A slightly rushed few days of late.
I was hoping that travelling by boat would mean more time spent in the towns and less spent on the road (or river, in our case). Unfortunately, the last few days have been full of short visits to small towns on the Rhein river and the Main canal.
Yesterday, we went through the Rhein Gorge - beautiful mountainous country, full of vineyards grown on mountainsides at crazy angles, and castles that loom on the peaks over villages that sprang up on the river hundreds of years ago. The vineyards are often grown at insane angles down the steep hills - in some cases, > 45degrees inclination and our tour organiser noted that often people abseil down to pick the grapes...but some don't use the equipment. It seems crazy to grow grapes in such a place, but apparently the soil is rich, the climate good, and the people dedicated enough to do so!
We passed plenty of castles and islands along the Rhein.![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jo_graham? I saw a 'Falkenau Castle' and thought of your story!
There were villages of brick and wood and stone clinging to the banks, and caravan parks stretched out along the river. Today, we saw backyards and fields and breweries (Brau) as we sailed along klick after klick of verdant field, forest, and scrub. It's beautiful countryside, steeped in the conflicts and commerce of history - one regret I have is that I don't know a lot about the smaller conflicts through this part of Europe: the politics would be fascinating. And there's not really time to learn about them, even when we go into the towns.
Today were two small towns, Miltenberg and Wertheim, in which we didn't have more than an hour and a half to take a tour, look around, and get back to the boat before we were moving again. Not enough time to really learn about a town and the historical aspects of it. Then, too, the tour groups have not been organised in the best manner. The cruise is full of people in the 55+ age range, and while some are quite fit and spry and eager to go see the sights, others are slower and want to take things easier. Unfortunately, the tour groups have been divided up randomly, resulting in the slower people holding up the faster, the faster people growing frustrated by the fact that some of their group can't walk more than 50m without needing to sit down, and the slower people feeling like the faster people are unthinking of their comfort and health.
There've been enough complaints however, that as of tomorrow, one of the tour groups will be an 'easy pace' tour group for people who aren't able to walk so fast.
As someone who's discovered it's actually a lot harder for me to ascend or descend a staircase slowly behind someone else - I keep losing my balance and having to grab for the handrail, I'm happy.
Most people on the trip are lovely, and my family and I are rather distinctive as the only members of obvious Asiatic descent. It means that pretty much everyone recognises us. There are a few grumblers - one in particular who I heard being really rude to the tour organiser when we stopped in the afternoon town of Wertheim, and another (possibly the same?) one who started arguing with the tour organiser during the evening debriefing about the next day's doings. I believe he (the heckler) got booed by the rest of the lounge for such stupidity. Never let it be said that Aussies don't believe in making our feelings plain - either way!
Tomorrow is Wurzburg for pretty much the whole day - a guided tour in the morning, and free time in the afternoon. The parentals and I might end up skipping lunch on the ship.
The food is delicious. Well, except for the soups, which are way too salty.
But there's so much of it!
We're having pretty much three course meals for lunch and dinner every day. Breakfast is a buffet, with hot options available for ordering. And my parents and I being foodies, we want to try everything! Which inevitably results in too much consumption. I will roll off the gangplank come Budapest! I'm trying not to think about that first hockey game when I get back home.
Actually, I'm trying not to think too hard about getting home at all. Not because the holiday is so good (although it is good), but because of all the things waiting for me (or, in the case of the cat, not waiting for me) when I get home.
I also have a cold and am sleeping a lot of a lot - today, I pretty much slept whenever we had free time (except for now, when I'm writing up this post). Mum thinks I may be depressed about the cat and the job, and she may be right. Going back will be very difficult.
I was hoping that travelling by boat would mean more time spent in the towns and less spent on the road (or river, in our case). Unfortunately, the last few days have been full of short visits to small towns on the Rhein river and the Main canal.
Yesterday, we went through the Rhein Gorge - beautiful mountainous country, full of vineyards grown on mountainsides at crazy angles, and castles that loom on the peaks over villages that sprang up on the river hundreds of years ago. The vineyards are often grown at insane angles down the steep hills - in some cases, > 45degrees inclination and our tour organiser noted that often people abseil down to pick the grapes...but some don't use the equipment. It seems crazy to grow grapes in such a place, but apparently the soil is rich, the climate good, and the people dedicated enough to do so!
We passed plenty of castles and islands along the Rhein.
jo_graham? I saw a 'Falkenau Castle' and thought of your story!There were villages of brick and wood and stone clinging to the banks, and caravan parks stretched out along the river. Today, we saw backyards and fields and breweries (Brau) as we sailed along klick after klick of verdant field, forest, and scrub. It's beautiful countryside, steeped in the conflicts and commerce of history - one regret I have is that I don't know a lot about the smaller conflicts through this part of Europe: the politics would be fascinating. And there's not really time to learn about them, even when we go into the towns.
Today were two small towns, Miltenberg and Wertheim, in which we didn't have more than an hour and a half to take a tour, look around, and get back to the boat before we were moving again. Not enough time to really learn about a town and the historical aspects of it. Then, too, the tour groups have not been organised in the best manner. The cruise is full of people in the 55+ age range, and while some are quite fit and spry and eager to go see the sights, others are slower and want to take things easier. Unfortunately, the tour groups have been divided up randomly, resulting in the slower people holding up the faster, the faster people growing frustrated by the fact that some of their group can't walk more than 50m without needing to sit down, and the slower people feeling like the faster people are unthinking of their comfort and health.
There've been enough complaints however, that as of tomorrow, one of the tour groups will be an 'easy pace' tour group for people who aren't able to walk so fast.
As someone who's discovered it's actually a lot harder for me to ascend or descend a staircase slowly behind someone else - I keep losing my balance and having to grab for the handrail, I'm happy.
Most people on the trip are lovely, and my family and I are rather distinctive as the only members of obvious Asiatic descent. It means that pretty much everyone recognises us. There are a few grumblers - one in particular who I heard being really rude to the tour organiser when we stopped in the afternoon town of Wertheim, and another (possibly the same?) one who started arguing with the tour organiser during the evening debriefing about the next day's doings. I believe he (the heckler) got booed by the rest of the lounge for such stupidity. Never let it be said that Aussies don't believe in making our feelings plain - either way!
Tomorrow is Wurzburg for pretty much the whole day - a guided tour in the morning, and free time in the afternoon. The parentals and I might end up skipping lunch on the ship.
The food is delicious. Well, except for the soups, which are way too salty.
But there's so much of it!
We're having pretty much three course meals for lunch and dinner every day. Breakfast is a buffet, with hot options available for ordering. And my parents and I being foodies, we want to try everything! Which inevitably results in too much consumption. I will roll off the gangplank come Budapest! I'm trying not to think about that first hockey game when I get back home.
Actually, I'm trying not to think too hard about getting home at all. Not because the holiday is so good (although it is good), but because of all the things waiting for me (or, in the case of the cat, not waiting for me) when I get home.
I also have a cold and am sleeping a lot of a lot - today, I pretty much slept whenever we had free time (except for now, when I'm writing up this post). Mum thinks I may be depressed about the cat and the job, and she may be right. Going back will be very difficult.
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