To be frank, I had never knew what a mighty river it is. We crossed it in Worms but reacquainting ourselves with it this evening, as we crossed from Bingen on the Ferry, in driving rain, I realised that it is more like a long meandering lake then what we, in England, call a river. I thought the Main was big but this is a different order of magnitude. Don't get me wrong, I love the Thames, it is in my genes, but it is a tiny stream compared to the Rhein.
The picture below is of our murky crossing.
You may note that this post is similarly meandering, as it benefits from wine of extraordinary quality and will not benefit from my usual morning editorial skills, as I will post this evening whilst we still have 'net access and I am, well...still drinking.
On that topic, you would not believe the number of vineyards that we have walked through so far! Where does all of the wine go, I wondered? Of course, the answer is very simple – the Germans drink most of it themselves. It also seems that they send us the naff stuff, as this lovely glass of local Riesling, in front of me, will testify. And I don't even like white wine that much – though I could easily change my mind in a place like this.
Anyway, back to the hotel. It is gorgeous. Our room is almost a suite, with real wooden floors, lots of open space that one could play football in and a classy black and white bathroom that is bigger than the main bedroom in my old Spitalfields flat.
Juxtaposed to this classy environment is the restaurant which comes with fully equipped “Umpha Band” and singers, belting out standards from all around the world, with that very special Umpha feel, to a large appreciative crowd. “Roll out the Barrel” is an obvious favourite but “New York, New York” was particularly interesting. Knowing the late and great Joe Strummer's love of world music, I was, after a glass or two (sic) strongly tempted to ask whether they could accompany me on a rendition of the Clash's version of the classic “I Fought The Law and the Law Won”. Doris ushered me towards the door.
There was a touching moment, for an inebriated romantic such as me, when they played Lili Marleen, a song that became popular with both sides during the second world war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Marleen). We have passed a number of, relatively low key and never grandiose, war memorials on our travels. The most recent was just before we crossed the Rhein. All through this country and it's magnificent scenery, I have often tried to imagine what it was like for those that fought and died here. Now seeing the Rhein and recognising its strategic importance (i.e the difficulty of crossing it) it is impossible not to think of the countless people that suffered and died in that awful conflict. Common in tragedy – common in a simple song. More alike than different.
But I guess I was pretty much alone in that emotion and don't think that even Doris noticed my moist eyes, probably mistaking the glassy-eyed look for simple inebriation. And that was I think best, people in the present, looking forward not back.
On the purely factual front, we walked a lot, did not escape the rain that just got heavier and heavier as the day wore on. As planned, we got a bus from the outskirts of Bingen to the ferry to Ruedesheim. Wuerzburg taught me to never want to walk across a big town again and Worms taught me that 34 Kilomteres is too far.
Musical choice? I thought about this all day, often on the theme of rivers or rain but in my current mood it has to be “Lili Marleen” and who else but the incomparable Marlene Dietrich.
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