20240824 Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 23/27 - Wertheim, Germany - farewell Bavaria, hello Baden-Württemberg

Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 23/27 - Wertheim, Germany

Last night, we departed the German state of Bavaria and moved into Baden-Württemberg, stopping for the morning in Wertheim.

I mentioned yesterday's water problems and that the issue was resolved. Well, that's what we thought. Shortly after sailing last evening, the water stopped flowing once again and remained out until we docked and hooked up to the dock water.

Viking had their office working out a solution and brought in an outside technician this morning. They assured us that we wouldn't sail today unless it was 100% fixed. That's a good thing as we won't hit another port for 24 hours.

We were in Wertheim for just four short hours today - just enough time for a quick tour. Rather than use buses to get us back and forth to the city center, today, we had trains.

The ride was quick, perhaps five minutes, and we were in the center of Wertheim.

Almost a full moon

Spitzer Turm or Pointed Tower is a leaning tower in Wertheim

You can see the base is leaning to the left and then the top was added straight up

The tower was used by the Nazis to torture prisoners - people were lowered into it for days or weeks without any comforts like a toilet or bed

It leaned an inch over ten years but has since been stabilized with titanium rods so it won't lean any farther

A main courtyard in town

Wertheim sits at the confluence of the Tauber and Main rivers. It floods regularly - severely every few years.

You can see marks noting higher flood levels and the year - Arlona is marking the 1970 flood - nobody lives on the first floor of any building 

This guy, The Optimist, was created during COVID to remind people that things will get better - we saw lots of these all over town

The market area

Classic half-timber construction

Taxes were assessed on the square footage of the lowest level so people built small first floors and then built larger floors as they built up

Like in other towns, the six-pointed star is the symbol of a beer brewer, not a Jewish household

You can see that the houses are closer together up high than they are down low as the upper floors kept getting wider

Each home got wider on each subsequent floor

Stone mason marks were added to new homes once their construction bills had been paid

More timber construction

An unusually long-legged dachshund

Another stone mason mark on a baker's home - he added a pretzel to the design for the baker - you can also see flood markers to the right

Homes along the Tauber River

Back in the day, the stairs were used by women to take their laundry down to the river to wash

More flood markings - that top marking from 1784 is more than 8.5 meters high

Part of the original city walls

Wertheim Castle - it was destroyed in a gunpowder explosion accident

City Hall

A 300-year-old linden tree in the City Hall courtyard

Rathaus - City Hall entrance

A rose garden next to City Hall

City Hall

Another view of Wertheim Castle

The front entrance to the City Hall courtyard

Collegiate Church

Another neat sundial - again an hour off as we are in daylight saving time

The Angel Fountain

Collegiate Church

Kilian Chapel

Kilian Chapel

In the chapel, we were given the history of the Jewish people here in Wertheim - they now teach young Germans that you don't inherit the guilt but you do inherit the responsibility, speaking about recognizing Germany's dark history with the Jews - many "St. Mary's" cathedrals in Germany were built upon the sites of destroyed synagogues

In 1923, Germany suffered from hyperinflation - these bills were essentially worthless

This hyperinflation was what gave Hitler the opportunity to convince the population that he had the answer to the economic problems and to take power.

If you look closely at this photo and the one below, you'll see that we walked right down this street

In our free time, we walked through a glass shop and museum.

One of the big jobs for glassblowers is to make glass eyes for patients who have lost an eye

The Collegiate Chapel had been closed for an organ concert - it was open again so Arona made a beeline for a look inside

Check out that organ!

We were scheduled to sail by 1:00 PM so it was time to head back to the ship. Rather than taking the train again, we decided to hoof it for the ten-minute walk.

Another view of the castle

Approaching the Lofn

To be able to navigate under the low bridges, you can see that everything on the sun deck has been lowered flat - the wheelhouse can also be lowered to fit under a bridge

We sailed on time with a presumably repaired water system on the ship. As we sailed up the Main, we took in the sights.

We saw this very interesting steeple as we entered a lock

We were there right at 2:00 and a terrific bell ringing sounded for several minutes

Parish Church of St. Annunciation in Faulbach 

As we exited the Faulbach lock, you could see the traffic lights that control the traffic as it arrives at a lock

They say that river cruising gives you the "ABCs".

Another Bloody Church

Another Bloody Castle

They are still fun to see, but wow - there sure are a lot of both.

Speaking of a lot - there are a lot of locks here! We went through several tonight - I lost count - perhaps six or seven, since getting back on the ship this afternoon. At one of them, cormorants were all over.

They added spikes to the lights to keep the birds off

No problem - we'll just land on the wires - easy peasy

Tonight's dinner was a themed event featuring a taste of Germany and Austria. The crew got into the mood.

General Manager, Daniel

Program Director, Ivan

Our favorite waitress, Charlene got into the act too

The food was both wonderful and plentiful.

Pork knuckle, sausages, a fried chicken main course

Lovely breads

Two types of cabbage, pretzel dumplings

Wonderful pretzels

Various starters and veggies

There were super desserts as well. Suffice it to say that nobody left hungry and many left quite the opposite. It was one of the better meals of the cruise.

Given that we both were stuffed, we decided to call it an evening and head to the room. We will be cruising until around 2:30 PM tomorrow so tomorrow morning will feature some scenic cruising as we transition to the Rhine. So far, we still have working water, and we're hopeful that the dry period is safely behind us.

Tomorrow morning, they will reopen the sun desk so we're through all the low bridges as well. Tomorrow, Koblenz, Monday, Cologne, and Tuesday, Kinderdijk The Netherlands before ending in Amsterdam on Wednesday and starting the long flights home.