The Rhine River is one of Europe’s busiest rivers and for tourists one of the main Rhine attractions is the castles. There are over 40 castles on the Rhine many of which are now hotels, restaurants, and museums. There are lots of castles for sale some of which are around $300,000 USD. There are some that cost even less but most of the costs start after it is purchased. It's not cheap to maintain a castle. Consider additional expenses like gardening, personnel, structural maintenance and heating, and air-conditioning. As a ballpark estimate, assume these costs will run at least $5,000 to $10,000 a month. Consequently, most castle owners go to Plan B and offer tours, home stays, and a setting for events.
A Rhine cruise offer the opportunity to visit many castle and travelers can also relax and enjoy the view of the castles as they slowly cruise by. Many of the towns and cities grew around the castles. The peasants who worked at the castle were often given a strip of land on the manor to farm which led to small towns some of which grew into cities. The peasants were expected to do the farming, road building, clear the forests, and any other work determined by the lord of the land. They planted the many vineyards along the way.
Heidelberg Castle is a ruin in Germany and the icon of Heidelberg.
The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its destruction in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was destroyed by lightning in 1764 leaving it permanently uninhabitable and the citizens of Heidelberg had used the castle stones to build their houses. The castle is a combination of several buildings surrounding an inner courtyard. Each building highlights a different period of German architecture.
Each castle has its own story. Katz (cats) Castle was built in the second half of the 14th century as bastion and military base to protect the Rheinfels Castle. Together they formed a fortified bulwark with a barrier for levying of the Rhine toll. Due to the location on the mountain ridge Katz Castle could not be conquered from the valley. But, like all castles it went through several seizes including one in 1806 when Napoleon blew up Katz Castle. Katz Castle is now the privately owned Hotel Katz Castle.
Schönburg Castle was first mentioned in history between the years
911 and 1166. It was one of the very few medieval castles in which, after a duke’s death, all of the sons became heirs to the castle and not just the eldest which was customary at that time. Schönburg Castle was destroyed and in ruins for two centuries until, in the late 19th century, an American of German ancestry, Mr. Rhinelander, bought the castle from the town of Oberwesel and invested two million Gold Marks into the restoration. The town council of Oberwesel acquired the castle back from Mr. Rhinelander’s son in 1950. Since 1957 the Hüttl family lives at the castle on a long-term lease and established a hotel and restaurant.
Stolzenfels Castle is another castle within the UNESCO World Heritage "Upper Middle Rhine Valley.” In contrast to many other castles it was not designed to collect tolls or as a fortress. It is an outstanding example of Rhine Romanticism and has been used as a summer residence. Each castle is different with its own unique back story.
The Lorelei (there are several variations of the spelling) is a famous German myth. It was popularized by Heinrich Heine in his poem, "Legend of the Loreley;" a story about a lovesick maiden who lured unwary sailors to dangerous currents and reefs with her bewitching song sung from high atop the cliff. The stretch spelled disaster for many a sailor
who piloted this treacherous stretch of the river only to have his ship fall prey to the jagged reefs below the surface. Captains and crews need no longer fear this stretch of the river because the reefs have been removed; however it is said that the siren's song can still be heard echoing in the valley below. Lorelei originates from the words "ley" or rock, and "Lore" from lure. There is a statue of Lorelei atop the 433-foot massive rock cliff at the bend of the river.
I did some research before I booked my Rhine River cruise. Tauck was a cruise company that had been recommended by some
English friends we met in Asia. I had never heard of them. Everyone I know who took similar cruises booked with Viking. I was surprised to find out Tauck was the first company in the United States to be granted a tour operators license. I picked Tauck mainly because they had single rooms with no supplement, and it was truly all inclusive: all tours, all
libations (which flowed freely) and included all gratuities. I was surprised that there was a lady who had been on 23 of their cruises! When we arrived in Basel I had booked my own hotel for three nights and Tauck arranged for Mercedes cab to transport to the hotel and to take me to the airport – gratis. The only bill I had when I disembarked was for a massage and for
the hairdresser. The meals were gourmet and so were the pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres. The cruise was truly luxurious. On one of the shore tours they actually gave everyone 20 euros spending money!!!
Tauck has its own buses and
tour guides. I love their narrations as we sailed the Rhine. Did you ever want to me mayor of a town? One of the smallest towns on the Rhine has a restaurant/bar attached to a church. In fact one has to have to enter the church through the bar. I understand it is for sale and when you buy it you become the town mayor, vicar of the church plus a restaurant/bar owner!
