notamermaid

A "Voll-Katastrophe", This worst case scenario, that is what it essentially means, or the biggest accident we can assume to happen, has happened on the Moselle. You already know that the lock will be out of use likely till the end of March. Now the divers have been down in the chamber and their inspection reveals that the chamber itself has suffered. The full extent of what needs to be done will only become clear when the emergency closing/maintenance gate of the chamber is inserted and the water emptied. The Moselle accident was headline news today, a long report. First captain interviewed, is a Dutch man, he was sailing towards the lock and waiting for one ship to use the lock upstream and then be locked downstream - the one with the scrap metal was the ship he was waiting for. Now he is stuck at Müden. Captains /and or one or two crew members normally stay with their ship so he may be on the Moselle till next year. Report also had a short sequence of the Viking Idi that I presume @uktog unfortunately needs to leave behind and swap to another ship. Now the ships need to find suitable places for a longer docking. The reporter of SWR television is in a small town called Ellenz-Poldersdorf that has eight suitable docking spaces for freight. It sounds as if long-term docking spaces are not a big problem. As for the Viking Idi, she can continue to sail till the end of her scheduled season, doing the passenger swap with her sister ship. But then she as of now will not reach the winter harbour at Cologne. Although it sounds like there will be no ships moving any time soon, there is still the hope that end of March may not be the date and that a lock gate lying at Trier can be modified and ready to be used in Müden. Of course, this will also take time. The authorities are concerned about the number of ships stranded upstream of the lock and are trying to find a way to get them through the lock. I have no idea how that can be physically possible, perhaps they mean when the maintenance gate is inserted. One crane is already on site another will come soon so that the damaged lock gate can be removed. This is the official update on the situation: https://www.wsa-mosel-saar-lahn.wsv.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmeldungen/Webs/WSA/WSA_Mosel_Saar_Lahn/20241209_Haverie_Mitteilung_Krisenstab.html Interesting in this are also the statistics. So far this year, apart from many small boats, around 7000 large ships have been locked at Müden, among them over 350 river cruise ships. notamermaid

While it said in news reports that the gate was not fully open, the official article that I linked is clearer and says that the lock was not open and the translation is correct with almost full speed. steamboats mentions what is in the article, i.e. 70 ships. Yesterday I posted the Moselle up to Nancy-Frouard, forgetting the Saar river and the ships that are potentially stuck there as they of course sail downstream with the tributary and then enter the Moselle. Not sure if that was calculated into the 70 ships figure, may well have been. Either way, economically it is a disaster for the steel industry. Try putting scrap metal on a lorry and transporting it over roads, there just aren't enough lorry drivers for that. For river cruising the impact is less as very few ships sail after the Christmas markets close and there is a routine holiday closure of the locks anyway. Reuptake of river cruising in the New Year is later than on the Rhine and fewer in numbers of itineraries and ships. Trier can take it but Bernkastel-Kues and Cochem will feel the reduced number of visitors. Winningen by the way is still accessible by ship from Koblenz. notamermaid

Bad news is coming from the Moselle. A barge has hit the lock at Müden and has destroyed the lower gate. As Müden only has one chamber large enough for river cruise ships this may affect you if you are on an itinerary that is to pass Koblenz and sail up the Moselle. The Rhine is fine and so is the docking at Koblenz on the Moselle. More info is in that thread. notamermaid

Bad news is coming from the Moselle. A barge has hit the lock at Müden and has destroyed the lower gate. As Müden only has one chamber large enough for river cruise ships this may affect you if you are on an itinerary that is to pass Koblenz and sail up the Moselle. The Rhine is fine and so is the docking at Koblenz on the Moselle. More info is in that thread. notamermaid

Bad news is coming from the Moselle. A barge has hit the lock at Müden and has destroyed the lower gate. As Müden only has one chamber large enough for river cruise ships this may affect you if you are on an itinerary that is to pass Koblenz and sail up the Moselle. More info is in that thread. notamermaid

Yes, the Moselle is as of now basically inaccessible for large ships including river cruise ships for a continuous trip from Luxembourg/Trier to Koblenz. The reason is that the lock at Müden has only one chamber that is large enough, the other chamber is only for boats. If I wanted to be pessimistic I would say that this puts an end to all river cruise itineraries on the Moselle this year. But we will see how it goes. For now the poor people in the offices are most likely working overtime. It is what we call a "Krisenstab", meaning a crisis team. For those who would like to translate a more detailed article, here is the official information of the authorities: https://www.wsa-mosel-saar-lahn.wsv.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmeldungen/Webs/WSA/WSA_Mosel_Saar_Lahn/20241208_havarie_schleuse_mueden.html The barge is still in the downstream approach to the lock. There are around 70 ships stuck on the Moselle upstream from the lock, i.e. anywhere between Müden and Nancy-Frouard. notamermaid

