We skipped breakfast this morning and headed out for an early morning walk in the rain through central historic Boppard. Boppard is home to a Carmelite Church. In a niche in the exterior wall is a Madonna of the Grapes. Each year at the beginning of the season, the priest takes the Madonna up to the fields and each family parades the Madonna through their vineyards in hopes that she will bless them with a bountiful harvest.
cytotec fedex In front of a lovely half-timbered house was a bronze statue of a grandmotherly lady offering candy to a child. Martin, our tour guide, explained that townspeople placed the statue to honor a shopkeeper here who would offer every child a sweet treat when they shopped in her store. When she retired, the children to whom she had offered treats were now adults and wanted to commemorate her generosity.
Boppard has a nice central square with its parish church anchoring one side. In the center is a fountain, dedicated to commemorating bentwood technique that Thonet invented and resulted in all those Parisian bistro chairs.
Naturally, Boppard is the site of a Roman ruin. We decided to head back to the River Queen as the rain was getting more intense and we were all due aboard at 10:15 AM, in preparation for castoff at 10:30 AM.
Under dreary and often drippy skies we cruised through the Rhine Gorge, where the river runs deep and fast through steep slopes on both sides. This is the area where you find castle after castle, first on the left, then the right, and repeat all the way to Rudesheim. Around 11AM, as if we hadn’t consumed enough and though it was only Friday, the chef presented a tradition Sunday snack: sausages of various types, sauerkraut, bread, and, of course, beer. The River Queen celebrated passing the Loreley rock by offering passengers a special blue alcoholic beverage, concocted from Prosecco and probably Blue Curaçao. Around 3pm, we finally arrived in Rudesheim.
We hopped aboard the local tourist train and headed for Siegfried’s Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments. I had expected something less than it turned out to be. It has a collection of mechanical instruments, some as large as pieces of furniture. We started out with a mechanical banjo, made by a company in Chicago. Several pieces even featured the sounds of a full orchestra. In the grand hall of the 16th century original house (Bromerserhof), they featured a player piano played by a paper roll. There were a collection of organs, from carousel rides; a gramophone, and other assorted instruments. The wood inlay and carving of the pieces, as well as the painting on the painted pieces, was notable. One instrument even had two rounded chambers in which were mounted 6 violins. Only one string on each violin was played and the six violins revolved in the chamber as the piece was played. Siegfried starting collecting these instruments over 50 years ago and none were operable. He has founded a workshop and the trade continues today. An oddity that Siegfried collected was a pistol; and when the trigger was pulled, Â a bird came out and tweeted/chirped like a real bird. Siegfried’s workshop makes little boxes that replicate the bird and it’s sound – it takes over 2 weeks to make one.
Once our tour was over, we strolled the Drosselgasse, a narrow (only 6 feet wide) street is lined with shops, cafés, and wine taverns over its 360 foot length. Drosselgasse means “Strangle Lane” – despite the rain, it was crowded with folks strolling down to the river.
We found the central square, quiet in comparison to the busy street we just left. At one end we found St Jakobus Church. Like so many of the towns we visited, Rudesheim was a Roman village. The original Roman fort became the foundation for the medieval Bromserburg castle, which is now a wine museum.
The town features a special coffee: sort of like an Irish Coffee, it is made with a locally distilled brandy called Asbach Uralt. It is usually served in a special cup and is often assembled right in front of you.
We did not take the funicular up to the monument to German Unity Monument, which was built in the 1870’s at the direction of Otto Von Bismarck. Rain and cold forced us back to the warm hospitality of the ship!
