Rhine water levels 2016 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

Hello jpalbny,

 

yes, I think I would, from hearsay, refer to the relationship between the Franconians and the Bavarians a "happy relaxed animosity". But I might be a bit harsh. And I do prefer the area around Würzburg, too. I have likewise not been to my ancestor's birthplace called Böttigheim.

 

Do you mean the Lampoldshausen with the space rocket testing site of sorts nearby: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampoldshausen

 

Hope you can visit it some time. It looks a quaint little place.

 

notamermaid

[tamsno]

Notamermaid, thank you again for your insight into your beautiful country. In the US of course we have so many family connections everywhere. I'm aquainted with a family named Bavaria who claim to be from there, but my daughter's married name Welsh is claimed to be only Irish by descent so who knows! I leave a month from today for Amsterdam and the rivers to Budapest and so look forward experiencing it all. Wishing you continuing better health.

[M&Rsquared]

I'm also putting 2 + 2 together and surmising there must be a link between the Rhinelanders of Germany and Rhinelander' date=' 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. /quote']

My husband is from Wisconsin and a few years ago we visited Rhineland and went to the Hodag Museum - of course we bought one too for his office!

http://www.explorerhinelander.com/what-is-the-hodag/

 

His family is of good German stock (no offense) his parents are 93 / 92 yrs old and will be married 70 years 4 May.

 

Notamermaid: Thank you for your excellent updates and history.

Are there any folks in your neck of the woods with the last name of Dymale?

[notamermaid]

M&Rsquared,

 

now that is a curious creature! A small woodland Nessie? ;)

 

The name Dymale does not ring a bell. If it is the orginal German spelling then the name is rare. If the name has been anglicized it is probably something like Deimel or Däumel. There is a family in Mainz which I supppose you could call my neck of the woods with the name Dymale though, the original.

 

If you would like to find out more I am sure there is a genealogy organisation in Wisconsin, that could be very useful for you as Wisconsin has been a favoured state to settle in for Germans.

 

notamermaid

[M&Rsquared]

I have been on ancestry site and followed that name back to Poland.

 

Thank you for the information. I'm saddened now that our ship won't make a stop in Mainz. Would be interesting to meet the Dymale family there.

[CarlyDawwg's Ma]

My husband is from Wisconsin and a few years ago we visited Rhineland and went to the Hodag Museum - of course we bought one too for his office!

http://www.explorerhinelander.com/what-is-the-hodag/

 

 

When my grandparents retired, they moved North from Milwaukee to Minocqua (which is about 30 mins north of Rhinelander). My first airplane ride took me and my father from Washington, D.C. into the little airport in Rhinelander. We had to switch planes in Milwaukee and the plane that flew into Rhinelander was a tiny prop plane that scared the hell out of me! (this was the late 60's) And now that you've refreshed my memory, I do remember hearing stories from my grandparents about the Hodag. Their home was on a lake and we were repeatedly warned, as children, that if we wandered away from their home too far in the woods, we'd encountered the mythical Hodag!

 

From what I can tell, Rhinelander, Wisconsin isn't really too "German" of a town per se. According to Wiki, in its charter, the city was named Rhinelander after Frederic W. Rhinelander of New York, who was president of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Road at the time. A pair of young men saw the area and thought it would be well utilized as a timber town and convinced the father of one of the young men to purchase the land from the Federal Government. The young men named the town after Rhinelander in an attempt to lure the railroad to expand to that area. Of course, Milwaukee has a lot of German history, so it would make some sense to see that Frederic Rhinelander lived in Milwaukee (though he was originally from New York.) I've not found much more info on Frederic himself.

 

On my father's side of the family, we are from the Milwaukee area originally and my maiden name is "Brock" which I believe means badger in German! Which is actually fitting given some of my relatives on my father's side...;))

[notamermaid]

Hello CarlyDawwg's Ma,

 

according to a couple of sites the word "Brock" means a moorland or low-lying land that is wet or close to a river or brook. It tends to occur more in Northrhine-Westfalia than any where else, but people with that name live all over the country. The German word for badger is Dachs. There is a German TV presenter with the surname Brock. Quite fascinating to read where all those people with my surname ended up in the world, I might be distantly related to someone very far away!

