Christmas Day! And certainly a White Christmas when we opened the curtains shut the door and watched the world go by. I wonder if we will tire of the sight of the white leafed trees, the houses with their white cushioned roofs.
We spent the morning sailing through the Rhine Gorge, past the Lorelei Rock and innumerable fantastic castles. Given the Lorelei was a golden haired maiden, I found it amusing that the song was sung by a deep bass voice man. I said to Hugh, who is gay, that I thought it a little butch! He agreed:-)
It is amazing how the pictures turn out, especially those taken in the Gorge. They look for all the world like black and white photos unless there is a painted house in view. Some of these pics are, I think, pretty darned good.
We had a good lunch and got into Rudesheim at about 1.30. 
The plan was to go aboard a small steam engine to the local Music Museum, but it was so cold and icy that the engine wasn't running, so we walked. It was seriously cold, especially with a sharp wind coming in off the river, but well worth the walk. The museum was full of old musical boxes and large musical devices that imitated orchestras. Some went back to 1885 while others were made in the early part of the last century. Fascinating and presented by a young lass who clearly loved her job and bubbled over with enthusiasm.
The plan was to go aboard a small steam engine to the local Music Museum, but it was so cold and icy that the engine wasn't running, so we walked. It was seriously cold, especially with a sharp wind coming in off the river, but well worth the walk. The museum was full of old musical boxes and large musical devices that imitated orchestras. Some went back to 1885 while others were made in the early part of the last century. Fascinating and presented by a young lass who clearly loved her job and bubbled over with enthusiasm.
The museum was in an old house with ancient ceiling paintings. 
Wonderful. As we walked back through the snowy alleys we came across a clock striking the hour and playing Oh Tamarack - lovely.
Wonderful. As we walked back through the snowy alleys we came across a clock striking the hour and playing Oh Tamarack - lovely.
Some of the shops were open, despite it being Xmas Day and we were lucky enough to find a shop that had some polo shirts in stock and XXL at that. I needed them because I only brogue one short sleeved shirt, forgetting how warm the interiors are in winter. There were some interesting shops, I must say and we were surprised at how many tourists there were. The place wasn't crowded, but there were a lot more people around than we would have thought. What it must be like in summer doesn't bear thinking about. One of the shops had the weirdest assortment of goods we have ever seen, including chain mail, suits of armour and swords. The shields were €329 each. Lord alone knows what the armour would have cost. There were also guns and knives mixed with soft toy animals, T-shirts, booze, lollies - you name it, it was there!
We froze our way back to the ship and had a pleasant evening just chatting with various parties. We tried a couple of cocktails on the pretext that we needed warming up. Maybe we'll have a few more of those as time goes by. Rab had a Cosmopolitan (as seen in Sex and the City) and I had an Amaretto Sour. Good stuff indeed.
And so to bed after a lovely White Xmas. There are a lot of coughs and colds going around so we are hoping to avoid those. So far so good.
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