Cruising on the Rhine, Engelbert Humperdinck Country

Jim's students enjoying a cruise on the Rhine.

It was a chilly August morning when we boarded the boat in Koblenz for our Rhine River cruise. The sun felt good when it finally gained strength during the second hour of our pleasant trip. A waiter brought us hot tea and croissants- a perfect snack for watching the Rhine River valley go by! 

We passed steep hillsides carpeted in vineyards, and quaint villages with half-timbered houses facing the river. Many of the villages had signs announcing their names. Larger towns like Boppard didn't display their names (as if everyone should know...that's Boppard!...no label necessary). We learned this scenic town's name because our boat stopped to pick up passengers- LOTS of passengers, it turned out. We were glad we had already staked our claim on a table with two chairs at the port side railing on the open top deck. 

Boppard's most famous inhabitant was Engelbert Humperdinck. No, not THAT Engelbert Humperdinck...the one who lived in Boppard in the late 1890s, a German composer famous for his opera Hansel and Gretel. The E. Humperdinck most of us are familiar with was a British singer named Arnold Dorsey, who adopted Humperdinck's name in 1965 ("Please Release Me" was one of his big hits). A street in Boppard is named after the original Engelbert Humperdinck (Humperdinckestrasse), and the proud citizens erected a monument to him. 

Boppard waterfront

We disembarked at Bad Salzig and found our bus waiting for us. Everyone held their breath as the mammoth vehicle climbed a steep switchback road to get us on the highway to head for Heidelberg. We were amazed- somehow our driver negotiated those sharp turns! From the top we had a wonderful view of the Rhine. We'd love to return and cruise a longer stretch of this beautiful, romantic river.