Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Today was the day we would cruise the part of the Rhine River with the greatest number of castles overlooking the river, I think 14 in all. We were really looking forward to the day, and even the windy cold weather couldn't keep us off the top deck. The weather made photography a little challenging and all of us amateur photographers were commiserating about the technical challenges. I managed to get some pretty good shots despite the fact that my fingers were freezing most of the time.
Rheinstein Castle has a cage that hangs from the front of the tower that they used to put prisoners in and then leave them there to die. Their remains were a warning to others who might displease the prince. The ruins of Sterrenberg and Liebenstein Castles are separated by a "hostility wall". The brothers who owned the castles apparently didn't like each much and eventually killed each other. We passed the Lorelei rock which, according to local legend, was inhabited by a female siren whose song lured sailors to their death in the tricky current here. The Mouse Tower sits on an island in the river and was a toll station for boats traveling up and down the river. If a boat decided not to stop and pay the toll, there was a chain in the river that could be raised to tear the ship apart from being forced against the chain by the current. Definitely not the happy fairy tale kind of castles, but still very interesting to learn about.
The chef on board offered a special snack buffet, a Fruhschoppen, which included fresh baked pretzels and pretzel buns (I love these), sauerkraut, beer, etc. We opted for pretzels and hot chocolate cuz it was nice to hold the warm cup in our frozen hands.
Sounds very fun. Wish we were there with you guys. Maybe next year. Post more pictures, like the flower market. That was very cool.
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