ABC (Another Bloody Castle)

 

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! 

Before we get to the castle though, we are getting a mini tour of the town of Cochem. Cochem was hit hard by the plague. There were so many bodies that they buried them out of town unless you were rich enough to be buried on the church grounds. Evidently, so many wealthy people died and were buried so closely together that things began to get a little smelly. Hence came the term 'stinkin' rich'. I live for these little nuggets of information.

To get to the castle, we had to board little mini buses because the streets of Cochem are so narrow. The streets are only wide enough for one vehicle and if you were a pedestrian, you had to make sure that your feet were out of the way of the bus tires as you plastered yourself against the walls of the houses.

Reichsburg Castle was built before 1100 and destroyed by the French during the Nine Years War (1680s). In 1868, a French businessman bought the ruins and proceeded to completely rebuild it. It was rebuilt in a Neo-Gothic style which was very trendy during the 19^th century. People would buy these ruins, renovate and then use these castles as summer homes.

While this guy looks like a frog, he is actually supposed to be a knight

Ceiling in the dining room, full of symbolism

We leave the beautiful Moselle River (home of some of the best Reisling I've ever had) and sail onto the Rhine River.  It was a partly sunny day and a perfect day for sailing the Rhine Gorge. The Rhine Gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is considered a cultural landscape. It is about 40 miles long and there are about 40 castles on this stretch of the Rhine. After a few miles, I sort of regret to say that I went down to my room. That meant that I only saw the castles on one side of the gorge, but on the other hand, I got to lie in comfort on my bed and watch them go by.

Two castles for the price of one!

Look at the vineyards. 
They are almost vertical.  It is harvest time and it was interesting watching the harvest. 
Personally I would have gone tumbling down the side of the hill.

We landed in Rudesheim, had dinner and were off to see Siegfried's Mechanical Music Museum. They should add the word Marvelous to the title. This museum has the largest collection of mechanical instruments in Europe. We only had about 45 minutes there – it was wonderful listening to these instruments play. The problem with travel tours is that they only give you an overview of all the different places you go to. If you find something really interesting where you want to go more in-depth, you are out of luck. They pique your interest and then tear you away.

The player piano above is unique in that it also plays the violins.