notamermaid

Loosing power and therefore steerage has been the reason for a few accidents on the Rhine. It can happen that the emergency anchor does not hold. The current is fast enough to potentially cause quite some damage to structures like embankment walls. If I may say so - in both photos from the US the construction looks a bit lightweight, although in the second photo there are icebreakers that can be useful. I mean, Rhine bridges can be really sturdy, they may look light as regards the steel but underneath are heavy duty stone bases. You can see such a structure at the famous Remagen bridge. The photo shows the structural damage to the steel from bombing at the end of WWII: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludendorff-Brücke#/media/Datei:Beschädigte_Brücke.jpg All three sister bridges did not give in quickly to the assaults by air or land. But sadly as we know in the end they did, with many lives lost. But that is another story. notamermaid

I have had a quick look at European companies but could not find anything satisfactory. This article deals with 2025 but perhaps you can take it from there. The company Scenic: https://www.travelmarketreport.com/NicheLuxury/articles/Scenic-Opens-New-2025-River-Cruise-Itineraries-Excursions-and-Extensions I searched for river cruise Munich extension. notamermaid

It is nearly eleven years ago that I was in Bratislava on my river cruise. The city was a regular stop on this itinerary and we arrived in the early morning. We had a relatively nice morning exploring with our guide. She took us in a mini-train up to the castle. A great view over the river made the ride worthwhile although we did not really see the inside of the castle. There were alleys and buildings we saw and our group walked past churches and renovated interesting buildings. We had about an hour of spare time to look into shops or explore a church. It was interesting to see what remained of the Soviet era and what they had done to the city since. As my previous job is connected to music I just had to take a photo of the theatre/opera house. Here is the castle: The Saint George Fountain: The opera house: I enjoyed the short time we had there, but the couple we spoke mostly to on the cruise did not enjoy the city. Some years ago I spoke to a Slovakian gentleman who told me that if you go to his country go to the countryside, not Bratislava... Would I go on a coach trip to see the city? Curious as I was about this place it was worthwhile for me stop there on the cruise. A coach trip of at least one hour and one hour back, I cannot say that I would recommend it. Staying in Vienna instead gives you more in-depth time in a European capital. If you would like to tick another European capital off your list just to compare it with another, a trip sounds okay. I find fitting your fabulous expression "exudes mild enthusiasm", @greydog. notamermaid

Ah yes. He is the saint for bridges. Why he is on the rock in this case I do not know. He was Bohemian and a priest in Prague. He was murdered there and his shrine is in the Saint Vitus Cathedral. It has been a very long time since I was in Prague. I may have been to the Cathedral but remember little about it and had to look it all up. Prague is of course the most frequent extension of a river cruise that ends in Bavaria. I have stated in the past that it is a pity that Munich is not used more often. But all in all, if you are coming from North America especially, in my opinion Prague is the superior city as regards exploring different cultures and ways of life in Europe. Another language to listen to, different food from Germany and Austria make Prague an exciting city. Which brings me to the mention of an excursion to Bratislava... notamermaid

Good to read that, thank you for saying hello again. 😊 Hope you have a great time exploring the Danube. notamermaid

Dolphins or bridge bases and ships are a problematic combination. A tragic outcome in this case. On the Rhine we have just a few stone bridges that can take of course any ship damage well but they are then usually not high as by nature stone arches do not give much headroom. Still, authorities are always careful. The relatively modern bridges be them suspension or other type have that "inbuilt" weakness that comes with steel construction. On the Rhine engineers have used several islands to span bridges across the river. Solves the problem of a lone pillar being exposed to the elements and the ships. Here is one example, the road bridge at Neuwied, North of Koblenz: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiffeisenbrücke For the technical stuff in English you can look here: https://structurae.net/en/structures/neuwied-bridge The new suspension bridge replaces the steel girder bridge, you can see them side by side in the black-and-white construction photo. All pillars are away from the navigation channels (one main one and one for the harbour access), they are on land and on the island. They are solid stone or concrete. What is special about this bridge is that it is only the second one ever (in Germany I believe) to have been moved in its place with hydraulics. Accidents with ships happen at bridges surprisingly often, but with little impact on lives and structure. A few years ago a river cruise ship was pushed by wind onto a stone pillar. Ship had damage, few injuries. It can happen but is rare. Only this morning I have read of two bridges being hit barges in the Netherlands (which is admittedly a bit unusual). Safety 101 is normally to check if the bridge needs closing to traffic, road or rail does not matter. Happened to me in England many years back. Train stopped and we were informed that they were waiting for the structural assessment as a lorry had hit the bridge. In this case it was the missing headroom. We proceeded an hour or so later. Also on the rivers it is mostly the headroom that I read about, not in France or Germany on the Rhine, more in other countries or in Germany on the Main. That river is notorious for low bridges. notamermaid

