Day 4 - Marksburg Castle / Middle Rhine Castles

Day 4, Saturday, April 28

It's 0630 and I am sitting at an elegant, small table, linen covered, drinking wonderful coffee brought to me by a white shirted steward. I am in the Aquavit Lounge on the forward part of the ship, protected by glass walls while I watch the shore slide by. The Rhine was a sewer when I lived here 50+ years ago with no life in it. Fish are back and the shores are clean. One passenger wondered why his river in Alabama could not look like this. People also remark how clean Germany is. This is so luxurious, sitting here, being treated so well. I wish my kids could be here with us. We got a 2 for 1 deal, half price. I think they had some empty cabins in the cheap seats and I am glad we jumped on it. Our cabin's window is near sea level so most of it is underwater and near the crew quarters. The next deck up cost $3000 more than ours and the cabin is slightly smaller due to having a very narrow balcony which has not enough room to sit out on. We eat the same food and have the same treatment. I heard that the top deck cabins cost $10000. A castle is on the hillside right now.

It's 5pm and it's been quite a day. Stared with a steep climb to Marksburg Castle in Braubach. Makes me very glad I did not live in the Middle Ages. Try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-imJ2ukNxnw

Back to the boat which cast off at noon and we headed up the Rhine to Rudesheim. We are passing thru the Romantic Rhine which has more castles than any other river in the world. Lisa and I sat on the top deck and listened to the program director tell passengers about the castles and villages we were passing. Nostalgic for me since I have been on this portion of the Rhine many times when I lived here 50 years ago. It was normal weekend activity to head to Bingen and catch a steam boat to St Goar, climb the Lorelei, and have a picnic or eat at a gasthaus and boat back to Bingen. Lots of very good memories. Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHlNRJcrk1w

She is holding the key to the castle.

Marksburg Castle

 The Lorelei

Day 3 - Cologne

Day 3, Friday, April 27, 9pm

I didn't. The dinner I chose was a specialty of Holland and was rather bland and uninteresting but well prepared and not worth writing about.

This was a busy day in Cologne. We arrived at about 8am and went into town on a tour at 9am, right to the front of the Dom (cathedral). It's near dusk right now and I am sitting on the top desk of our ship overlooking the skyline of Cologne with the Dom dominating the scene. The Dom construction was begun in 1248 and completed in 1880. Allied bombers avoided destroying it but leveled all around it. Let's just say they don't make'em like that anymore. It is overwhelming. Supposedly it houses the bones of the 3 Wise Men in a gold sarcophagus. I think it best to let you see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQZuQBm074

Our guide led us around the central part of the city. Lot of breweries and cafes. Back to the ship for lunch and a nap. You will later learn why I needed one.

After my nap we hopped the shuttle and went to town for more sights and a pub crawl. With Lisa it turned into more of a limp. There are numerous brauhauses here specializing one of the twenty varieties of Kolsch, the special beer of Cologne. No matter what I ordered she did not like it. That is her right, of course, and on the up side I had to drink what she did not like. I did get a photo of her drinking her first beer. Hope she posts it. The city is experiencing its first warm days of Spring and the sidewalk cafes and brauhauses were full. We sat at one and ordered beers and schnitzel with potatoes. We could have returned to the ship for dinner but I just wanted to experience Germany. My German language returned very well tonight.

My first German speaking attempt was rough last night, trying to explain at 3am that I was looking for the bridge abutments for the Remagen bridge which was the key for the Allied invasion of Germany. During the War all the bridges across the Rhine were destroyed except that one. On May 7, 1945, Americans captured the town but not the bridge. While they were fighting toward the bridge, the Germans loaded it with explosives. They blew it but most explosives did not detonate and the bridge remained. American engineers fought their way across and disabled the explosives. Tanks poured across to establish a base in Germany. Thousands crossed before May 10 when the bridge collapsed with 300 engineers on it. Many were killed. Pontoon bridges had been established and the push was sustained with the demise of the Nazi government resulting. I had been told by one of the ship's officers that we would be in the vicinity at 3am. So I and Lisa dressed and went up on to the bridge. The German pilot of the ship showed me on a chart that we were still 150 kilometers from the bridge. Back to bed and little sleep. My sleep has not been steady so I may not get up tonight but here is what I am missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LacCFe9avc4

We went to the top deck at dusk to watch the Dom be illuminated in the dark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAPAZwjz1T4

Good night. Tomorrow Rudesheim and Koblenz.

Day 2 - Amsterdam Windmills

Tour Day 2, April 26, Thursday

We are motoring up the Rhine, toward Cologne, Germany, having left Kinderdijk, Holland, at about 1pm. I never knew windmills could be so fascinating. Our guide led us to an area of 19 windmills built around 1790. These are still working at their task of emptying fresh water into the Rhine, turning lakes into useful land. The genius of this procedure is overwhelming to me. Most of Holland is below sea level. It was originally covered not with sea water but fresh water so the recovered land is aerable. The windmills pump the water into manmade ponds which are higher than the Rhine. Once full the water is released into the Rhine. It takes 10 years before the land is useable. Modern pumps are used nowadays but this site is a UNESCO heritage site and is maintained by the Dutch at great expense since everything must be original condition. The exterior of the mills is masonry or brick; the roofs, thatch. The interior is wood and the working mechanism and gears are wood and iron. Families vie to live inside the mills but the heavy maintenance is the work of professional millers. One demonstrated how the blades/sails are aligned with the wind direction by turning a large sailing ship's steering wheel on the outside of the mill which turns the top of the mill where the sails' axle is located. The speed of the sail has killed careless people who get hit. The millers wear actual wooden shoes at work, partly for tourists and partly because they support the foot when the miller must climb the sail to rig canvas if the wind is low. The whirling sail is geared to turn a gigantic wooden timber axle which runs from the top to below the floor of the mill. The one I saw up close was a timber without lamination, about 24” x 24”, about 60' long by my estimation. It's hard to imagine how families live inside with the rumbling and the danger of falling into the mechanism. Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BjFjKeYKDo

I might write more after dinner.

