Rastatt

We had a late lunch - with another appearance by the white swans.

Dinner tonight is at 5:30 p.m., rather than at 7:00 p.m. because we are all attending a classical music concert known as a “Scenic Enrichment Event”.

We traveled about an hour to Rastatt with Rudolf as our guide. His daughter was supposed to be the guide, but she had a date, and when she batted her eyes at him, her father caved and dusted off his English, just for us.

Schloss Rastatt, also known as Residenzschloss Rastatt, is a Baroque schloss in Rastatt, Germany. The palace and the garden were built between 1700 and 1707 by the Italian architect Domenico Egidio Rossi for Margrave Louis William of Baden-Baden.

The place is a riot of Baroque architecture cornucopia - over the top hardly describes it - gold and mirrors and tapestries and stucco work - it goes on and on. We were treated to wine and nibbles and a tour of several of the rooms of the palace before the concert. The concert was done by a tenor and a mezzo-soprano, accompanied by a pianist. They sang traditional opera pieces and some more modern selections. It was delightful. A bit of culture during our two-week long floating food, culture and history lesson.Read more