There are a lot of vineyards along the way and even though the
tours were free there were often choices one of which was to Alsatian Wine Route with a stop at Chateau Haut-Koenigsbourg built in the 1200s. Cycling and a visit to Caracalla Spa in Baden-Baden were also included options. I love going through locks. There are 14 of them on the Rhine trip. On the way to Utrecht we went through the first lock.
It was impressive. After our cruise ship pulled in so did another huge ship. There was less than a foot between us, then a smaller one pulled in behind us. Amazing. Utrecht has been awarded the title of most beautiful canal town in Europe multiple times. I loved
sitting in the Compass Lounge and watching the countryside dotted with numerous castles and picturesque towns slide by. The Rhine has been traversed by many groups for 1000s of years, all of whom left their mark.
I didn’t realize there were so many groundhog weather
prognosticators. I thought Punxsutawney Phil was the one and only. After all they made a movie about him and, as amazing as it may seem, Mexico Middle School had, at one time, three teachers from Punxsutawney. They made Groundhog day seem like a national holiday. Puxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means six more weeks of winter as did Ohio’s Buckeye Chuck.
However, Staten Island’s Chuck, formally known as Charles G. Hogg, predicts an early spring. A local elementary school tracks the weather to see how it compares with a normal winter season so the can compare. What is normal? Chuck has a better record than Phil. Chuck has been accurate 78 percent of the time whereas Phil has only been accurate 39 percent of the time, which is worse than the human forecasters. So, what will it be? In Oswego County there were both sunny and cloudy times on Feb. 2. The forecaster that is most likely to be correct is Potomac Phil, a taxidermiesd animal in Washington, DC who predicted six more weeks of winter and also six more weeks of political gridlock.
If you go to Staten Island, and you should if you visit New York City, visit the zoo which has many things to see and do; and staying on Staten Island is less expensive than staying in Manhattan.
Regardless of what the groundhogs predict the first day of spring is not until March 20 so there will most likely be lots of winter ahead. There are places to visit in NYS that celebrate winter such as High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid with two indoor and two outdoor pools or the Mohonk House, the iconic historic hotel has an outdoor heated mineral pool infused with Dead Sea salts.
If winter is not your fun time then get out of town if you can.
Where to go? There are always cruises that go to warmer climes. To save money take the train to NYC to catch the cruise out of New York or drive to Baltimore. John and I recently took our first cruise on one of the big cruise ships. We were in Galveston during the East Coast cold snap and wanted to get away. The Royal Caribbean sails from Galveston as does
Carnival. There was no availability shown on the cruise websites so I called Nanette’s Cruise Cats, a local agency. Amazingly, she was able to get us a great deal on a great room on the Royal Caribbean cruise to Cozumel. The cruise was less expensive than staying at the Holiday Inn Resort Galveston.
A free shuttle bus transported us to/from the cruise dock. I was under the impression that getting on the cruise ship was easier that boarding an airplane – not so. I was not thrilled with the long lines and walks to get aboard. Before we set sail there was the safety drill with all
2,500 of us going to our assigned spot on the deck. Too many people I thought – not for me – but once we set sail I really enjoyed it. When most of the passengers went on a day trip we had the pool all to ourselves. We enjoyed the evening shows and the food was excellent.
Before we left on the cruise Nanette called to ask if I would like a tour of the historic district of Galveston. Of course! How is that for service?
When John and I were on the last leg of our Blount Small Ship cruise it included a visit to Hyde Park and West Point. The scenery along the Hudson River was beautiful as we passed by several lighthouses, under some bridges, and by some stunning countryside. It is easy to see why President Franklin
Roosevelt said, “All that is within me cries out to go back to my
home on the Hudson River.” Even though Roosevelt’s home where he was born, lived and was buried is referred to as Hyde Park his home is more correctly called the Springwood estate which is located in Hyde Park. It is now a National Historic Site. I can see why he would love it because he probably arrived via the long, tree-lined drive that leads to the house but; alas, visitors do not. The house is lovely but not the palatial mansion one might expect. The tour includes the room where Roosevelt was born and his boyhood bedroom.
A lot of history took place in the house but I like all the stories that
don’t make it into the history books. In 1939 the Roosevelts hosted King George VI and, his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The visit is sometimes referred to as the Hot Dog Summit. The Royal guests were served hot dogs for the first time. The Queen asked how she was supposed to eat them and disregarding the advice used a knife and fork to cut them up but the King enjoyed them the American way.
The tour gives insights to life at Springwood. One stop on the tour is the Snuggery, a room used by Roosevelt’s mother, from which she conducted the business of running the household. Over the years the house was enlarged and modernized and the number of servants increased. There has long been a controversy about just how domineering and controlling she was.
