Waiting for the green light to enter the lock.

The smaller barge on the left has just left the lock traveling down river.  The big barge on the right is waiting to enter the lock to continue up river.  There was enough room for us too so we drove into the lock after the large barge was secured.  Commercial traffic has priority over pleasure craft.  If we get to the lock first, we must wait for the commercial traffic to enter the lock and then hope there’s still room for us.  So far we’ve been mostly lucky with our timing at the locks.   One time,  when we were told it would be 20 minutes before we could enter the lock, Randal dropped the anchor to keep us in place while we waited.   Once inside the lock boats are supposed to be in neutral so as not to churn up the water with their propellars and disturb boats behind them.  But sometimes the large boats don’t tie up at all and use their engines to keep them  in position.  That makes it harder for the small boast like us to stay put even with our line secure and we dance around.   Sometimes, before we enter a lock,  Mary has to call the lock keeper on the radio to ask permission to make sure they’re aware we’re waiting to enter the lock.  Each lock and its procedure is mostly similar but also a bit different. 

The blue and white sign points “sport” boats away from the lock for commercial shipping to a small lock.  But we’re too big for the “sport” lock so we go in with the big boats. 

Depending on how many meters you must rise within the lock,  you either catch the lowest or middle cleat and work you way up until you’re tied on to the bollard on the top of the lock.

Mary, who has made this same passage several years ago, is the main rope handler.  My job is to hook our line to the lock cleat and then Mary pulls it tight.  In this photo we have one more cleat to catch before we catch the bollard on top.

Depending on the location of the yellow bollard on the top of the lock, we catch it one of three ways.  Here I have handed Randal the line and he caught the bollard and then handed the line back to Mary to tighten it on our cleat.   Or sometime I stand up on the lower rail of DoraMac and lasso the bollard.  Sometimes the bollard is too far back and out of reach so we tie up to the yellow ladder hand rail cemented into the lock.  You just have to wait until you get to the lock and start to rise up to see what needs to be done.  It is possible with a crew of just two, but much easier and safer with four.  With Mary and me working together it’s much easier to move the lines from cleat to cleat to bollard.

Eventually you rise to the correct level and the gates are opened so you can pull in the line and leave the lock.

Looking down between the boat and the walls of the lock.  To protect the boat and keep us from rubbing against the wall of the lock, Randal rigged up this board and fender device.  The board is getting beaten up and covered with green much but the hull of the boat stays safe.

When the line around the yellow bollard is just above the dock it means we’ve reached our final height.  The lock gates open, we get the green light to move ahead, Mary pulls in the line, and we move out of the lock.

Then the line needs to be recoiled and readied for the next lock. 

Cyclists waving hello at the lock

Museum Judengasse

“The exhibition is centered around the fundaments of 5 houses, 2 ritual baths, 2 wells and a part of the sewerage system of the former Judengasse.  The show documents the history of the street, its inhabitants and buildings of over 300 years.  Historical illustrations, written documents, visual and audio materials convey a picture of the ghetto from the Jewish perspective as well as the view of the Christian world outside.  A model with over 1,000 buildings gives an impression of the location of the Judengasse in the eastern part of the city.

  A database system can be used to get more detailed information on historical events like the “Fettmilch” revolt of 1614 or the burning of the Judengasse 1711, of religious institutions, the daily life and professions of the inhabitants or the development of the architecture.”

I didn’t tour the Museum Judengasse but did visit the Judisches Museum.

Judisches Museum

The Jewish Museum is accommodated in a building ranked as an historical monument the classical Rothschild Palace and its adjacent building at Untermainkai 14/15.  The building itself exemplifies the life style of the upper middle class Jewish family of the 19^th century.  In 1846 Mayer Carl von Rothschild purchased the building, which had been constructed in 1821, and enlarged.  After his death, the palace accommodated the Freiherrich Carl von Rothschild’sche Offentliche Bibliothek, a public library founded by the Rothschild family.

It was mid-afternoon but we were all pretty tired when we arrived at the museum.  I stayed to visit.  You could spend a day there but after a few hours I was exhausted so only saw bits.  But I did purchase a book about both museums which explains about the exhibits I didn’t take time to see.  

“The stairway with mirrors and coloured marble incrustations in the Renaissance style …”

Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main book

I had a handheld audio guide that told about some of the exhibits.  And some of the explanatory material was in English.  Unfortunately the video interviews with contemporary members of the Jewish community weren’t translated into English.  But the museum is aimed at the German community to teach and remind.

“At the same time as the Jews of Frankfurt were forced to move to the ghetto in the Judengasse, Jews were being driven out of most other southern German cities.  The displaced either settled in rural areas or moved to Poland.  Frankfurt was one of the few cities that did not expel its Jews.  The influx of Jews to Frankfurt from around 1550 onwards led to a considerable increase in the population of the Judengasse, making it the largest Jewish community in Germany.  ….A model of the Judengasse on a scale of 1:50 as it was after the great fire of 1711.  During this time 3,000 people lived in its cramped and unhealthy conditions in a Ghetto originally intended to house just 100.”

