Rhine water levels 2020 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

On 9/17/2020 at 2:48 PM, steamboats said:

Nijmegen is locted in Gelderland.

 

AmaKristina has left Amsterdam early yesterday and is on her way up to Cologne. Next cruise is the Southern itinerary.

 

steamboats

Ah, good for back to back. A German cruise info website has stated that river cruise lines will mostly still do much of the Netherlands including Amsterdam with "scenic sailings", i.e. along the skyline without stopping. There is even talk of stepping on land and do coach trip sightseeing without stopping to avoid quarantine. Weird.

 

The river level at Kaub has fallen below 100cm, but rain in the Alps from tomorrow and rain along the valley during much of next week indicate a good rise to pleasant levels, after a short further drop.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

For the record: the rain so far in the Upper reaches of the Rhine has been less than forecast which has let the level at Kaub fall to 77cm. But from tomorrow we will most definitely see rain that could bring the level back up to 90cm by Saturday.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is rather cool and windy today. And the level at Kaub has risen, as I write it is at 109cm. This is what the last month of recording the water level at Kaub looks like on the graph:

 

Before the weather turned unpleasant today, I was able to see the area around the Loreley rock in the Middle Rhine valley in early Autumn colours and cloudy sky. Yup, nice, very nice indeed. An errand happened to take me close to the river there. I have seen the area in all seasons, but it has been a while since I was there and actually stopped to admire the landscape. Thinking with you river cruisers in mind, I would say it is nice to see it in bright Summer light all green. But if you want to capture some of the drama that so attracted the writers and painters of the Romantic movement, go in September or early October and hope for a few clouds that will make the shapes of hills and river bends more pronounced.

 

notamermaid

 

[worldtraveller99]

One day we will be able to be with you notamermaid!

[notamermaid]

Thank you. You will indeed! Things will get better again. And I will see the rolling hills of Kent again. If not this year then next year.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Remagen - famous for its bridge that no longer stands. But standing on the hill above the town is a 19th century gem of art and architecture called Apollinariskirche, a pilgrimage church dedicated to St. Apollinaire. As part of the European Heritage Days, Germany had its annual day "Tag des offenen Denkmals" on 13 September. Almost all activities were digital this year. Online activities also included posting many virtual visits of objects including 360 degrees vision. On of them is of the said church: https://files.tag-des-offenen-denkmals.de/panoramen/st_apollinaris/tour.html

 

Surprised by the ornate interior? You can read up on the church on Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollinariskirche,_Remagen

What the English website does not give is a clue to why the church is painted in this way. The German website explains - Nazarenerstil. It is the name given to a particular movement in the 19th century: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazarene_movement

If you think you can spot some resemblance to the Pre-Raphaelites you are right: they were influenced by the Nazarene painters.

 

As hardly any river cruise ships dock in Remagen you are unlikely to see the church close up on an itinerary. But a train station in Remagen gives you easy access to transport from Andernach or Bonn/Cologne. From Remagen town centre the church is only five minutes up the hill by car.

 

So finally a town with a hill but no castle or Schloss? Nooo, Remagen has got one, too. 😄 It is called Schloss Marienfels, dating from 1859.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Last week, as I have mentioned, I was near the Loreley. The leaves were still green, but it was definitely turning into Autumn. I was glad to see four river cruise ships on the river. Here is the Swiss Crown:

 

Above the ship you can perhaps make out a structure that looks  like a castle tower. It is the portal of the "Bettunnel" for the left bank railway line, i.e. I am standing on the right bank close to the Loreley. I was going to wait till a long goods train comes past as you can take a photo of one end of it coming out of the tunnel while the other end is still going into the tunnel. It did not work out this time.

 

I did get a close up of the Loreley rock from the passenger seat, quite literally, here is the rock face:

 

The stone is called Rhenish slate and as you can see it rises up quite straight. The valley is really narrow there, it makes you understand why they call it a gorge. This is what it looks like a bit further downstream. A little wider, but still very narrow compared to areas downstream between Koblenz and Andernach and then past Bonn:

 

 

I was out in the countryside today (not the Rhine valley, but near) and the colours are slowly changing. Another week and the orange and red shades will complement the yellow to give a lovely golden-red shimmer to the area.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

If memory serves, here is what AMA plays while you sail by the Lorelei rock:

 

 

[ginnyks]

A few years ago on our “Rhine Get-away” cruise with Viking we were offered a copy of the words for this ballad as we were ready to pass the once treacherous river passage. Tears came to my eyes as I remember learning to recite the entire Heinrich Heine poem with my German class in high school. I could never carry a tune but I sang it to myself in the chilly morning early November air imagining the shipwrecked sailors who heard the singing of the beautiful maiden (siren) combing her golden hair.