 

Back on topic of the Rhine, many people from the poorer areas in the hills nearby the river emigrated to the States, the first great wave of emigrants happened when among others a guy called Josua Kocherthal took people from the Palatine to New York via London. The combined historic event is explained on the wikipedia site called the German Palatines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Palatines

 

Among those that left Germany was Johann Peter Rockefeller, yes that one, they later became the famous Rockefeller family. The Rockefellers before originally came from a small village in the Westerwald hills (they border the Rhine near Neuwied north of Koblenz). The village was called Rockenfeld and is now deserted. Difficult to find without a Satnav!

 

About Dymale: The lady with the name Dymale works for an institution in Mainz, that is why I found her, you can look her up and send her an email, it is online. Just google Dymale and Mainz (and/or Horchheim).

 

notamermaid

[M&Rsquared]

About Dymale: The lady with the name Dymale works for an institution in Mainz, that is why I found her, you can look her up and send her an email, it is online. Just google Dymale and Mainz (and/or Horchheim).

 

notamermaid

 

Oh.. what a small world, that is the same person my brother-n-law has been in contact with but lost her in the shuffle.

 

Thank you!

[notamermaid]

Hello M&Rsquared,

 

I am so pleased I have been help to help you with this, a small world indeed.

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

I have some time to spare so I thought I might tell you a little about the Romans on the Rhine.

 

As I have mentioned before, Gaius Julius Caesar conquered Gaul by defeating the Celts which gave him access to the Rhine and it became the border of the Roman empire. But that was not enough. The unruly Germanic tribes behaved, well, rather wildly, so Caeser decided to show them who rules just across the river by stepping across the Rhine with an army. One of those wooden bridges he built for that purpose was near Urmitz, South of Koblenz. The whole military trip only lasted 18 days and the bridge was destroyed by Caesar's troops themselves. Urmitz is a tiny place today with a railway line bridge, that being a sister bridge to the more famous Remagen bridge.

 

One of the other Roman settlements on the Rhine that you river cruisers hardly ever stop at, apart from APT on their "A Royal Experience" cruise and Dutch as well as German ships, is Andernach. it was called Antunnacum in Roman times and is today known for the highest cold-water geyser in the world. By the way, it is the birthplace of Charles Bukowski. A few years ago, archeologists were intrigued to find under a knocked-down industrial building, the remains of a structure that confirmed the site as part of the old Roman port of Andernach. Building plans for the site were halted and the archeologists were still digging last year. :D

 

Luckily, in another Roman settlement that you visit, founded as Oppidum Ubiorum and when it became a town called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (short CCAA), you can still see some intriguing Roman remains. It is a good job languages change, I find, as in this case, because we are left with the much easier name Köln.

 

In Cologne, right next to the cathedral a Roman mosaic was unearthed in 1941, but could not be moved, so it was decided to built a museum building over it! In this decidedly ugly-looking post-war structure (IMO) is housed an amazing museum full of Roman glass and other artefacts which changing exhibitions throughout the year. Highly recommended.

 

This week, the weather on the Rhine is great and forecast is for 25 degrees maximum in Cologne. A few sunny days ahead of us for the Upper and the Middle Rhine valley.

 

notamermaid

Edited May 3, 2016 by notamermaid
Spelling

[CarlyDawwg's Ma]

I have some time to spare so I thought I might tell you a little about the Romans on the Rhine.

 

As I have mentioned before, Gaius Julius Caesar conquered Gaul by defeating the Celts which gave him access to the Rhine and it became the border of the Roman empire. But that was not enough. The unruly Germanic tribes behaved, well, rather wildly, so Caeser decided to show them who rules just across the river by stepping across the Rhine with an army. One of those wooden bridges he built for that purpose was near Urmitz, South of Koblenz. The whole military trip only lasted 18 days and the bridge was destroyed by Caesar's troops themselves. Urmitz is a tiny place today with a railway line bridge, that being a sister bridge to the more famous Remagen bridge.

