Am Rhein

And not just at the Rhine--across it as well.
It rained over night and the skies were cloudy.  I appreciated the cool weather as I set out.  This was a long trip, and I expected it to be an expensive one, but if you are in Frankfurt then reaching Rudesheim is cheap, and you don't have to change trains!  It poured on the journey south, but by the time we reached Rudesheim the rain had stopped.
Let us be frank--as opposed to frankfurted.  Rudesheim is a tourist trap, but on the other hand there is a Reason Why some places are popular with us tourists.  I suggest relaxing and enjoying.  So there are no historical or artistic sights here, but there is plenty of cheesy tourist fun.  Some People Actually Revel in Such Things.  Possibly you know or at least read someone like that.
The town essentially stretches along the Rhine bank although a road and the railway separate the town from the river bank.  One feature I cannot praise highly enough is the well sign posted and FREE toilets.  They are also well maintained free toilets.
Another thing I must note.  Back in the 1960s this beautiful river was known as "the Colon of Europe." Starting in the Industrial Revolution and continuing through two World Wars and beyond, disgusting crud was dumped into the water.  And then people realized this was a horrible mistake and began to fix it. The Rhine lives again--with trees seemingly growing out of the river from submerged islands and an abundance of waterfowl and even swans not to mention the fish that have returned.  So given even the barest chance Nature will heal itself.  The River is very busy as I saw, but I also believed it was a living system.
The first thing I did was catch the passenger ferry to Bingen.  In retrospect this was a mistake although not a bad one.  I thought the ferry would just zip across the river.  Well. No.  The heart of Bingen is down stream (or up stream) a bit, and the trip takes a while although it it very scenic.  Also the ferries do not run more frequently than once an hour, and my trip to Bingen was also impaired by a bunch of us being trapped by a closed railroad crossing for about fifteen minutes because of four trains in a row.  Bingen--although the adopted home of St. Hildegarde (and you really should look her up because she was a fantastic burst of light in the Early Middle Ages) is not a tourist trap.  It's nice to walk around the pedestrianized city center, but it's a pretty normal German town.  Rudesheim emphatically is not.
What I should have done--given my limited time--was head inland from Rudesheim to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard run by an apparently extraordinarily hospitable community of nuns who practice a lot of traditional crafts.  Next time.
What I did instead when I returned to Rudesheim was seek out the Seilbahn.  How do I describe this?
It resembles a Disneyland ride, and they are fairly common in some parts of Europe.  One sits in a car that hangs from a wire and is drawn up or down said wire.  If you are in Rudesheim, do not fail to do this.  For one thing it's just plain fun.  For another swooping over the vineyards and getting--words fail me but spectacular will have to do--views over the Rhine and its hills are simply wonderful.
I got a one way ticket up to the top because I intended to walk down through the vineyards.  I have to say that the views going down are just as marvelous as going up, and that it is also fairly easy.
But alas my time was--as always--all too short. I went back to the train station.  One interesting feature is that the station master only opens the door to the platforms at certain times.  The sky turned to slate gray and it poured.  But by the time I got back to Frankfurt bits of blue sky appeared.
Dinner is noodles with mustard--and I find these extremely yummy washed down with plenty of dry or as we Germans say Trocken Riesling.