Warning: Castle Overload Ahead

                        The next day (after the Brawl at the Brauhaus) the Captain cast off the lines and headed north/west/down river to our next destination, that being a 40-mile stretch of the Middle Rhine that has about a billion castles sitting on the hillsides above the river. We will see 28 of them. The morning was rather leisurely before we shoved off, breakfast was paced nicely as the passengers awaited the trip down river and the Castles. About 37 seconds after we shoved off, Uma our Program Director and Narrator for this event announced, “On your left you can see our first Castle of the day, a small 13^th century model, the Klopp Castle features….”

                        Coffee spewed out of more than one person’s mouth as everyone ran to get up on deck as one and all thought that the Event started just a little bit later.

                        Have you seen that video on Instagram or Face Book where the ducks are coming outside their hutch and it had snowed and was cold? They march out, look around, shake their heads, and proceed to march back inside saying like “Not today!”

                        Well, that’s what it was like when the passengers started out to go up on deck. Little did they know that the temps had dropped overnight, the clouds had come in overhead, and the winds were blowing directly out of the North, (straight down the river) at about 15 mph. Couple that with our 10 mph forward speed and you’ve got a “Feels Like” wind of 25 mph. Now couple that with the drop in temp and we’ve got a wind chill situation not usually felt in the beginning of July.

But thars Castles to be seen!

                        A few hardy souls braved the climactic situation as they had come somewhat prepared with at least a sweatshirt. I did marvel at Vikings ability to schedule a Wind Event and Temp Turndown simultaneously with the NEED to be outside and up on deck. This ability to ply their Marketing Acumen into sales of windbreakers, sweaters, and foul weather gear should be one for the textbooks. I myself had been looking for an excuse to get this nifty Helly Hansen Wind/Waterproof Red Jacket ever since we boarded. I zoomed right down to the “Gotcha!” Shop and came back up on deck all toasty-like!

Luckily there were four kilometers between the first and next castles so I was able to get back upstairs pronto so that I would not miss anything!

                        So, here they are, in the Order of Their Appearance, complete with names and any descriptives needed. I hope that you enjoy your Rhine River Castles as much as we did!

Just a Note…. I have included several photos of the same Castle when the different angles/distances made a difference when looking at them, mostly for area context and now that I’ve finished loading all of the photos it seems like you’ll be seeing the full billion of them!