​Woke for an early start.  Linda C. and I were going on the Marksburg Castle tour.  The others were joining the City Walking Tour.  After breakfast, Linda and I made our way to the bus for the 20 minutes ride through Koblenz, up the mountain to Marksburg Castle.  Then it was an additional 7 minutes walk up a switch back road to the actual castle.  We passed a very steep stairway on the way and was told we would be coming down that way. One item on the tour Linda and I thought was very interesting.  Picture 10 in this slide show shows the outside of the bathroom. The bathroom was located off of the great room.  The door was left open all day, even when in use.  It was only closed and locked from the outside at night to prevent anyone from entering through the hole.

 After the tour, the bus drove back and dropped us off in the middle of Koblenz for our own short walking tour.  While on this walk, I was taking off my sweater and dropped my camera. It did manage to work for the rest of this tour but then it died.  I guess I will be getting a new one when we get home.  

​After lunch we enjoyed the sun deck while viewing all the castles along that stretch of the Rhine River. I began to learn to use Mom’s camera.  During this time, Maarten gave a running commentary of what we were seeing and additional tidbits of information. Here is some of what we learned about the castles and the region.

1. All the castles along the Rhine were built about the 12th to 14th centuries.
2. All the castles were destroyed by Louie 14th who was nicknamed the Sun King.  Louie 14th was so sure that he would be chosen to be the archbishop.  In a fit of anger at not being chosen, he ordered all the castles in the area destroyed. 
3. He ordered all the castles destroyed in the area, not just along the Rhine River. 
4. Last year the Rhine River was so low that no ships could make it through the bottle neck just short of Kaub.  The cruise lines had to transport travelers in buses.
5. From just past Koblenz, there are no bridges until Mainz.  The only way across the Rhine is in small ferry boats at designated places.  This is because this area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which means changes cannot be made to the landscape.
6. The legend of the Lorelei rock.  The Lorelei was a woman with long blond hair that sat on a rock by the Rhine. She sang so beautifully that the sailors couldn’t resist her and crashed their ships on the rocks. The legend says that now when sailors pass by the cliffs they can still hear her song and need to be extra careful.  When we sailed by this section of the river, Nico, the activities director came on deck comically dressed as the Lorelei.  

​ As we ate dinner the ship pulled into Rüdeshiem for a brief stop so after dinner we decided to take a walk around the small town.  The ship had to dock beside another cruise ship. To disembark, we actually had to walk through the other ship’s lobby to get to the gang way.  It was a nice little town.

​Back on board, the ship set sail and we all went down to the Lounge for “Dancing with Guessing.”  Upon entering the lounge, Nico distributed a list of dances to those gathered.  He divided us by cabins and we had to choose which three of the songs listed the audience would actually dance to and in order which would be the most popular.  Nico played the songs and counted the number of dancers on the floor.  Linda C. and I did dance to most of the songs.  Evie and Linda K. joined in on quite a few. No one in our group won and at that point we were ready to call it a night.