pushed convoy) that had got stuck during the night. I could not see it so assume the rescue operation had already been successful by then. I went to Unkel, a village with a surprisingly big landing stage and a smaller one for excursion boats. That makes it eligible for inclusion in my list of river cruise ports on the Rhine. notamermaid

Fancy trying out a new line or perhaps you are looking for a special offer? A-Rosa in the UK has a promotion fur summer 2025 sailings on the Danube: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/a-rosa-launches-summer-2025-promotion notamermaid

Do you mean an ocean cruise or a river cruise? We have had people say they came from ocean cruising on Viking to river cruising and were disappointed with the river cruise experience on Viking. Discounts obviously help to stay loyal. notamermaid

I agree that passengers have a good chance. This is not low or high water (force majeure) and even then refunds are likely. EU regulations go into quite some detail on that and country-specific consumer rights also kick in of course. notamermaid

German white sausages - this must be the Weißwürste? They are Bavarian really and definitely not my favourite type of sausage. notamermaid

While the Elbe has to some extent recovered and causes no extreme flooding downstream from Magdeburg, the Oder is partly at the highest warning level. The gauges map: On the warning map it looks like this: River traffic is halted and the lock at Eisenhüttenstadt towards the Oder Spree Canal closed. Okay, no river cruise ships use that lock and there are no river cruises on the German Oder river now. That is correct but two ships are docked at Szczecin, the German (Swiss flag) Katharina von Bora and the Swiss Excellence Coral. They need to use the border section of the Oder to get to the Canal that takes them to Berlin. I am not sure if that is now possible. Part of the upper waterway has already been closed since 17 September. The official notification gives the instructions and in bold letters warns of the extreme amount of debris: https://www.uckermark.de/Service-Aktuelles/Hochwasser/Sperrung-der-Oder-für-die-Schifffahrt.php?object=tx,3615.5.1&ModID=7&FID=3615.10015.1&NavID=3615.578&La=1&kat=3615.3&sfkat=1&sfmonat=1&sfjahr=1 notamermaid