(pictures finally uploaded!)
After sailing all day yesterday, we arrived on the Rhine and Rudesheim this morning. 
This the beginning of the Middle Rhine and where the Robber Barons of the Middle Ages established castles along the river to extort tolls from river travelers. We walked around town in the morning, took the tram up to the Monument of the Watcher of the Rhine and had lunch at the Rudesheimer Schloss Restaurant. where I participated in tasting schnapps Fred from Frankfurt joined me at the restaurant and we later had a drink of the local brandy and an ice cream before I headed back to the ship. Then we cruised along the river towards Cologne through “castle row”. Along the route we made a surprise stop at Koblenz and took a brief walking tour.
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- Heading into towm
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- The Tower
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- Frontage street
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- Old Winery Grounds
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- Riding the Tram
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- Rudesheim from the Tram
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- The Watcher of the Rhine River
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- St James Church
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- Drinking Schanpps
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- Having a brandy with Fred
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- Fred at the dock
I still have 5 0r 6 pictures of castles between Rudesheim and Cologne which I haven’t posted.
Tomorrow its Cologne.