notamermaid

New software thing on CC means that I had to change my avatar photo . No longer Koblenz and Avalonwaterways ship. It appears the file was too big. Oh well, after several trials I have found a small enough photo that I took on the Rhine. It is Rhinau, me crossing the river on the ferry there. A quiet contemplative day today. With pleasantly mild weather and a great autumnal sunset. Managed to go to Lumagica in Neuwied Niederbieber (longish evening). It was fun and when I get round to it I will try and post a photo in the Rhine thread. Night photos on my camera are not the best. notamermaid

Interesting how Grandads can influence the young folk. You know, beyond woodworking and model railways, etc. I hope the young man will enjoy learning my native language and will not be frustrated by the ever changing articles like in "das Schnitzel mit Rahmsoße" and die "Schnitzelrahmsoße". Talking of which, I prefer Schnitzel mit Pfefferrahmsoße. And as we are on 31 October. Today is Reformationstag, which the Protestants observe and tomorrow is Allerheiligen, which the Catholics observe. So tomorrow people will visit their loved ones in graveyards and place candles and flowers on their graves. German language lesson: it is "der Grabstein" (gravestone) and "das Steingrab" (stone (coffin) grave). Right, need to do shopping now as tomorrow the shops are closed in Rhineland-Palatinate. notamermaid

I think Schnitzel mit Jägerrahmsoße or Jägerschnitzel mit Champignonrahmsauce, or similar. Various versions exist on the internet. I am not sure what it was called last time I saw this on a restaurant menu. By the way, I went for British this evening and had chicken and mushroom pie with a puff pastry crust. notamermaid

New mystery river cruises: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Uniworld-unveils-new-Mystery-Cruises-for-2023?ct=river notamermaid

The Rhine at Kaub continues to look good for sailing. The level is now at 157cm, the forecast has been adjusted and shows the lowest figure for 4 November. On that day the level is likely to get close to 120cm before rising again. All this makes the outlook for the first half of November pretty good. Not great water levels but well above what could cause problems for river cruise ships. The brochures and online websites are full of Christmas markets and I have seen the brochure for the Christmas Garden in Koblenz. All looking promising for now. notamermaid

While I have not cruised in France, I will nevertheless say that it looks to be less problematic than on German rivers. 1. I read and hear almost nothing about low water on the Seine and Rhone. 2. Both rivers are generally speaking deeper than the Rhine and Danube, etc. and are also controlled by locks where river cruise ships sail. Details I will have to leave to experienced cruisers. Perhaps this map may be of interest to you: https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/sc3/AGN_map_2018.pdf High water and real flooding can of course happen on all rivers and that is generally more in Spring than in autumn. notamermaid

Stuttgart sounds good. Interesting city with rich cultural life. The Moselle is a great region for that, indeed. notamermaid

You may have been on a river cruise ship before and walked through the lobby of another ship or just simple looked at all the others while docking, sailing or on a land trip. Perhaps you know this from ocean cruise ships already. A few river cruise companies give you the chance to look at ships in more detail and open them for a day or two. I know this from the Rhine but this may exist on other rivers and with US river cruise ships. Have a look round websites for such days. I think it is a nice idea, even just to compare it to your ship or past cruise experience. I have posted CroisiEurope on this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2515614-croisieurope-open-day-on-the-ms-symphonie/#comment-64217452 In Basel, Thurgau Travel is showcasing four ships: https://abouttravel.ch/reisebranche/tage-der-offenen-schiffe-von-thurgau/ Dates are 25 and 26 November and they will also have some info on the Thurgau Gold which will enter service in April 2023. Lesser sailed rivers and canals will also be a focus, mainly Northern Germany. As with CroisiEurope, short presentations (in German) give info about the catalogue and some special offers and themed cruises. While Thurgau Travel only targets the Swiss and German market, CroisiEurope is international of course. If you happen to be in the towns mentioned on those days it could be fun to explore the ships. Should I find any more such days I will post them. notamermaid

CroisiEurope is offering open days on their ship again. This November the MS Symphonie will be in: Karlsruhe Speyer Mannheim Frankfurt Mainz Full details with addresses here: https://www.kreuzfahrt-aktuelles.de/news/croisieurope-bietet-schiffsbesichtigung-in-fuenf-deutschen-staedten-an/41263/ I seem to have forgotten to add a few details in 2018. Sorry. There must be a couple of photos deep down in my archives. notamermaid

