Rhine Trip

When the Turnfest is over, our American contingent usually stays on for about another week to further enjoy their European vacation. It doesn't cost any extra airfare unless the airport you depart from is farther than the one you used for arrival. In the past our group has enjoyed a tour of Lake Constance, a bus tour of eastern Germany, a day cruise down the Elbe River to Dresden, then Prague and a cruise on the Baltic featuring 2 days in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mannheim is a port on the Rhine river and we had yet to do a river cruise, so....

Turnfest week and the days before and after it were almost all rainy and consequently the rivers were rising and would flood some areas just as we were leaving for home. We got a preview of trouble when the Mosel river that joins the Rhine at Koblenz was too high and the bridges too low to allow our ship to pass. Our original schedule called for us to go upstream on the Mosel to Cochem. A bus was substituted and the group enjoyed the wine tasting in that great little castle town. If there was any problem with the high water otherwise we were in good and capable hands and the rest of the trip to Amsterdam was without incident.

The cruise started in Speyer and stopped in Mannheim, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Volendam and Amsterdam.   Along the way we saw some famous castles, took a side trip to Cochen and also visited the Ehrenbreitstein fortress.