Today is the Marksburg Castle tour in the morning and Karen already decided that this tour was out. Towering above the riverside village of Braubach, the Marksburg is the only castle in the Rhine valley never to have been taken by force. This also means it’s one of the most complete medieval fortresses in Germany having never been damaged in either World Wars. These are mostly free tours put on by Viking and it appears they go these places all year long. Today is also the day we cruise the Rhine checking out towns and castles along the way. It's raining pretty hard as we cruise and visibility is not the best, especially up to the mountain tops. Most of our river cruising is done at night and we've yet been able to watch the boat go through a lock although we have seen it during the night. The landscape here is much flatter so they'll be no more locks to see. 

It's not important that we rise early so we decide a sleep in is in order. Breakfast is served from 6:30-9:30am and we arrive at 9:10. Everything in the breakfast area is gone with the exception of a few yogurts, toast, some luncheon meats and juice. No plates or silverware though. The guy brings us a few things to make our breakfast with and while I have more than enough to eat, Karen's pissed that she shot her insulin and she can't have a full breakfast. It's true that they say breakfast until 9:30 which should mean a full service until then, not that they need to clean up breakfast by 9:30. We are the lucky ones as others coming later like our lawyer friend from Alamo are greeted with a banana.

Now she's turned on Viking like a mad dog. They can't do anything right. She can't wait to get off the ship. It's too hot. Their store sucks. Their staff is rude. I try to defuse to no avail. She sits fuming. With our river cruising portion done and no more watching the shoreline, it's time to eat. Lunch is fine for me but not her. The guy doesn't bring our drinks fast enough. I suggest that since we have the whole afternoon free, we can walk to the Braubach Christmas Market. She reluctantly agrees but maintains Viking should drive us. We walk along the river to the market. It's not that big and spread out in different areas. That's not good for us since it increases the amount of walking and usually we have only enough just to get there. It's drizzling all the while. In fact, other than that morning in Basel on our way to Lucerne, we haven't seen the sun over here yet. However, the rain hasn't interfered with our plans either.

We complete our walk back to the ship. I would estimate a little over 2 miles. We return to our room where we clean up and head to the lounge for a drink. Mom's tote bag has not arrived in the gift shop as promised and she accuses them of lying just so they don't have to sell her one for $8. We order drinks in the lounge. I have a Tequila Sunrise and Karen has a White Russian. Our drinks are delivered promptly but Mom detects a problem, curdled cream in her drink. I summon the waiter who apologizes and replaces it while removing the charge from our bill. Unfortunately, this gives Karen more fodder to continue her barrage of Viking Cruise Lines. I'm finished.

Tonight is a sampling of many German foods. We're able to wander through the lounge and dining room gathering different items to try. She likes this. Free German beer too. During this time, they have strolling musicians playing German folk music, you know, um pa pa um pa pa. The accordian player was under scrutiny as Karen was a national champion accordian player in high school. "He's only good for this type of music", she quips. At least she didn't attack him too. I liked the guy cranking the music box. About 9pm we head back to our stateroom.

I can only hope tomorrow's better for her.



R river cruising portion complete