Wertheim

9th August'
Wertheim
This morning as we had breakfast, the boat was still gliding along the Main River, and we had a view of the little towns and villages along the way. We arrived in Wertheim. The 'heim' as part of the town name means a settlement not as big as a city or town. Also I had been told that berg and burg at the end of a name both meant city with a fortress or walled but this is not exactly correct. 'Berg' means set up on a hill and 'burg' means a walled city etc. So back to today.......Wertheim therefore was a small village but a beautiful and very old one. We started off on a walking tour - houses had the dates that they were built on a plaque above the door. Most of these dates were 1560s to 1570s but others were later but that was when they had last been renovated.
Our next thing on the agenda was a choice of about 8 different things. Cycling, bowling (old time German) visiting a monastery, visiting a schnapps factory, a wine tasting (thanks but we have done plenty of that) visiting a farm. learning pottery or going for a hike around the lake. Den and I split up for the morning. I went to the pottery and he went for the hike. So off we went in 3 buses off in different directions dropping people in different locations and villages. Den had a lovely walk with many great views of the castle relics on the hills, but also saw squirrels racing up trees and the stump of a tree that beavers had chewed off. The would-be potters were dropped off in a very old town of Milton. We went to the Pottery Museum, and climbed down to the wine cellar, where our class would be, and then down another low ceiling set of steps down to another old cellar. This cellar contained some pieces of pottery that had been found years ago and dated back to 1200bc - yes definitely BC - they were well preserved bowls and dishes. Our master potter told us that they believed that some of the pieces had been done on some form of wheel. We all had the feeling that in another 3,000 years the little pots we were about to make would not be sitting in a display of fabulous old relics. Our instructor told us some of the rules in Germany regarding selling pottery. You have to train for about 3 years and then do classes to become a master potter (another 3 years) and then you are able to sell your work. You can only use an electric kiln the wood fired are banned. We started by making little pinch pots. The next thing was the wheel. Oh dear...I have finally decided there is absolutley no hope for me ever being any good as a potter. My clay was spinning around coming up into this lovely bowl shape and then disaster struck and I had a piece of modern art instead!!!!! The teacher cut off the top section and so it then became another very little pot. There was quite a display of abstract pottery by the time we finished. Because our master-pieces had not been kiln dried we would not have been able to take them through customs and so there they stayed - in a Museum in Germany. The instructor gave each of us a necklace made from clay onto which she had made the impression from a fossil she had found. We were all very pleased.
So back to the bus, picked up everyone who had been dropped in all sorts of areas around and we met up in Freundenberg. (Yes it was set up on a hill.) Another lovely village. The venue for lunch was a huge 500 year old wine cellar under the big restaurant in town. We were still in Bavaria and so the entertainer was wearing the traditional leather pants etc. We did alot of singing (especially the people who had been to the schnapps) and yodelling (yes -especially the schnapps people. It was great fun. We sang a few Aussie songs and poor Den was grabbed by the head waitress to get up and dance with her. (At the time he thought it would be his only embarassing moment of the day - but more was to come.)
The boat had come up river to meet us and so back on board, and many headed off for a nap - yep you guessed it -the schnapps people all disappeared very quickly!!!
At 3pm there was a glass blowing demonstration. It was really entertaining. He had lots of lovely glass to sell but I had bought a bowl this morning and onme breakable at this point in our travels in enough!!! The next thing was an ice cream party. Walnut ice cream is surpirsingly delicious. Den has been really good choosing the low fat option of everything so I got him an ice cream too.
We spent the rest of the afternoon putting up the blog as the wifi was not too bad (not great but not bad) and then we got talking to another couple and before we knew it was time to eat again. Tonight was a Scandinavian Dinner. I doubt anyone from the area would recognise it as such. But at least the chef had a theme and I didn't have to cook. It was delicious as usual.
Dinner was followed by the 'Crew Concert'. It was really well done and we all had a great laugh. Den's second moment of embarassment came during the show when the 'mind reader' went around amongst the audience and particular tunes would play according to the personality. One very happy lady the music was 'Don't worry be happy' another chap who always gets up at day break they played the sound of a rooster. He came to Den and they played Tom Jones' 'Sex Bomb'. It was so hilarious. Poor Den was the colour of beet root. Now just time for a few dances and off to bed at the end of another very full and happy day.