Sep 23 - Wertheim, Germany

Here we are in Wertheim!  A small town with similar buildings and reconstruction as previous places - Regensburg, Passau. A choo - choo train got us from the ship to Wertheim!

We did the ‘gentle’ walking tour and the guide kept a leisurely pace and provided a thorough commentary!  He pointed out many of the same things as other guides had mentioned previously.

Wertheim is constantly plagued by floods, so many of the buildings have watermarks on their doorways.  In this case the watermark is shown by the difference in colour of the wood a little more than halfway up.

In the next two photos, the year that the water reached each mark is recorded on the left side.

Buildings were identified by the initials of the owner, the year, and a coat of arms.

There were many half- timbered buildings - the more wood, the wealthier the owner.

The blue paint is very expensive, and therefore hardly seen in Germany.

This is the smallest house in Wertheim - only 10’ wide at street level.

There was a fairly large Jewish population in Wertheim and to honour them the black bricks outline the beginning of the Jewish area.  

The little blocks are laid in the street to indicate the names of the Jewish families who once lived in that building.

After the tour we had free time to wander the streets and alleyways.

The leaning tower of Wertheim!  

Because it was built on sand, and the area was always flooding, the 

tower began to lean until it was stablized!

As we did in Bamberg, the ship left us in the town and then continued on the river in order to clear several locks.  It then met us in Miltenberg where we observed the embarkation process again, this time on a docking platform.

                                    Viking Rolf arriving to pick us up in Miltenberg

                           Pulling alongside the docking platform

                               The crane lifts the gangplank…

And begins to lower it 

into place for us to embark

This evening we had a special German meal!  The wait staff wore red and white checkered shirts to match the tablecloths and napkins.  They served  beer and wine, soft pretzels, cheeses and cold cuts as appetizers followed by German Wedding Soup. The main course was a sampling of chicken, braised beef, two kinds of sausage, sauerkraut, red cabbage, bread dumplings and warm potato salad! And of course, dessert!!!  A sampling of 4 cakes, pancake and ice cream!!

These two stuffed dames then waddled back to our room and called it a night!

🐷🐷