Castles on the Rhine River

We began the day in Koblenz, Germany. I opened the drapes this morning to a sunny day and Kaiser Wilhelmina out the window. After winning a war against France, they erected this statue. The Kaiser is facing Berlin, while the horse’s rear end is facing France.

We left on our walking tour at 9:00.

Koblenz is at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. We walked around a park and the outside of a cathedral.

I’m not sure why the last line was underlined and started a new paragraph..Operator error, I guess. We went along a walkway and our guide showed us 3 panel s from the Berlin Wall. They were given to the city after the wall fell. We also saw on the corner of a street in the pavement, a small plaque with a man’s name on it. He was a Jew who disappeared in WWII. He lived at that location. After a short walk down a lovely shopping street we arrived at the first market. She ended the tour because she knew we all wanted to visit the market. There were two markets in 2 adjacent squares. They weren’t very big but we managed to find things to buy. We had to be back at the ship by noon. We cast off as we were having lunch.
‘We started cruising down the gorge on the Rhine. The river narrows and the sides are steep. Not so many vineyards here. Much more boat traffic, with the majority being commercial. We started seeing castles right away. I have a few photos of them. There are more than 40. It got too dark to photograph them. I would sit inside , wait for a castle to come, run outside to take a picture, then come back in. It was cold and windy at the front of the ship. There was one place where there was a castle on the hill and another in the middle of the river. I waited outside on the top deck to get a photo of the two of them. The river castle was a toll booth. They would put chains across the river so they could stop the ships and collect their toll. Pretty smart. I imagine they were pretty wealthy. We had a running commentary by the Cruise Director, Emma. She was very interesting and informative. I don’t remember much except about the toll castle.
‘she gave a talk in the lounge about all the benefits of cruising with Viking and pushing various itineraries.. Then we heard the talk about the next port-Mainz. We’ll have a walking tour at 9:00 and go to markets when they open at 11:00. We might stay in town for lunch too.

We had a turkey dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans yams and cranberry sauce, with pumpkin pie for dessert. It was yummy. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving too. I’m grateful to have you in my life.
‘Photos: Christmas Market, Kaiser Willhelm, Berlin Wall pieces, shopping street in the town, and castles, castles, castles. The staff made mulled wine,. We watched them pour 18 bottles of red wine into a pot and spice it up. I had a taste. Since I don’t drink red wine, I just had a couple sips. Upon rereading this I see spellcheck decided it was Wilhelmina on the horse. Couldn’t get it changed but it was Willhelm!