Friday Sept. 21, 2018 We are now cruising the Main River. After breakfast we watched the ship go through a lock from the lower front deck. Usually you feel a bump when you enter a lock because they are only 12 meters wide and the ship is about 11.5 m wide. This one though was different. First we kind of bumped the side, then there was a loud scraping noises with a few sparks. Yikes! The upper deck of the ship is closed and will be the entire time we are on The Main. They are able to lower the railings on the top deck and the Wheel House (where the captain sits) retracts down to fit under bridges. Going through locks is interesting. It's pretty amazing that we can sail right through different elevations BUT we went through A LOT of locks on this trip (I think there were about 70 in total). They become tedious and noisy when you are trying to sleep. People in balcony suites said they didn't use the balcony much because sitting against a slimy green wall isn't super appealing. Here is the process of going through a lock. Now times this by 70... After we got off the ship we saw the damage. Oops. Apparently scrapes and dings are "normal". The weather wasn't great today and with the upper deck being closed, we didn't do much scenery watching, We are sailing through Baden-Wurttemberg (bordered by France and Switzerland). Many famous Germans have called this area home including Albert Einstein, Karl Friedrich Benz (Mercedes Benz), Sophie Scholl (a political activist who actively opposed the Third Reich during WWII) and tennis player Boris Becker. Later in the morning we had a glass blowing presentation on board. Karl Ittig from Wertheim was entertaining and very interesting. I had no idea that so much glass came from Wertheim - a town of 20,000 people and 1,000 of them are in the glass industry. The region is famous for glass and it is a science and craft passed down through the generations. If you do this cruise in the opposite direction (Budapest to Amsterdam) - you visit Wertheim. We learned about fiber optics and had a demonstration about how they are made. It was fascinating. We arrived in Miltenberg in the afternoon and had a tour of the charming town. It was not bombed in WWII and is considered the pearl of the Main River. It is full of half-timbered, gabled houses. It is an old town dating back to Roman times in 2 AD. We are now in Bavaria and we learned about the rivalry between Bavaria and the rest of Germany. Bavarians are thought to be snobbish and our guide confirmed they are because they make the best cars (BMWs and Audi), best sausage, have the best Oktoberfest and the best football team. Our guide shared some funny stories - including the reason why their Catholic Church is full every Sunday with mostly women. They go to swoon over their priest they have nick named Father What-a-Waste. She also shared the story of their former priest who was charged criminally in 2006 for interrupting a neo nazi political party gathering. They organized a rally in the square of Miltenberg and thousands came to the rally. Because of free speech the rally could not be stopped. Once the leader took to the microphone in the square the priest started ringing the church bells...and he didn’t stop until the group got angry packed up 45 minutes later. The priest was charged with disrupting free speech but the town happily pitched in to pay the €5,000 fine. Here's an article about it Our guide pointed out numbers on the doorways of businesses. Chalking the doors happens on Jan. 6 (3 kings day or epiphany). In Germany, kids go door to door, they sing songs and to collect money for third world countries. Those who donate have the symbols written above the doors with the new year. The 20 and 18 are the year of the donation, The * is for the star of Bethlehem, C+M+B are the initials of the three wise men (Caspar, Malchior and Balthazar). They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.” And the + symbolizes the cross. Chalking the doors is a Christian tradition and doesn't have to involve kids singing and donating money. It can also just be a blessing on the house. We saw an 8 generation butcher shop and Germany’s oldest hotel - the Reisen. People (including princes and nobles) have stayed at The Riesen since the 12th century. You may notice the grey skies. Well, it started to rain - no pour...and I bought an umbrella. Once I purchase an umbrella on a trip, you can bet it will never rain again. A small price to pay to ensure good weather. We took cover in a coffee shop and enjoyed some local treats. We only had about 3 hours in Miltenberg before we had to get back on the bus to meet our ship down the river. At most stops so far we take a bus to see sites while the ship continues sailing. We would have enjoyed more time here. It was a delightful stop.