Another stop was at the West Point US Military Academy. I was
impressed to see the Academy from the water. It really looks like a fortress. Given the security at West Point I was surprised that the Blount ship could dock there. The tour bus picked us up at the dock and we were told to bring our passports but no one checked them. The military academy can only be visited on a tour. There are remnants of the chain that was strung across the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War; actually
there were two, to prevent British naval vessels from sailing up river. The Parade Ground is where George Washington drilled and organized the Continental Army and where cadets still drill and parade. It is also where Dwight D. Eisenhower had to walk off his demerits. Some cadets graduated without any but Eisenhower has the distinction of being one of the people to have accumulated the most. Today the Academy accepts females and blacks. It wasn’t always the case. Recently John and I watched, “Assault on West Point: The Court-Marshall of Johnson Whittaker,” about one of the first blacks accepted to the Point. It is not a pretty story.
Traveling the Hudson River itself would have been worth the cruise. As we neared New York City we passed the Palisades, steep rock cliffs on the New Jersey side of the river. The captain’s narration along the way was excellent as were our views of the city and the Statue of Liberty.
I have always been intrigued by rivers. The Hudson, Mohawk, and St. Lawrence Rivers made NYS the Empire State. The waterways were used by the Native Americans, explorers, armies, and settlers. Not only was it a key to the development of New York State but to the expansion of the United States;
and, it still is. Traveling the length of the NYS’s waterways was at the top of my bucket list. I didn’t think it was possible until I learned about Blount Small Ship Adventures’ “Locks, Legends, and Canals.” The two-week trip from Montreal to New York City via the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario, NYS Canal System, and the Hudson was a dream come true. For two weeks John and I made our home on the Grande Caribe, a purpose-built vessel designed to make it through the narrow and shallow waters of canals.
On our first stop, Quebec, we signed up for the four-hour excursion of Quebec City, with a walk in Old Quebec and other highlights of the city including a side trip to Montmorency Falls, which is higher than Niagara Falls. In Montreal Blount provided a shuttle into Old Montreal where we wandered the cobblestone streets.
While we were asleep the Grande Caribe set off for Ogdensburg going through three of the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The vessel is amazingly quiet. In Ogdensburg, after customs, there was a tour of the Frederic Remington Museum. We had been there so John and I followed the Revolutionary War sign boards and learned about the city’s part in the war. On the way
to Clayton we locked through the Snell and Eisenhower Locks. From the St. Lawrence we were raised 570 feet to the level of Lake Ontario. Very impressive. We stopped for a tour of Singer Castle on Dark Island to learn how the rich and famous spent the summer in their “hunting lodge” with 28 rooms and secret passages. In Clayton we docked at the Antique Boat Museum where the staff was ready to give us a personal tour.
I was hoping to traverse Lake Ontario from Clayton to Oswego during the day; but, alas, due to the winds we left late in the evening arriving in Oswego at 2 a.m. While in Oswego the crew lowered the pilot house so the Grande Caribe would fit under the “low bridges” of the NYS Canal System. I was hoping the passengers would have a chance to see Fort Ontario and Safe Haven but we started along the Oswego
Canal at 7 a.m. The weather was glorious and the leaves at peak. We crossed Oneida Lake and continued on the Erie Canal with a stop in Rome so some of the passengers could visit Cooperstown. I stayed aboard marveling at the beautiful scenery and serenity thinking that the people in cars and trains whizzing by didn’t know what they were missing.
At Troy the crew raised the pilot house signaling that we had completed the NYS Canal System and were heading down the Hudson River to NYC. There were two excursions on the Hudson: Hyde Park and the fortress-like U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The weather was outstanding as we cruised passed by the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty to Pier 59. On our last day we took the Blount-organized tour of New York City with time at the 9/11 Memorial. An incredible cruise.
There is something sublime and magical about a river trip. I feel like I am part of a “National Geographic” special as I cruise pass one vignette after another. The Mekong is the 12th longest river in the world and borders many countries. John and I have taken a river cruise on the Mekong between Laos and
Thailand. This time we boarded the RV Mekong Pandaw in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the Tonle Sap, a branch of the Mekong. The cruise vessel is a teak and brass replica of a colonial steamer. The Pandaw Company can trace its origins to the famed Irrawaddy Flotilla Company making it 150 years in operation. The 200-foot RV Mekong Pandaw can carry 48 passengers but there were only 18 on board. Our cabin was roomy, a fairly large bathroom and, best of all we could sit on the walkway in front of our cabin enjoying one “Kodak Moment” after another. All the shore trips, Wi-fi, meals (which were wonderful and varied), libations, and tips were included in the price.
