Rhine valley to Koblenz

---

Stop press! Good internet connection passing through Frankfurt, all the photos to date now posted.

Photo Gallery



Well the run of the locks did not go smoothly for us overnight!

We were supposed to be starting the spectacular Rhine valley soon after breakfast, but we were still on the river Main and only just coming to Frankfurt.



Fascinating to see big queues of airliners on their landing approach into the airport. The bustle and bigness of a large city, with closely spaced bridges, and masses of train and car traffic was sort of refreshing after all the cute little places before.



We got stuck in a queue for a lock the far side of Frankfurt - at least three big ships ahead of us, and two big barges coming the other way, and only one at a time in the lock! After about an hour (during which we had lunch) our turn came and we cruised on past the airport to the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. You could actually see a dividing line between the two currents before the waters started to merge properly.



Soon we came to the incredible scenery that drew us to this cruise in the first place - you know the adds? With the castle perched half way up a small mountain? and the bend in the river and all? Well imagine that times about twenty as we cruise through bend after bend, vineyard after vineyard, castles and churches and churches and castles. That's the Rhine valley. See our pics and eat your heart out! Oh, and did I mention the Lorelei? The weather held out beautifully, and we eventually got to our destination, Koblenz, at 7.00., about 5 hours late.



Having been on the top deck for many hours in the sun taking photos, we were too tired to go into Koblenz after dinner. From the ship we could see some of the castles in the town that we had seen 54 years ago when we were there with the youth orchestra, but we didn't recognize much else. We were impressed with the big cable car system crossing the river right over the bow of our ship, which wasn't there before.



Watched a Meryl Streep film on our cabin's 40" TV then went to bed!

Photo Gallery

---