Saturday, October 22, 2011

DAY 12 & 13 – RUDESHEIM, RHINELAND, MARKSBURG CASTLE

Yesterday was a very busy day and I didn’t get a chance to write in the blog so we are now sitting in the port of Cologne and both of us have decided not to take the City Tour today.  I think we are all “toured” out!  After I finish my blog, we are going to wander into the city on our own to look around.  We are looking forward to getting to Amsterdam now and meeting up with Joan, Rens and Annemieke and for Brian’s life-long dream to see where his father is buried in Holten.  Joan is meeting us in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon and then taking us on the train to Holten where we will be staying with Rens and Annemieke for a couple of days before we return home on Thursday. 

Now, moving onto our Day 12 arrival in Rudesheim. Today after a little tour of the city of Rudesheim on a tram (designed like a train), they dropped us off at the Seigfried Mechanical Music museum.  It was really fascinating seeing all the musical instruments over the years.  I took some video and tried to put together a YouTube show but it didn’t quite finish the download and now the internet is too slow to try again so I will just show you a bit of what did download and you will get the idea of what we saw. 

Here are a couple of pictures as well:

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This was my favourite of course, with all the dolls. 

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After walking through the Museum, we did a little shopping, stopped at a cafe for coffee and then headed back to the ship.  We were given tickets to go on cable cars to the top of the hill but unfortunately it was so foggy this morning and cold, we decided not to take the cable cars up. 

As we left port, we were told we would be going through the Rhineland where we would see a lot of castles and little towns along the way.  Thankfully by the time we left port, the mist/fog was lifting and it was a beautiful sunny day and we went up to the deck and watched the world go by.  It was heavenly!  Here are some of the castles we saw along the way.

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The picture is a little cloudy as the fog was still lifting.

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Roseleigh and I relaxing on the deck watching the castles go by!

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I started to get chilly, so I went and got a blanket and a hot chocolate. 

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We then arrive at Marksburg Castle where they stopped to let us off the ship..  We went through a tour of the castle and then we had a Medievel Dinner and show there in the evening.  We were then bused back to the ship which was at port further up the river. 

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Brian and Richard with one of the old cannons.

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The kitchen

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More of the kitchen

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The bed chamber.and a crib for a baby

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The dining room

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The sewing room

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The knights of shining Armor

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The wine cellar

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The torture chamber

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More of the Torture Chamber

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Then onto the Medieval Dinner

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Part of our entertainment was a juggler. 

We then piled into the buses to get back to the ship.  With everyone being so sick with colds, we are beginning to really dislike being on buses.  All you hear are people with very chesty coughs.  Whatever flu/cold bug is on the ship, it has hit a lot of people including Brian although Brian’s doctor had given him some antibiotics to bring along, so as soon as it went down into his chest, he started the antibiotics, so he is not feeling too bad.  So far, I seem to have avoided the bug and hope it stays that way.  I feel really sorry for some people though as some are so sick, they cannot leave their cabins and every port we stop at, doctors are brought on board to see some of the sick people.  What a way to spoil a very expensive holiday for some of these people.  This was another reason we decided to do our own thing today as we are trying our best to stay away from the sick people! 

Today, is our farewell Captain’s Dinner.  Tomorrow we arrive in Amsterdam and we have elected to do the Bicycle Tour.  That way it keeps us out of the buses and away from the germs!  I will update again tomorrow. 

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