Viking River Cruise

Friday, April 8, 2016 
Basel, Switzerland

For us, the trip actually began on Thursday, April 7 leaving Kansas City and flying first to Minneapolis, then on to Amsterdam and Basel. We arrived in Basel around 9:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. Kansas City time) so we had been up for a good 20 hours by this time and would be up for another 12 hours or so. 

Our Viking Crew picked us up at the airport and took us to our ship. They gave us some refreshments and we relaxed for a few hours. This is our ship, the Viking Eir.

Around 1:00 pm we had a leisurely walk through the town of Basel. Basel is the quintessential gateway city: adjacent to both Germany and France; divided in two by the Rhine; in close proximity to the Jura Mountains and the Black Forest; and within a day's drive of Zurich, Lucerne and the Alsace region of France. 

The city straddles the Rhine at the river's farthest navigable point, and an alluring cluster of old-town buildings huddle along the hilly river bank.

Riverfront view of Basel

  City Gate

Around Market Square, guild houses recall Gothic, Renaissance and baroque splendor; the red-sandstone Rathaus, or Town Hall, is the centerpiece. 

Town Hall aka Rathaus

 A glimpse of St. Elizabeth Cathedral

Basel Munster, the city's landmark cathedral is the burial place of philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam and of mathematician Jakob Bernoulli, Basel's native son.

Munster Church

Neptune Fountain

 Trident Fountain

Street view in Basel

At 5:30 p.m. every evening we had cocktail hour on the ship with live music. The food we were served each day was incredibly delicious and the friendly atmosphere and fun crew made meals a delight. Breakfasts consisted of huge buffets which included eggs, several meats, fruit, homemade breads, muesli, oatmeal, cheeses, pastries, french toast, pancakes. Lunches were a choice between a buffet on the upper deck or service on the lower deck and both provided scrumptious homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, meats and desserts. Dinner was a two hour affair. We sat with whomever we wanted and by the second or third night we settled in with the same group of people. Dinners were always 3 courses—appetizers, entrees and desserts which reflected the culture of the places we were staying. Here is our little group of three couples who ate together regularly. All the men in the group were engineers of one kind or another.

Vern & Diane Dekker, Dave and Sheila Peltier, Sherry and Rick Smith

We usually cruised during the night so we could dock during the day and do excursions into the various cities. We arrived at Breisach, Germany around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. 

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Morning--Black Forest Tour

When we woke up on Saturday morning and stepped out onto our veranda, we discovered that our ship was surrounded by beautiful swans. Here is my favorite one:

For our morning excursion we took a journey into the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) of Germany. It was truly a mythical land of cuckoo clocks, glassblowing and timeless fairy tales. It is easy to see why this area was the setting for many of Grimm's fairy tales. This fabled forest hides dark secrets, magic and spells. You can just feel it. It is the place where Hansel and Gretel were lured by the wicked witch, where Red Riding Hood's wolf lurked in the shadows and where today you can view some of the most breathtaking scenery, such as hills thick with fir trees, dramatic gorges, misty waterfalls and winding rivers.  We passed quaint half-timber farmhouses and traditional mountain towns before arriving at our destination where we had the choice of going on a short stroll through the forest or watching glass-blowing, the making of a Black Forest cake, or the making of cuckoo clocks. Vern chose the stroll through the forest. (I was too busy throwing up from riding the very winding roads through all the hills.) 

Giant Cuckoo Clock

The dancing figures on this cuckoo clock were almost life-size and it was fun to watch them going in and out at the top of the hour. On the drive back to the ship (we did NOT take the winding roads back!) we passed through Frieburg which is a green city. You may not live there if you do not have a green car! And at night, there is a very strict speed limit of 20 miles per hour through the town so the residents do not have to hear traffic noises. Talk about high maintenance. 

Saturday Afternoon--Colmar, France

On Saturday afternoon, we toured the medieval town of Colmar in France. This was an optional excursion for which we paid extra and it was so worth it! The 9th century streets and 13th century Gothic churches and Old Town seemed straight from a storybook. A colorful mix of French and German architecture and intact Alsatian homes made it a photographer's delight. In the Quartier des Tanners, named for tanners who worked in its 17th century half-timbered houses, we could stop and admire lanes of medieval houses and statues sculpted by Frederic Auguste Barthodi--the creator of the Statue of Liberty. Here are the highlights of that quaint town:

 Adolf House

 A Bartholdi Statue

 House of Heads

 Shop front

 St. Martin's Church

Unterlinden Museum

Below are street scenes we took while strolling through town.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Strasbourg, France

Our ship arrived in Kehl, Germany around 8 a.m. which is straight across the river from Strasbourg, France. We took buses across the river to tour the city of Strasbourg. When we got to the border, we were stopped for a while by French Police and had to account for who we were and why we were in France. This is the only time this happened on our tour. When we reached the city square, there were heavily armed soldiers on every corner, sometimes in pairs. One of the women in our group was going to take a picture of one of them and he said "No picture!" She took it anyway and a couple of soldiers took her camera away and started going through her photos and deleting her shot. Here are some canal shots we took in the morning.

