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We left Koblenz at 7.00am and continued to cruise down the spectacular Rhine Gorge. Ready with cameras, binoculars and maps we viewed some magnificent scenery with medieval fortresses, palaces, castles and chocolate box houses. We cruised past the famous Lorelei Monument and Slate Rock Wall which rises up almost vertically to 132 m above water level. Downstream the river is squeezed into its narrowest and deepest (22m) point, so the Middle Rhine at this point used to be very difficult to navigate and the correct passage is today clearly marked with buoys. Even in the 19th century, reefs and rapids made it extremely dangerous for ships to pass to this point. The legend tells us, that a siren called "Lorelei" bewitched the hearts of the sailors and when they looked up to the rock, their boat crashed and they sank
The hillsides were full of vines and outstanding monuments. We docked at Rudesheim which is renowned for its wine making. Here we caught a choo choo train to the centre of the city to visit Siegfrieds Mechanical Music Museum. This is the first museum collection of automated musical instruments in Germany and holds an impressive collection.
Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum is housed in Brömserhof which was a noble court built in 1542.
Our cheery guide took us around the museum which covers an exhibition space of more than 400 square metres and has one of the largest and most beautiful collections of mechanical music boxes. There are approximately 350 exhibits of mechanical instruments dating from the 18th to the 20th century - from delicate musical boxes to a gigantic piano-orchestrion. The museum also includes tools and machines for manufacturing barrel organs, cardboard music, piano rolls and musical box plates.
This Museum provides an insight into music boxes in the past and its place in society as well as traditional techniques in making the musical boxes and the music rolls. It's interesting to understand how these instruments work and to be able to listen to its fine music.
We strolled through the cobbled streets visiting many souvenir shops.
Back to the boat as we cruise down the Rhine again at 4.00pm for Miltenberg.
After dinner we had a Tricky Trivia Night with Nora in the Panorama Lounge. Our teams name was Ben Doon and Phillip McCavity room 318. (Room 318 was Val and Bob's room). Our team consisted of Garry and Betty, Bob and Pete and I. We scored 12 out of 18. Some of the questions were "What was the Presidents name in 1980? Our answer was Mr President. Correct answer was Barrack Obama". The tie breaker question was "how do you fit 8 horses into seven boxes?" A real fun night. The winning teams scored 16. Pete had a wonderful night as evidenced by our alcohol bill the next morning. Had a bumpy night, we must have gone through quite a few locks.
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