We loved this cruise and have booked passage for it again in 2021.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[notamermaid]

The Rhine is flowing peacefully and at 192cm the level at Kaub is good for this time of year. Life is going on at its "normal" pace - with the heightened alert in Rhineland-Palatinate that is needed in these weird times. Baden-Würrtemberg has increased restrictions. I have said before that digging in this area often reveals either something Roman, Medieval or a WWII bomb. Again, it was the last of the three last week, this time in Andernach. The 125kg bomb was successfully defused yesterday. No river closure necessary. Just this morning, news has come in of another find, a 500kg bomb in Koblenz. Now, two finds so close together in time are not standard. The place is just outside of the city centre and is likely to cause a closure of the railway line and possibly the Moselle river. But the authorities will tell the public more during the course of today.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Koblenz: the bomb will be defused weekend after this one. The evacuation radius is 1km in diameter and will include a hospital, old people's home and hotels as well as the railway line. They want to keep trains running but no train will stop in the station. Sounds like the radius does not include the Moselle river. A massive undertaking made worse by coronavirus regulations.

 

A grey sky hangs over the valley, the weather is of the unpleasant type and in Koblenz, as elsewhere, they are making plans for the Christmas market as best as they can, not knowing if it can go ahead.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Christmas markets - with time slowly running out for the organizers everywhere it is more and more decision time for or against. Strasbourg are still going ahead and published their measures for a safe Christmas market. The amended plans are on the website: https://noel.strasbourg.eu/en/-/strasbourg-capitale-de-noel-une-edition-2020-adaptee-au-contexte-sanitaire

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just to underline that these bomb disposals don't always go smoothly:

https://www.foxnews.com/science/biggest-wwii-bomb-poland-piast-canal-tallboy-bomb-british-royal-air-force

 

Thankfully no one was hurt.

[notamermaid]

Yes, heard about that. Sadly, lives have been lost in Germany during modern day bomb disposals. For people not to get hurt in any way, the evacuation radius is very wide and chosen wisely. Hope all goes well this weekend.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The bomb in Koblenz has been successfully defused. Everything okay.

 

Also, at 167cm, the river level at Kaub is good for this time of year.

 

More cancellations of (small) Christmas markets have come in.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:59 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

If memory serves, here is what AMA plays while you sail by the Lorelei rock:

 

 

That is quite a sophisticated work for a sail-past. Had not actually heard this version before you posted it. The great Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

 

Standard version is what one would call a song for the people, what we call a Lied, for those with a bit of talent, or perhaps even more Volkslied, for the common people with the common voices. I believe it is the one by Friedrich Silcher that Viking plays, i.e. that standard version which is so well known with so many Germans (I could sing it as well but only late at night alone when I can be sure none of the neighbours are still awake).

 

On 10/4/2020 at 1:17 AM, ginnyks said:

A few years ago on our “Rhine Get-away” cruise with Viking we were offered a copy of the words for this ballad as we were ready to pass the once treacherous river passage. Tears came to my eyes as I remember learning to recite the entire Heinrich Heine poem with my German class in high school. I could never carry a tune but I sang it to myself in the chilly morning early November air imagining the shipwrecked sailors who heard the singing of the beautiful maiden (siren) combing her golden hair.

We loved this cruise and have booked passage for it again in 2021.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you for sharing the story. Learning Heinrich Heine by heart? A nice thing to do in German class. Those were the days, proper poetic German. (notamermaid's eyes drift off to look into a time long past and disappeared into the mists behind Lorelei rock.)

 

Back to Liszt: he travelled extensively and also to the Rhineland, but it is known that he did not compose his Loreley version while sailing past the rock.