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Thursday Sept. 20, 2018 Our stop today was in Koblenz but we actually didn't see Koblenz because we took the included tour to the Marksburg Castle. For every port we are in, Viking includes a free tour. You can join in, take an optional tour (that you pay for) or do your own thing. The ship docked near the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers to let us off and would meet us further down the river later in the morning. We were able to check out the massive equestrian statue of Prince William I before heading to the castle. The bus took us to the Marksburg Castle in Braubach. It is the only castle along the Rhine that wasn’t conquered. The four sets of fortification (and locking the toilet door at night) kept the enemies out. It is very impressive. We also learned that each person would drink 3-4 L of wine or beer per day because they didn’t trust water - alcohol was much safer. The views from the castle are spectacular! After the castle tour we wandered in to the cafeteria area and the guy working asked if we wanted to try the schnapps made on site. Sure -why not?! The samples arrived on fire. We also pet his awesome dog Emily (a Newfoundland). Back on the ship we had lunch and spent the rest of the sunny afternoon (+28) on the top deck enjoying the scenic cruising through the Middle Rhine - a UNESCO site. We passed many vineyards (80% white grapes), castles and towns. Peacefully gliding by incredible, fairy tale-like scenery is why you river cruise! We made it safely past the Lorelei - the rocky cliff that can lure sailors to their demise. Whew! Europe had a very hot summer and now autumn so the rivers are very low. In one area we went through today it was 15 cm. The average depth today was 30cm. That’s crazy! The evenings are pretty quiet on a river cruise. Dinner is always at 7 pm and after dinner you can sit in the lounge where there is some live music (singer and guitar player). This evening our program director, Stephen organized trivia which was fun.
Tonight we enter the Main River and start going through 42 locks. Cologne, Germany Wed., Sept. 19, 2018 Cologne (Koln) is an old city - established in 50 AD by the Romans and there is lots to see and do. Kolsch beer, cologne, chocolate and a massive Gothic cathedral. These are some of the things Cologne is known for. We sampled and saw them all! Our tour this morning started at the magnificent cathedral - a UNESCO site. The goal at the time (1248) was to build the largest cathedral in the world. The reason? The prince bishop took the bones of the magi (three wise men) in 1164 from Milan as a war prize and needed to build something spectacular to put them in. The reliquary took 30 years to build but the cathedral took 632 years. It opened in 1880. It wasn’t the biggest but it was the tallest building in the world at the time. Every Jan. 6 (Epiphany or Three Kings Day) they open the coffin so people can look at the bones. The church is full of stunning stain glass. It is thought that the light hitting the stain glass gives our spirits a glimpse in to heaven. Thankfully the cathedral wasn’t bombed in WWII - most of the city centre was flattened. The stain glass had been removed to protect it. Good thinking! The church is under constant restoration and there is a stone mason shop with 80 employees that work on the sandstone and stain glass. We learned about Kolsch beer and later tried some. Kolsch is like champagne or sherry...it is a region specific beverage and can only be made in Cologne. There are 25 brands in Cologne. It is served in small glasses to keep the carbonation fresh that will be refilled (at a cost) unless you put your coaster on top of the glass to indicate you are done. We toured by city hall (Rathaus in German) and saw numerous couples getting married. It was interesting seeing their tradition of cutting a heart out of a sheet and then the groom carries the bride through the heart hole. The Germans are a cheeky bunch and often use humour to make a statement in their sculptures. The guy below is mooning the Rathaus. Cologne had a reputation of being a stinky city - something to do with dumping sewage in the streets and people being afraid of water so bathed very infrequently. An Italian perfumer, John Farina, moved to Cologne and started extracting aromas from fruits mixed with alcohol and it became eau de Cologne. This made Cologne world famous. There were 50 makers in Cologne but now there are only two left - Farina and 4711. I bought some of both. After the tour we went off on our own and had THE most delicious soup (I had sauerkraut and others had potato) at Peter’s Brauhaus and tried Kolsch. I don’t like beer but I tried one. We also toured the chocolate museum. Interesting and yummy. Chocolate is plentiful (and delicious) in this part of Europe! It was a beautiful evening to walk around Cologne after dinner.
I really enjoyed our time in Cologne and I would like to come back and explore more one day. Our guide told us their Mardi Gras celebration is a renowned party but don't come if crowds aren't your thing. We arrived back in Edmonton on Monday evening (Oct. 1). We picked the perfect time to be away as Edmonton had more cold and snowy weather while we were away. We had excellent weather in Europe! And we returned to sunshine and bright blue skies in Edmonton. The perfect fall weather.
