From the ship's dock, we had to take a 45-minute bus ride to get to the town of Cochem, another typical Medieval German town. The main reason to stop here was to visit Reichsburg Castle, a mighty castle located on a hill above the town. We will finally get to actually go inside a castle. Woohoo!
We are traveling on the AmaCerto, another one of those river boats (I've been told I am supposed to call them ships, but oh well). The particular cruise we are doing is called Europe's Rivers and Castles. We will be on three different rivers - the Moselle, the Rhine and the Main. Each one of these rivers had a very differene distinct feel. The Moselle - a smaller river but home to Riesling Wine, The Rhine - 32 miles with 35 castles (or maybe 35 miles and 32 castles) and the Main, a very small, very rural feel.
We came aboard in the afternoon, got settled in our staterooms and attended the mandatory safety meeting. After dinner and an evening classical concert, I came back to my room to find the customary chocolate on the pillowcases. Yup, I think I am going to like this. It seems that I am going to have to get used to everybody calling me Ma'am or Miss Cindy. Around 5am, the ship set sail for our first stop in Trier.
Just down the road from the Dinosaur Park, was Naturparkzentrum Teufelsschulucht, also know as Devil's Gorge/Devil's Canyon/Devil's Throat. It was a nice little walk with many people wondering “Where is the gorge?” We found it and I decided that we should just go down and take a peek. Corolla was wearing fancy shoes and decided that she shouldn't go off-roading with us. The idea was that we would go look and then come back and collect her. Well, an hour later, we still had not returned. The path went on and on. We finally caught up with her back at the car. Needless to say that Corolla was a little bit peeved and perhaps rightly so. Myself, I have to say the hike was glorious. Steep rock walls, narrow crevices...it felt really good to walking out there in Mother Nature.
How many chances do you get to go to Luxembourg? Luxembourg is a Grand Duchy, the only one remaining in Europe. It is the seventh smallest and the least populated European country. Luxembourg may be small, but it is mighty. It is one of the richest countries in the world.
My last stop was in Indianapolis, Indiana. Last time I came thru here, a couple of years ago, I was pretty impressed with the town. It just seems like a very livable town. I had several touristy things to see, but I pretty much vegged out. After a couple of days of doing nothing, I thought I had better get out of the camper and at least do something. I decided that I was going to go to the Antique Fan Museum – not the fancy Victorian lady fans, but actual mechanical fans. I figured it would probably take me about 15 minutes to see it all – due partly to lack of interest and also – how many fans can there be in a museum? I mean you have blades that whir around and move air – what else can you say? Boy, was I wrong.
Frank Lloyd Wright has been heralded as one of the greatest architects of all time. He was a pioneer in the Prairie School of architecture and designed over 1000 structures over a period of 70 years. Wright not only designed buildings, he designed the furniture to go in these structures. While I admire his talent and I find his work interesting, it really doesn't ring my bell. The furniture always seems rather uncomfortable and the houses that I've visited, with few exceptions, don't seem to be very livable. That said, for some reason, I never seem to pass on visiting a FLW building. Fallingwater, located in Mill Run Pennsylvania checks all of my reasons that I don't care for the architecture, but boy – this place is stunning.
Henry Francis Du Pont (1880-1969) was born at Winterthur (an estate in northwestern Delaware) with a silver spoon in his mouth. The Du Ponts had made their fortune in the manufacture of gunpowder. H.F. was a sensitive boy who clashed with his authoritarian father who was a mover and shaker. All H.F. wanted to do was raise his prize Holstein-Frisian cattle and garden. When he was 43, he discovered a passion for antique furniture and went nuts (my words).
