notamermaid

Good phrase. There is of course the possibility that the engine failed. It is still odd though. Well, we had the strange case of the barge Achim sailing into a lock on the Danube and then breaking in the middle and sinking... I doubt that we will read anything further about Iffezheim seeing that the ship and the ship in the lock at the time of the incident have already continued their journeys. It will be interesting to see if there will be delays - flooding could make things more complicated. notamermaid

It really is a weird one, the police report just says the investigation is ongoing. Whatever happened it certainly went spectacularly wrong. It was daylight so no confusion in the dark possible. notamermaid

Never noticed anything like this over the years but the other day a November sale came up: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/cosmos-globus-and-avalon-offer-november-savings Just found this one: https://www.travelweek.ca/news/cruise/scenic-group-rolls-out-black-friday-cyber-monday-deals-for-scenic-and-emerald-cruises/ notamermaid

Today I have seen the typical tourism stuff online articles of Christmas markets, cosy, charming, etc. again. And what do they suggest? Going to Cologne, Dresden and Rüdesheim. "Oh my goodness" I think to myself. I stay well clear of Cologne and have not got myself to join the crowds at Rüdesheim yet although in global terms it is just down the road for me. Dresden I do not know but I have seen the photos... I will be going to the small places again but I have not figured out where yet. Traben-Trabach on the Moselle is out, too busy and popular these days. Been to Andernach last year and enjoyed it, that one was indeed small and charming, with live animals and real local voices. Linz on the Rhine was also pleasant and small but a bit lacking somewhat. So perhaps a weekend one in a castle? Or a charity event? Will see how it goes. If I had time I would go to the North of my country. Lübeck where the marzipan comes from would be great and quite different from my area: https://www.visit-luebeck.com/culture/christmas-city-of-the-north/christmas-markets/traditional-christmas-market Yup, looks busy as well. I would like to see Metz Christmas market again (although it is a bit crowded) and the celebrations around Saint Nicolas day, the Patron saint of the Lorraine region. This is something special: https://www.epinal-touristoffice.com/discover/culture-heritage/saint-nicolas-in-epinal/the-tradition-of-saint-nicolas-in-epinal/the-true-story-of-saint-nicolas-de-myre And I recommend exploring Metz and Nancy which you could do from a Moselle river cruise. notamermaid

I am a bit behind with the news so missed this one yesterday, an accident. A barge hit one of the gates of Iffezheim lock on Saturday. The damage is immense and as such a gate is a special construction made to order it will cost more than a million euros and take several months to replace. The lock is unusable. As there is a second chamber river traffic is running smoothly but there may be delays. German news article: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/iffezheim-staustufe-schiff-rhein-unfall-102.html notamermaid

A windy and rainy day today, with both increasing tomorrow along the Danube. The centre of the country will be wild again, that is the Harz mountains with the Brocken: Mild flooding for the Rhine, mild flood warning for the Upper Danube and preliminary warning for some tributaries of the Danube West of Munich. Pfelling at 336cm, uncertainty in the forecast but a rise to 500cm may happen. Passau is still the bigger uncertainty, but a rise will follow Pfelling in due course. The rise could stop short of being official flooding. We will know more tomorrow. notamermaid

Aahh, so a little explanation. It simply is derived from Church Latin where the feast days are referred to as "the feast of", for example Festum Sancti Martini. Mostly in the Catholic regions, such as Bavaria, it has stuck and is used to this day. In the Rhineland we hardly say it. Today we will see heavy rain and there are flood warnings for areas in the South of Baden-Würrtemberg. This water will partly go to the Rhine and partly to the Danube. If the forecast is right we will see flooding in the Upper Rhine valley and problems for river traffic. I had the suspicion this may happen before the month is out but it has nevertheless come suddenly I find. To give you an idea of what I mean: Maxau gauge (near Karlsruhe) is at 581cm, which is above the mean. By tomorrow it should reach 650cm which puts the river section on flood alert. Over 700cm is very much possible in the 12 hours following that. notamermaid

I tried the frozen ones from my local supermarket (REWE) after having heard good things about the tasty original in Portugal. Well, the frozen ones were almost inedible, not sure what went wrong with defrosting, if anything. When I had the opportunity recently at a market stall to eat them and heard that they were made at a special bakery I tried them again. Much better! But I think I need to declare them to not be my favourite bakery stuff. notamermaid