We are getting back in to the swing of things and trying to get over jet lag while kicking that typical cold that we always seem to catch at the end of a trip. Thanks re-circulated airplane air. We have been home less than a week and been busy catching up with things at work and home...and we made a road trip to Saskatoon to pick it up our new (to us) Airstream. Whew. I intended on blogging about our trip every day but the wifi on the ship did not agree with my plans. Over the next week or so I will post about the places we visited on our 15 day river cruise. Thanks for following along. We had breakfast and were ready for our 8.30am tour of Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is a UNESCO site with 19 windmills. We learned how the mills draw water from the reclaimed land (polder)...goes in to canals and eventually makes its way to the Rhine River. 1.5 million litres of water is pumped per minute when the pump is in operation. The canals were dug by hand in the 1400’s and they are 3 meters deep. It’s a fascinating process. Apparently they are starting to use it in New Orleans (the modern system).
Families of 15-16 people would live in the windmills. They are not spacious inside so it would have been cozy. Today young couples (no children allowed) live in the mills and operate them on the weekends. They must be certified millers (3-4 years education) to operate them. The rest of the day we sail. A beautiful day on the deck. We saw a campground, lots of farms, church steeples, cows, horses and people sunbathing along the river. Some without clothing. Very European! Finally a quiet night in Delft! Our odd washer/dryer combo didn’t finish washing our pjs before bed - good thing robes were provided. After breakfast we poked around a bit and I tried a ginger/lemon tea. It was good. We packed up and caught the train to Amsterdam. We made it to our ship - Viking Skirnir. It’s docked in an industrial area of Amsterdam so we had to take a cab from the train station. It’s definitely different boarding a river cruise ship vs. big cruise ship! Great service but very little hoopla. We had a tasty lunch and unpacked. Our suites are small but we don’t plan on spending much time in them. The service seems great so far. After we unpacked, we took the shuttle in to Amsterdam and walked around for a couple hours. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people out and about. I’ve notice there are big Hudson Bay stores in all the major cities. I’ve never seen The Bay in Europe in my previous travels. Back on the ship we had a welcome talk and then went for dinner. We leave Amsterdam at around 11.30 pm and head toward Kinderdijk to see the windmills first thing Tuesday morning. The water levels have been low this summer and the ships haven’t been able get all the way through. If the levels don’t change we will have to change ships part way through (around Passau). We should know by the weekend. The forecast for the area is showing hot, dry weather so my spidey senses say we will be changing ships.
There was partying again last night until about 5 am. It’s crazy how noisy it is from 3-5 am! We got our tired butts out of bed and headed out for breakfast before taking the train to Rotterdam. Most of Rotterdam was bombed in WWII so there are very few historic buildings. It is a city of new and interesting architecture. Some works some is just odd. The city hall was not bombed and the nazis used it as headquarters. There are weapon marks in the side of it from when the Canadian soldiers shot at it to free the city. Yea Canada! We did a free walking tour and saw many of the sites. There is a lot of art and street art around the city. Rotterdam is the second busiest port in the world so we also spent some time around the maritime museum. After the tour we went through the cube house museum. I’m glad I saw the inside of a cube house but at the same time it kind of ruined the mystique. Finally we stopped for poffertjes (my fav) and waffles. I watched them make the poffertjes so I can start my own business. James and I rode the sky view Ferris wheel thing. It was ok After exploring Rotterdam we took the train back to Delft. We really enjoy having Delft as our home base. It’s quaint and we know our way around now. If only we could get some sleep! We tried to do laundry this evening in our suite...the machine is smarter than us.