Thank you for the info. Much further upstream in Germany things are looking good as well. There had been substantial amounts of rain which brought the level at Pfelling briefly over 400cm. It is on a downward trend but still at 342cm. Really good. With the dry warm weather right now the level will fall further but within the next three days it does not look like a problem and should stay well over 300cm. There is no official forecast which takes us beyond 30 October. notamermaid

There is the idea that it connects it to the Nibelungenlied - the saga from which Richard Wagner composed the operas - but it is not a proven connection and I have not heard of a natural cave up there. There may be one. It appears the original legend was a dragon without name that tormented the people in the area, especially ships, and was defeated by a Christian maiden that was presented to it as an offering. Here is some quite good info: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/burg-drachenfels What is called the Drachenhöhle these days is a building from the early 20th century, really unique. It is interesting and the Schloss Drachenburg (neo-Gothic) is really nice. You can explore it virtually: https://www.schloss-drachenburg.de/index.php/de/entdecken/virtuelle-schlosstour notamermaid

A day trip to Königswinter part 1 Week before last I went to the North of my county, Rhineland-Palatinate and then into North Rhine-Westphalia, to the foot of one of the mountains of the Seven Mountains range, the Drachenfels, or dragon's rock. The town is called Königswinter. I had not been there for a few years and wanted to check out a couple of shops, a café/restaurant I had read about and first and foremost go to the Siebengebirgsmuseum to see an exhibition on early bathhouses and bathing in the Rhine but not to go up to the most splendid of regional tourist attractions that is the cog railway and the Drachenfels Castle (okay, you are allowed to call me weird). Königswinter is on the right bank of the Rhine, a few kilometres before Bonn (district Beuel). The close proximity to the Bonn area makes it a popular place to live to commute to Bonn and has a tram line going North and over the river. In the past it has been a good place for a trip out for townspeople and profited much from Rhine Romanticism. Yup, it is that most famous and notorious of lords that put the hill on the tourism map. Read Byron's "Castl'd crag of Drachenfels". Königswinter at the foot of the rock developed into a wealthy place full of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) buildings and hotels. That splendour has faded in modern times as you can imagine but there is still enough old architecture from Baroque onwards to make it interesting. The approach on the main road in autumn colours with the tramline on the left and the railway on the right was pleasant: Unfortunately, it started raining, but we were able to take shelter under canopy of a farmer's food stall that had been set up in the car park we chose to go to: Obviously, we could not resist looking at the produce and got radishes, onions, walnuts and a type of apple I had never heard of before called Wellant. Apparently it is a relatively new breed from the Netherlands and popular for the fact that it is tolerated well by allergy suffers. We rushed through the rain and side streets, past a few interesting buildings. I enjoyed this house that reminded me of fairy tale stories (apart from the rubbish bin): By the time we got to the main town area my paper printout of google maps with markings was almost soaked and we were ready for lunch so stopped at a street corner to find our way and the English café. But hang on, that place here looks interesting, has a French breakfast menu, we both agreed, and changed from English to French. Good decision! To be continued... notamermaid

I will try and remember to post newspaper articles when they open. The level at Kaub is predicted to go down to 120cm and possibly a bit below that, now around 1/2 November. The weather is dry and unusually warm. Splendid sunny late October days. As mentioned in a previous post, I had a day out to a place I had not been to for a few years. I gave the clues of "seven" and "dragon". Solution coming soon. notamermaid

Remember, the original Vikings rolled their ships over land on wood and did it with muscle power. But those fellows were not welcome along the Rhine as they did more than just occupy the seats in the river side restaurants. notamermaid

And we have another happy announcement from the Vahali shipyard. Well, not the shipyard itself, but they may have posted some photos on facebook like with past river cruise ship hulls they have sent on their way. This good news comes from the folks on Binnenschifferforum who have entered the Amadeus Riva in their Kaskotransport thread. She has been spotted in Austria, pushed by the Argo. If you happen to see an odd ship with the blue sign BN 654 displayed at its side you have spotted her on her journey to the Netherlands, too: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?112666-Amadeus-Riva-KFGS-Kasko&p=449003#post449003 notamermaid

