Tuesday, May 21, 2013
We took an optional trip today to Marksburg Castle. We arrived for our tour and met our guide, Emmalagh, who produced a giant skeleton key and proceeded to open the castle gate to let us in! Tours are given by appointment only, otherwise the castle is locked. We ascended 120 steps to enter the castle, then walked up the Riders' Staircase, which is not a staircase at all but dips and grooves and lumps worn into the rock by the hooves of the knights' horses as they rode up to the inner castle gates. There was a wine cellar, several canons, living and sleeping quarters, a giant wine press, frescoes on the ceilings, and displays of knights' armor from several centuries. A cool place and definitely worth seeing. We love "storming the castle"!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Cruising the Rhine - Koblenz
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.
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.
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. :-)
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