Jewish Museum booklet  

“The museum library is open to staff and visitors alike.  It is a reference library with more than 20,000 volumes on the subject of Judaism and the history of the Jews in Germany and Central Europe as well as films…. The archive collects works by Jewish and exiled artists from the period 1933-45.”

Jewish Museum book

The history of Jewish in Germany is as emotional as historical. Sometimes the story is told better through art than words.

The burned out Jewish homes are wrapped in the remains of a stone wall shaped as a Jewish Star. 

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/bak/intro.asp  has several pages about Bak as well as a biography including his family’s time in hiding and the nun who first encouraged his art work.

Wilhelm Wachtel (Lvov 1875-1942 USA) Painter, engraver and illustrator. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Leopold Loeffler and Leon Wyczolkowski and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (under N.Gysis). He lived in Lvov but traveled to Vienna, Paris and Palestine: 1924, 1929, and 1932. He settled in Palestine in 1936. His works of art were presented at the Society of the Friends of Fine Arts in Lvov (1900), in Cracow. He has individual exhibitions in 1935 at the Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw. Initially he painted symbolic Jewish scenes, portraits, and landscapes, later in postimpressionistic style.  http://www.farkash-gallery.com/91149/Wilhelm-Wachtel

The Judengasse on fire, 14 July, 1796

Contemporary drawing Historisches Museum Frankfurt am Main.

  In the last third of the eighteenth century, the Jewish community and individual Jews wrote a number of letters to the Frankfurt city council and citizenry requesting an improvement of the living conditions in the Judengasse.  They pointed out the poor hygiene and the difficulty of educating their children to become “useful citizens.”  The council dismissed their requests.

   Military events brought unexpected change.  In the night of 13 to 14 July 1796, Frankfurt was bombarded and conquered by French troops.  The houses in the northern section of the Judengasse went up in flames.  140 houses were destroyed and 1,800 Jews made homeless.

     The fire put an end to the forced confinement in the Judengasse.  The subsequent public debate about rebuilding the houses and establishing a Jewish ghetto clearly indicate that although a few had changed their views of Jews in the course of the Enlightenment, there was no general consensus in favor of changing the socio-political situation.

     Unlike the rest of Frankfurt’s citizens, the Jews welcomed the government installed by Napoleon, expecting it to enforce equal rights for all in accordance with the regulations prevailing in France.  Instead of the anticipated introduction of equal rights, Karl Theodor von Dalberg, appointed governor of Frankfurt  by Napoleon, passed a new ordinance with 151 sections, which meant that the Jews of Frankfurt were still subject to special regulations and had to pay 22,000 guilders a year for protection.

   While all the other groups in Frankfurt approved the new regulations, the Jews railed against their enforcement with hitherto unparalleled vehemence.  In their ‘battle by pen’ they criticized the rivalry of craftsmen and merchants, the church’s fear that the foundation of the Christian state might be undermined, and the patrician classes’ interest in maintaining a social homogeneity based on lineage and wealth.

   At Napoleon’s intervention, the situation of the Jews did eventually improve.  In 1810, Napoleon established the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt and demanded the introduction of the French Civil Code, including the equality of all citizens.  After a long and difficult negotiations, a bill was passed at the end of 1811 recognizing the equality of Frankfurt’s  ‘Schutzjuden’  (protected Jews) before the law.

  In 1812, the Frankfurt Jews were finally  granted the equal rights fro which they had fought so land and at such great expense.  But by 1814, with the end of the French occupation following the defeat of Napoleon, they were revoked…… in 1864, the Jews were finally granted equal rights in Frankfurt, followed in 1869/71 by the rest of the German Reich.  A few administrative restrictions nevertheless remained in place, barring Jews from becoming military officers or professors, for example.”

Jewish Museum book

Life got better and life got worse…

In 1925 there were 30,000 Jews living in Frankfurt.  They accounted for 6.3% of the population.  Their political leanings, cultural interests, occupations and religious views were so diverse and individual that it is not possible to make generalizations about  Jews in the Weimar Republic.”

Some whose photos are shown here : Social worker and feminist Bertha Pappenheim, an Orthodox woman; the German nationalist Arthur von Weinberg; the painter Jakob Nussbaum; a class of girls at the Orthodox Samson Raphael Hirsch School; Alwin Kronacher, who was an influential figure in the arts and culture of Frankfurt, and the fencer Helene Meyer, who won a gold medal for Germany in at the 1936 Olympics.

I was particularly fascinated by this photo of Erna Pinner and photographers Nini and Carry Hess

I listened to the audio presentations about Pinner and the Hess sisters (no photo of the Hess sisters)  and had I time would have listened to all the stories which were fascinating and but mostly tragic.

The artist and writer Erna Pinner died on 5 March in London aged 97. She was born in Frankfurt, the daughter of a well known surgeon.  Lovis Corinth, a friend of Geheimrat Pinner, invited Erna. then 18, to study with him in Berlin.  Between 1911 and 1914 she completed her studies at the Academic Ransson in Paris under Maurice Denis. At the outbreak of war she returned and began her systematic study of animals and animal behaviour at the Frankfurt Zoo. In 1917 her life-long friendship with the expressionist writer Kasimir Edschmid began. Erna Pinner entered the circle of young expressionists of the Darmstddter Sezession. Her studio became the meeting place of the group, including the

poets Theodor Daubler and Else Lasker-Schuler,the writers Carlo Mierendorf and Rene Schickele,

also the philosopher Theodor Adorno.  In 192() she contracted polio, the after effects of which handicapped her for the rest of her life.

