While we focused on castles as our riverboat took us up the Romantic section of the Rhine River this summer, there were numerous other views that found us busily snapping photos.
I hesitate to use the word “quaint” when I describe the buildings and towns along the Romantic Rhine since it implies “old fashioned.” Picturesque, colorful and historic strike me as better. But whatever word one chooses, Peggy and I were awed by the unique look and beauty of the various buildings. All of today’s photos were taken by Peggy and me unless otherwise noted.
Churches, hotels, restaurants, businesses and homes were all involved in creating the look.We found the mixture of structures from different centuries intriguing.This rather impressive chunk of slate rock is known as Lorelei. It comes with a myth attached. Lorelei was a beautiful woman whose lover was unfaithful. In a fit of despair she threw herself off the rock and perished, returning as a siren that lured passing boats to crash on the rocks. In truth, this narrow, deep section of the Rhine did lead to many shipwrecks. I was eager to have this structure be a medieval castle. After all, it certainly looks like one. But I couldn’t find a photo anywhere, and I looked at bunches. So maybe one of my readers out there can enlighten me. We saw numerous churches…And each church had a unique look.This church had an Orthodox feel to it. A more traditional looking church.Rhine wines are famous throughout the world. Vineyard after vineyard decorated the steep hills. I wonder if strong legs are a requirement for harvesting. The grapes produce a medium dry white wine. Grapes, castle, church, and a picturesque town: How much more romantic can it get?More buildings that caught our attention. These had a quite scenic backdrop.Three buildings, three styles, three colors. All connected.And finally, a reminder that our trip was to help Peggy celebrate her birthday. Here she is appropriately attired on the night of the event. Our youngest grandson Cooper joined us for the photo. Our daughter Tasha can be seen in the mirror to the right taking the photo.Peggy and I are in New Orleans today and are about to head on to Safety Harbor, Florida where we will spend Christmas with our son and his family. Yesterday, we visited the French Quarter and ate our mandatory beignets while watching a man perform standing on his car. He was good, but the dog sitting on the guitar made the performance totally charming. The two of them obviously played together often and liked each other a lot. As the man strummed the guitar the dog rested his paw on the man’s hand. It looked like he was doing the strumming.
On our next post we will continue to alternate Rhine River posts with blogs on our present journey. I intend to do a post on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon that we visited this past spring on our way to Virginia before we started our riverboat tour in Europe.
Wandering through Time and Place 