Oh that is bad news. Sorry to read that. I am afraid it is not looking good. As of a good hour ago river traffic was still halted, as the fire brigade needed to see to the leak of hydraulic fluid. River traffic may be halted for longer though. One lock gate at Müden has been ripped from its hinges. I am sure more news will come in later. Report in German: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/koblenz/mosel-schiff-rammt-schleusentor-mueden-100.html notamermaid

It is best to check each one individually for the year you are sailing. Cologne is likely, but reduced in number of markets and stalls. Some towns and cities have winter activities but no proper Christmas market after the 23rd. The Christmas decorations are normally still up over New Year's Eve until the 6th of January or close to that date. notamermaid

The city council of Vienna kindly lists all the markets (in German): https://www.wien.gv.at/freizeit/einkaufen/maerkte/weihnachtsmaerkte.html notamermaid

As I am a train enthusiast I am a bit excited about this one. Tomorrow I am planning to go into the hills of the Westerwald, that is Northeast of Koblenz. A small town called Asbach has a Christmas market and the local railway museum has an open day. I expect to see ten stalls perhaps two of them for charities and will see three narrow gauge engines I think. Sounds a bit little? It probably is but I like the forests there, have not been to the area for several years and never been to the narrow gauge railway museum. It is run by enthusiasts that keep the memory of the line alive and only open about ten days a year. For reference, nearest ports are Koblenz (45 min. by car) and Andernach (45 min. by car). Have bought some Gewürzkuchen (spice cake). I will try and take a photo before I devour it. Speaking of food. There is the question of Stollen with or without marzipan. Some like with, some without. I tend to favour with, as it is more moist. If you feel like tasting and debating yourself, in some bakeries it is possible to buy just slices rather than a whole loaf/cake. notamermaid

I hope it works out for you. I went to Bonn Christmas market some years ago and found it bearable. I wonder if it still is. I seriously think smaller places should be in an itinerary, but many markets are only open Friday to Sunday as they are organized locally by people that work during the week. That is a loss for week day tourists. Speaking of crowded markets. Rüdesheim is supposedly nice but I think it is very full as well. As I have never been I do not know what it is like but last year I got a recommendation from someone who had been to the Hildegard of Bingen Abbey above Rüdesheim. It is a spiritual place but they have a café with a few gifts and the view from the nunnery is really nice. google says that it is not far, albeit quite up hill: notamermaid

It has been raining quite a bit over the Danube basin, tributaries to the North are showing signs of mild flooding. The river at Pfelling will rise fast but should stay below 500cm. The level at Passau will not rise in equal measure, meaning we will most likely not see problems at the bridge for now. Passau gauge is at 490cm. notamermaid

Trier gauge is at 396cm. 450cm is expected for Sunday afternoon. That is okay. Let us have a look at the river in November: For the first half of the month the river level was low but the dams and locks keep the river at a depth guaranteed by the authorities that is normally sufficient for river cruise ships. No problems in that respect. The level shot up on the 19th. This was of course of some concern but the level did not reach the figure that would have stopped river traffic. After the relatively fast recovery the river kept at a mean level. notamermaid

It certainly has been a stormy day. Not a pleasant day for Saint Nicolas who visits the ships on the rivers. On the Rhine at Assmannshausen, near Rüdesheim, the association of skippers organizes a procession in honour of the patron saint of children and all those sailing on rivers. For a slightly different angle on this topic, here is a short video of the regional television station from 1963: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/swr-retro-abendschau/st-nikolaus-auf-dem-rhein/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzExNzIwMDA This year's procession takes place on 8 December. In Germany you can write letters officially to Saint Nicolas and the Christkind. The addresses are available online. One such place is not too far from the Rhine river. It is called Engelskirchen, Angel's Church. If you wanted to visit the Christkind you only needed a forty minute drive East of Cologne to get there, the office is open on 13th, 14th and 15th December for personal callers: https://www.engelskirchen.de/portal/seiten/christkindpostfiliale-der-deutschen-post-900000044-23501.html Oh, and the museum in Engelskirchen is all about - you may have guessed it - angels. notamermaid

You know the Anglo-American tradition of sending a letter to Santa? In Germany there are special places that have official status for such a tradition and Saint Nicolas is happy to receive your letters in St. Nikolaus, a small place in the Saarland in Germany, it has the "Nikolauspostamt"! But that is a different region and river. In Austria for example there is the Postamt Christkindl: https://www.post.at/p/c/postamt-christkindl They guarantee that every letter will be answered. notamermaid