We reached Rüdesheim and had reached the Rhine. There was a new town to visit; we started the walking tour with a chocolate store with liquor-filled candies, and ended in a shop with their specialty coffee, with flaming local liqueur. A selection of pictures:
Even as the distances between stops are short, the many locks on the Main make for a long duration, our arrival this morning being at 9. We were at Miltenberg, a town with a historic center based on one narrow street.
And what’s upstairs?
Outside views of the ship
Afterwards we went to the neighboring small town of Eichenbühl, not a tourist attraction, but where it had come together for the mayor to organize a gathering when this cruise comes around, serving us cold cuts with wine and beer, with a band performance, and the chance to go to the chapel and ring the bell.
Another day done.
Today we docked in Würzburg. These last few stops have been in Franconia, which is part of Bavaria but the guides have said should be seen with its own identity, with wine one central interest. The ship just docked at 8 a.m. as daylight was starting, showing the Marienberg castle on the hill above. Unlike previous stops, this one was convenient to the town center.
I had been in Würzburg before, in 1975, before being removed from the Romantic Road bus, my previous effort to see Rothenburg (for having the wrong type of rail pass). This was on a too-fast trip around Europe, and it was good to get a better sense of the city. We were bused to the Residenz palace, which I believe was closed during my previous stay, noteworthy for its Tiepolo ceiling frescoes representing four continents (no photography allowed). There were other rooms and the garden to see. Then there was the option to return on the bus or continue walking around town and to the ship. I saw more of the picturesque city and learned about the heavy Allied bombing there in World War II. The Residenz had exhibition rooms about its own damage, but the Tiepolo frescoes were untouched. There was another exhibit in the city hall about this bombing.
The sloping vineyards that come right above the city in the direction we were sailing
Right on departure we had a good view of one of our many passages through locks.
Mostly pictures today. On this Sunday, we docked at Volkach and our tour was to surrounding places to see wine production.
We had an orientation and outline of the first two days of tours. The opening dinner, even though it wasn’t listed as a formal meal, was a very full meal with steak and a variety of other choices. When the ship set sail, there was hardly any sense of being on water. A few pictures:
Sun deck
The morning excursion was in Bamberg, a medium-sized city of historic interest. We were bused into town and experienced the the headset system where the guide spoke in a normal tone. We saw the picturesque old town and the cathedral, where the sun coming in suggested a divine effect. It was difficult to get good pictures around the group.
Back to the ship, and in the evening there was the captain’s welcome reception and dinner. It was optional to dress up, there were more introductions of the crew and a nice dinner. The sailing proceeded going from the canal network to the River Main with many locks.
We had to get from the B&B to the airport in the early morning; the owner lady couldn’t take us then; she arranged a ride from another woman. In the dark at 6 she showed up in a small car, making it a challenge, and she had her own charge of 5 euros per person. We got to the terminal and had our check-in and security. We had a long way to go to gate A80, a bus gate. It was odd to see them call priority passengers and have them crowd into the same bus. We climbed the stairs to our Lufthansa flight to Munich. It had a slight delay in departure. In flight they passed out water bottles, and then even coffee had to be paid for. The flight attendant explained to Margaret the particularities of their coffee, how the lid needed to be pressed. I paid by card and put my card wallet on my lap as I handed Margaret the cup. After that I wasn’t finding the wallet out or in any of my several pockets. Margaret was convinced it had to be in a pocket and was talking happily while I worried about where it was. Margaret and Barbara both wanted window seats so B. was seated behind us, and on landing I was ready to ask her to look under my seat, when I found the wallet wedged between the seat cushion and the armrest. What a relief.
We disembarked via jetway at Munich; I remembered transferring there on my first trip with Margaret ten years ago and it was simple. This time getting to baggage claim was very involved, with multiple ups and downs and a train ride. When we got to baggage claim we had a long wait; added to the small flight delay, the two hours we had between flight and bus were waning. I’d looked at the airport map for the bus stop when I booked the trip, but hadn’t looked again recently. I made the mistake of not following Barbara’s call of where the stop might be, so we used up some more minutes before finding the stop and having a little time to buy sandwiches before boarding.
We loaded bags onto the bus ourselves and boarded the Lufthansa Express Bus to Nuremberg airport. It had essentially no increased fare over just the flight to Munich. When we boarded, we didn’t see evidence of a lavatory, but there was one going down the stairs of the middle exit. I liked the chance to experience the Autobahn: a lot of traffic, including some standstill time, didn’t see much fast traffic.
We were at Nuremberg airport, and took a taxi to our hotel. We had an annual free night from Marriott Bonvoy to use at the historic Meridien Grand, while Barbara had another hotel around the corner. We checked in to this historic hotel, nice even if the room was a bit small. While we were exhausted from the travel day, I did a stroll, seeing the busy pedestrian streets and some of the old town, including the market square.
View from the hotel room to the train station
Once I was back, we were wanting to eat early, and to keep it simple we ate in the touristy medieval village across the street from the hotel, and had a sampling of local dishes. Getting back to the room, we had a bit of TV news and I was exhausted enough to go to sleep at 9. The bed was comfortable and we slept well through the night.
At check-in we’d taken the offer that these hotels often have, of taking their breakfast buffet at a lower price than it would be on the spot. We went at a busy time and took a table that hadn’t been cleared, with some confusion about how to serve ourselves, but we eventually had a nice meal.
It was raining and I worked on this blog rather than going out. We were thinking of taking advantage of the hotel’s late checkout, but Barbara, with experience with these cruises, suggested we go at noontime and have the cruise’s lunch even if the stateroom wasn’t ready. We did that, the hotel called a taxi that was a minivan, and even with several cruise ships along the quai, we found the right one first (the hotel lobby was full of Viking passengers waiting for a transfer).
We were onboard the Uniworld River Princess, where they handled our luggage before we noticed, took our information, and we settled for drinks and a buffet lunch. Before long our stateroom was ready; we’d successfully bid to get upgraded to a room with a picture window rather than a basement-type window, but the room space is still rather tight. We’ll see how this goes.