I see you used the Latin possessive... Rules really abound, had never looked at that closely. So the weather was indecisive which means there was no snow that means the winter will not be severe. Clouds and a bit of sunshine appears to mean we will get a winter of ups and downs. At the moment I can say that we appear to have left low water realm on the Rhine for this year. I tried to spot the hull of the Amadeus Nova, but the Zasavica III dropped it off at Ginsheim-Gustavsburg on the Main and I have not been able to follow up on the next carrier, i.e. the barge that is supposed to pull it alongside. I did spot something else though on camera: the "busy bee" of Viking that is the Viking Orvar pulling something along in the Rhine Gorge. Will get back to that. notamermaid

The level at Pfelling continues to be good, up again to now 319cm. It is cold this morning, snow for more of Bavaria soon? It is snowing in the mountains close to the Alps and the highest parts of the Black Forest, so not anywhere where river cruise ships can go. But the afternoons are too warm and there will quite a bit of rain. notamermaid

Bread with pig lard - that is Schmalzbrot! 🙂 Used to be eaten a lot round here in Germany. Thank you for reporting with all the great photos and the videos. notamermaid

I love puff pastry in a roll from my local supermarket. So versatile. I have used it for finger food, baking with leftover fruit, cheese parcels. Planning to try Spritzgebäck (that is dough pushed through a machine or piping bag that creates shapes) again using an older recipe with rum. Problem I have is that it requires egg yolk. So what to do with the egg whites? I am not good at making meringue. Macarons? Or German coconut biscuits? I am seriously out of practice... Around this time of year we eat Martinsgans - Saint Martin's legend says that he was hiding so he would not be appointed bishop but the geese betrayed his hiding place - but I have never cooked goose. Have only had it in a restaurant many years ago. It is on the specials menu at many places in November. By the way - has anyone had goose on a river cruise? notamermaid

A walk through Kobern-Gondorf part 1 Nearly a year ago to the day I went to Kobern-Gondorf, a combined village as you find a lot these days in Germany. Kobern and Gondorf where united in the great administrative reform of 1969/70. This means the modern day village has four(!) castles. I have seen them from a distance, drove past them and through one (I have mentioned this quite some time back) but have not been into the village. So I finally wanted to find out what it looks like. On a cold November day... The day turned out not as miserable as one may think, there was a bit of sun and still some decent autumn colours along the river banks: We have talked about this before: the train line follows the river bank for some kilometres and is picturesque. Kobern-Gondorf has a train station:https://en.visitmosel.de/cities-culture/poi/bahnhof-kobern-gondorf Not sure if the info is still correct, but it is generally an informative website to roam around. Parking was easy to find, it was in the Kobern part we stopped and there was already the first old vintner's house: We walked along the street and stopped at this interesting modern fountain depicting the village's connection with the river: See the raised train line in the background. It made you think to find out that at this spot stood the house of a Jewish family: It being November there were candles. This is the market square, more or less deserted with it being Sunday and the shops closed: There is another fountain there. This one shows the legendary animal called a Tatzelwurm which is supposed to live in a mine or a mountain nearby. There are more Tatzelwurm places: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatzelwurm To be continued. notamermaid

Thank you. It looks indeed good. A recap of October when the level was already recovering: Not long to go to the Christmas market cruises, I hope all river cruisers will have a splendid time. The town of Torgau I find intriguing, would like to see the Palace there. I see they have a Christmas market with a fairy-tale theme: https://tic-torgau.de/event/torgauer-maerchenweihnachtsmarkt/ notamermaid

This company owns 38 ships but you will most likely never have booked with them in any country and any itinerary. That is because they give the ships as long term charter to others. The company is called Scylla and is based in Switzerland. We have mentioned them here briefly before. On 3 September the company celebrated 50 years in the business. Here is the history: https://scylla.com/en/the-company/history They are currently having the Porto Mirante outfitted and more ships are to come. Business is booming. By 2028 they will have 52 ships in the fleet according to this German article: https://abouttravel.ch/reisebranche/cruise/scylla-plant-zwoelf-neue-flussschiffe-bis-2028/ Currently the demand is greater than the capacities, says the CCO. notamermaid

