Marksburg Castle, the Middle Rhine, and Rudesheim Coffee

Thurs., Nov. 5 (Day 4) - Today we disembarked at the town of Braubach, Germany, boarded busses, and traveled a short distance up a hill to visit Marksburg Castle. The castle was impressive, but perhaps more impressive was the view of the surrounding area from the castle. The countryside of Germany is really beautiful. After our tour of the castle, we returned to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon, the weather was so gorgeous and warm enough, that for the first time this trip, we were able to go up to the sundeck. It was awesome, sitting out in the sun and watching the German countryside go by. By this time, we were now on the Middle Rhine. Along this portion of the river, there are many quaint little German towns, lots of vineyards, and some castles up on the hills. It was absolutely beautiful. Our program director, Dawn, narrated as we sailed through the Middle Rhine, giving us a history of the area and other commentary. One of the castles we passed was called Castle Mouse. So now I guess we have City Mouse, Country Mouse, and now Castle Mouse. After our lovely tour of the Middle Rhine from the sundeck, we retreated inside to watch a German coffeemaking demonstration, where they showed us how to make a local coffee called Rudesheim. The ingredients for this coffee are coffee of course, brandy, sugar, chocolate, and whipped cream. We watched them make the coffee and then each got a cup to drink. It was delicious. One person described it as coffee that both put you to sleep and woke you up at the same time.