Wertheim was a charming town where the Main (pronounced mine) river meets to Rhine. It is in the state of Franconia.  Franconians are known for not being the most positive people.  If they visit you and have a nice time their comment might be, “It wasn’t as dreadful as I thought it would be.”

 This was the walkway from the ship to the main part  Wertheim.

The Rhine divides Franconia from Bavaria the state that has quite a snobby reputation..BMW, Mercedes etc. Less known than Pisa there is also a leaning tower here, The Pointed Tower.  Originally it was built as a lookout.  If danger was spotted they....played music!  Its was once a prison for “Drunkards and Shrews”.  This tower leans because of 800 years of flooding along the river.  Since the town is at the intersection of two rivers it floods quite frequently.   As you walk along the shops and houses you will notice flood lines with dates recording the floods.  Shops are on the first floor  and residences are ont he upper floors so living quarters will not be flooded.

Notice the tiny window in the middle?  That was so the man could keep up wtih what his neighbors were doing.

Jim standing by our ship the Viking Freya

Frankfurt to Nuremburg....2013

For two years I have been blocked  out of my blog...... then today it pops up and encourages me to post....go figure.  The timing however is great.  We just returned from a trip to Germany.

We slid into Frankfurt late in the afternoon...well, not that late, but considering it gets dark by 4 PM late is realtive.   The Freya was docked by the old medieval dowtown.  The Christmas Market was still at full tilt so we walked down the cobblestone walk by the river to the old part of town.  I have to say  I was not all that impressed. Perhaps because it was a small market, but it reminded me of the county fair with varieties of German food everywhere I looked.  Most impressive was the old carousel, blinking and playing its typical music.  There were as many adults riding it as children.

Jim and I were amused that Frankfurt is billed as a “bustling city of commerce, full of vertiginous sky scrapers, slick city bankers and vast international trade fairs.”  We did not see a building over 20 stories and only about 4 of those.  It is however the birthplace of Anne Frank..certainly noteable.