 

I will write a bit more about Liszt in my (probably) next post.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by notamermaid
Clarification

[notamermaid]

Before I return to Liszt, let us have a look at the river levels. For river cruise ships this has been a good year for sailing on the Rhine so far. Yes, maddeningly, when nobody can sail, the Rhine is giving us good conditions. So far this year, we have not had a single day of "low water" in river cruise terms. We experience that when the level at Kaub falls close to 78cm on the gauge. At that figure the navigation channel is only 190cm deep. There has also been little flooding. So, it has been a month since I posted the last graph, therefore here for reference for future years if you like, is the next one:

 

This looks good and with the Autumn temperatures that we have and light rain forecast, the situation looks good going into November.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Today's announcements:

 

Koblenz Christmas market cancelled.

Mainz Christmas market cancelled.

Worms Christmas market cancelled.

 

It is going to be a quiet December in the Rhine valley. What a sad, sad prospect. I hope at least the Christmas lights are put up so that they can cheer us up.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

We drive up to the City every year to see a drive-thru light display.  One thing that (hopefully) won't be cancelled this year!

 

 

[sharkster77]

@Daisi, here in the US many walk-thru lights displays are being staged as drive-thru, so I would think your lights display will be good to go!

[notamermaid]

Walk-thru displays I have heard of, they are not common in my area, perhaps more in large cities. They were going to do one on the fortress in Koblenz, I hope they will be allowed to in December. A drive-thru would be an alternative but I doubt people would enjoy them that much. But in the absence of markets who knows...

 

Some smaller markets have not been cancelled yet, by the way. Those that only attract small crowds and start later than end of November, some of those are only weekend markets, still stand a chance.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

notamermaid, when it's -30C  (or more) at night, we appreciate the drive-thru lights 🙂.  For the one we go to, it's a good 2km drive, and you aren't allowed to stop your car, so at a slow speed it's usually about 20 minutes.  There are about 300  displays, and they do it as a funraiser for the Children's Hospital.    They only charge / car, so it's good for families.

 

 

[notamermaid]

Daisi, this sounds a really nice way of raising money for a good case. At those temperatures , yes, not much fun at a Christmas market probably, I mean, the glühwein will cool down too quickly!

 

Around here we find minus twenty Celsius at night extremely cold and it is rare these days.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by notamermaid
Missing word

[notamermaid]

Now back to Liszt. During his extensive travels he also passed through the Rhineland - and stayed for a longer holiday, more than once! He had been familiar with the Lorelei legend and his version of music to the poem by Heinrich Heine was not the first version, he wrote it in 1841. By then, the version by Friedrich Silcher, written in 1837, was already popular, and although this article does not say so explicitly one may well presume Liszt knew it. Here is the article in German, if you are very interested in Liszt and his version, do send it through a translation machine: https://blog.klassik-stiftung.de/die-loreley-ein-lied-franz-liszts-nach-heinrich-heine/

 

An unusual place downstream Liszt chose as his holiday to find peace and recover from his concert tours. Literally an island of peace in the Rhine river: Nonnenwerth. Werth is a typical name for river islands in the Rhine, but also some places with such a name can be found elsewhere in Germany. This is the story of Liszt on the island: https://www.dw.com/en/come-again-franz-liszts-trips-to-an-enchanting-rhine-island/a-15460152

 

If you are a celebrity, that idea of a peaceful island away from it all does not quite work!

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The temperatures have gone done and during the night the Rhine and Moselle valleys, even down in the valley right at the river, saw the gauge dropping below zero Celsius in a few places. Clear skies mean that the afternoons still give us figures in the double digits, towards the weekend even 14 to 17 degrees are possible. It is the time of year when the water is warmer than the air and in the morning when the mists slowly clear it looks as if the Rhine is boiling - the steam rising above the water in Autumn is one of my favourite sights along the river and in November especially it makes for some unusual photographs.

 

I have been out and about trying to capture the Autumn landscape in photographs (not always succeeding) and appreciating the sunshine and forests. I may post a couple of photos at another time.

 

Deutsche Welle have been travelling through Germany and this week they present Xanten on the lower Rhine. Here is the photo gallery: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-from-a-to-z-xanten/g-54097237

 

The river levels: Maxau 499cm, Kaub 192cm, Koblenz 200cm. All good.

 

notamermaid