Determination and self-discipline became the source of her courage and great energy. She survived the turmoil of the inflation years through the creation of near life-size puppets, often

Portraits of her friends.  Some of these famous creations are illustrated in Das Puppenbuch (The

Book of Puppets) published in 1921

For the publisher Erich Reiss in Berlin she illustrated Das Blumenschiff (The Flower Boat)

by Klabund in 1921 and her own picture book Das Schweinebuch (The Book of Pigs) in 1922.

Particularly fruitful became her collaboration with the printer and typographer Pepy Wiirth of

Darmstadt with whom she produced from 1923 onwards ten books in limited editions.

During the 1920s and early ’30s Erna Pinner travelled with Edschmid around the world, to Africa and South America, Arabia, and several times to Greece, Spain and Italy. These years of travel and adventure are reflected in the books Edschmid and Pinner made together, richly illustrated with lithographs and etchings. Eine Dame in Griechenland (A Lady in Greece) 1927, and Ich reise um die Welt (I Travel Around the World) 1931, combine her lively texts with a wealth of illustrations. Here she developed a strong graphic style achieving the balance between naturalistic observation and linear

abstraction which gave her work precision and atmosphere. Annual exhibitions of her work were

held at the Flechtheim Gallery in Berlin and her articles and illustrations appeared in the magazines

Die Dame and Der Querschnitt.

This stream of creativity was interrupted by the Nazi persecution of the Jews.  In 1935, Erna

Pinner was able to settle in London. Her entire oeuvre which she had to leave behind was

destroyed.

At 45 she At 45 she started her second career. The Director of the London Zoo, Julian Huxley, who

knew and admired her German work, helped her to get commissions to write and illustrate books

on natural history. Meeting Henry Moore in 1936 gave her much needed artistic encouragement.

Her drawings changed towards a more naturalistic style, the animal figures acquired more

volume, detail and texture. Her wood cuts and lithographs of that period show the high degree of

her artistic and technical abilities. Her collaboration with the zoologist G. M. Vevers and the ornithologist Ludwig Koch led her towards more scientific work based on her own observations of animals in the wild and in  captivity. Two books summarizing that research

were published by Jonathan Cape, London – in  1951, Curious Creatures and, in 1955, Born Alive.

These works were again beautifully illustrated by Erna Pinner and translated into many languages.

Together with her friends in exile, among others Richard Friedenthal, Gabriele Tergit and Elias Canetti, she joined the PEN Club of German authors in exile. With them she was one of the first to reach across to Germany after 1945.  Her correspondence with Gottfried Benn at this

time bears witness of her great humanity and understanding.

Erna Pinner lived long enough to see the achievements of her generation reinstated and given a place of honour in German culture. In 1960 she received the Bundesverdienstkreuz.  She still continued working and writing until she was 90. Only her last seven years she called her ‘retirement’. Her great age was a gift not only for herself but to her friends as well.

http://www.ajr.org..uk/journalpdf/1987_may.pdf

The Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) is officially called the Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany). It is Germany’s only general decoration. This Federal Order of Merit was created on 7 September 1951. Between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year in all classes. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesverdienstkreuz

http://www..amazon.co.uk/  is the Erna Pinner page at Amazon

  “In the years between 1914 and 1933 numerous significant personalities in art, culture, politics, society and sport met in the photographic portraiture studio of Nini and Carry Hess. With their technical and aesthetic brilliance, the sisters were among the leading photographers in Germany of the time. In the 1920s their photographs essentially stamped the image of Woman. Their long collaboration with the Städtischen Bühnen Frankfurt (Frankfurt city theaters) resulted in the portraits of numerous actors, both in the roles they played and in their own person. These included Albert Bassermann (1867–1952), Elisabeth Bergner, Carl Ebert (1887–1980), Heinrich George (1893–1946), Paul Graetz (1890–1938), Gerda Müller (1895–1951), Leontine Sagan (1889–1974); the composers Paul Hindemith (1885–1963) and Leos Janacek (1854–1928), and the authors Thomas Mann (1875–1955), Fritz von Unruh (1885–1970) and Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977)………

Like many of the artists working in the field of Frankfurt theater, Nini and Carry Hess were compelled to terminate their collaboration with the theaters in 1933. Carry’s attempt to develop a new professional life in Paris proved a failure. In the winter of 1938–1939, after the SA (the Nazi Sturmabteilung; Storm Troopers) destroyed the studio, including all its technical equipment and the archives of negatives on November 10, 1938, she fled to the South of France, where she survived the war in hiding. In 1942 Nini Hess was deported and murdered in Auschwitz. After World War II Carry Hess returned to Paris, but was unable to resume work because she was blind in one eye. In 1957 she received reparations and a pension from the authorities in Wiesbaden (Germany). She died in Chur on August 17, 1957, while on vacation in Switzerland. Only a few of the original photographs taken by Nini and Carry Hess survived the Nazi period in private collections, museums and archives. “

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/hess-nini-and-carry-hess

A “memorial” with the names of nearly 11,000 German Jewish citizens  who have been deported from Frankfurt and murdered commemorates the fate of the Jews during the Holocaust.

