River Cruising Water Cooler

[Canal archive]

It’s interesting, owning property in Scotland it means we have to juggle when we go so far it’s worked out but if we get stuffed to often for petty reasons I can see my husband throwing in the towel and selling which quite a few of our acquaintances have. No matter at a loss etc. We completely understand normal COVID reasons but the attitude of some Scots bureaucrats has to be seen to be believed.  CA

[notamermaid]

@jpalbny here is my review of the Kerner wine.

 

I found this make in my local supermarket for less than five euros. The label says it is Rheinhessen, so somewhere between Rüdesheim, Main and Worms (about), but bottled in Bernkastel-Kues on the Moselle. This one has only 11 percent so is light and also light in colour. Kerner is a relatively young grape, crossed in 1929 from Trollinger and Riesling. It makes it fruitier and less acidic and with less mineral taste than Riesling. That is fine for me as I do not like Riesling. The label says notes of green apple and quince, which I could detect. It is dry but nothing like the dryness of a Sauvignon Blanc for example. As I am a red wine drinker, this will not become my favourite but I would try another Kerner, perhaps a medium dry or of a higher price range, or both.

 

I used it in cooking for a white wine and cream sauce which worked well, but it is better paired with a lighter meal. I think this would go very well with a salad in Summer.

 

Overall this has been a pleasant wine tasting, thank you for introducing me to a new grape variety.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Second seating]

Spring is early this year!

[pully8]

Beautiful spring flowers. 

[notamermaid]

Travelling North - a mini  travel series part #1

 

For a bit of fun over the weekend I thought I might write a bit about places that are not so well known and a bit away from rivers and big ocean ports. I start with a quiz question - and believe me I did not know the answer without looking it up. What is considered to be the world's oldest real off shore building, i.e. not a dwelling on an island or an ancient fort on an outcrop or something? Any guesses?

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Travelling North - a mini  travel series part #2

 

From my perspective in Germany I am travelling North. So let's have a look at the first place North of the Rhine valley that I have chosen.

 

20 hours ago, notamermaid said:

What is considered to be the world's oldest real off shore building, i.e. not a dwelling on an island or an ancient fort on an outcrop or something?

 

It is the lighthouse "Roter Sand": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roter_Sand_Lighthouse

Declared a monument of national importance in German engineering, it has iconic status, been honoured with a postal stamp and is a popular photo shoot. You can also book an overnight stay as a tourist! It's got a problem, the base is crumbling, the rising ocean level is playing its part in that. It will be a challenge to preserve the lighthouse long term. Here is a short trip to the lighthouse:

notamermaid

 

[Ritabob]

Someone would have to pay me alot of money for me to stay there. 🙂

[Second seating]

On 4/14/2021 at 8:23 PM, Second seating said:

Spring is early this year!

What a difference a couple of days make! We got about 6" of wet heavy snow.

[notamermaid]

I am already getting cold looking at that amount of snow! We have had some cold weather here as well, the nights are barely above zero in the valley, light frost in the hills of course as the night are normally one to three degrees cooler there.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

We have the most beautiful weather to say goodbye to the Duke. CA

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, Second seating said:

What a difference a couple of days make! We got about 6" of wet heavy snow.

I sympathize - we also had a few days of snow & it has been very chilly. My tulips were just getting ready to bloom but the heavy, wet snow crushed them. 🙁

[Ritabob]

43 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

We have the most beautiful weather to say goodbye to the Duke. CA

The funeral was amazing even  with covid restrictions.   The weather looked perfect.

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, Ritabob said:

Someone would have to pay me alot of money for me to stay there. 🙂

Yes, that is a challenging place to stay, I would not even step onto that tiny boat to get there. From lighthouse in the sea let us stay in the North and move on.

 

Travelling North - a mini travel series part #3

 

If you are not keen on being quite so remote as staying in a lighthouse in the open sea, how about a Hallig? Still remote, but dry land on a tiny island - well, most of the time, and the house should always be out of the water, touch wood. Look at the pole on the right next to the gentleman at 1:21:

notamermaid

 

[dogs4fun]

Wow - with rising sea levels, I wonder how long these hallets can survive. 

