Rhine Cruise Photo Review - A-Rosa Viva

[marysb]

Boarding - up and over the Tuack Grace. It was a beautiful warm spring Saturday, so the kayakers and boaters were out for the day.

 

Sundeck of the Tauck Grace

 

Another great memory: Rudesheim is known for the great number of trains passing through the town. One train was absolutely filled with soccer (football) fans. They were cheering and screaming and hanging out of windows (literally). I wish I was fast enough with the camera, but I was mesmerized by this train flashing by with people half out the windows and cheering. Like something out of a movie.

 

Rudesheim spring blossoms.

 

Sailing out of Rudesheim. There are lots of car ferries on this stretch of the Rhine since this is a UNESCO heritage site and no modern bridges can be built here (according to our tour guide). The tiny cable cars to the Germania Monument can be seen over the vineyards.

 

 

The Germania Monument as seen from the Rhine

 

After a nice lunch up on the sun deck, it was

.... time for some castles

[/url]

[marysb]

Castles and Caravans on the Rhine

 

 

Ready for the show - and what a show we got. Castles around every bend- there was a ruin, or a refurbished castle every few minutes.

 

 

r

 

 

 

 

 

This winery received a few chuckles from some of the more immature members of our group :-o

[marysb]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bacharach am Rhein

 

 

Seen on the left of the photo is the Wernerkapelle, an unfinished gothic ruin built in the mid 1200's. It is now a protected site as well as the medieval wall that once surrounded the town and castle. The castle, Burg Stahleck is now a youth hostel ... pretty cool for a cheap place to stay!

 

Stahleck Castle

[jpalbny]

Lovely pictures! So envious of your weather that day. We had gray overcast skies and somewhat chilly temps on our cruise through here.

 

I too was immature enough to laugh at the winery...but still too old to stay in the youth hostel!

Edited June 24, 2016 by jpalbny

[acwmom]

Beautiful pictures, Mary!

 

Robin

[marysb]

Beautiful pictures, Mary!

 

jpalbny

I too was immature enough to laugh at the winery...but still too old to stay in the youth hostel!

 

Ha Ha - good one JP

Thanks Robin and JP - I have LOTS more :eek: With this cruise, I just couldn't put the camera down (wait til we get to the Keukenhof gardens:D )

[marysb]

Always more Castles and Caravans around the next bend

 

 

 

 

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle

This little castle on a small island functioned as a toll-collecting station and was erected in 1340. It has withstood wars and was never destroyed or conquered. It is now a museum. The paint reflects its colour scheme from the Baroque Period (~17th century)

 

 

 

r

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marysb]

Loreley Rock

 

 

 

The 433 foot high Loreley Rock Wall

 

 

 

 

the Loreley Statue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katz Castle

 

 

 

The castles of 2 feuding brothers.

[I_r_a]

Thanx for sharing

 

Ira

[marysb]

I didn't post names for most of the castles in the photos, as I was always forgetting which was which and had to keep googling them. If you are really interested in which was which, here is a link that names the castles from Rudesheim in the south up to Koblenz http://www.castle-liebenstein.com/germany/rhine-river-castles/

 

 

 

Docked in Koblenz at 5:30 for about a 4.5 hour visit. This is when a buffet dinner worked very well.

 

 

Koblenz sail in around the German Corner

 

 

Fortress Ehrenbreitstein overlooking the Rhine and Koblenz. There are cable cars to reach the Castle

 

 

According to our guide, this cable car system was built for a large flower show that Koblenz was hosting so they would have easy access for the castle for displays and tourism. When the flower show was over, UNESCO wanted them to take down the cable cars as it was too modern for a heritage site. The city said it wanted to keep them, but UNESCO said there would be no funding or subsidies for the city if the cablecar remained.... and I understand the negotiations (or court battle ) for this is ongoing. I am sure my version is an oversimplification, but that was the general jist of what is happening. Unfortunately it was too late in the day for us to go up to see the castle.

 

Docking on the Mosel, a short walk to the German Corner and the Town Square. Ehrenbreitstein Castle can be seen in the background.