At lunch time we ate at Cafe Kammerzell. We ordered Quiche Lorraine and it was the best I have ever had in my life. The first time I went to France and ordered quiche, it was the worst I had ever had, so we made up for that! 

 Cafe Kammerzell

There were street singers and bands and a lot of tourists, so I guess the soldiers were a necessary feature after the Paris bombings. A couple of statues below:

 Gutenberg invented his printing press in this town.

Mother mourning her soldier sons

We saw a lot of churches is Strasbourg.

 St. Nicolas

 Englise St. Pierre le Jeune Catholic Church

 Protestant Church

 St. Madeleine Church

 Englise St. Pierre le Jeune Protestant Church

St. Thomas Church

Neuf Temple

Inside Neuf Temple

Notre Dame Strasbourg Cathedral was the most impressive of all the churches. We climbed 330 steps to get to a higher point in the church and got some impressive pics from up there.

 Notre Dame

Notre Dame side view

 Inside the cathedral

Inside Notre Dame

 View from top of Cathedral

View from top of Cathedral

After our trek up the cathedral stairs we wandered around the streets for a while before heading back.

Monday, April 11, 2016
Heidelberg

Heidelberg was a place I was really looking forward to--not only because of the castle, but I wanted to see the University where the Heidelberg Catechism was written. Well, our guide never mentioned the catechism. Imagine that! We started out touring the castle which was really interesting. It is a partly ruined picture book castle that over looks the town. 

Mark Twain once spent three months in Heidelberg and loved the castle. He said, "A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect."

The city below the castle was left in ruins by French troops under Louis IV, but was rebuilt in the 18th century with picturesque cobbled streets lined with half-timbered houses and baroque buildings in the Old Town. 

We strolled down to the University of Heidelberg and discovered there is the Old University and the New University. 

 New University

Old University

The University had a Student Prison where unruly students would be incarcerated for varying lengths of time. The first two days, they were served nothing but bread and water. However, after that they could order anything they wanted from outside, including beer. Apparently everyone wanted to be incarcerated at least once while going to the University. Students spent their time writing graffiti on the walls when not studying. 

 As in some of the other cities, there were a lot of impressive churches in Heidelberg.

Monday afternoon

Rudesheim

In the afternoon, our ship docked at Rudesheim and we just walked around taking pictures of anything that looked interesting in that town. Lots of churches and interesting things going on in the streets. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

The Middle Rhine

This was the day everyone had been waiting for--the day cruise down the Middle Rhine to view the castles, vineyards and stunning forest landscapes. We were hoping for a sunny warm day so we could be on the upper deck of the ship and we got it!  I don't know the names of every castle, but I will name the ones I know!

 Burg Castle

 Furstenberg Castle

 Lorelei

Above Koblenz, at at point where the Rhine narrows and is at its deepest, the steep Lorelei Rock rises from the water. According to legend, it was here that the beautiful Lorelei maiden used to sit and sing sweet songs. Woe to the sailor who passed the rock at nightfall and was lured to his doom, the rapid water lashing him against the rocks!

 Lorelei Rock

 Marksburg Castle

 Mauseturm Castle

 Reichenstein Castle

Rheinstein Castle back view

 Rheinstein Castle front view

 Schoenberg Castle

Sooneck Castle

 Stahleck Castle

Stozenfels Castle

There were also several churches that deserve honorable mention:

Lastly were the village scenes we passed on the way:

We toured the Marksburg Castle so it was nice to be able to see the inside.

Ugh! Chastity belt

This was a long but very fun day! 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Cologne

Today we took it easy just walking around Cologne in the morning and in the afternoon we went about 20 stories high on the inside and outside of the Cathedral. I had NO IDEA that we were going to be walking around on scaffolding out there!!! There was a rail about waist high with post that were probably 18 inches apart. You could have fallen to your death! They would not allow us to take pictures on that tour. Well, I guess we could take them but they said not to post them on social media! 

 Cathedral

So if you look at the twin steeples and focus on the top third of the steeple--that's where we were walking around on the outside! On scaffolding! Insane! Here is the cathedral at night:

 Plaza

 Riverfront view

 Riverfront view

 Statue on Plaza

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Kinderdijk

This would be our last day to be on the Viking Cruise. Tomorrow we pack up and leave for our private vacation in Holland. Today we visit the Windmills of Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is a village in South Holland, about 15 kilometers east of Rotterdam. I love windmills!

Here is Vern filling some pretty big shoes.

I played around with some of the pics to get special effects:

That ends our Viking River Cruise. I would do it all again. The crew was awesome, the food was fabulous, the friends were fun and the sights were unimaginable. On Friday morning we packed our bags and Viking called a taxi for us which took us to a motel near the airport to pick up our rental car. It was a taxi ride I will never forget as long as I live. The driver was insane--driving really fast and getting really close to folks on bikes in high winds and pelting rain. Traffic in Amsterdam was awful, and truthfully I would not care if I never saw that city again. The rest of our trip would be spent at B&B's out in the country!