A display about survivors and displaced persons camps, many who later emmigrated to what would become Israel, the USA, England, Australia, Argentina…

  “As early as the end of April 1945, a municipal facility was set up in Frankfurt for Jewish survivors, and with the return of the last community rabbi from Theresienstady in July of the same year, a synagogue community was established.  This community joined with the committee of Polish Jews set up by Eastern European refugees in Frankfurt, and in 1949 the Frankfurt Jewiish community that still exists today was founded.”

Jewish Museum book

Special temporary exhibit

Fritz Bauer – Der Staatsanwalt

10. April – 07. September 2014

“Fritz Bauer was born 1903 in Stuttgart. He emigrated from Germany to Scandinavia in 1936 after having been forced to resign from his work as a jurist and interned in a concentration camp.  In 1949, he returned to Germany to participate in building a democratic society. He was a pioneer in reforming penal law and the prisons system. He strove to enable young criminals to be resocialized, and he constantly reminded the judicial administration of its social responsibilities.

     In 1952, as district attorney in Brunswick, he defended the right of resistance against National Socialism. In 1959, after becoming Hessian State Attorney General, he had an essential part in the capture of Adolf Eichmann and set the stage for the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial which took place 1963-1965. This trial evoked for the first time in Germany a wide public response and a readiness previously lacking to confront recent German history.

     In 1968, in the midst of preparations for a further trial of the desk murderers among the National Socialist judicial administration, the bureaucrat  perpetrators responsible for euthanasia crimes, Fritz Bauer died. The trial never took place.

     The Fritz Bauer Institute is committed to the memory of Fritz Bauer, the democratic German legal reformer who initiated the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (1963–1965). Fritz Bauer considered the Auschwitz Trial a way for German society to use the legal system as an opportunity for self reflection, to "put ourselves on trial and to learn about the dangerous factors in our history."

http://www.fritz-bauer-institut.de/institut.html?&L=1

I have no idea but they’re cute….witches hats!

Same rice, different languages.

Mr Quick by Ottmar Horl 1999

Main train station Frankfurt

A coin operated  model train set

I remembered the name Willy Brandt but didn’t remember that he’d won the Novel Peace Prize in 1971    

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1971/brandt-facts.html

“The Altstadt (old town) is a city district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I.

     The Altstadt is located on the northern Main river bank. It is completely surrounded by the Innenstadt district, Frankfurt’s present-day city centre. On the opposite side of the Main is the district of Sachsenhausen.

     As the historical center of Frankfurt, the Altstadt has existed from Frankfurt’s beginnings, dating back to 794 (first mentioning of Frankfurt). It used to be part of the original Innenstadt area, which lay inside of the city walls, the Staufenmauer. Only very small sections of the Altstadt were rebuilt after World War II and so only a few old buildings are actually preserved. The Altstadt contains many of Frankfurt’s most important sights, including the Römerberg plaza with the famed Römer city hall and many other middle-age style buildings which are mostly actually reconstructions.  Nearby is the St. Bartholomäus Cathedral and the Paulskirche, the short-lived seat of the German National Assembly in 1848-49.

     The Dom-Römer Project is a current reconstruction project for the old town quarter between the Römer square and the Frankfurt Cathedral. “

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altstadt_(Frankfurt_am_Main)

I was really disappointed to find it mostly a reconstruction and am not sure how I feel about that.  I think I’d rather just see images in a museum than walk through what seems more like an “amusement park.”

The present-day Frankfurt Cathedral was originally a Carolingian chapel. Although called a cathedral since the 18th century, it never was an episcopal church in the true sense.

With the relocation of the coronation ceremonies for Holy Roman kings from Aachen to Frankfurt in 1562, the monastery received the honorary title of "cathedral", which has remained to this day.

On 14 August 1867 a fire ravaged much of the cathedral. Soon thereafter, the cathedral was comprehensively reconstructed in neo-Gothic style under the supervision of Franz Josef Denzinger.

Air raids at the end of Second World War once again badly damaged the cathedral. Reconstruction work lasted from 1950 to 1953.

http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/cms/tourismussuite/en/

Mary lighting a candle

The organ seemed quite amazing

An example of the art work

This was a fun shop of 20^th century “stuff.”

Interesting gallery window display.  I liked the “man woman” painting.  It’s a man with a beard and mustache facing forward / a woman in profile also sharing the eye on the right.

The bridges weren’t bike or baby carriage friendly but the walking/biking paths were lovely

A landmark just near the marina reminded me of the Gherkin in London.

Randal and Michael swapping stories

A pose with Dora Mac

Walking across the river to the festival of food and music!

Michael said the place was quite crowded earlier but perhaps the drizzle chased them away.  Or we were too early for the evening crowd.  The group sang American pop music.

We probably had enough food for 6 but it was all gone by the end.    I ate my share of the ribs for sure but not that whole plate.  Though I could have!  They tasted good and there’s not so much meat on them.  I’ve pretty much given up meat but who can resist ribs right off the grill.

