Speyer & Rüdesheim, Germany

30 March, 2025

Cruising the Rhine

A slow Sunday with scenic cruising in the morning was quite enjoyable. We were able to linger over breakfast, discuss the news of the day, and work on some crosswords.

We made a stop in Worms for an excursion to disembark for a tour of Speyer (they would meet us later in the day when we arrived in Rüdesheim) but that didn't interrupt our relaxation. Having a "sea morning" on the river was really quite amazing after a couple of days of activity. We were scheduled to arrive in Rüdesheim around 4:00 pm and just had plans to walk around and explore the town, so there was no urgency at all to the day. We did a bit of advanced planning and obtained tickets for the Kiefer exhibit at the Van Gough Museum and the Rijksmuseum for our upcoming visit to Amsterdam.

There was a presentation in the lounge on the making of  Rüdesheimer Kaffee (strong coffee mixed with bandy and sugar, topped with whipped cream) which was a big hit. The recipe is definitely being added to my personal book of libation recipes.

When we arrived at Rüdesheim we went for a stroll around town just to see what was about. Unfortunately on Sunday most everything was closed. We did stumble across an antiques shop where the ladies were able to procure not only Rüdesheimer Kaffee cups, they also found spoons. The shop-keeper was severely lacking in bags, so he wrapped them in newspaper and placed them in a well-worn fabric bag. Miraculously we managed to keep the bag intact long enough to get it back to the boat.

St Jakobus

We discovered a cozy side street, lined with shops and restaurants. In other circumstances this would be the perfect place to eat dinner and linger over glasses of wine well into the evening. Describing it as idyllic falls short of the charm and energy of this village of 10,000 people. There are multiple museums to occupy the large numbers of tourists who visit each year in search of Riesling.

I'm confident that I could keep myself adequately entertained with wine and not have to concern myself with the museums.

The timing of our stop was unfortunate, given everything this area has to offer (especially for those of us who are fans of good wine.) Perhaps we can return one day under different circumstances and explore the area more thoroughly, along with other places we discovered on the trip.

We returned to the boat in time for dinner, procuring a table out on the Aquavit Terrace. In homage to the area we selected a Riesling from the wine list that turned out to be absolutely luscious. The "house wine" for the evening included another Riesling which was also tasty, but the one we selected was a bit sturdier and held up much better against the food. In a display of his good nature our favorite waiter agreed to pose with the bottle. As I understand, Sylva joined the boat with us in Basel. I'm not sure what his background in the service industry is, but his thoughtfulness and attention to detail while maintaining a cool head under pressure will take him as far as he would like to go. He is truly a gem, we would be delighted to encounter him on a future Viking cruise.