Our first stop on the Rhine river cruise was St. Goar. The main attraction there was the Rheinfels castle ruins. Rather than hike up the trail to the castle we decided to take the "Tschu-tschu" tram.
While waiting for the tram, we found no shortage of window shopping.
The world's largest beer stein (left)
and a stuffed squirrel of the type indigenous to Europe and Great Britain.
At the castle visitor's center there was this interesting model (above, left) of "the way it was". One might better say a snapshot of the way it was, since it took 400 years to build it (1250 - 1650). After it was destroyed by Napoleon, the ruins were used as a source of building materials for generations of locals.
One could enjoy a very nice view from the castle (left) as long as no one was hurling one of these catapault balls (right) at you.
If you remember our complaining about the heat in Vienna and Salzburg, you may notice Marty's coat in this photo. It was uncomfortably windy and cold up on the castle grounds.
After the castle tour we went looking for a restaurant for lunch. All those along the riverfront were very crowded, so we expanded our search area. We finally found a nice little Italian place and both had lasagna. It didn't have the wide noodles like we're used to but all the same ingredients. Another familiar dish that was made differently here was "goulash". As served here it was a medium-sized hunk of roast beef in a soup dish with a thin, spicy gravy.
We finished lunch in time to catch the 14:20 boat back up the river landing at Oberwesel (left).
This poster (right) told us we were in the right place at the right time.
The poster notwithstanding, from the riverfront we saw no evidence whatsoever of any festivities. But with no better plan we started walking toward the town center. Much to our relief, as we got closer we could hear music and then we could see some people and finally this crowd.
This style of wine glass (left) was popular for imbibing at restaurants as well as for decorating festivals.
Don likes mechanized music as well as clocks and sundials. He enjoyed this automatic calliope (right) playing appropriate wine festival music with the automatons keeping time.
Time for the parade! Obviously of interest to young and old.
Unfortunately all our photo record of it is in video form. But take our word for it, it was quite entertaining. It had a costumed Bacchus, many pretty wine maidens, bands, and costumed children, too.