22 June - Rudesheim, Germany

We've had a really wonderful day cruising down the “Romantic Rhine” seeing all those wonderful castles and the Lorelei statue. It is a very busy river but there are no bridges or locks in this area of the Rhine. We passed many castles including Lahneck and Marksburg before we stopped at Boppard mid-morning to have a look at this little town, which was very lovely and geared up for the cruise tourists. We bought phone cards and rang our Mums but the cards didn't last very long. Back on board after exploring Boppard, we saw more castles while having a buffet lunch on the sun deck so we could enjoy the views on either side of the river. We saw the very large Rheinfels castle and the Lorelei rock then other castles including Gutenfels and Rheinstein before docking at Rudesheim. Near here is the Germania statue commemorating the unification of Germany in 1871.

We boarded a “train” that drove through the streets to Siegfried's Mechanical Musikkabinett, a museum dedicated to restoring and demonstrating mechanical musical instruments. The museum guide showed us this wonderful and very interesting collection of musical machines ranging from music boxes and pianolas to very sophisticated machines including one that had two sets of revolving violins – fascinating.

After the tour we walked around the town before stopping at a small pub for a drink. It was a hot day today, in the low 30s so a cold drink and a cool breeze was very inviting. We got back on board and had dinner with the New Zealand couple, Ian and Julie, who until a few months ago were running a motel in Christchurch. We had a good evening talking with them then back to sort out the 336 photos I took today. There were just so many wonderful sights to photograph!!!