Day: October 27, 2023

It was nice to sleep in! No wake up call! We had a leisurely morning in the fog, which cleared as the day went on. The picturesque villages and castles of the Middle Rhine loomed up to the right and to the left of us as we did our scenic river cruise.

It was pure indulgence to curl up in our duvets in our cozy beds as the scenes came to us!

We arrived in Koblenz in the mid afternoon. There was no organized walking tour and the optional tours seemed a bit too strenuous for ladies of our vintage, so we opted for a bus ride through the beautifully terraced vineyards of the Moselle Valley, followed by a wine tasting at a local family-run winery.

The pictures of the tour are flashed weekly on our TV screen during “Masterpiece Theater” and look so inviting. The reality was not as charming, though: dressed in layers, armed with umbrellas, we saw a fogged in view of the valley and got out of the bus for our scenic overlook.

Bundled up in my puffy jacket, the sister is more enthusiastic about the experience.

We arrived at a charming garage-made-into-a-tasting room with the young vintner offering us a choice of three rieslings, with miniscule servings. There was one small piece of bread and a carafe of water for our table of eight. We were joined on this tour by another Viking group, who was sailing from Basel to Amsterdam.

Happy wine tasters!

We had a nice evening enjoying the company of a delightful young Australian couple, then nipped up to the lounge to hear a singer and musician entertain us with some light classical music and standards.

Our remaining ports of call are Cologne and today we had a scenic sail through the old windmills at Kinderdijk. It was cold and windy so we stayed in to catch up, rest and nurse our colds. They are getting much better but travel is tiring.

We are now in Rotterdam, and will be in Amsterdam in the morning, when we fly back to SFO. I will include highlights of Cologne when I return to California. The sister will have one day of rest before she returns to home and hearth of Hawaii. It’s been a great trip, but there’s no place like home.

We signed up for the “Modern Aristocracy “ all day tour today, but our day in Wertheim has been cut in half because of river irregularities and scheduling. We will not be visiting the town of Mittleberg and having lunch there, as part of the all-day experience, but we will be able to visit both ancestral estates, with our return to lunch on the ship at 1:00 PM.

It’s important to be flexible with river cruises because Mother Nature can be fickle.

We dressed in layers on this cool, slightly rainy day.

Our first stop involved traveling through the Spessart forest to the charming Schloss Mespelbrunn, home to Countess Grafin Hedwig Margarete. Everyone gasped at this sight! Is this the quintessential fairy tale castle, or what?

The moat is filled with trout, which is eaten by the family.

We visited the Regal Knight’s Hall, filled with armor and geneological references to the family. The castle has belonged to the same family since 1412
There were family references in the outer courtyard as well.

We went into the salon for smoked trout and sparkling wine—very tasty!

We retraced our soggy steps to the bus and drove about forty minutes to the Schloss Lowenstein, the estate of the Prince of Lowenstein-Werthheim-Rosenberg and Princess Stephanie. Even though the estate is now used for corporate events, and we were unable to visit, we were able to visit the family’s private chapel, where Mass is conducted every Sunday.

After our visit to the medieval chapel, we were taken to the very modern wine tasting room, where we had a tasting of three varietals from the area, served with wild boar pâté from their land holdings, salami and bread. The nibbles were tasty and I wasn’t able to get a photo before they were all gone ! Sorry!

it was a twenty minute ride back to the ship, and we wended our way through the clouds as we set sail shortly thereafter.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and taking pictures of the small villages in the clouds. Very atmospheric!

After dinner, we participated in a trivia tune contest with a couple of other ladies, whose husbands were resting in their rooms. I asked Chris if I could take her picture, as she was wearing a lovely Bacharat heart.

Tomorrow will be a scenic sailing day, and we arrive at Koblenz in the late afternoon. We will view castles on the Middle Rhine today in the morning . We have been having quite a bit of morning fog so I hope we’ll be able to see them. We will visit more vineyards in the afternoon and are scheduled for (yes, yet another) wine tasting!