Rüdesheim, Germany

Unique experiences help us remember each stop on a vacation, which may not be as easy as it sounds when traveling through a region steeped in history and vineyards like the Rhine Valley.  Not that you'd have a bad time just wandering around, sipping wines and stopping into Cathedrals, but it's nice having a variety of experiences.

Our included excursion in Rüdesheim brought us to Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum, a lighthearted choice that I have little doubt would not have tempted Julie and I to purchase admission on our own. 

We would have walked up to the timbered 16th century nobleman's house, probably taken a picture of Siegfried's beautifully preserved antique car and been on our way.

Most likely, traveling on our own we would have skipped Rüdesheim altogether, labeling it a tourist town selling kitsch, but Rüdesheim certainly has its charm, and Siegfried's hundreds of carefully restored music boxes definitely is different.

These music cabinets were forerunners of computers, using sheets of paper or metal with punched holes to direct musical instruments to play songs.

While we now are evolving from typewriter-like keyboards to on-screen typing pads and voice entry for our personal computers, I remember working with punched cards that would be fed into the room-sized computer at night to 86 non-used stock in my Air Force inventory management job. Similarly, these holes tell the music boxes to play a note at the appropriate time to create a tune.

As a special message for my kids, watch for the music box that I used for the thumb nail in the video and turn up the volume; you may think about pizza or more likely the Galleria.

After the museum tour, we were on our own to return to the ship on the bus, browse the tourist town or take the cable cars up the hillside to enjoy panoramic views of the vineyards around the town. 

We opted for the cable cars, or what my family called "buckets" when we rode similar sky gondolas at Disneyland or the San Diego Zoo.  For me, cable cars are what you ride in San Francisco.  In any case, we chose to ride the cable car up and walk down, although riding roundtrip costs about the same.

As we rode up, we saw another couple hiking up the hill, but I definitely recommend riding in the sky at least one direction, and walking down is definitely the easiest choice.  The vineyards during Golden October were gorgeous, and as a unique experience, it made this a memorable stop.

The views which we found so enthralling inspired Romantic Era intellectual giants like Beethoven and Goethe.  The ticket booth offered splits of local wine with two goblets for the modest price of 6 Euro, which could add to the romance of the time at the summit, but once again it was too early in the day for us.  It would have been worth buying as a souvenir, had we known we would check our bags coming home rather than being subject to the 3.4 ounce liquid for carry-ons at the airport.  I wonder how many tourist dollars that rule costs?

At the summit, we took in the views and visited the Neiderwald Monument, built between 1877 and 1883 to symbolize the German re-unification in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War. 

Hiking down hill through vineyards was as pleasant as it sounds.  On our way to the ship, we passed a cafe where our River Queen best friends Janet and Bruce were enjoying the local specialty, Rüdesheimer Kaffees, with Margaret and Peter from Australia.  The drink made by flaming sugar and Asbach Uralt brandy in a cup at your table, and then adding coffee and huge dollops of fresh whipped cream, is as much show as drink, but Julie and I decided to skip that attraction.

An afternoon of cruising offered a relaxing break that brought beautiful views to our lounge chairs on the sun deck.  We had been on the go during daylight hours until this, and we found it perfect timing for a welcome break.  Eventually, the waitstaff circulated with trays of complimentary Rüdesheimer Kaffees.  They didn't come with the show, and Bruce said they weren't as good as the ones they had in town, but the sweet, steaming coffee tasted great to me on the brisk afternoon.