Edited June 28, 2016 by marysb

[dln929]

This is marvelous! We'll be on the Rhine ourselves in about 6 weeks. First trip on this river so now we're doubly excited about it.

[marysb]

Koblenz is a beautiful place to dock and just walk around the park at the German corner, of go into the city centre for shopping and cafes.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready to go on our "Walter Walk"

 

Our group reflected in the windows of the ship

 

Interesting building and swimmer sculpture across from where we docked

 

Some pieces of the Berlin Wall on Display in the Park by the dock

[marysb]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crooked building ...couldnt staighten this shot no matter how hard I tried. Nothing on the yellow building is square or parallel ;-)

 

A closup of the clocktower on the museum. Eyes turn and tongue sticks out. As the clock strikes the half hour, his red tongue sticks out at the passersby.

This is the face of highway robber baron Johann von Kobem who was beheaded in 1536. Now he gets his revenge on the townspeople every half hour. Local legend says that if you see him sticking his tongue out, it will bring you luck.

 

 

[Ritabob]

Wow, I didn't know about the good luck if you saw the tongue. I saw it twice on the same day.

Taking the cable car up over the river was one of our highlights. We had the car to ourselves both up and down, so were able to take lots of pictures.

Am loving your photos...they bring back wonderful memories.!

RB

[marysb]

Wow, I didn't know about the good luck if you saw the tongue. I saw it twice on the same day.

RB

 

 

Maybe we'll be lucky enough to come back:D

Mary

[marysb]

Wow, I didn't know about the good luck if you saw the tongue. I saw it twice on the same day.

RB

 

 

Maybe we'll be lucky enough to go back:D

Mary

 

Here is a closeup, maybe it will bring everyone that looks at this some good luck

[notamermaid]

Hello marysb,

 

I did not know that about the guy sticking his tongue out! I think a lot of river cruisers know more about Koblenz than I do. My trips mainly take me there for a few hours of shopping, I hardly ever take the time to just stroll and have a leisurely cup of coffee or the like. Some info about your photos in post #38: photo 1 is the Catholic St. Kastorkirche, photo 2 is the ceiling and interior of this important Romanesque church. The church stands within the boundaries of the old Roman fort. photo 3 is a nice café in the old town. I have not been in but it is popular with the locals. photo 4 is the Bürresheimer Hof, an old building of a local noble family. It was used for a while as a synagogue before WWII and is now in a slight state of disrepair but there are some plans for renovation and new use. Next to it is the "Altes Kaufhaus" used as a museum. In photo 5 is of course the close up, the locals call him the "Augenroller" as he not only sticks his tongue out but also rolls his eyes at the same time. Photo 6 is the Jesuit square with the statue of Johannes Müller, a physician born in the town.

 

I love going along with your cruise. And I should head to Koblenz again with a bit more time. :)

 

notamermaid

[marysb]

Hello marysb,

 

I did not know that about the guy sticking his tongue out! I think a lot of river cruisers know more about Koblenz than I do. My trips mainly take me there for a few hours of shopping, I hardly ever take the time to just stroll and have a leisurely cup of coffee or the like. Some info about your photos in post #38: photo 1 is the Catholic St. Kastorkirche, photo 2 is the ceiling and interior of this important Romanesque church. The church stands within the boundaries of the old Roman fort. photo 3 is a nice café in the old town. I have not been in but it is popular with the locals. photo 4 is the Bürresheimer Hof, an old building of a local noble family. It was used for a while as a synagogue before WWII and is now in a slight state of disrepair but there are some plans for renovation and new use. Next to it is the "Altes Kaufhaus" used as a museum. In photo 5 is of course the close up, the locals call him the "Augenroller" as he not only sticks his tongue out but also rolls his eyes at the same time. Photo 6 is the Jesuit square with the statue of Johannes Müller, a physician born in the town.

 

Wow - thanks for taking the time to give us the information. As you can imagine, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the names of everything we see .... but they are beautiful just the same.

It is nice to get the details from an "insider". We have all benefited greatly on this board from your knowledge of the area, and please know that it is appreciated very much.