 

One of the other Roman settlements on the Rhine that you river cruisers hardly ever stop at, apart from APT on their "A Royal Experience" cruise and Dutch as well as German ships, is Andernach. it was called Antunnacum in Roman times and is today known for the highest cold-water geyser in the world. By the way, it is the birthplace of Charles Bukowski. A few years ago, archeologists were intrigued to find under a knocked-down industrial building, the remains of a structure that confirmed the site as part of the old Roman port of Andernach. Building plans for the site were halted and the archeologists were still digging last year. :D

 

Luckily, in another Roman settlement that you visit, founded as Oppidum Ubiorum and when it became a town called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (short CCAA), you can still see some intriguing Roman remains. It is a good job languages change, I find, as in this case, because we are left with the much easier name Köln.

 

In Cologne, right next to the cathedral a Roman mosaic was unearthed in 1941, but could not be moved, so it was decided to built a museum building over it! In this decidedly ugly-looking post-war structure (IMO) is housed an amazing museum full of Roman glass and other artefacts which changing exhibitions throughout the year. Highly recommended.

 

This week, the weather on the Rhine is great and forecast is for 25 degrees maximum in Cologne. A few sunny days ahead of us for the Upper and the Middle Rhine valley.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks again Notamermaid for the great history lesson. Many years ago when I lived in Milan, I dated a Marine Guard who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn (this is back in the mid-80's). We commuted back and forth for about a year and he always loved to hang out in Cologne because he was a great history buff and if my memory serves me correctly, I think that museum with the Roman glass was one of the places we frequented because I have a vague recollection of hearing stories about what the building was built over. Strange what tidbits come back when the memory is prompted...but yet I have no idea where I left my keys!

[rcclfanbp]

Welcome to the River Cruising forum!

 

Before you book any river cruise, I suggest you start by reading the sticky New to RIVER CRUISING??? at the top of this forum, especially the downloadable pdf:

http://pdf.cruisecritic.com/travel-guide/UltimateGuidetoRiverCruising.pdf?et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845

which discusses each cruise line and compares them to ocean cruise lines and hotels [this will give you a frame of reference]. The range among river cruise lines that market in the US is fairly small -- but there are differences from the bottom to the top, and the prices don't vary as much as it first appears because the more expensive lines include more things that cost extra on the "cheaper" lines. For information on choosing a river, read the sticky River Cruise Basics articles on Cruise Critic at the top of this forum. I also recommend the book Berlitz guide to River Cruising in Europe by Douglas Ward, which may be found at your public library.

 

Thanks for sharing this!!

 

Brian

[notamermaid]

We have had some wonderfully sunny and warm days here on the Rhine, but yesterday the weather changed. Thunder and lightning were followed by hail (the small type) and down-pours. Today the weather is windy and it is much cooler. The sunny days are over for a bit and the next three days will bring cool temperatures and more rain. Snow might even return briefly to the hills in the Black Forest and in Switzerland, it could snow at a height of 800m and above.

 

Not nice for Whitsuntide. Whitsunday and Whitmonday are public holidays here so people are flocking to the shops to get supplies in.

 

By the way, which reminds me: those Viking TV ads you lot from the US have mentioned in connection with Downtown Abbey. A German national TV channel is showing Downtown Abbey for three and a half hours on Sunday. Dubbed, of course. I admit, I shall be watching at least some of it. :D Would prefer the English original, though. But, hooray, the whole afternoon will be ad-free.

 

The river level is fine, it has risen, which is good as that will give us some "spare water" for June when the level is likely to fall.

 

Added during editing: I should mention that in the Upper Rhine valley - in river cruising terms that is Strasbourg, Breisach and thereabouts - the level will rise so much that authorities predict that the river might have to be closed. But that is still tentative and will likely be only for a few hours.

