Before the excursion : At a little after midnight I tried to join a Google Meet with Sue. My image on the screen of my laptop looked awful. I gave up and sent her an email at 12:35 a.m.
When I woke up again about six hours later I discovered that Sue had sent the following:
It started pouring rain in the windows, so I stepped away to close the offending windows and tried to let Bob in. He was already in (down cellar I guess) because he was dry.
I saw a message on the screen that said, "Are you still there?" But I didn't realize it was you.
We can join up at this same meeting anytime. Please trying the morning when you awake.
I also found this message from my bank:
Your Past Due Notice for LOAN *01-1 is now available to view online. To access your notice, please sign on to online banking and select the Online documents link.
Please do not respond directly to this e-mail message. If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-894-0300.
The loan payments were automatically deducted at the beginning of the month. So, I thought that this might be a scam, but usually phishing messages want you to respond. So, I sent an email to Sue asking her to call the bank.
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I ate breakfast alone, as usual. When I had finished I went to the reception desk and asked the woman on duty about my flight back, which Sue had notified me had been changed. She checked her records and annotated the revised booking on the document that had been left for me.
I then told her about my phone failing to recharge. She asked Martijn, who was in an adjoining room about it. He took the phone and tried a different charger. He said that he could not get it charged either. He suggested trying an external charger, but he did not have one.
The Sun Deck had been closed for several days, but after breakfast it was to be available to passengers again. I got a coffee from the machine, retrieved my camera and my recorder from the room, and headed up to the top deck. It was windy and more than a little chilly, but my sweater was sufficient to warm me until the sun heated up the air.
) Gary Nicholson (red Viking jacket) is near the prow looking for signs of the Rhine. | ) That bridge goes over the Rhine, not the Main. | ) The containers were stacked high and deep on both sides of the river. |
At some point the Viking Vili began to approach the city of Mainz, which is where the Main River empties into the Rhine. The ship made a right turn onto the Rhine, which is wide, deep, devoid of locks, and full of both commercial and tourist vessels.
) That bridge ends in Mainz. | ) The steeples of Mainz. | ) Denise and Steve Flaman Watch as the ship makes a big right turn. |
) The shipping harbor in Mainz. | ) Somebody's riverside mansion. | ) In this part of Germany they didn't believe in terracing. |
) This statue, called Germania, was erected to celebrate the victory in the Franco-Prussian war. | ) I zoomed in on the statue. | ) The first of many castles. |
) | ) | ) That is a steep slope for a vineyard. |
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) I tried to get the ship to stop so that I could check out this hotel. | ) | ) No trains while we passed. |
) The flags on Loreley were easier to spot ... | ) ... than the statue. | ) Close-up shot. |
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By 11:00 or so the sun had conquered the chill in the air, and the prospect of another beautiful day seemed likely again.My laundry was delivered. The pants were spotless.I ate lunch by myself. I started with potato and leek soup. I would rate it as tolerable. The Penne Casalinga, which I would have called Bolognese, was much better.
Koblenz can be found where the Moselle River flows into the Rhine. The Viking Vili arrived there at about 1:30 and docked on the east side of the Rhine near the cable car that goes across the Rhine from Koblenz to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.
The excursion to Marksburg Castle: The other excursions did not begin until 3:45. For some reason the buses to Marksburg Castle left at 2:30.
) | ) That's our castle? Who do they think we are? | ) Mountain goats? |
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This excursion was the only one that was listed as "Demanding". The path up to the castle was indeed fairly steep, and the footing near the castle's entrance was a little treacherous. Nevertheless, a few passengers with mobility impairments were ready to attempt it, but Gary Nicholson, who accompanied us to the castle, advised them that that was a bad idea. They demurred.
I don't know what these people did while we were exploring the castle. Maybe one of the buses took them back to Koblenz. If so, that might explain why the other excursions departed an hour and fifteen minutes later than ours did.
When I read about this excursion it seemed weird that the "included" excursion was the only one that required a bus ride, but maybe it made sense.
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The guide for our group of a dozen or so passengers was named (I think) Kate. She was unique in two ways. She did not carry a "lollipop" to help keep the group together, and her presentations had no verbal stops whatever.
