Days 8 & 9, 2nd-3 rd April Bavaria -Rudesheim-Bamburg

Day 8 -

Life continues down the Main ("Mine") river in Germany. We have gone through so many lochs overnight and apparently because of the weather storms hitting Europe, the waterways are extremely high and more of a challenge for the captain. We have been into some 'Banana" lochs, which have curves in them - these were built before such long river boats were designed, so you have a 'bump' whenever you move into the loch to line up.

We were picked up by coaches today and taken into the city of Wurzburg in Northwestern Bavaria to visit the bishop princes palace there - built in the 13th century. The local guide who took us is english but lives there and had an incredible grasp on the history of the palace and its incredible opulence. Everything was about the right amount of wealth being displayed, the right dress, standing and any amount of showing off! There is the largest single ceiling fresco in the world, painted into the main roof in the stairway. Unfortunately you cant take any photos as they are really strict about not taking big bags, water etc as apparently someone in the past had taken acid in to try and wreck some of the works.

Afterwards, we caught the buses back to the ship as it was raining and freezing cold. Back for lunch then we were out again, travelling an hour to the beautiful town of Rudesheim, which has a famous market platz, seen on many postcards. It was built in the 1700's and is picture perfect.

The weather dried up for us as we all wandered around and enjoyed this town, it reminded me of Cortona in Italy where they filmed 'Under the Tuscan sun'. The sun came out and snowflakes started to fall again - it was one of those moments you always remember. We went into a jewellery store which had a intriguing necklace collection in the window - they are intricate silver balls that have swarovski crystals in them you can see in the light and you can open the chamber to change the colour of the ball inside. They also have a matching cupids wing which so reminded me of the one in the movie 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks - where the angel wings on a package memorised him. Inside the ball is a bell which sounds exactly like sleigh bells- very pretty.
Graeme really wanted to buy it for me as our 29th wedding anniversary is in 3 days - he had looked up what the 29th is and apparently its 'new furniture' ?! haha but he wanted something more personal. I love it and it will always remind me of today as well :)

We went into a cafe in the platz with some of the others from our group and decided to have a german beer and sample the famous schnapps. I had kirsche cherry and Graeme had blueberry. One of the guys had apple and pear schnapps but he said it was exactly like grappa from Greece- rocket fuel! These are 42% alcohol and warm the cockles of your heart nicely!

Back onto the bus and the local guides said that the driver had brought along miniatures for sale that we were able to drink on the hours trip back - they were only a euro or two.

By the time Graeme had drunk the bottle of white wine Germany is famous for, helped me drink a ' herbal regulator' - like yaggermeister, a plum schnapps and the last of my pilsner, he was very happy and funny - not German at all!! The guides explained that germans dont like to show emotions a lot, dont smile and arent funny- so Graeme had obviously left his german heritage at the bus door- it was hilarious!

Back to the ship for dinner and a few more drinkies before falling into the incredibly comfy beds for the night! Great day.



Day 9 -

We had an easy start today with brekky followed by Petra- our lovely cruise directors game of "name whats in the socks" - we got 7 out of 10 correct with all sort of objects inside different socks, no looking, just feeling! I tried a grease and wrote on it that she is a really pretty cruise director but we didnt quite win!

In the afternoon, we went in coaches to the city of Bamburg which is a UNESCO world heritage sight due to all its significant buildings, frescoes and sights. Its also called little Venice due to is pretty bridges spanning the river of the Main-Danube canal. The first aztec arrow heads were found here in 1200 B.C !

The buildings were amazing and even though it is Easter Friday and all the shops are shut, there were people everywhere the cafes were open and the town is also famous for its smokey beer. Levi Strauss was also born on the outskirts of Bamburg and also Willy Messerschmitt who designed & manufactured the aircraft in his name, lived nearby.

We had a really mad, crazy local guide who made all sorts of noises and play acted a lot - strange but entertaining
                                 
                                

                                  

 

We all came back on the buses at 6pm then dinner, followed by a 60's and up dancing night. It was heaps of fun and Graeme dragged me up for the competition of dancing to the music until it stops then you have to pull a folded newspaper out of the back pocket and unfold it and jump on it before anyone else- we did well and got runner ups with a box of fancy german chocolates! It was a fun evening of the twist and rock n roll. Getting to know everyone really well now, so its becoming one big happy family.
 
Lets twist again!  Enjoying the crowd here, Precious Mc Kenzie and his wife Liz are  lovely- he is still weightlifting in the Masters classes around the world and coaching youngsters.