The highlight

Both the above pictures were taken in Rudesheim on our recent holiday. 

I have to confess, in my opinion, Rudesheim was the highlight of our trip. It's a place full of colour, as you can see. It epitomises, to me, the chocolate box image of a German Rhineland town - timber- framed buildings, flower boxes, colour, bustle.

In many ways it's a bit like a Grasmere-on-the-Rhine. The shops are very much aimed at the tourist. But then these villages/towns are dependent on the tourist for their economic survival. On the whole they were not the tatty tourist shops so often found in so many resorts, especially for some reason, in seaside resorts.

Christmas is obviously a big thing in Germany. Many of the shops were already selling Christmas decorations/ novelties. Lights were already going up on roofs as you can see if you enlarge the second picture above. Another month & things will be in full swing there. But then, I suppose, I shouldn't be that surprised, as the German Christmas markets are supposed to be quite fabulous. We have never visited one so we can only go by repute.

The other thing about Rudesheim was the music. The town house Siegreid's Mechanical Musikkabinett, one of the greatest collections of robotic or automation, self-playing musical instruments from the 18th-20th centuries. We didn't go, but all those who went on the organised trip were very impressed.
 

Siegfried's Mechanical Musikkabinett

 Music also pervaded the streets of Rudesheim. In the first square we came to, an accordionist was playing. Further along we bumped into a Dutch oompah band. These characters were going from bar to bar, stopping for a drink at every one. There are a lot of bars in Rudesheim, so when we met up with them again nearly an hour later, they were getting more & more erratic as they continued on their way. Even so, the sound of music, no matter how erratically played brought a sense of cheer & light-heartedness to the town & its visitors.

On the outskirts of the town we found the wine museum, housed in an impressive-looking 13th century medieval castle. Again we didn't enter in.

The other thing that struck us was the food. Food on our ship was poor. At Rudesheim we were seriously tempted to abandon ship, as wonderful smells assaulted our noses setting our tums rumbling. The menus sounded basic but the smells suggested something good. We decided to stick with the ship's food. That evening the menu had sounded better, and indeed it was one of the best meals on the whole trip. Many others gave way to temptation. It was noticeable that the ship's restaurant was half-empty and we couldn't entirely blame them.

As you can tell we loved this place. We would happily return again & maybe venture into one of the museums, try some of the food, or venture up in the cable car to the top of the vine-laden hills for what I suspect would be a superb view across & along the Rhine. Or maybe we would visit Bingen, famed for the musical nun Hildegaard, on the other side of the river.