The ship did not do any sailing last night until 0430 as today we sailed through the 'castellated' Rhine Gorge. Nevena pointed out the various sites - towns, castles and other points of interest. The commentary went on from 9 until 12 when we had an early lunch and disembarked at Rudesheim. During the commentary they served the famous Rudesheimer Coffee about the same time as we passed famous Lorelei Rock - the song is to do with the legend.

After lunch we got off the boat onto a mini train which took us through the narrow streets of Rudesheim to Seigfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet. The collection from the 18th and 19th century is housed in an old 16th century building and has over 300 items most of which are operational. They range from tiny little music boxes to huge wall cabinets one of which plays 19 instruments. Our guide set up quite a few of them up to play and they were amazing.

From Siegfrieds we walked down the road for a way to the Cable car. It is an open cable car that took us up for a view of the town and surrrounding district where we could also see the Niederwalddenkmal monument (I had to go and find the spelling of that!). This 38m high monument was built in the 1870s to commemorate commemorate the foundation of the German Empire after the end of the Franco-Prussian War.

Once back down the hill we wandered through some of the narrow streets then along the canal back to the boat.

Tonight after dinner we had some entertainment in the lounge by Jela (and her accompaniest). He was as good as she was at singing so we are surprised that he does not get any recommendation. It was a lovely evening with songs from the 50s to 70s that most people knew the words to and that we could all dance to. The turnout was probably just shy of half the passengers but the crew were there to also help out. We have not mentioned the crew to date - they are excellent. Not just fun but also witty and everything that Bruce gives them they give back just as well. Really good for people who do not have English as their first language.
A great fun day and again with great weather.