 

notamermaid

Edited May 14, 2016 by notamermaid
additional information

[notamermaid]

The river between Iffezheim and Germersheim is closed. That is a stretch North of Strasbourg and South of Speyer. The ban has been in place since late Saturday evening and against prediction is still in place as of midday today local time. Predictions are for falling river levels now and the ban will likely be lifted by tonight. The Rhine can take a lot of water still in the Middle Rhine valley which means the water coming from the Upper valley will not cause major flooding downstream. Unless it rains by the bucketload...

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Things are quiet in the river valley and the temperatures are rising again. It is a sunny late afternoon in the Middle Rhine valley. 50 years ago it was not so quiet when a foreign animal caused quite a stir in the Rhine. A white whale, a beluga, was spotted in the water at Duisburg on the 18th of May 1966. This creature normally lives in arctic waters. This, of course, made headline news and there is even an English wikipedia site on this event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick_%28Rhine%29

 

The whale was quickly named Moby Dick, after the animal in the novel by Herman Melville. It turned out, by the way, that the whale had not swum from the arctic to the Dutch coast but had come from a freight ship that got into a storm on its way to a England. One of the freight items was the whale destined for an English zoo and lost into the sea during the storm. It then made its way up the Rhine via Rotterdam harbour.

 

Subsequently, the name "Moby Dick" was given to a ship of a local company that has a whale design. The vessel still takes day trippers up and down the Rhine, usually between Bonn and Koblenz.

 

notamermaid

Edited May 19, 2016 by notamermaid
Spelling

[jpalbny]

You have the most interesting stories! Thanks for sharing. :)

[notamermaid]

At the beginning of the famous "castle stetch" on the Rhine, from Bingen downstream to Koblenz stands a peculiar edifice in the river itself, on a little island. It is the Binger Mäuseturm, the Mouse Tower at Bingen, and to no surprise there is a legend attached to that building, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower

 

For years tourists have had to be diappointed when they asked in Bingen, "can we visit the Mouse Tower?", as the answer was always "no". It was closed to visitors because of mold and other safety concerns. This year it is finally possible to see the tower with a knowledgeable guide and a prebooked ship cruise to the island. It can be booked at Bingen and I think online is possible. There are specific time slots and all slots available are sold out. The local authority plans to make more slots available later in the season.

 

More feasable for fitting in with a river cruise itinerary is visiting the Burg Pfalzgrafenstein in the river: http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/castles/pfalzgrafenstein.php

 

I can recommend it.

 

But if you cannot get to it, not too bad, it looks stunning from the river cruise boats, too. :)

 

notamermaid

[mimmy52]

Thanks, notamermaid. I'll have to look for it on our cruise in August.

[notamermaid]

A warning for very bad weather has been issued for this weekend for most of Germany. There will be heavy thunderstorms with a risk of tornados (rare in Germany) and hail of the larger size. :eek:

 

It started yesterday afternoon with heavy rain, also in my area. Pictures taken in Wiesbaden on the Rhine showed what looked like snow on the ground but it was a road covered in hail! In the Eifel region (it borders on the Rhine and the Moselle) there was flash flooding. On the Moselle river bank was a landslide which caused the derailment of a local passenger train. Luckily, noone was injured.

 

I saw the dark, evil-looking clouds from a distance but by the time they got to my area had calmed a little to just bring an average thunderstorm.

 

This evening will bring more bad weather to the Rhine valley all the way from near Basel to past Cologne. It will continue throughout Sunday.

 

I have found a website that shows the predicted scenario quite well: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/germany-heavy-storms-threaten/57731775

 

Well, my consolation is if it has to be this weather, better this weekend than next when there will be a large rock festival in the Eifel. I am not going but would feel sorry for the visitors and the event's organizers.

 

Safe travels everyone.

