Rhine water levels 2016 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

Hello franski,

 

about Nürnberger Lebkuchen, the real stuff from the original town: They, among other Christmas goodies, are so popular that shops have them in stock from late August. So when you come to Germany in September, just walk into any good supermarket and you can see Lebkuchen on display. I refuse to buy those things before 1 November, August to October just does not feel right. The Nürnberger Lebkuchen are not necessarily available everywhere but you will see them not just in Nürnberg. But, when in the area, it feels so much nicer to get them from the place where they are made, doesn't it? :):)

 

If anyone is desperate, well, you can buy them online and have them shipped to the US.

 

notamermaid

[M&Rsquared]

Notamermaid,

Thank you for all the posts.

 

My mother-in-law made Lebkuchen's for our Christmas present. She is 92 (Good German Stock) [hope no one is offended].. married 70 years to my father-in-law who is 93 (also German!)

 

Might have to buy some "real" Lebkuchen while on our trip on the Rhine in July.

 

I pray you return to good health soon.

[notamermaid]

Hello M&Rsquared,

 

congratulations to your in-laws. 70 years is quite an achievement. And you got to taste Lebkuchen freshly baked. :)

 

On the Rhine in July getting Lebkuchen might be a bit tricky, but give it a try.

 

Thank you for your wishes.

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

It has been a relatively uneventful few days here in the valley without major upsets since my last post. The weather is mixed as is to be expected in April. There is rain on and off in various sections of the valley. The temperatures vary, a cold night is forecast for tommorrow with mild frost returning to the hills. Temperatures rise into the double digits now every day and it is nice and sunny. Public gardens are in bloom with tulips (yes, not only the Netherlands has them) in all their various colours adorning towns and villages.

 

Something about the UNESCO world heritage site Upper Middle Rhine Valley: It stretches from Bingen to Koblenz and was inscribed on the list in 2002. It is one of 40 sites in Germany. It is also part of the Romantic Rhine "notion" that comes from the Romantic movement in the early 19th century. But the Romantics did not just travel from Koblenz to Bingen, they went as far as Switzerland. One of the reasons the cutoff-point of the World Heritage site is the town of Koblenz was the nuclear power station further downstream. The plant is in the process of being dismantled and the cooling tower will go next year. There is now an initiative by citizens and politicians to extend the UNESCO world heritage site to Bonn. That would make sense as the Romantics loved the lower Middle Rhine valley and there are mountains, castles and wine as well.

 

After all the British started tourism on the Rhine and they naturally travelled upstream meaning exploring Cologne, Bonn before they reached the towns in the famous castle stretch.

 

notamermaid

[Daisi]

Lol Notamermaid, love the comment about tulips! Close to where I am, there is a major tulip festival (but it won't be happening until next month), as the Dutch Gov't. sends the Canadian one masses of bulbs every year. Our snow is (almost) all gone, and the grass is slowly starting to turn green. Just waiting for double digit temps now. I like hearing your bits about the Rhine, and am looking forward to seeing it. We live on a UNESCO site as well, and am really looking forward to going through the locks there as they will be so different from ours.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Where we "snowbird," in Fairhope, Alabama, the city has a ginormous greenhouse and raises thousands of flowers in pots that they place around many intersections and one extremely large bulb bed. We got confused this year because when we arrived, there were hundreds of yellow tulips in that bed, then the next week after they had faded there were an equal number of red ones. We looked closer and saw that they were all still in their pots -- easier for the gardeners to swap out. But lovely!

Edited April 17, 2016 by Host Jazzbeau

[franski]

notamermaid - I can find Lebkuchen locally at Christmas time, but have never found anything I enjoy as much as the Elisen kuchen I have bought in Nuremburg. My girlfriend grew up with those - and is very excited about the visit there to buy them herself.

 

On my last 2 visits, I have always made sure I brought some home for her - which she shares with her parents... Lots of happy people!!

 

Fran

[MNPlease]

FYI: Just found out that Avalon hired Canal Cruise is cancelled for our morning Canal Boat Ride because of water being too high for the boats to go under.