 

Mary

 

PS - hard to believe all of this was just the first day of the cruise.... so lots more to come.:D:eek:

[bama4cruisin]

Thank you for sharing your trip and the wonderful photos! We are sailing next June on the AmaDante 's Europe's Rivers and Castles. A similar itinerary, but not exactly the same. The photos are only making it harder to wait eleven months!

 

Notamermaid, another thanks to you for sharing so much about your home . . . I believe I will have an even greater appreciation for what we'll be seeing.

[marysb]

Mother's Day, May 8 2016

For our 2nd full day, we would be visiting Cologne in the morning, then stoping in Dusseldorf during the afternoon. Once again we had lovely warm sunny weather for our cruise.

 

 

We knew we would be docking a couple of miles away from the town centre and shuttle busses had been arranged for us. We had to sign up for a departure and return time. Since it was Sunday, they suggested the earliest shuttle if you wanted to attend mass at the cathedral.

 

 

 

We woke to see we were indeed a ways away from the cathedral and the town centre of Cologne. Not really a problem since shuttles were provided and we would get a bit of a look at the city from the bus.

 

These L-shaped cantelivered buildings were across the river from where we docked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cathedral is very impressive and large. The foundation stone was laid and construction started in 1248 and took over 600 years to complete.

It wasn't completed until 1880 and in 1880 it was the tallest building in the world. It is now a UNESCO heritage site and the most popular tourist attraction in Germany.

Since we visited during a mass, we were limited to standing at the back but we did get to hear the choir and organ - What a treat! Absolutely beautiful.

 

It was difficult to get the spires in the photo

 

 

 

[marysb]

 

 

 

 

 

 

We overheard a tour guide tell folks that the upper windows were destroyed during the war and are replaced with more modern designs, but the lower windows were removed and saved, so they are original.

 

Since most people couldn't read during the medieval period bible stories were told through pictures and carvings.

 

 

[mimmy52]

You have some great pictures of the cathedral!

[marysb]

Outside Cologne Cathedral

 

 

The south transept entrance - this was original from the 14th and 15th century

except for the stained glass window which was detroyed during the war.

 

 

If I blow up this photo and look at the window, I can see the modern window installed in 2007.

In 2007, the window in the façade of the south transept was reglazed according to a design by Gerhard Richter (b.1932). The artist applied a pattern comprising 72 different shades of coloured squares to the entire 106 square metres of window space to be glazed. The finished window contains 11,263 squares of genuine mouth-blown glass, each of which measures 9.6 x 9.6 cm. Richter used a specially developed computer programme to determine the random arrangement of the coloured squares in each of the panes.

(we did not get to see it from the inside as mass was still on)

 

Gargoyles

 

 

More bible stories over the front entrance ....left to right David, Noah, Moses, and ? don't know who else

 

You can see the oldest part of the cathedral with all the medieval spires and flying buttresses. But looks like there are more contemporary styled angels on this spire, but I couldnt f find any info on this spire. And the trim on the roof looks like a Baroque fence. I guess this is what happens when it takes 600 years to complete a building.

 

 

This is a replica of the finials on the top of the spires .... huge. You have to wonder how this was taken to the top of the towers with 19th century technology. Truly amazing. (actually the construction of any medieval cathedral is truly amazing!)

Edited July 2, 2016 by marysb

[marysb]

You have some great pictures of the cathedral!

 

Thanks, Mimmy,

I just read your Rhine review from your signature. Looked like a great trip too. Nice to see such a detailed report for comparison.

....Also saw what I missed. Guess I'll just have to go back. ;)

 

Mary

[marysb]

Time to move on .... Departing Cologne

 

 

Here is a photo of a display that was outside the Cathedral. It shows the damage after the WW II bombing of Cologne. For the most part the Cathedral was undamaged.

 

I thought this was cool - A graphic skyline of Cologne on the side of the bus.

 

 

 

 

Love Locks (lots of them) seen on railing behind the pedestrians

As proof of their love, couples fix padlocks to the railings on the Hohenzollern Bridge; to ensure everlasting love, they then throw the key into the Rhein river

 

 

 

Our sister ship the aRosa Brava docked quite a bit closer to downtown