Not the best evening for ice cream but Randal wanted a banana split and Michael knew just the place.  I helped Randal just a bit with his.  Just a bit.

A photo of a duck and a distant landscape?  That’s what it looked like to me until I looked at the next photo and saw it was a reflection of the dock.  The ducks eat the growth on the docks and on the boats.

DoraMac in Bingen

We spent one night in Bingen and met a lovely couple Frank and Hilde (short for Hildegard) who had come to the marina to look at a boat that was for sale.  (Not ours.)  They have a small fishing boat and a red corvette now but have decided to sell both to buy a bigger boat to travel the rivers with their two teenage children.  We have given them our email and who knows, maybe one day they will visit us in Virginia.  We also met a very lovely Danish FedX pilot in Cologne who spent an evening with us.  His wife and children live on the Fareo Islands as does he on his weeks off.   But he has a floating home that acts as his base when he is flying. One of the best parts of travel is meeting people along the way who are willing to share their hopes and dreams.

DoraMac is past the arrow up river so we did a bit of walking to get to town.

I’m including this for our pal Sharman and the memory of a very funny day in North Cyprus. 

We drank coffee in the plaza and watched the locals.

Images of Bingen

I think Bingen has a connection to carnival but we never could find out exactly what it was all about.

Several painted buildings.

Street art

We had to climb down the spiral stairway to get across the railroad tracks back to the river.

As we left St Goar we encountered these white bars

“In certain parts of the river Rhine, luminous white bars advise upstream vessels about the presence of downstream traffic ahead.” EUROREGS For Inland Waterways

  Depending whether the bars are horizontal or angled you know if or how to proceed. 

Bacharach was the centre of the Rhine wine trade in the later Middle Ages. Vines had been cultivated on the lower slopes since Roman times, and this expanded greatly from the 10th century onwards. Some 3000ha of vineyards were under cultivation by 1600, five times as much as at the present time. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) witnessed a substantial decline in viticulture, the land being converted partly into orchards and partly into coppice forest. The 14th-16th centuries were the golden age of art in the Middle Rhine, which saw the convergence of artistic influences from the Upper Rhine (Strasbourg) and the Lower Rhine (Cologne). Gothic masterpieces such as the Werner Chapel above Bacharach, the Church of Our Lady in Oberwesel, and the former collegiate church of St Goar date from this period.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1066

Small towns and castles along the Rhein or Rhine….

Backed up to the hillside

Dams to slow the flow of the river

The Alexandra came a bit too close for comfort

Generating electricity

Rows of homes are built along the river, below the mountainsides

You can cycle along the rivers all the way to Turkey…and at times go much faster than we do. 

http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/219964-amsterdam-to-istanbul/#gsc.tab=0

Not sure how this quarrying fits into the UNESCO Heritage Site

Workmen cleaning the red and green channel markers.  Green on our right and red on our left.

A gruesome example of a hanging cage and depending what you read people were either already dead and put in there for show or were put in there to die.  Yuck.

Only one Einstein but I’ve seen several Goethe or the same Goethe several times during our travels.

Beautiful terraced hillsides which is why the area is a UNESCO Heritage site

We dwarf the marina building in St Goar.  Many marinas (really small local yacht clubs with a few visitor berths) along the river have docks too small for us.  So it takes good planning by Mary and Rick and some luck to find a spot for the night.  So far, so good.  We are early in the season before everything really gets busy.

We arrived early enough to go find lunch in town.

The Café Owner explained to me why coffee pots are shaped differently from tea pots.  His collection fills all the walls but he has hundreds more at home.  Visitors bring him coffee pots and I think then use that one when they come for coffee.

And desserts!

“The different shapes for tea pots and coffee pots result from the nature of tea and coffee. Tea leaves float and the spout, which joins the body of the tea pot near the bottom, allows the liquid brew to flow out from under them. Coffee grounds, on the other hand, sink, so the spout is typically mounted near the top of the coffee pot, allowing the coffee to flow out from above the grounds. Additionally, the more rounded shape of the tea pot encourages movement and floats the tea leaves while the taller coffee pot lessens the movement of the liquid and promotes the settling of the grounds.”

http://www.coxsackie.com/reference/tpcpatk.htm

Little girl outside the Café with her mom and grandparents

I snuck this photo while she wasn’t looking but then she saw us and smiled!

This couple was from California, and if I remember correctly, the second Americans we’ve met along the river.  The first was the baker in the bar in Oberwinter who had moved to the US in the 60s and become a citizen. 

Main Street St Goar looking up at the Rheinfels Castle.

We looked in at the Puppet Museum but really didn’t have to time it would have taken to justify the entrance fee.  But hopefully somewhere along the way I’ll get to see a puppet show.

This alley looks like Cape Cod on Halloween.  But Germany is the country of the Brothers Grimm.  And after seeing Wicked while in London, I’m partial to witches.

A statue of St Goar  just near the castle and some of the ruins.  

We didn’t visit the castle but we did visit the WC which was an adventure all in itself.

Flush                                                                    Wash

Dry                                                                            Pay toll  

Looking down on Doramac and one of our last stops on the Rhein.

Waiting for the train to pass on our way back to DoraMac.

