It's 9.15am on Wednesday 1st May. I have just sat on my external balcony enjoying the tranquillity as we cruise along the Main River on our way today to Wurzburg. It's another beautiful sunny morning with clear blue skies. The bird song is amazing and I have heard a Cuckoo and a Woodpecker in the distance. There is a pair of Swans nearby bobbing on the ship's bow wave, the sun glinting through the trees that line the bank and the gentle mummer of the water as it ripples against the hull and the bank is very life affirming and relaxing.
I made a mistake of saying that we had joined the Main Danube canal late on Monday evening well I was wrong it was the Main River and we are still on that river and will be until tomorrow when we reach Bamberg! It's the 6th longest river in Germany at 567 kms and we will sail its whole length!! I've lost count of how many locks we have passed through – I think it's 16 with each one lifting the ship some 5 – 6 metres that's 80 to 100 metres we have ascended since leaving the Rhine.
Back to Rüdesheim am Rhein which we visited on Monday afternoon. Google tells me "Rüdesheim am Rhein is a town in the Rhine Valley, Germany. It's known for winemaking, especially of Riesling wines."
I visited the nearby, Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum of automated musical instruments housed in the Medieval Brömserburg Castle built in 1542. We had a cheery young lady guide to take us round the 350 exhibits dating from the 18th to the 20th Century – from delicate musical boxes to a gigantic piano orchestrion. It was interesting to see how the various instruments worked and to listen to the fine but loud sounds that they made. Many, of course, like the one shown in the photo were made for fairgrounds.