She also did not wear a mask. All of us listened to her through the QuietVoxes. I never turned on my digital recorder.
) What happened to the masks? | ) Coats of arms of ... | ) ... various owners of the castle. |
As Kate completed her recitation of the owners of the castle over the centuries, I became more and more certain that she had memorized the text. As I began to compose my description of the excursion, it occurred to me that the text might already be on the Internet. I was right. You can read it here. I was very happy to discover that I did not need to repeat all of it on this webpage.
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Photography was difficult. Most rooms were small, and everyone maneuvered to occupy the best positions. It was difficult to keep other tourists out of photos. The lighting in most rooms was somewhere between dim and nearly dark. I needed to brighten some photos, and dozens were beyond repair.
) | ) The views were spectacular in all directions. | ) |
In 1954 the castle was purchased by the Association for the Preservation of German Castles.
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) | ) That little white thing on the water is a cruise ship. | ) |
) A few views ... | ) ... were definitely unexpected. | ) |
) The bellows was attached to a keg. | ) | ) Nary a mask in sight. |
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) | ) | ) This is a shot of one rather ornate wooden ceiling. Most of the rest of the castle was quite plain. |
) | ) That's a chessboard in the middle. | ) Antlers turned into a chandelier. |
One astounding thing that I remembered from the presentation was that the privy (such as it was) was located right off of the dining room, and it had no door!
) That key was close to a foot long. | ) A fancier chandelier | ) I think that these are musical instruments. |
) WTF? | ) A small shrine. | ) |
I did not notice it at the time, but there did not seem to be a church anywhere in the castle. What does it profiteth a man to survive a siege but lose his immortal soul? Maybe they converted it into the gift shop or cafeteria.
) A real morningstar! | ) | ) |
I included the sign because of the classic Italian novel I Promisi Sposi. It recounts how tens of thousands of Landsknechts, who had been hired by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, invaded northern Italy, brought the plague with them, plundered Italian cities, and eventually sacked Rome. This happened in 1527 during the Thirty Years War. I had assumed that "Landsknechts" referred to a specific group of mercenaries, but maybe it was a more generic term.
) Someone actually wore this. | ) | ) |
) | ) | ) Those shoes would be great for killing roaches hiding in corners. |
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The lighting and the crowding were especially bad in the room that featured all of the torture devices. I mention this by way of explanation, not complaint.
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After the excursion: The short bus ride to Koblenz provided the first opportunity to see Koblenz, the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, and the Rhine from the eastern shore.
) The Electoral Palace. | ) Our ship might have provided some business for this mobile Covid testing bus. | ) A big house across the river. |
) The fortress. | ) The castle. | ) These gondolas passed right over the Viking Vili. |
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I found the pastel statues in the park very intriguing.
) | ) | ) This was taken through the window in my stateroom! |
Koblenz—or at least the face that it show to the Rhine—seemed like it deserved exploring. However, I was tired and a little hungry. I also hoped to be able to attend a Google Meet with Sue. So, I checked myself in on the ship and went down to my room.
I found the following email from Sue:
I am getting really tired of GOOGLE & GMAIL and their damn security that doesn't work anyway!
My OUTBOX seems to be stuck. Nothing is sending.
I am going to grab some DUNKIN breakfast. Be home around 10:45am my time. Please leave me your schedule for today and tomorrow so I can set a meeting time and either try GOOGLE MEET or ZOOM, but I need an idea when you are NOT sleeping or touring. I am not sleeping wll, am exhausted and got sick yesterday from (I think) too rich ice cream.
I scheduled a meeting with her for 7 p.m., which would be 1 p,m. her time. Meanwhile, I downloaded all of the photos that I had taken that day to the folder that I had created for Day 12. Everything seemed to go fine. So, I deleted them from my camera. Then I could not find them in Day 12 or anywhere else. One thing that was peculiar was that one of the files was IMG_9999.jpg, and the next was IMG_0001.jpg. However, I could not see why that should cause a problem.
I did not panic. Usually I can eventually piece together what happened. It was, however, lazy and stupid of me not to do a spot check of the files on the computer before deleting 245 files from the camera.
I spent some time on the Internet researching my cellphone. I discovered that external charging would never work with a Pixel 2. So, that approach was out.