The people of Delft were partying last night and it sounded like they were in our room. Thankfully it rained around 4am and the party people took the party elsewhere. We headed down the street for our breakfast. It was good - a variety of meats cheeses and breads. After breakfast we checked out the market and bought a few things. We took the tram to The Hague. We had a walking tour booked with Free Walking Tours - The Hague. We got to The Hague early so we walked around a bit. James needed to find an Apple store because, in the rush of leaving, he forgot a plug at home. It was in the beautiful Passage area. We were told to meet for the tour at the Willem of Orange statue. Turns out the Dutch really like Willem and there is more than one statue of him. We didn’t read the meeting point directions very well and were waiting at the wrong Willem. Oops. We eventually found our tour -whew! The tour was about 2 hours and gave a great overview of some of the sights of Den Haag. We saw many of the sites and we learned that the king sometimes flies for KLM. He has to get 500 hours in per year in order to keep his license. We visited the world’s smallest park. Our guide recommended apple pie at a cafe so we had to try it out. We take apple pie recommendations seriously. Delicious! James decided to try the herring. He said it was good. You can watch below and you be the judge. Back in Delft we went though Old Church. Vermeer is buried here and so is Leeuwenhoek. We decided to stay in for dinner - buns, cheese, dips, salami and almond cookies for dessert.. Delft - Friday Sept. 14, 2018 Thankfully, since we left Edmonton it has been smooth travelling. Our 9+ hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam was uneventful. I watched some movies, ate some ok airplane food and tried to sleep. I can never sleep on planes. Of course it’s important to stay hydrated...cheers to the start our vacation! We arrived in Amsterdam at about 12:45 pm and caught the train to Delft. Our apartment is cute, quirky (there is a striped cow on the way up to our suite) and at the top of about 2 million steep steps. I expect no less from the Netherlands. We toured the new church (Nieuw Kerk) and walked up the tower (375 steps by my count) for spectacular views of Delft. What else would you do when you are jet lagged by climb more skinny steep steps?! It’s amazing mom and dad like travelling with us! The new church was built in the 1300’s which isn’t THAT new. All the royals are buried here starting with Willem of Orange. Tomorrow we will tour the old church. It was closed for a wedding today. We poked around Delft had a yummy dinner and are getting ready for bed. We managed to stay up today so hopefully we sleep well.
What a whirlwind today turned out to be. First we woke up to a blanket of snow. Oh Edmonton! Since our flight wasn’t leaving until 5.30pm we had lots of plans for the day. Including final packing. At 9.35 am we received a text message from KLM letting us know our direct flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled. Well, that’s inconvenient. Mom got on the phone to our travel agent, Tami, from Cruise Vacations to let her know. Tami was on it. At first we thought we were on a 3.30pm flight to Vancouver and then on to Amsterdam (on KLM) so we started planning around that. At 10:45 we received an urgent call...we had to get to the airport right away because flights changed and we needed to fly to Seattle at 1.15 pm and then on to Amsterdam. On Delta. We had to go through US customs so it was important we get to the airport ASAP. I was still cleaning the house, had not finished packing and James was in the shower. We did it though. We cleared customs and were sitting at the gate by noon. And the flight to Seattle was delayed. After de-Icing (yes it’s September 13) we were off. I’m not sure what I threw in my bag before we bolted out of the house. It’ll be a surprise when I open it in Delft. For the past two weeks I have been trying to decide which shoes to bring and I don’t even know what I ended up throwing in my suitcase. I feel guilty for not saying a proper good bye to Phin and Westley. James and I have been talking about taking a trip to Seattle to look at Airstreams. I don’t think we will have time to sneak that in! Delta served peanuts in flight. I thought peanuts on a plane had gone the way of smoking on a plane. Who knew! Since our flight wasn’t leaving until 5.30pm we had lots of plans for the day. Including final packing. At 9.35 am we received a text message from KLM letting us know our direct flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled. Well, that’s inconvenient. Mom got on the phone to our travel agent, Tami, from Cruise Vacations to let her know. Tami was on it. At first we thought we were on a 3.30pm flight to Vancouver and then on to Amsterdam (on KLM) so we started planning around that. At 10:45 we received an urgent call...we had to get to the airport right away because flights changed and we needed to fly to Seattle at 1.15 pm and then on to Amsterdam. On Delta. We had to go through US customs so it was important we get to the airport ASAP. I was still cleaning the house, had not finished packing and James was in the shower. We did it though. We cleared customs and were sitting at the gate by noon. And the flight to Seattle was delayed. After de-Icing (yes it’s September 13) we were off. I’m not sure what I threw in my bag before we bolted out of the house. It’ll be a surprise when I open it in Delft. I know I didn’t pack a rain jacket so here’s hoping it doesn’t rain! For the past two weeks I have been trying to decide which shoes to bring and I don’t even know what I ended up throwing in my suitcase. I feel guilty for not saying a proper good bye to Phin and Westley. James and I have been talking about taking a trip to Seattle to look at Airstreams. We don’thave time to sneak that in! Delta served peanuts in flight. I thought peanuts on a plane had gone the way of smoking on a plane. Who knew! We are waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam and we are scheduled to arrive at 12.45 pm Amsterdam time (thats 2:45am Edmonton time).
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November 2018
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