Miltenberg Tuesday May 10, 2011

We are sailing toward Miltenberg today. Still on the Mainz River, I guess we won't hit the Rhine until tomorrow or the next day. There is so much beautiful scenery that it's hard to resist taking a million pictures. We sailed past castle ruins and quaint little villages, and a couple of campgrounds. Those made me think of Snowflower because the campers had their trailers, screen tents and all their camping equipment set up like they planned on being there awhile. Anne, our cruise director, said they purchase the site and rent them out when they aren't using them.

We are scheduled to dock in Miltenberg at 2 pm and are apparently ahead of schedule so the captain pulled over and stopped the boat for an hour since we can't get into our docking spot til 1:30 at the earliest.

Grey Egyptian Goose??

Tonight is the Epicurean adventure! They are bringing a glass blower on board to give us a demonstration. Then at dinner there will be "wine pairings" with each course. this should be interesting!

This morning I was finally able to connect to the internet for a few minutes and get some emails sent. I haven't been able to access Facebook or AOL but luckily I have a yahoo account and was able to let family know what is going on.

It's now Wednesday morning  and we are headed to Rudesheim. Although I enjoyed Miltenberg, it was not my favorite of the towns we've visited so far. I returned to the ship in time for the glass blowing demonstration, which I surprisingly enjoyed. Apparently Miltenberg is well known for its glass blowers and this gentleman was very entertaining. He told us there were seven generations of glass blowers in his family, and how they escaped from Eastern Germany right after the War when he was a child. His father had put tape over his mouth and told him it was a game to keep him from talking and getting discovered. They settled in Miltenberg and have been there since. He also said he worked on the beautiful blown glasswork at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and went to the West Coast to teach glass blowing at a school in Oregon.

He invited a passenger to come up and join him for his demonstration. He said before you can blow glass, you have to have a shot of Jaegermaister Schnapps. He had these great shot glasses that can double for napkin rings; you stick your finger thru the hole to hold the glass. So they each had a shot and then he proceeded to heat up the glass, and let the passenger blow it.

  

Jaeger shots!

the finished product

He made a beautiful glass ornament right there before our eyes.

I later had dinner with this guy and his group and it turned out they are from San Jose, California! The couple with them were from Sonoma County, and they own a winery up there, so we talked alot about wine last night! Dinner was our Epicurean Adventure and the Restaurant Manager said he had tasted 20 white wines, 20 red wines and 10 dessert wines trying to pick out the wines to go with dinner! They were all very good. I actually had lamb for dinner and it was quite good.

After dinner they brought onboard a "zither" player to entertain us. A zither is similar to a harp but they lay it down and play it. He was very good! By the time he finished, we were already sailing, so he had to literally jump off the boat! He waited right outside the door in the lobby until we came to a lock and when we got to the same level as the wall of the lock, he and two of the sailors took all his equipment and he just stepped off the deck and onto the sidewalk.

We passed another Uniworld ship
the River Princess

A glimpse of Frankfurt

I woke up this morning in Frankfurt. This was the largest city we've seen so far. It was interesting to see all the old churches mixed in with the fancy architecture of current times.

We are now sailing until about 1:30 when we should dock in Rudesheim. They will take us on a gondola up to the top of a hill to see a monument and then into town for more sightseeing and shopping. I signed up for a special optional evening out at a local restaurant where we're supposed to have local foods and entertainment. I'm looking forward to it!