 

Check out his shoes - they are wooden

Day 1 addendum

Just got back. Took a nice tour of the canals via boat and then we walked about five miles exploring the city. Strange but most of the boat traffic was tour boats. We saw no pleasure power boats cruising or canoes or kayaks. We saw a magnificent church, St. Nicolas. Lisa had talked with Father Stitt and he recommended that we see a certain church but he could not remember the name. Hope this was it. Photoed the Anne Frank house. Many of the canals are lined with retired canal boats turned into housing. Kind of neat but some are run down, trailer park types. Amsterdam is the Venice of the North for sure. Big difference is that Venice has no automobiles and few wheeled vehicles but A-dam is bustling with cars and more bikes than you can imagine. We overheard a tour guide claim there were 22 million bicycles. There were enormous parking areas full of bikes. They have their own roadways and no hills so it's ideal for bikes. Most people look to be in good shape but the bikes are mostly junk due to the cobble stone streets and the salt air. A-dam is notorious for its red light district and legal marijuana use. We were walking in the middle of the day and saw no overt sexual advertisement other than paraphanalia shops. I spotted a few women “on the way to work” but Lisa says she did not notice them. Could not smell MJ but there were plenty of coffee bars which is where you can order your choice of weed and lots of head shops and MJ seed stores.

A word about the boat. Since Lisa and I returned from A-dam shortly before dinner, we left our room a shambles when we went to dinner. When we returned from dinner someone had straightened out our stuff and turned the bed down. There is a style of luxury to which I am not accustomed. Lisa is, of course, used to excellent meals but I am not used to someone else preparing them. The food is first class. For lunch I had the best mushroom soup I have ever tasted. For dinner there were six of us at a table and, as you would have in the finest restaurants, waiters brought our entrees to our places simultaneously placing the plates so that none was served first. The wine steward was also at elbow to top off. Wine and beer are complimentary. Prior to the dinner, the chef had explained the six choices of entree and how the specialty of the night had taken three days of marinating. At dinner the chef came to each table to explain the entree specialty for tomorrow night. The maitre'd, Paul, came to each table inquiring if any one was celebrating a special occasion during the cruise. One of our couples was celebrating 29^th wedding anniversary so Paul explained that there would be a special surprise waiting in their cabin.

The passengers are almost totally retirement age. There are a couple young guys, scruffy looking, whose parents probably dragged them along but Lisa is the youngest attached person on board. It's a slight bit uncomfortable but we are sort of used to being the odd couple so no worries.

Tomorrow is windmill tour day. Good night.

European Trip April 25 - May 6, 2018 - Viking River Cruise

TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1300, 2018

First we must thank the Halliwells, Mo and Ron and their sons, Spencer and Tommy, for their horsepitality, congeniality, gemutlichkeit, soft bed, good food and drink and an all-round good time. We were the Confirmation Sponsors for the boys and since we were already in MA we decided to fly out of Boston. It was fun to meet all the relatives who showed up. I recommend that you stay there anytime you are in eastern MA.

We are in the Delta Wing, Logan Airport in Boston, many hours before our flight at 1900. (Getting ready for European time) This is not my first county fair but the preparation for this adventure has been unnerving. When we attempted to print our boarding passes last night, Delta said we did not have a reservation. Frantic phone call to Viking and that was resolved. Then we realized that our names did not match EXACTLY on our passports and that is a constant warning THAT YOU MAY NOT PROCEED IF YOUR ETC…… . We finally gave up trying to resolve that and decided it was Delta's fault not ours so f#%&*# them if they give us any trouble. Instead of trains and bus to get to Logan we took our first UBER ride. Our driver was very hispanic, accent and all, and his Uber name was “Edwin”, go figure! He did a good job and was handsomely rewarded.

We are so early at Gate A 14 that we are almost alone way down here at the end of the concourse. I thought, “Why not?” and did the full Yang Style, Tai Chi Long Form, 150 moves, without drawing any attention.

Tour Day 1, April 25, Wednesday

A long night, no sleep. Seats too small to reel out the CPAP but I don't think it would have made a difference. Nonetheless the flight was smooth and the treatment was very good. Best in flight meal I have ever had and the wine flowed freely.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am their time, 2am our time in USA. Went thru Customs with no delay. We are now on the Viking Kvasir, our river boat. Lunch is about to be served and then Lisa and I are heading into A-dam to try to take a canal tour of the city.

Just got back. Took a nice tour of the canals via boat. Strange but most of the boat traffic was tour boats. We saw no pleasure power boats or canoes or kayaks. We saw a magnificent church, St. Nicolas. Lisa talked with Father Stitt and he recommended that we see a church but he could not remember the name. Hope this was it. Photoed the Anne Frank house. Many of the canals are lined with retired canal boats turned into housing. Kind of neat but some are run down, trailer park types. Amsterdam is the Venice of the North for sure.