 

notamermaid

[Daisi]

Wow.... hopefully no tornados. I see temps are in the mid 20's, is that "normal" or high? Just curious, as we're sitting in the low 30's, and it's very high for now, that's usually our temps for late June through summer.

 

Stay safe, and hope the bad weather passes quickly.

[notamermaid]

Hello Daisi,

 

this band of heavy rain and thunderstorms is not untypical for this time of year, but the strength and slow movement of the low pressure area over western Europe is. That is what the weatherman explained last night. On the news it also said that lightning had struck people in Paris in a park.

 

The temperature is 26 to 28 degress Celsius this weekend which is above what is normal. In May I think it is more between 18 to 24 degrees. After today's thunderstorms, that will continue into Monday but not so severely, temperatures will drop to 17 to 18 degrees.

 

The impact on the river water level will not be that great around here if it only rains for a few hours, lots of room for water in the rivers yet.

 

notamermaid

Edited May 29, 2016 by notamermaid

[Daisi]

Thanks notamermaid, I was figuring that your temps would be close to ours. I realise you can't predict weather, but I'm trying to keep an eye on things so I know what to expect. We heard on our news last night about the people in Paris, scary stuff. I just wish we could get some rain here......

[notamermaid]

It has been an eventful evening and night in the Rhine valley. I am writing this as the sky is brightening up. Up until an hour ago it looked very uninviting outside...

 

The late evening brought thunderstorms and flash flooding to the area. At the moment some small roads are still blocked. Trees have been uprooted and railway lines are affected but should be cleared soon. It was worse in the Upper Rhine valley - in Bade-Württemberg. Four people are reported to have been killed and one small town there is left in chaos as the small stream that normally flows underneath the market square became a current and burst into the village. Several buildings are in danger of collapsing.

 

In the Middle Rhine valley there are no major reports of devastation (apart from what I mentiond above) and I did not read anything about a tornado that they had feared. The bad weather is moving East towards Berlin.

 

There is more flooding than anticipated and the Neckar river at Heidelberg is at official flooding status. That means from the Neckar, the smaller rivers and the Upper Rhine there will be more water trying to get through the "bottle neck" between Bingen and Koblenz. The water level at Koblenz has risen 50cm in 24 hours. That is quite a bit.

 

I wonder how the cruisers on the AmaLyra and the Viking Mimir experienced the weather, they were docked in Koblenz overnight.

 

notamermaid

Edited May 30, 2016 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

There has been more damage than anticipated, some roads are still blocked in the hills, train lines in Bade-Württemberg are still affected. In some villages they had around 80 percent of the amount of rainfall that normally comes down in a month come down in 24 hours.

 

The Neckar as of this morning was closed to river traffic. If all goes well traffic will resume soon. That means the river Rhine has been given a lot of water by its tributaries and has risen above level 1 in most parts. It is a flood warning but does not mean river closure. That would be level 2. The authorities hope that the new low will not bring much rain.

 

When you come to Germany in the next few days bring raincoat and umbrella but also t-shirts. The weather is changeable.

 

Here is the proof that boats are still sailing: http://www.wetter.com/wettercom-live/duesseldorf-rheinterrasse/55757609c3825/

 

notamermaid

[notamermaid]

The river level has risen sharply and the level is still rising from Bonn onwards further downstream. Cologne will see the highest during the afternoon.

 

There is no ban on ship movement but the flood warning I which is in place means ships are sailing at reduced speed. This should only affect cruisers going downstream, but is unlikely to cause real disruptions. I checked on marinetraffic and ships are still doing up to 11 knots, 14 is the normal maximum downstream.

 

More rain and thunderstorms are coming with the low that is approaching Germany. It is currently raining lightly here.

 

First problems that might now arise for some ships are low bridges. But those are few.

 

The Neckar is still closed to ships, hopefully reopening tomorrow. This affects only trade and German and Dutch river cruise ships.

 

As of this morning, authorities predict that flood warning 2 will not be reached on the Rhine.

 

notamermaid