The Mozart has been spotted sailing! The folks on Binnenschifferforum say that she has left the shipyard in Linz and was seen sailing towards Vienna. It sounds as if her transformation is complete. notamermaid

I thought the itinerary that Jazzbeau did sounded amazing. Well I am biased because I do not really like Paris and am a fan of the East of France and Burgundy. The city of Reims has so much atmosphere. Having said that, Paris is a great city to explore. What you can do is fly into another city and take the train. Or take a train from Paris for a trip out. The high-speed trains in Europe are a great way to get around. If I was American and did not want to fly into Paris CDG, I would even consider flying to Heathrow, staying in London, then taking the Eurostar via Lille (interesting old city) to Paris. So many option. And the Rhone is a fabulous itinerary, too. notamermaid

No, except for public transport and health care settings. @Canal archivelovely photo. I miss seeing English residential areas. We do not have much of that warm brick colour in the Middle Rhine valley. Had a double rainbow a few weeks ago, but I was among relatively tall buildings at the time so photos would not have captured it well. notamermaid

No news is good news as they say and this has been true for the river levels - hence no posts from me. I have also been a bit busy. So first, river: Kaub is at 159cm. Rain on and off is keeping the river at good levels. It is a bit low for barges and fully expected in autumn, but plenty of water for river cruise ships. Dryer weather means that the level is predicted to fall, possibly below 120cm by the end of the month. Which is of course still fine for river cruise ships. Second, I have read a bit at work about Christmas markets (not idly hanging around in the office, I do actually need such info as I work in tourism, not to worry) and so far have found no cancellations of note announced. All major markets in Rhineland-Palatinate appear to be going ahead as planned but there may be the odd light bulb and decoration missing... After two difficult years, few I would say are willing to put up with another Advent of loosing money and tourists. Mask-wearing is accepted more, evidently. Almost all the staff in my local supermarket is now wearing masks and I would add another two percentages on the figure of random people in the street wearing them. It is a windy day today so the leaves are flying and trees getting more barren. But it is still colourful and pleasant to see the change from day to day. notamermaid

There is a lot to consider, so I also recommend reading the stickies. Gourmet Gal mentions the size of the rooms. If you want larger than standard river cruise cabins, have a look at the Amamagna on the Danube. But seeing that you do not spend much time in your room usually and are likely to be mostly on the ship in the lounge, dining room and on the top deck, a French balcony room can be very much sufficient. notamermaid

Interesting. So far I had not actually read that Viking stops in Bad Schandau on a regular itinerary, must have overlooked that. Perhaps it is sold or served in Bad Schandau itself. If you feel like inquiring (contact details at bottom of page): https://bad-schandau.de/ It looks like a really nice area, never been to that part of the East of my country unfortunately. notamermaid

It is indeed this set-up that TUI while originally German, is very much present on the British market. The river cruise "division" only exists in Britain, the German one has been defunct for years and the idea was fairly recently re-established so to speak, but only for the British market. I think it could be fairly complicated booking and paying TUI from Australia. I think a direct phone call with TUI in Britain could clarify this. notamermaid

Quick update. Before we could seriously think about low water in Bavaria again, Pfelling gauge started rising. The river stayed just above 300cm with a couple of drops below that figure. The level now is 326cm and set to rise further, likely reaching 350cm during tomorrow. notamermaid

The Elbe at Dresden is looking good at 149cm. Let us travel a bit upstream closer to the border with the Czech Republic and the town Bad Schandau. Precisely, I would like to draw your attention to a district of that town, which is called Schmilka. This place is old and sleepy, or rather was until a person with an unusual idea "saved" it, now Schmilka is a holiday destination again: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220902-schmilka-the-progressive-german-town-stuck-in-the-past Could you get to it on a river cruise? Yes, apart from the village being on the Elbe anyway, the fact that Bad Schandau has a river cruise landing stage (Viking) makes it very accessible. Schmilka is only seven kilometres away from Bad Schandau centre. If you know the area between Pirna and the Czech Republic do share your thoughts. notamermaid

@Host Jazzbeau and @Canal archive, thank you. Much appreciated. Kaub gauge down to 132cm. Should stay above 120cm. Rainy weather means that the level should rise again soon, probably already Friday evening. Strong winds have made trees drop a lot of leaves but the colours are still nice. A real fascinating mix, even on single leaves themselves. notamermaid