Rüdesheim, Germany - River Walk

Time to begin the walk back to the boat.  The castle looking building in the distance is where the ATM is located.  The tower is Adlertum, Eagle's Tower and was once part of the town walls.

 Nice place to stop for coffee before the walk.

 This sign shows that the upper middle Rhein/Rhine River is a UNESCO World Heritage area.  The area is between Bingen, Rüdesheim (our location now) and Koblenz (our next stop).  It was and still remains an important transportation route and is lined with terraced vineyards and hill top castles (we will see those later).  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1066

 Trains pass through.  The train station is on the other side of the town.

 Ferry transportation is important in this area. This is a passenger ferry and there are also car ferries (that allow passengers). http://www.bingen-ruedesheimer.de/rheinfaehren/?lang=en

 The river divides in here.  We are not looking at the other shore, but at Rüdesheimer Aue, an island in the middle of the river.  It used to be agricultural but has now been fully overgrown with trees.  It is now a reserve and is used as a resting place for birds.

 This is a wikipedia photo so that you can see how it all fits together in the river.

After several photo stops in between walking walking walking, I have come to slip #1 and my river home.

 I bid farewell to Rüdesheim and I walk on board.

Rüdesheim, Germany - Quaint Town Streets and Drosselgasse

This is a very quaint town and is busy year long, not just at Christmas.  The beer gardens hang a sign when they are open so that you can tell from down the street before walking all the way to the door.

 I confirmed with the tour guide that these bells were made in Meissen.  Kudos to me for paying attention to another tour guide five years ago!

 This is the famously narrow Drosselgasse wine alley.  It is pedestrian only and is lined with restaurants, normally packed and music flowing out of the buildings.

 The places are packed all year long.  Well, not at 9am.

 The booths are starting to open.

 Rüdesheimer Kaffee - not enough time to sample while I was there so I need to make it at home.  It was invented in 1957 by German Television chef Hans Karl Adam.  Asbach Uralt brandy and sugar cubes are added to a cup.  (Rüdesheim has specially designed cups for this coffee, of course.) The brandy is flambeed and stirred until the sugar dissolves.  Strong coffee is added and topped by thick whipped cream sweetened with vanilla sugar.  Chocolate flakes are sprinkled on top.

 This tree is interesting.  It is made from branches.

Kitchen linens in a shop.

 Warm hats, scarves, gloves.

At this point the guide said farewell. We could stay in town for another hour or so or head back to the boat.  He pointed out the bank with the ATM.   I looked around a little and then began the trek back to our docking spot...#1.

Rudesheim, Germany - Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum

A popular attraction in Rudesheim (pronounced Rude-ess-heim) is the Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum.  It is an impressive collection of a wide variety of players. Siegfried Wendel started rescuing and refurbishing these in the 1960s as they were being discarded as scrap metal.  In the museum are prototype jukeboxes, hand-cranked carnival machines and monstrous pianolas.

 This is a collection of silver boxes that play songbird tunes.

 The tile floor.

 An example of his workshop.

The most amazing machine was an orchestrion, a huge machine that played all of the instruments of an orchestra.  Loud...but amazing to watch it play six violins in harmony.

I did an internet search on Siegfried Wendel and found a wide variety of photos.  He has recently passed away and his sons will take over the rescue and restoration, as well as ongoing maintenance of the machines.

Here are a few items from the gift shop.

 You can estimate that euros = US Dollars to get an idea on the cost of these silver music boxes.