On the eve of the feast day of Saint Martin let us have a look at a village called Sankt Martin. It is in the region Palatinate and in there part of the Südliche Weinstraße, the Southern Wine Road. Sankt Martin looks a pleasant village, wine all around with a centre that has gained architecturally protected status. Here are a few photos: https://www.suedlicheweinstrasse.de/bilderbuchorte/infosystem/St-Martin_St-Martin/infosystem.html https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankt_Martin_(Pfalz)#/media/Datei:St._Martin_(Pfalz),_Maikammerer_Str.JPG This is the area you can access from Speyer, it is half an hour's drive to the West. Now, I admit there is too much to see in Speyer to warrant a drive out into the countryside but knowing the motorways in the area and a couple of towns I can tell you that it is worth taking the time to experience this wine land if you have an afternoon to spare. By the way, if you go on the excursion to Doktorenhof with Amawaterways you are close to Sankt Martin, at a village called Venningen: https://www.doktorenhof.de/en notamermaid

@Daisi I see that your river cruise on the Moselle has an optional excursion to Traben-Trarbach. They appear to go to underground wine cellars. They are interesting to look at but what blew me away in that town is the Art Nouveau architecture. If you want a break from Romans, castles and half-timbered houses I recommend the rich architecture of Traben-Trarbach. This German language video from Saarländischer Rundfunk broadcasting station is only available till 17 December, so if you want to get some impressions of that town and its cellars have a look: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/da-will-ich-hin/traben-trarbach-da-will-ich-hin/sr/Y3JpZDovL3NyLW9ubGluZS5kZS9EV0lIXzEyMjMwMA notamermaid

I can only think and compare in square metres so for fun I checked what it means. Cabins are quite small compared to my rooms at home but I have been in slightly smaller hotel rooms that were perfectly comfortable. The cabin on the MS Belvedere that I had was 156 square feet (French balcony). For another comparison: CroisiEurope cabins on the Seine Princesse for example are 134.5 sf, with one suite being 193.8 sf and the other 215.3 sf. Not sure that I could feel comfortable with windows that do not open, but a balcony for sitting on I think I would find an expense for something I may hardly use. One is out and about or on the sundeck (or having a nap in bed or on a deck chair (bliss!)). notamermaid

Pfelling gauge has been on a down slope since yesterday morning. A bit surprising in the cool weather. Now at 308cm. It has been raining but not much, yet is not cold enough for snow during the day in the valley. Night frosts are possible but do not happen every day yet. Sample temperature for Pfelling: In the same time frame Passau has been warmer with the gauge staying just above zero at night. notamermaid

Never heard about this before, will check that out. The lantern processions are lovely and there is - where possibly - a man dressed up as a Roman soldier with red cloak on a white horse, i.e. Saint Martin. The children all go to a bonfire and you get Martinsbrezel. Love the title of this website! https://morethanbeerandschnitzel.com/baking-martinsbrezel-and-stutenkerle/ notamermaid

Was this Grevenmacher or Wasserbillig? There are river cruise docks in both towns. notamermaid

Well on our 11 11 at 11 11 we celebrate the beginning of Carnival. Merrymaking to the point of the end (and sometimes beyond) of proper behaviour. No armistice day stuff for obvious reasons. My photo dating settings on the computer even start with the year, so does one software on my computer at work. Not happy with organizing it that way but I get the logic so can just about accept it. Oh, and nearly forgot: 11 November is the feast day of Saint Martin, so we see children with lanterns in the streets again. notamermaid

That is just - luxury. Having had that I mean how can one possibly accept aquarium class on a river cruise ship again... notamermaid

The river at Pfelling fluctuates daily with the amount of rain falling. It is cool and grey, with light rain over many areas of Germany. The current level is 322cm. notamermaid

Yes, the business model/strategy works well for them. It is interesting that six months out full payment is considered good payment terms for a repeat customer, I do not think so. That is what many other companies ask for. That is what I mean, it - if this is the correct word - perpetuates. July 2025 may well sell out as long as the cycle keeps repeating itself and people are willing to book under those terms, then 2026 opens up early, etc. Every customer willing to part with money early keeps it going. In North America, as Canal archive said it does not work in Europe due to customer protection laws. If one wants it one is willing to pay, especially if the impression is that this is common practice. One may shop around and find it is not so, but is still willing to pay. Or not. And deposit structuring is also regulated, as is advertising of bonuses, early booking discounts on websites, etc. in the EU and in Britain. notamermaid