Marksburg Castle and Cruising down the Rhine, October 12, 2010





The castle in morning fog

  



entrance to the castle

 




morning sun

  




The Rhine River from the castle

  



Our German guide

 




The castle's dinnerware

  




Breakfast nook  :-)

  



pots and pans in the fireplace

 




The sitting room

  




The music room

  



The dining room

 




The castle from the river

  




Marksburg Castle

  




Vineyards along the Rhine

  




Vineyards

  




Oberwesel

  




Views along the Rhine

  




Along the Rhine

  




The sundeck

  




Tough life!  The Bosmas

  



Sleeping again!

 




Lorelei

  




My chess game--I never found out who I was playing!

  

We continue to be blessed with beautiful sunny weather!  It was chilly this morning--41 and foggy.  We had a bus ride up to the castle and then quite a walk.  It is 800 years old and is one of the few that wasn't destroyed with bombings during the war.  The sun came out while we were up there and it turned into a beautiful day.  I was playing with the light through the windows on some of the pictures inside of the castle.  The family still lives inside this castle.

We boarded the boat at noon, ate a quick lunch and went up on the deck to enjoy the beautiful scenery as we cruised down the Rhine.  We saw more castles, beautiful German villages, and huge vineyards.  Lorelei, a bronze statue, sits on a 433 foot high rock combing her hair.  This is the narrowest gorge on the Rhine, where the river is up to 80 feet deep.   Legend says that when the Rhine rocks glowed in the evening sun a figure could sometimes be seen on the hilltop and a mysterious could be heard as an echo.  It belonged to the enchanting maiden. Lorelei. 

Today is the last day on the Rhine, we go on the Main tomorrow so we won't be able to go up on the sun deck for a few days as the bridges are too low:-(  We have met so many wonderful fun people from all over the US.   We really haven't run into any one from any other country.  The cruise is very relaxing but neither of us is still sleeping real well--I guess we are still experiencing jet lag.  I will continue to write as long as we can get on the internet.