Most places we overnight seem to have railroad tracks just behind our boat so we hear them, but not to keep me awake.  The tracks follow the river most of the way as does a cycling/walking path.

Looking back at the Rheinfels Castle from the back of DoraMac

The history of Castle Rheinfels and the town of St. Goar

     As a guest at the Romantik Hotel Schloss Rheinfels you will also learn the fascinating appeal of Castle Rheinfels or ‘Burg Rheinfels’ as the locals call it. At one time it was the mightiest fortress on the Rhine and its size and construction are still very impressive today.

Archaeological finds show that the current suburb of St. Goar was already inhabited in Roman times. Ships needed assistance to get over the reefs at the Lorelei. It is believed there was a ferry boat connecting the Roman roads.

The small settlement takes its name from the holy Saint Goar, who founded a Christian hostel for the poor and travellers here in the year 550 AD.

His grave became a well visited pilgrimage site, which was looked after by a community of clerics.

In the 8th Century it became the possession of Prüm Abbey (Eifel). The first steward of the monastery was the Count of Arnstein and, from 1190, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. This meant the city was under military protection and the Count’s jurisdiction.

Built in 1245 by Diether V. von Katzenelnbogen, over the centuries Castle Rheinfels became the most important fortress on the Rhine. Visitors to Rheinfels are surprised by how extensive the ruins are and by the maze of military and underground mine passages that are still accessible today.

Although Diether V. was a member of the ‘Rhine Confederation’, in 1255 he raised the St. Goar Rhine Toll. It was soon after that Castle Rheinfels had to pass its first major test: 26 towns, with an army of 8,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, supported by 50 vessels, besieged the castle for a year and 14 weeks, only to then give in and leave without taking it. After that the castle was considered invulnerable.

In 1527 Philip I introduced the Reformation. In the 17th Century, and at great expense, his son Philip II rebuilt the castle as a Renaissance palace. Philip II was known for his brilliant and lavish court.

Under Count Ernst von Hessen-Rheinfels the flourishing town of St. Goar once again became the cultural centre of the region. Ernst tried to reach an understanding between religions and delighted in exchanging ideas with the intellectual giants of his time.

In 1794, during an attack by French revolutionary troops, the castle was surrendered without a fight and destroyed by the French.

St. Goar remained under French administration until 1813. In 1815 it was passed to Prussia, once again received the status of an administrative centre and became the Borough’s main town.

In June 2002 the cultural landscape of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, bounded to the north and south by the cities of Koblenz, Bingen and Rudesheim, was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Such sites are recognised as being of outstanding universal value and considered as part of the heritage of all humanity. That the Upper Middle Rhine Valley has been recognised as a World Heritage site reflects that this cultural landscape has evolved through the continuous intervention of man and nature for centuries.

http://www.schloss-rheinfels.net/castle-hotel/the-history-of-the-castle-rheinfels/

There are an incredible number of ducks, geese, and swans many with lots of fluffy babies.  These pink legged birds look like they were created from left over parts of other water fowl.

Depth Indicators

A water depth of 172 centimeters is indicated by the Koblenz Pegel clock at that time and place sort of.  Because you have to look on the chart at a specific location on the river and see how many centimeters to add to the pegel number for the real depth and you subtract the pegel number to tell you if you can fit under a bridge.  The higher the pegel number, the higher the water level, in relation to the height of the bridge, the less space there is for you to fit under the bridge.  Thank you Rick and Mary for the better explanations than all the Internet sites put together. 

Pegelhaus Koblenz

Here are the official and more complicated explanations of Pegel. 

In the upper reaches, at Kaub and Bingen water depth  gauges (Pegelstände) have been set up to advise skippers of the actual depths on a daily basis.  The current minimum depth of the river is displayed in centimetres, and the Pegelstände also broadcasts to skippers each day. (Note. A number of real time depth indicators for the Rhine and Mosel may be found on the internet or try www.loreley.de/vbglorel/kaub  )

http://www.tradboat2.co.uk/sourcepages/rhineships/rhineships.htm

Pegelhaus

During the measures for fortification of the town of Koblenz under Elector Lothar of Metternich at the beginning of the 17th century, a Rhine Crane was erected for loading and unloading ships, which is the present day water gauge house. According to plans by the Jülich builder Johann Pasqualini a simple octagon construction with a profiled plinth was built between 1609 and 1611. The pilaster shows the date when it was completed (1611) on the ledge.

With the expansion of the Moselle wharf, the crane house continued to lose importance. 

From 1819 to 1945 there was another ship’s bridge from the crane house to Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein. After this, only the water gauge house was used. Next to the entrance to the present day restaurant, the highest water levels during the different centuries can be seen. The blue gauge clock is on the left.

The berths for the tour boats are found in the direct vicinity of the gauge house along with the ferries to Ehrenbreitstein.

http://www.koblenz-touristik.de

Determination of equivalent water level

The river bed is constantly being transformed by the effects of the current. This is a factor directly influencing the available water depth for vessel traffic in the navigation channel.