[notamermaid]

Hello MNPlease,

 

sorry to hear that. That is a disappointment. The canal boat rides are on canals and the river Ill running through Strasbourg. There are some low bridges and I assume it means there has been substancial rain along the Ill and in the Strasbourg region (the weather radar images suggest as much). The Ill has an artificial "estuary" as the Rhine has been altered in that region a lot to allow navigation of large ships. It flows into the Rhine past Strasbourg, i.e. further downstream from Strasbourg. It does not affect the Rhine river level that much, but this has risen due to the rain they have had "down there" in the last four days. No high water level marked has been reached and it does not look likely that it will in the next three days. We need to see how much rain the next week will bring.

 

notamermaid

[pully8]

sorry to hear however it is still a lovely place to walk around. how did you enjoy weggis?

enjoy the rest of your cruise the time passes so quickly.

[franski]

FYI: Just found out that Avalon hired Canal Cruise is cancelled for our morning Canal Boat Ride because of water being too high for the boats to go under.

 

That is too bad.... We missed part of our Canal Boat ride as the person who was supposed to be managing the lock/bridge system didn't turn up to work that morning!! :eek: We got part way, and then had to leave the boat... We had an extended walking tour that day...

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

That is too bad.... We missed part of our Canal Boat ride as the person who was supposed to be managing the lock/bridge system didn't turn up to work that morning!! :eek: We got part way, and then had to leave the boat... We had an extended walking tour that day...

 

Fran

 

We wished we had missed part or all of our Strasbourg canal cruise because it was blistering hot. I tried to sit completely still and shade as much of my body as possible, but nothing helped. It seemed like it would be nice ride on a nicer day.

[itchtocruz]

It has been a relatively uneventful few days here in the valley without major upsets since my last post. The weather is mixed as is to be expected in April. There is rain on and off in various sections of the valley. The temperatures vary, a cold night is forecast for tommorrow with mild frost returning to the hills. Temperatures rise into the double digits now every day and it is nice and sunny. Public gardens are in bloom with tulips (yes, not only the Netherlands has them) in all their various colours adorning towns and villages.

 

 

Dear Notamermaid, so glad I found you! We leave this Tuesday from Los Angeles, and your postings have been very helpful. We are ocean/sea cruisers, so we're looking forward to our first river cruise on the Rhine, Basel to Amsterdam. Keep up the good work!

[Lois R]

It has been a relatively uneventful few days here in the valley without major upsets since my last post. The weather is mixed as is to be expected in April. There is rain on and off in various sections of the valley. The temperatures vary, a cold night is forecast for tommorrow with mild frost returning to the hills. Temperatures rise into the double digits now every day and it is nice and sunny. Public gardens are in bloom with tulips (yes, not only the Netherlands has them) in all their various colours adorning towns and villages.

 

 

Dear Notamermaid, so glad I found you! We leave this Tuesday from Los Angeles, and your postings have been very helpful. We are ocean/sea cruisers, so we're looking forward to our first river cruise on the Rhine, Basel to Amsterdam. Keep up the good work!

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. I just returned from my first River

Cruise and it was FANTASTIC:D.....

[MNPlease]

sorry to hear however it is still a lovely place to walk around. how did you enjoy weggis?

enjoy the rest of your cruise the time passes so quickly.

 

 

We adored adored adored Weggis and Hotel Gotthard. It was a terrific visit and we all wish we could have stayed longer. We didn't get to do the Weggis to Rigi because of maintence but we had a super lovely time despite. It was so picruresque!! Dreamy actually!

 

It would have been nice to go on our Canal Cruise today but we had a super lovely time regadless. We are having the very best time on our first river cruise!!

[pully8]

good to hear.

[wandb]

Dear Notamermaid, so glad I found you! We leave this Tuesday from Los Angeles, and your postings have been very helpful. We are ocean/sea cruisers, so we're looking forward to our first river cruise on the Rhine, Basel to Amsterdam. Keep up the good work!

 

 

Hi, itchtocruise. Just saw your post and wondered what day you are cruising. I don't think I've seen you on our roll call thread, (you are probably on another line) and would love to find out more about your travels. We are also leaving on Tuesday! However we are spending a few days in Switzerland before we cruise from Basel on the 24th (Viking Hlin). We may end up in some port together! In fact we will meet up with another couple (also from California!) in Amsterdam---even though our cruises follow each other one day apart. I just love CC!!