At 6:45 I listened to Gary Nicholson's presentation about the Cologne tours. He said that "a couple" of people had signed up for the Top of Cologne tour. Someone asked if there were a lot of steps. He said that if the elevators were not working, 620 steps were required. However, he had never heard of this occurring. He also said that the guide was named Daniela, which to me did not sound German.
While I was listening to Gary on the television some women from Housekeeping came to the door. I asked them to come back later.
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I talked with Sue on Google Meet from 7 until 7:30. She seemed to be in pretty good spirits. She used her photo of her cat Bob walking through the long grass as a backdrop. I told her my two pieces of bad news about the photos and my phone. I could tell that she was really concerned that my phone might not work when I landed in Boston.
I had supper with the folks from Saskatchewan. I had shrimp cocktail, roast veal, mango cake, and white wine. Everything was extremely good.
I told my dining companions about my problems with my photo files and my phone. Steve's previous suggestion about the phone had not worked. Denise suggested that the photo files might be somewhere else on the computer. I told her that I had looked everywhere that I could think of.
The conversation was not a downer. I was not morose about the files, and I had pretty much given up hope on the phone. I had always hated it anyway. It would have been useful in connecting with Sue at Logan, but we would manage.
We also talked about other subjects. I remember that Steve said that he had brought some maple syrup, and he had been giving it away to people. Everyone had a good time at Marksburg Castle. I always had a very enjoyable time with this family. We just seemed to hit it off.
I asked them if they were going to the concert in the evening, but they said that they were not.
The Sound of Austria: The entertainment of the evening, which began at 9:00 in the lounge, featured the husband and wife team of Alkim Koker and Elizabeth Fischback, who billed themselves as The Sound of Austria. Gary Nicholson had described this as a classical music concert. I had a hard time believing that much classical music would be coming from a duo, especially since neither played the piano. Classical music is generally complex.
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Here was their playlist:
| Performer | Composer | Song | From |
| Him | Verdi | Il brindisi | La Traviata |
| Him | Mozarrt | Movement | Horn concerto |
| Her | Mozart | Cherubino's song | Le Nozze di Figaro |
| Both | Offenbach | Something | Tales of Hoffmann |
| Him | Bizet | Torreador song | Carmen |
| Her | Puccini | O mio babbino caro | Gianni Schichi |
| Him | Puccini | Nessun dorma | Turandot |
| Both | Lehár | Waltz | Merry Widow |
| Her | Bernstein | I feel pretty | West Side Story |
| Him | Bernstein | Somewhere | West Side Story |
| Her | Lerner & Lowe | I could have danced all night | My Fair Lady |
| Both | Lerner & Lowe | Wouldn't it be loverly | My Fair Lady |
| Both | Rodgers & Hammerstein | Edelweiss | The Sound of Music |
| Her | Arlen & Harburg | Over the rainbow | The Wizard of Oz |
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When she announced that the encore would be "Over the rainbow", I could not stop myself from whispering "Don't do it!" The recorder picked it up. Have a listen.
Was I right?
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Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the concert thoroughly. It only lasted for 42 minutes, and that counted Gary's introduction, the applause, and the encore. Their approach was weird, but they both seemed to perform well in the worst imaginable setting.
There were only about fifteen or sixteen people in attendance at the beginning. Two or three had left by the end of the horn concerto, but the rest stayed to the end. Still it must be disheartening for the performers to travel hundreds of miles to play in a mostly empty bar in the middle of the Rhine.
I think that their choice of music was exceptionally good, and I told them so. I might scratch Offenbach, and anyone who performs "Over the rainbow" is risking her career. Maybe Elizabeth hit all of the notes, but everyone can hear Judy Garland in their head, and no one can match her. Besides, she is supposed to sound like an adolescent from Kansas.I went right to bed afterwards and slept like a log ... for a few hours.
[1] The conditions for photography were horrendous. The concert started at 9:00. The shades on the west side of the lounge were open, and the sun did not set until 9:12. Plenty of light came in throughout the performance. Several photos were ruined by reflections off of a Plexiglas screen that I didn't even notice.
[2] I later learned that all French horn players use their right fist to control the amplitude of the sound. I must say that it looks pretty strange.