We arrived on a foggy morning in Miltenberg. As the fog lifted, we discovered hills we didn't suspect.
Rather than taking the guided walking tour of Miltenberg, we decided to simply walk through it on our own. It was described by our cruise director as having one main street with a couple parallel streets, so it was pretty easy to tackle.
Miltenberg is filled with a jumble of timbered houses and shops, some dating back hundreds of years. And, of course, lots of cobblestones.
The town has lots of buildings made of the stone seen in the local cliffs, a distinctive pink granite. The bridge is also made of it. This bridge was built in the 1950's, replacing the one destroyed in WWII.
The forecast was for a cool day, but clear and sunny, so the crew had planned a special treat: a grill lunch on the sun deck. There was limited availability, but Chuck had snagged us seats the night before. Though wurst, minute steaks, and salmon were available, cheeseburgers were clearly the most popular items. We also had salads and corn on the cob, finishing off with ice cream sundaes. A little unexpected but fun. It was nice sitting outside and watching the river activity, including one of our sister ships passing by--the Avalon Visionary--which set off a flurry of greeting horns and waving crew and passengers on both ships.
We set sail soon after lunch. Because of some upcoming low bridges, the crew had to clear the sun deck. "Clear the sun deck" means take it down to the floor--no canopies, no chairs and tables, no railings.
No sooner had we sailed than we encountered our next lock.
And this one included a dam--low-head hydro, Jerry told me--and a substation.
It was a time of gentle cruising down the Main. We sat in the bow and watched the afternoon go by. Lots of locks, of course (9 before our next docking Tuesday morning). Lots of fishermen along the banks. Lots of caravans (trailers) in camping clubs, which we've seen by the dozens, especially in this area along the gentle Main. Lots of ducks, herons, and swans.
In late afternoon, we had a zither concert. This may sound odd, but it was both entertaining and very interesting. The zither is an unusual and very complicated instrument. Our zither master took the time to explain how the instrument is played and had a camera on his hands so we could see what movements resulted in the sounds we were hearing.
But, wait, there was even more entertainment on tap. After dinner we got to see the Crew Talent Show. And there was an array of talents displayed. We had a group perform Gangnam style, which was energetic and fun to watch. One of our waiters turned out to be a very good break dancer. We had singers and guitar players, including our captain. And we finished with an excellent tango. Who knew our receptionist and maitre d' were so talented? As a rousing finale, they played "YMCA" and had both crew and passengers dancing and singing. A loud, noisy, fun evening.
Our captain:
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