Over on the Rhine we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Lorelei poem by Heinrich Heine. So let us have a look at her sister nymph, Isa. She lives in the Danube according to legend, at a rock called Jochenstein. That is here: Isa does not comb her hair, instead she turns up in bright dress adorned with a green wreath of reed in her hair to warn skippers. But she may take them to her palace underwater at the treacherous rock in the river if they cannot resist her singing. A mother whose son withstood the allure of Isa had a depiction of the Madonna erected on Jochenstein rock. Since then Isa has not shown herself to skippers anymore. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jochenstein#/media/Datei:Jochenstein_Donau,_2012.JPG notamermaid

I just cannot resist - Happy Anniversary! It is a rock, an excursion boat, a ferry, a hotel, an asteroid, a rock band, a character in an American comedy! And the reason is this poem. A recital in German with English translation in text. I like it a bit dark and gloomy, so no Silcher music today: notamermaid

Have a great time with the Dutch and on board. notamermaid

In comparison to the Rhine we talk very little about the legends and fairy-tales of the Moselle. I myself have heard very few. Compilations in German do exist. In English it is a bit difficult to find the legends. Three well-known stories are covered by this page from the Amawaterways website: https://www.amawaterways.eu/connections/true-stories-of-the-moselle This is a story from a castle that is not normally visited on a river cruise as it is a bit out of the way, the Ehrenburg above Brodenbach village: https://www.ehrenburg.de/en/castle/the-legend-of-the-kissing-niche The nearest popular river cruise port is Alken, less than 15 minutes by car. Cochem is a good half hour away. If you would like to go back in this thread a bit - I wrote about Brodenbach, which does have a landing stage, in post #288. notamermaid

More announcements from my German realm and internationally. This one is from Viking, winter sailings on the Danube: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/viking-adds-second-european-winter-river-cruise notamermaid

On this cold and unpleasantly windy Palm Sunday I have not ventured out far but have had a look around my direct area to see if the cherry blossoms are coming along. They are not ready yet, it is still magnolias and trees with white blossoms, but there are some early tulips around. This past week I have had quite a bit of trouble with the pipes in the kitchen. It resulted in me having to wash the dishes in the bathtub. In the end a whole section of pipe needed to be relayed through another hole in the wall. Now order has been restored to my realm, the dust is gone and the sink is "non-gurgling". Dishwasher available again as well. Big smile for the plumber. Thankfully, I have been on holiday this week so have lots of time to clear up. Been thinking of having a short holiday around Lake Constance and in Switzerland this year. It may be cost-prohibitive. Perhaps I will settle for one night in a small hotel near Zurich and stay the other days in Germany. I would like to see the island of Reichenau: https://www.constance-lake-constance.com/experience-explore/excursions/reichenau notamermaid

We can now look with some confidence into April as regards river levels. The forecast suggests good figures around and a bit above the mean in the Upper Rhine valley till the end of the month so the beginning of April will most likely look pleasant. Likewise, Kaub in the Middle Rhine valley is at a comfortable level and will most likely stay pleasantly above 200cm till the end of the month and suggest very favourable conditions into April. notamermaid