The normal minimal water level during the period between 1839 and 1848 was able to be established within the framework of the CCNR. During that period, the discussions concerning the determination of water depth were carried out for a number of years in order to define the conditions for determining the water level. This model was used as the basis for the concept of equivalent water level (IW gleichwertiger Wasserstand), which has been measured and defined in regular intervals (1908, 1923, 1932, 1946, 1952, 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002). The equivalent water level will be re-determined in 2012 within the framework of the CCNR in order to accommodate the changes in the Rhine river bed.

Determination of the equivalent water level takes place in three stages:

•The reference water levels and an equivalent flow rate are defined

•The water level at Cologne (Wasserstand der Pegel Köln) is determined

•The water levels at other points are consequently determined

In 1849, the Central Commission organised an inspection voyage from Basel to the sea with the aim of determining the actual and the required water depth. This practice was institutionalised by the Mannheim Convention, which specifies in Article 31: "From time to time hydraulics engineers delegated by the Governments of all the riparian States shall conduct surveys to examine the state of the river, to observe the results of measures taken for its improvement and to note new obstacles which impede navigation. The Central Commission (art. 43) shall designate the time and the parts of the river where these surveys are to be made. The engineers shall report to it on the results". Currently, the national authorities for waterway management are responsible for performing this inspection, and they present their report to the Committee for infrastructure and environment.

Further information on equivalent water level can be obtained from Generaldirektion Wasserstraßen und Schifffahrt – Außenstelle West

http://www.ccr-zkr.org/12030100-en.html

“……..the Deutsches Eck at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle.  In 1891 Kaiser Wilhelm II deemed this historic landmark, given its name by the knights of the Teutonic Order, the perfect site for a special monument. Here people could give thanks to his grandfather, Wilhelm I, the man who unified the German Empire.  Alas, the statue was reduced to rubble in 1945, and in May 1953 Theodor Heuss, President of West Germany, declared the remaining plinth a poignant monument to German unity.  Finally, in 1993, a replica of the statue was raised into position on the plinth, where it towers majestically over the two rivers at a height of 37 metres. Every year the impressive structure attracts more than two million visitors. Towering on the opposite side of the Rhine is Ehrenbreitstein, Europe’s second-largest preserved fortress. At nearly 120 metres above the river, this is the perhaps the best place to enjoy views of Koblenz.” http://www.germany.travel/en/towns-cities-culture/towns-cities/koblenz.html

http://www.spiegel.de/  shows flood waters surround ng the statue.

Where’s Randal?  What better sculpture in the art museum plaza;  Daniel Coulet’s Thumb

http://www.ludwigmuseum.org/engl/exhibitions/current_coulet.htm

http://www.ludwigmuseum.org/engl/exhibitions/current.htm

This reminded me of a Virginia Dogwood, our state tree.  There is a variety with pointed petals called a Kousa Dogwood.

When I’m an old lady I shall wear purple…AND DYE MY HAIR RED!  Maybe in lieu of a Red Hat.

http://redhatsociety.com/about/legacy

Görres square:

The Görres square is located in the heart of the old town, and is known for its historic fountain, presented by the federal state of Rheinland-Pfalz to the city of Koblenz in 1992, to mark the 2000-year-anniversary of the city. The column at the centre of the fountain is ten metres high, and depicts scenes from the city’s history, from the Roman beginnings to the present.

http://www.cityhotel-koblenz.de/76.html

Görresplatz

Archaeological finds prove that the area around the present day Görres Square had been inhabited by the Romans. In the middle ages the square was the property of the Castor foundation and later, the Order of Jesuits. In the 19th century it continued to be constructed and was handed over to the town. The square which is called Görres Square today has also be known as the "Large Square" or „Parade Square“ and at the time of French occupation at the end of the 18th century it was also called "Place Verte". At the end of the 19th century, the area was named after General August von Goeben who also gained a memorial on the “Goeben Square“. Von Goeben was the commander general of the Koblenz VIII army corps for 10 years.

After the Second World War, the square was "demilitarised" which means that the Goeben memorial was removed and the square was named after the Koblenz publicist and historian Joseph Görres.

The fountain in the middle of the square with its 10m high historical columns is worth seeing. The artist Jürgen Weber tells the story of the town of Koblenz in 10 overlapping scenes presented three-dimensionally.

http://www.koblenz-touristik.de/

A play ground with a crown shaped play area.

This ginormous place had lots of history but Randal and Rick were most interested in the fountain and I prefer ordinary people history to that of the rich and famous. 

Noah’s Ark Koblenz. 

“The inventors fountain stands at the Löhr Center towards the pedestrian zone.  In the middle of the well there is a boat. Noah’s Ark was probably the model here, because on the boat there are all sorts of animals.

The fountain was created by the German sculptor Gernot Rumpf (* 1941). He is especially known for his fountains and statues with Palatine and biblical motifs, which can be seen in a number of German cities, as well as in Jerusalem and Tokyo.”

http://www.waymarking.com/

There were moving parts and water shooting out from it.

We saw a $ 1,000,000 Noah’s Ark amusement area being developed in Dordrecht.   It had been built by a carpenter who dreamt the Netherlands  would flood.