[dogs4fun]

Don’t know how spellcheck turned Hallig into hallet.🤔

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Don’t know how spellcheck turned Hallig into hallet.🤔

 

[Canal archive]

All the elves I’ve met have been, drunk that is! CA

[notamermaid]

Travelling North - a mini travel series part #4

 

Let us have a look at the land that is neither dry nor an island, the Wadden Sea. As the name suggests it was more ocean than land to those who named it and it remains just that: a stretch of land that the sea reclaims with every high tide and is uninhabitable by modern man, but it is far from uninhabited. It is an amazing ecosystem, unique as a habitat, but not unique where it is. There are similar places in the world classified as such an ecosystem, but the one I mean here is the greatest expanse in the world and a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 2009. A short flight over it: https://www.dw.com/en/the-wadden-sea/av-54121299

 

To show you how big it is, stretching along the coasts of three countries, here is the page with the map (scroll down): https://www.waddensea-worldheritage.org/one-wadden-sea-one-global-heritage

 

notamermaid

 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Travelling North - a mini travel series part #5

 

From remote Hallig islands and the mud flats we travel to a much larger and very modern yet so typically Northern German island. The busy Sylt: https://www.dw.com/en/a-brief-portrait-of-the-island-of-sylt/av-38105541

 

And if you really want to indulge in virtual travelling or even some planning, here is the Sylt website: https://www.sylt.de/en

 

This concludes the mini travel series of places in the far North and Northwest of my country.

 

Have nice evening and a good week.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks @notamermaid – another nice service to your Cruise Critic fans!

[gnome12]

The pictures of this yacht next to the buildings are incredible.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/superyacht-pulled-through-netherlands-canals/index.html

 

[Lois R]

I saw that video this morning..........WOW!

[Canal archive]

Now that’s special a micron out in the measurements and your stuffed, big time. CA

[notamermaid]

On 4/19/2021 at 3:03 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks @notamermaid – another nice service to your Cruise Critic fans!

Ooaah, don't make me famous. Famous people have fans - and stalkers - not me.

 

Anyway, beer! Yes, the season of warm beer gardens and cooling beer is here. Yesterday it was German beer day. On 23 April 1516 the law that defines German beer, the "Reinheitsgebot" came into force.

 

To celebrate, Deutsche Welle has put together a photo gallery of ten German beer gardens. If the longing hurts too much, do not click, otherwise have a look at these: https://www.dw.com/en/10-beautiful-beer-gardens-in-germany/g-54631837

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The year is AD 2021 and both Gaul and Germania have been entirely overrun by the Coronavirus. Well, not entirely! One small village of indomitable Gauls in the land of the Treveri near the Mosella valley close to the border with Germania still olds out against the enemy...

 

Yes, the village of Lieg in the Hunsrück hills (that is South of the Moselle) has been likened to
the Asterix and Obelix story. Through the first wave, and the second wave, and the third wave - they have not had a single case of Covid-19. First there was a short report in the local newspaper, then came a film team, then... and now the village has even made it into the international news. So why are they so successful? You may think this place is remote and has only twenty inhabitants anyway. No, not really, they have not isolated themselves, there are 400 people and they commute to work in the dangerous world of towns. Okay, it is small, Treis-Karden has under 9000 people living there, but it is only nine minutes down the hill by car. They know there is a pandemic in the world and that they have also been lucky, but they have something very important that has helped them much: community spirit. Here is the story of the "miracle" of Lieg: https://www.dw.com/en/the-miracle-of-lieg-germanys-zero-covid-village/a-57341878

 

And if you would like to see what the place is like, here is a short video from the regional broadcaster in German. It is short and gives a nice impression of the village and villagers, including some magnificent rams. Just one note to help: the Ortsbürgermeister is a kind of mayor for something smaller than a town, i.e. a village or a suburban district. At 0:20 he puts a winner's certificate (like for his villagers who are all champions in this) in a letterbox: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/koblenz/lieg-kreis-cochem-zell-ohne-corona-infizierte-100.html

 

May they stay successful and be able to celebrate!

 

notamermaid