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46 | Viking Explorer Society News making town of Rüdesheim. With a whole evening in port, I wandered along the Drosselgasse, a medieval alley crammed with taverns and shops, many with ornate signs hanging over the cobbles. I found a nook in a wine bar to sample the aromatic local Riesling before admiring the turrets of Brömershof, the musical instrument museum. We stepped back further in time at the next port, Speyer. Nearly 1,000 years old, its Romanesque cathedral, boasts four towers and two domes, and is the burial place of eight German emperors and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I spent my free time inspecting the historic trains, planes and automobiles of the Speyer Technik Museum, among whose exhibits is a jumbo jet and a space shuttle. That evening the German theme continued on board, with lederhosen-clad folk musicians wandering among the tables in the restaurant with their accordions as we feasted on bratwurst. As my table guests and I discussed the days ahead, none of us really knew what to expect from our next destination, which turned out to be the best surprise of the entire journey. Strasbourg boasts one of the most gorgeously picturesque old quarters in Europe. Postcard-perfect half-timbered buildings lean over dainty canals in Petite- France and everywhere you look there are colourful flowers in bloom, bursting from window boxes and planters hung from waterside rails. Our guide pointed out the Ponts Couverts, a set of three bridges that link four distinctive towers completed in 1250. Until the 18th century the bridges, which once formed part of the city walls, had wooden roofs to protect those defending the city from invaders. I chose a suitable spot on one of the colourful streets to drink in the scene with a slice of tarte flambée, the local version of pizza. This visual feast would have been memorable enough without my visit to the Gothic cathedral. Its intricately-carved façade blocked out the sky as I approached through Strasbourg boasts one of the most gorgeously picturesque old quarters in Europe Top to bottom: Black Forest Germany; Strasbourg Cathedral It is a storybook example of the 40 or so castles on the steep hillsides along the lovely Rhine Gorge. They range from the fairytale to the formidable, from different periods and in various stages of preservation or decay. After we had left Koblenz, I sat out on the Sun Deck of my Viking Longship to spy on them one by one, including 11th-century Marksburg Castle, the only one never to be captured, and the wonderful Pfalzgrafenstein, like an anchored ship in the middle of the river. Not wanting to miss a thing, I took lunch on the al fresco Aquavit Terrace over the ship's bow. If leaving the beautiful gorge behind left my spirits a little dampened, they quickly perked up again when we arrived in the wine-