Rhine

Rhine

Our arrival to begin our trip came with no problems. We marveled at the silence on the packed train from the Frankfurt airport to the main train station - much different from the boisterous Americans we see every day. First order of business was a beer - a very nice dunkelweise, then on the bullet train to Strabourg. Jan saved our bacon at the taxi stand in Strasbourg explaining in French where we needed to go. 


Aboard the Lafayette, we joined our 80 fellow passengers to enjoy a tasty aperitif while neeting the crew - both operational and service. The captain speaks no English (and why should he) and welcomed us in French, introducing us to his assistant captain who seemed to be 15 years old. 



We awoke Thursday to a nice sunrise. After stuffing our faces at he breakfast buffet wevheaded up to the sun deck for some much needed exercise - stretching followed by many laps around the deck. 

The scenery along the banks of the Rhine varied from heavy industrial to pastoral. For much of the sunny morning, monsterous cranes loomed over the river ready to snatch the cargo from the many barges we saw. One dock was packed with dozens of John Deere tractors awaiting their final destination. 



Leaving behind the refineries and chemical plants, we began to see vineyards marching up hillsides behind small villages with their church steeples reaching to the sky. Some of the steeples appeared to be Eastern Orthodox in nature - kind of surprising. 


There was not a lot of private watercraft on the river although one party boat definitely attracted attention. 


After a HEARTY lunch of ham, sausages and sourkraut, we reached our first destination, the tourist town of Rudesheim. Three other river boats were docked there, each larger than ours



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