The river cruising season has started on the Danube, excursion boat companies have got their ships ready for day trippers and are preparing for the Easter weekend. It is cold this weekend though, with snow apparently returning to the high hills. Even places close the river may see frost overnight. It is also really windy. There are storm warnings of level 1 or 2 for Bavaria. 1 is just really windy, 2 is stormy. Temperature at Vilshofen at 11am was only 4.7 Celsius for example. A quick look at the water levels reveals pleasant levels that will not change much during the next 48 hours. It has not rained that much. notamermaid

It is a cold day today, rain and cold wind dominate this weekend, not a fun day to be on exposed plateaus or on the sun deck of a river cruise ship. To Heinrich Heine's poem. Such an important event in German culture just needs to be celebrated. 😊 On 26 March, St. Goar is staging a concert in town. In the Rheinfesthalle concert venue from 6pm, 15 different songs set to the lyrics of Heine will be performed. A new sheet music collection of songs will be published as well, some of these versions are published for the first time. Here is the German info: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/koblenz/200-jahre-loreley-gedicht-lorerlei-lied-heinrich-heine-grosse-feier-am-mittelrhein-100.html Basically, it is just a rock towering 132m over the river but there are these places that if you are so inclined have something special and in the right circumstances become so much more. Here it is a distinctive rock face, special river conditions, creative people, the right time in history and enough people to keep the allure (pun intended) going. By the way, music: the Lorelei plateau has an open air stage that regularly sees music performances. I have been up there for a rock concert. Comments about sirens and wailing, etc. are welcome. 😉 notamermaid

The Lorelei, as we have seen, was originally a ballad, what we know best these days is the poem that was created from it. Heinrich Heine had it published for the first time on 26 March 1824. If you happen to be sailing past the rock this coming 26th it will be a kind of special day not just for the sight but also the fact that 200 years ago a tradition was started... Well, the words were there. The music by Silcher came in 1837. I keep spelling it Lorelei the English way, the German is actually Loreley. About the eerie thing and the echo - which takes us back to where the word came from for a moment, Echo was a mountain nymph: while most of the treacherous riff is gone and modern man has very much eased the passage through the Rhine Gorge in the last 100 years, supposedly reducing the water gurgling and echo effect, the narrow bends will always be a problem and a challenge in comparison to other parts of the river, the Rhine is at the rock both shallow and very deep. There is a ravine that goes down deep. The width of the river is only 113m but the depth is up to 25m. notamermaid

I agree that the rivers have become a bit more unpredictable as regards water levels. However, there is still a statistical trend. October is definitely not a time for flooding (really honestly almost never) but low water is at its most likely. That means there are two stretches of river that need to be bridged by coach trips if necessary. It is on the German Danube, between Straubing and Vilshofen and on the Rhine between Rüdesheim and Koblenz. That is about where the low water is, but please note that you your coach trip may cover a longer stretch. Let us forget about the less likely Komarom to Budapest stretch right now. Statistically there is a not negligible risk of low water on the German Danube while there is a statistical risk of low water on the Rhine which is not as high as on the Danube. All in all, if you are mobile, prepared in your mind that river cruising is not as straightforward as ocean cruising then switching to another ship is not too big a deal. River cruise lines are good at handling things, they have years of practice. 😊 As it is so unpredictable you may not have any issues in October and your cruise will be fine and it may have affected river cruises in September instead. Roll calls are a good way of keeping up to date and learning how people have dealt with it. You can also look at our threads on the Danube and Rhine. My tip: also see the first page of the Main river thread as regards low bridges. Have fun planning. notamermaid

I see. It reminds me: the Celts had this special relationship with water and the land that was almost water so to speak. I cannot remember where I read that. It may sound a bit far fetched as the Rhine is regarded as Germanic in the Middle Rhine valley but the Celts were direct neighbours of Germanic tribes. Basically, you found the Celts in Alsace and near Mainz towards the hills in what is now Rhine-Hesse and further along on the left bank, another people a bit on the right bank as well. And the Treveri were a big tribe, lending the settlement that is now Trier its name. But some of these peoples were either close to the Germanic tribes or were indeed a mix of Celtic and Germanic. Apparently, the idea or the theme or what you may call it of such a nymph or mythological creature is a very old one and can be found in variations that span cultures and centuries. notamermaid