There were already some passengers on board as the cruise had started in Siem Reap, near historic Angkor Wat. The first evening we were treated to a wonderful Cambodia folkloric show. Some of the dances were beautiful, others playful, and they included the traditional bamboo dance. From Phnom Penh we cruised to the Mekong and the
Cambodian-Vietnamese boarder. The staff took care of formalities at the border crossing. The vessel idled in the river while small boats transported documents from one onshore official to another and then we were on our way. There was a fruit carving demonstration and the chef showed us how to put together Vietnamese spring rolls.
The Mekong Delta is a huge area and the rice basket of Vietnam. It is where the Mekong divides into many
branches. One day we visited Chau Don Town via a sampan tour boat. It is a fishing village where the riverside houses are on stills. There were stalls selling local handicrafts, a lady weaving, a group of males playing marbles, a lady selling lunch, and up near the road there was a fresh food roadside
market and their mosque. We also visited a fish farm. That evening we watched (yes, there is an onboard movie theater) “The Lover,” a story based on a book by a French woman and her first love. It was a bit risqué to say the least. The next day, in Sa Dec, we walked along the huge fresh market to the house featured in the movie. John and I were interviewed by a TV crew about our views of Vietnam. (I think we looked the most foreign!) That afternoon, in Cat Be, we passed by the floating
market but most of the marketing is done in the morning. We visited a place where they were making all kinds of sweets, rice paper, rice whiskey (the more adventurous travelers had a drink of wine that had a snake soaking in it!), popped rice and other treats. All – save the snake wine – were quite good. That evening we were treated with a Vietnamese folkloric show.
Too soon our cruise was over and on the last morning we were bused to Saigon leaving us to yearning to do more river cruising. The scenes along the river are fascinating as people go about their daily routine.
Author Pearl Buck called the Yangtze “The wildest, wickedest river
on earth.” All that changed when the river was tamed upon the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in 2012. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the dam’s construction as I am sure there must have been similar concerns when the Hoover Dam was built. Thousands of people were displaced but the new towns created along the river looked very nice and there is no longer the danger of yearly flooding plus China needed the power to continue its rapid industrialization. Cruising the river between the gorges is still spectacular with the added experience of locking through the flight of five locks.
John and I spent a couple days at the Crowne Plaza in Yichang before we boarded the Century Legend, the newest and most luxurious vessel on the Yangtze. Our plush room had a nice balcony – all the cabins did. There was a spa, swimming pool, a movie theater and other nice touches. All but two of the shore tours were included in the reasonable price.
After breakfast the first day I went to the demonstration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Then John and I took the tour of the Tribe of the Three Gorges which turned out to be my favorite. It was one of the tours that incurred an extra charge but it was only $46 and well worth it. They refer to the area as Dream Land and I can see why. It was a misty day which brought to mind landscapes
on Chinese silk paintings. The walk up one side of the gorge and down the other was broken up with wonderful sights: a beautiful young girl clad in red standing in a small traditional boat while a young man entranced her by playing the flute. There were girls washing clothes in the river, fishermen, monkeys scurrying about, scenic waterfalls and, as a grand finale, our group was “invited” to a traditional wedding with someone from the audience picked to portray the groom.
In the afternoon we visited the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s
largest power station, and sometimes referred to as the “Great Wall of the Yangtze.” The visitor center has a great display that explains the power project and to ascend to the top of the project there are several banks of escalators. Thank goodness! We found that most of the tours in China include a lot of steps and walking.
At the end of the first full day we joined the other guests at the Captain’s Welcome Party after which the crew entertained with an excellent cabaret show that included the famous Face Changing routine whereby the performer in traditional dress changes his face mask faster than the eye can perceive. Impressive. It is really an amazing day and it wasn’t over. After the show it was time to go to the top deck and watch the Legend navigate through the massive locks. There are two massive sets of five locks to allow traffic to go both up and down
stream simultaneously. I also loved the tour to Goddess Stream on a beautiful traditional style boat that cruised between the narrow precipitous mountains. It was a wonderful five-day, four-night river cruise and the only thing I regret is not booking it round trip because I couldn’t do everything that was offered and still enjoy the luxurious accommodations.
The Rhine River is one of Europe’s busiest rivers and for tourists one of the main Rhine attractions is the castles. There are over 40 castles on the Rhine many of which are now hotels, restaurants, and museums. There are lots of castles for sale some of which are around $300,000 USD. There are some that cost even less but most of the costs start after it is purchased. It's not cheap to maintain a castle. Consider additional expenses like gardening, personnel, structural maintenance and heating, and air-conditioning. As a ballpark estimate, assume these costs will run at least $5,000 to $10,000 a month. Consequently, most castle owners go to Plan B and offer tours, home stays, and a setting for events. 
