Off to Nuremburg this morning at 8.30am with Martha our guide for a bus and walking tour. As we drove into Nuremberg we saw the old fortifications, city walls and towers. We drove past the Palace of Justice where in 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg Trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as...

Very bumpy night going through lots of locks. Cruising towards Bamberg which is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by WW11 bombings because of a nearby artillery factory that prevented planes from getting near the city. Bamberg is home to nearly 7000 foreign nationals. Bamberg prides itself with being on seven hills each one with a church on top, as it symbolises similarity to Rome. The hills are Cathedral Hill, Michaelsberg, Kaulberg/Ober...

Cruised all night, a few bumpy dockings and Pete was sick through the night. We arrived in Wurzburg at around 7am. It is the capital of Lower Franconia and is one of the loveliest baroque cities in the country and became famous as the centre of Franconian wine production. Besides those many tourists heading for the Romantic Road from here, 25.000 students enjoy the lively atmosphere of that town, which is beautifully embedded in the valley of the Main River,...

Up early and getting ready for a glass blowing demonstration with Mr Hans Ittig. He was talented but spent too much time trying to sell his wares than demonstrating. And of course he had a shop in Wertheim. We lost a lot of time overnight getting held up in the locks so the walking tour of Miltenberg was cancelled. We were all very disappointed especially our guides who waved us on as we cruised past them on the waterfront. Miltenberg (population 9,500) lie...

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 ...