I do not think I know this. Is there something special about them? notamermaid

Yeah, I do agree. Kind of a magical, spooky number. About Lay. The word is not really used in German here in the area anymore as such, everyone just says "Fels". So the Lorelei rock is a Fels. Lay/Ley survives in the names for the rocks, like @RDVIK2016 linked to, and as a village now part of Koblenz, simply called Lay. I quite like the idea of connecting it with a lay as in troubadour song, not a far fetched thought with that ballad and the Silcher version. It sounds kind of old. It did actually happen that not too long after Heine published the poem people had forgotten that it was an invented story rather than an old tale. Something we call a "Kunstmärchen", that is a fairy-tale that has not been handed down by narrating it, but has been made up, by a known author. In this case Clemens Brentano. By the way, over in the Danube is Lorelei's sister called Isa. Poor Lorelei sits on top a windy exposed rock, Isa tends to swim about a bit more, but she has a rock too. Right in the river itself and she can retreat to a palace that is somewhere down there. I am sure the cruise director or guides tell passengers about this when passing Jochenstein in Bavaria. But back to our siren and the music in another post. We still need to talk about the actual anniversary celebrations. notamermaid

Wow, what a journey! Thanks for going so deep with this. I do not think so. My hint was "Lay" in German, that word means "rock", often sheer rock face, it can be slate but does not have to be. You find this in the area a lot, also as "Ley". Here it is the Lore-Lay. Brentano added the female name Lore as it sounds like the "lure" word used in connection with the sounds at the rocks (the water and/or the echo). 555 is indeed the "code" for the Lorelei, the Rhine kilometer where it is located: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Rheinkilometer_Loreley.JPG You are right, the music to the poem that everyone sings is the version by Silcher. notamermaid

A classic case of simultaneous posting. Just had not referred to the 555 yet. Would you like to tell us? notamermaid

Drumroll... Yes, jazzbeau. Die Loreley! Thank you for the link to this song by Liszt. I had not listened to this version before now. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a legend. So let us start with the background to my last three posts. On the Rhine there is the so-called Rhine Gorge, arguably the most Romantic landscape along the river. A narrow passage with relatively high rocks along the banks and a meandering river make for a dramatic landscape. First bit: There were stories of a lady that was a sorceress. Second bit: The locals talked of a triple echo among the narrow hills with a particularly difficult passage at one rock. At the end of the 18th century Clemens Brentano, grandson of the writer Sophie von La Roche (the lady held the first ever (intellectual and literature) salon in the Middle Rhine valley), heard both things. He was born at his grandmother's place in Ehrenbreitstein opposite Koblenz. He apparently inherited her talent for writing and was interested in the legends on the Rhine. He created the Lore-Lay and published the ballad about the lady, set in Bacharach in the Rhine Gorge, in one of his early novels. He was part of a group of early Romanticism in Jena! He is known to have been to inns in the valley drinking wine but the story was written by the young man far away in another part of Germany. The idea of such a lady that cannot help but enchant everyone was picked up by Heinrich Heine. His female protagonist slightly morphed in his poem into a lady sitting on the rock enchanting the skippers with her singing and distracting them during the difficult passage around the rock. So the legend is actually not old but created by a writer and published in 1801, then turned into a poem which was in turn published in 1824. That's right - 200 years ago almost to the day. Heine writes "... a fairy-tale from very olden times..." but refers to a ballad that was merely 23 years old. To be continued... notamermaid

Some poems lend themselves perfectly to be set to music and this one was so popular that it has provided the lyrics to more than 40 songs. One version has very much stayed in the minds of people to this day. Thousands upon thousands of river cruise tourists and day trippers have been lured into singing along to the music when the loudspeaker or the cruise director encourages them to do so. I think you can guess what the lady in the poem is called. notamermaid

So, this guy wrote a ballad (literature not music) with the female protagonist being an enchantress. It was published as part of a novel. At that time in history other writers were happy to pick up the theme but altered it a bit. The lady changed, no longer with the magical powers as such but now she could sing. Says that famous poem... notamermaid