Ehrenbreitstein on the right and Koblenz on the left side of the river

The small orange circle on the right side of the river (mid photo)is the location of our marina.  The bigger orange circle is where the Rhine and Mosel meet and there is a giant equestrain statue representing German unity.  (More about that in the Koblenz email.)  We took the ferry across our first afternoon but used the bridge to return and then both ways the second day.  So it’s not so far as it might look.

Mozart Globe though I always thought kugel was a noodle pudding my mother made.    I could have titled the photo on the left, “Kindle NOT!” 

Cycling/walking paths line the river pretty much the entire way.  How wonderful!

We didn’t visit the fortress but did eat at a kabob/pizza joint across the street from the lift that takes you there on the Ehrenbreitstein side.  You can also take a cross-river cable car from Koblenz.

“As the vine flourishes, and the grape empurples close up to the very walls and muzzles of cannoned Ehrenbreitstein; so do the sweetest joys of life grow in the very jaws of its perils.”

So did American author Herman Melville of “Moby Dick” fame write about the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, or Festung Ehrenbreitstein.

http://www.mygermancity.com/ehrenbreitstein-fortress

http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/  was an old newspaper article I came across telling about American soldiers taking possession of the fortress after WW 1. 

If you wanna see it you gotta go up…  Our friend Linda Levy on B’Sheret coined that phrase in Greece but it seems true of everywhere.

Looking into the town of Ehrenbreitstein

Looking back across the river to Koblenz

Rheinburg House had been our destination but it was locked up and under renovation.

Back down into town

The smaller black plaques are the more recent High Water Marks on the stone wall of the railroad bridge. 

     “January 10, 2011 – 05:04 PM   Flooding that inundated cities and towns along two of Germany’s most popular wine routes over the weekend began to subside on Monday. The region was spared the kind of catastrophic flooding seen along the Rhine and Mosel rivers during the 1990s.

The Rhine River spilled over its banks in Koblenz and parts of Cologne, causing shipping and other water traffic between the cities to be suspended. In Koblenz, where the Mosel converges into the Rhine, flood waters swept over the city’s main landmark, the famous Das Deutsche Eck (German corner) monument to German Emperor Wilhelm I.  (The bigger orange circle on the map.)

But the worst appeared to be over near Koblenz. "I assume that we have reached the peak (of floodwaters)," a spokeswoman for the Rhine Flood Center in Mainz told reporters. On Monday afternoon, water levels there remained stagnant.

http://www.spiegel.de/  shows the photo of Das Deutsche Eck

When he’d asked me for the camera, I thought Randal had intended to take a photo of the high water plaques.  No.  Randal liked the stone squares (think home in VA we’ll build one day) and later we stopped to admire the sone mason at work.

I stopped to admire the different artist “atelier” in the town.  Unfortunately none was open.

http://www.galerie-sehr.de/      and the Atelier of Anja Bogott  http://www.anja-bogott.de/

Dog walking has a universal language anyone can understand. 

Homes everywhere seem to be painted in bright colors.  The small arched doors lead to the cellar.

Lovely nautical inspired door.

And interesting roof design.

Randal confirmed with the car’s owner that the top is indeed painted with gold leaf.

Beethoven’s mother’s home is now a musuem but was closed the day we visited.

  “Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, to Johann van Beethoven (1740–1792), one of a line of musicians of Flemish ancestry, and Maria Magdalena Keverich (1744–1787), whose father had been overseer of the kitchen at Ehrenbreitstein. Beethoven was one of seven children born to them, of whom only Beethoven and two younger brothers would survive infancy. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770. Although his birthdate is not known for certain, his family celebrated his birthday on December 16. “

http://www.symphonyinc.org/node/151

Harbor master at the Kaiser Wilhelm Rhein Marina braiding a line. 

I looked up from my computer to see the scenery had definitely changed.   Long days of slow river travel are good times to catch up on writing. Notice the stone structure on the top of the hill.

I zoomed in on the computer and you can see people up there; maybe watching us cruise past.

The scullers were going down river with the current but the sea kayaker had to paddle against it. 

A hill castle for which the Rheine is famous.

Looking back down river from where we’d just come.

Our overnight stop was the marina in Oberwinter which means “upper winter.”

The small town was a short walk from the marina

DoraMac in the Oberwinter marina.

You see women of all ages with the red color but there are many who are bolder and choose the blue or green.

Gaststatte ALT OBERWINTER where we stopped to taste the local wines

When we first came in I snuck this photo: by the time we left we were all old friends and Randal had treated everyone to their drinks.  The man in the blue hat had spent about 40 years in the US working at various venues as a baker.  He became a US citizen and will be returning to Nevada where he has many friends. 

Andreas Klein who made us so welcome.

We ordered wine but then I bought some peanuts to counteract the wine.  Soon Andreas delivered a plate of wonderfully spiced meatballs to the table and then some bread squares with some kind of spread.  Both house specialties.  Both tasted wonderful even to me and I’m really cutting back on meat.

I think this is Mrs. Klein  (we weren’t really  introduced)  who is giving Mary a lesson about local wines.

Strangers become friends! 

We left with very warm feelings generated by more than glasses of local wine.

We walked back through town to the boat.

This house had a lovely garden and strange ceramic figurines all around the windows.

A lovely view the next day as we made our way towards Koblenz, our next stop.