Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Today we arrived in Koblenz, a town situated at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. We strolled around the town and took a tram ride up to a Ehrenbreitstein fortress on the hill overlooking the city. The view was great from up there and the tour of the fortress was interesting. It's one of the few places that was never burned or bombed by invading forces. There was a group of schoolchildren coming down on the tram as we were going up - they seemed to have enjoyed their field trip despite the cold and windy weather.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Cruising the Rhine - Cologne
Sunday afternoon, May 19, 2013
We left Amsterdam and headed down the Rhine on the SS Antoinette, a Uniworld riverboat. Our stateroom is very nice and has a large window that covers one entire wall, the top of the the window glides up and down to allow for fresh air and leaning out to enjoy the scenery. This is our second cruise with Uniworld, and their boats seem much nicer than the others we see.
Monday, may 20, 2013
Our first day, we stop at Cologne. They have a huge Gothic cathedral there, though I actually prefer the Baroque style. While in Cologne, we went in search of the Gestapo Museum they have there and found it about an hour before they closed. It was not really what we expected, the building was empty except for displays of some of the letters and poems the prisoners had written on the walls. I think we expected to see it furnished with desks and maybe displays of Gestapo uniforms. We decided that perhaps they didn't want to draw attention to anything other than the prisoners and their thoughts, but we're not sure.
We left Amsterdam and headed down the Rhine on the SS Antoinette, a Uniworld riverboat. Our stateroom is very nice and has a large window that covers one entire wall, the top of the the window glides up and down to allow for fresh air and leaning out to enjoy the scenery. This is our second cruise with Uniworld, and their boats seem much nicer than the others we see.
Monday, may 20, 2013
Our first day, we stop at Cologne. They have a huge Gothic cathedral there, though I actually prefer the Baroque style. While in Cologne, we went in search of the Gestapo Museum they have there and found it about an hour before they closed. It was not really what we expected, the building was empty except for displays of some of the letters and poems the prisoners had written on the walls. I think we expected to see it furnished with desks and maybe displays of Gestapo uniforms. We decided that perhaps they didn't want to draw attention to anything other than the prisoners and their thoughts, but we're not sure.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Rhine River/Germany 2013 - Amsterdam
We arrived in Amsterdam this morning for the start of our latest trip - a riverboat cruise on the Rhine River from Amsterdam, along the French/German border, ending in Basel, Switzerland. Then we'll be driving around and exploring Germany for two weeks.
We arrived this morning to gray skies and occasional drizzles of rain. It's quite a bit colder here than the 90 degree weather we've had at home recently. Tomorrow is supposed to clear up, and be a little warmer. So the plan for tomorrow is a canal cruise and to see the floating flower market and just wander around. We may see a couple of museums tomorrow (Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum) or save them for Sunday before we board our riverboat.
We had a nice surprise - the hotel didn't have a room available of the type we reserved, so they upgraded us to a suite. A really, really large suite. It has a full bath (with sitting area), a guest bath, bedroom, huge sitting room with a dining alcove, separate kitchenette/wet bar, and a large office. It's bigger than most apartments I've seen!
The hotel building itself is 100 years old, but it's only been a hotel for a short time, it was a maritime shipping company for many decades. It's very cool because many of the maritime designs are still here, including the ticket windows on the second floor where passengers would buy their tickets for traveling on the ships. On the third floor ceiling, the whole ceiling is made up of leaded glass windows with world maps, constellations, and other navigation symbols etched into the glass.
We arrived this morning to gray skies and occasional drizzles of rain. It's quite a bit colder here than the 90 degree weather we've had at home recently. Tomorrow is supposed to clear up, and be a little warmer. So the plan for tomorrow is a canal cruise and to see the floating flower market and just wander around. We may see a couple of museums tomorrow (Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum) or save them for Sunday before we board our riverboat.
We had a nice surprise - the hotel didn't have a room available of the type we reserved, so they upgraded us to a suite. A really, really large suite. It has a full bath (with sitting area), a guest bath, bedroom, huge sitting room with a dining alcove, separate kitchenette/wet bar, and a large office. It's bigger than most apartments I've seen!
The hotel building itself is 100 years old, but it's only been a hotel for a short time, it was a maritime shipping company for many decades. It's very cool because many of the maritime designs are still here, including the ticket windows on the second floor where passengers would buy their tickets for traveling on the ships. On the third floor ceiling, the whole ceiling is made up of leaded glass windows with world maps, constellations, and other navigation symbols etched into the glass.
Looking for Ireland/Scotland blog?
Note: If you're looking for my blog posts from Ireland and/or Scotland, go the right side of the web page and click on May 2012-there are several entries there.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
One more day! Today is packing day.
Packing is a challenge because we need nicer clothes for the cruise than for the rest of the trip, and luggage size and weight are always a consideration. And we're taking small suitcases because we need to fit the luggage for four of us in the rental car. Actually clothes aren't the biggest problem - it's the shoes. Dress shoes for the cruise, hiking/walking shoes, workout shoes, and I'm taking sport sandals cuz I'm optimistic about the weather. :-)
Packing is a challenge because we need nicer clothes for the cruise than for the rest of the trip, and luggage size and weight are always a consideration. And we're taking small suitcases because we need to fit the luggage for four of us in the rental car. Actually clothes aren't the biggest problem - it's the shoes. Dress shoes for the cruise, hiking/walking shoes, workout shoes, and I'm taking sport sandals cuz I'm optimistic about the weather. :-)
Friday, April 19, 2013
Time for a new adventure!
While we haven't just been sitting around at home since the last trip, we've stayed pretty close to home - just going to Monterey and Big Sur a few times. We love it there and the weather in February was just beautiful, clear and sunny. BUT - it's time for another big trip. (Drum roll, please!) Four weeks from now, we will be arriving in Amsterdam to begin a weeklong Rhine River cruise through Germany and France, ending in Switzerland. Then we'll be spending two weeks touring in Germany after the cruise, a fair part of the time in Bavaria. Mike is looking forward to having a good apfelstrudel again. The last time we were in Germany, we were on a Danube River cruise from Budapest to Passau in 2009. River cruises are great, by the way.
So I haven't even finished editing all the video from our last trip to Ireland and Scotland, and here we are - about to take off again! Making lists of things to take, things to remember to do before we leave, figuring out what to pack - it's all part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. I've even been listening to German language CD's since I hardly remember any of the German I learned in high school. Want to hear somthing funny? One of the phrases I remember is "have no fear", so unless I'm going to turn into some kind of superhero on this trip, I can't imagine needing that phrase! Better to practice "I speak very little German" instead. :)
So I haven't even finished editing all the video from our last trip to Ireland and Scotland, and here we are - about to take off again! Making lists of things to take, things to remember to do before we leave, figuring out what to pack - it's all part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. I've even been listening to German language CD's since I hardly remember any of the German I learned in high school. Want to hear somthing funny? One of the phrases I remember is "have no fear", so unless I'm going to turn into some kind of superhero on this trip, I can't imagine needing that phrase! Better to practice "I speak very little German" instead. :)
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