[notamermaid]

Hello itchtocruz,

 

a big Thank You.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

[cole]

Just returned from the Rhine cruise starting at Basel and ending in Amsterdam and at this point in time, the river is perfect. We didn't have a canal cruise offered in Strasburg, so cannot address that.

Cole

[notamermaid]

The weather has been fine in the last five days, alas, April will show its uglier side this weekend. Temperatures will drop and there will be lots of rain. Highest day temperatures in the valley will be as low as 9 degrees in parts. :eek:

 

Snow will return to the lower regions and possibly even down into the high-lying valleys.

 

For example: when you are docked in Breisach you might have rain but when you take the Black Forest excursion or go to Freiburg you might encounter snow.

 

Water levels are still fine, bound to rise after this weekend, but there is still plenty of room in the river.

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

On this cold and windy day, I would like to talk about a bit about the history on the Rhine, hopefully something guides do not say too often. Do not want to bore people ;).

 

We often talk of Rheinländer or Rhinelanders here in the Middle Rhine valley as if we were a common people with a love of merriment and wine. While we like to drink wine and like our festivals, beer is also drunk in good amounts, especially at beer gardens.

 

Historically, going back a looong way in time, we are a mixed bunch of Celtic, Germanic and Roman folk, with a few Vikings thrown in quite probably.

 

Cologne is a Roman name, but the settlement goes back to a Celtic tribe called Eburones. Koblenz is likewise a Roman name and had a fort as its origin, but a Celtic tribe settled in the area before that. Most people regard France as Julius Caesar's Gaul, but the whole of Gaul included Belgium and everything East and South-East with the Rhine as the border.

 

Remagen, the town of the famous bridge, is a Celtic name and an actual Celtic settlement. Several other places and regional features on the left bank have Celtic names.

 

The Celts travelled far and wide making it to Anatolia in Turkey where they appear in the Bible as the Galatians!

 

Just across the Rhine lived the Germanic tribes whom Caesar and Augustus and every Roman that followed never conquered. The border to this wild land is called the Limes and the traces are still there, it is a UNESCO world heritage site.

 

I live within the Roman civilized world but the wild East of the Germanic tribes is not far from me, there is a local saying that those living in the hills beyond the border are still a bit wild ;). Quite a mix of DNA within me possibly, although my family has lived in this area for some centuries. About a hundred years ago a wandering Franconian (that is North of Bavaria) entered the mix, a foreigner :eek: :rolleyes: We in the Rhineland still regard the Bavarians as a little different, but that is another story...

 

notamermaid

[DocDave69]

Fascinating . . Thanks.

 

 

DocDave

[CarlyDawwg's Ma]

In anticipation of our first Rhine cruise in September, I am truly enjoying the history lessons from Notamermaid, but I am also trying to retain as much as possible so I can impress my husband with my knowledge. He doesn't impress easily!

 

I'm also putting 2 + 2 together and surmising there must be a link between the Rhinelanders of Germany and Rhinelander, Wisconsin where I have family living. I will look into that and see why that name was chosen. Its quite curious because the area is largely associated with Native American history and many of the town names reflect that.

 

Anyway, a big thank you Notamermaid!!

[jpalbny]

Love the history too. Speaking of the Franconians... Our tour guide at the Residenz in Würzburg last year made a very clear point that we were in Franconia, not Bavaria - even though Würzburg is in the modern German state of Bavaria. He lovingly referred to the Bavarians by a somewhat rhyming name that started with Barb, as opposed to the more refined and civil Franconians... :)

 

For us, Franconia is a particularly nice place to visit because they have lots of beer and wine, so both of us are happy. Bavaria is lovely too but Chris is happier with the Franconian wines.

 

One branch of my father's side comes from a small village in Baden-Württemburg called Lampoldshausen. Though we've driven near the area a few times, we have not yet stopped in. Some day!

[notamermaid]

Hello DogDave69,

 

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed reading it.

 

Hello Liz,

 

Thank you. Much appreciated. :) As I still cannot venture out much, I sometimes get immersed in history programmes on TV, hence the Celtic history excursion.

 

I stumbled across a town in the US called Over-The-Rhine and was quite surprised. I knew there were many references to the origins of settlers, for example Germantown, but that one was new to me. As is Rhinelander in Wisconsin!

 

notamermaid