Germany To France To Germany To France

Our next few ports took us across the border of two different countries…that is how quickly you can get across Europe!  Okay, it might not be that quick each time but along The Rhine, you jump in/out of different countries pretty quickly.

Our ship made a brief stop in Mannheim, Germany where we got off the ship and made our way to Heidelberg, Germany.  This highlight of this stop was Heidelberg Castle and the amazing views surrounding it.  Unlike Marksburg Castle, you didn’t go into this one.  The history and beauty was amazing.

 

 

 

This cat was chillin' by the castle

We had a little free time in Heidelberg before boarding the bus and driving to the town of Speyer, Germany.  Kenyon and I popped into a recommended pub so I could get a pretzel and some beer.  The dark beer was amazing and was actually really sweet.  It was also 10% alcohol by volume!  Thank goodness I didn’t drink a large one.

 

Once we arrived in Speyer, we walked around town for a bit and then boarded the ship for dinner.  We woke the next morning in France.

Strasburg, France was gorgeous.  People…I’ve never really been a France person and other than seeing the Eiffel Tower, I haven’t thought about visiting.  But, this trip might have changed my mind.  The buildings surrounding the town were like being a storybook.  It was just simply out of this world.

 

 

 

From France, we went back to Germany…but only temporarily!  Our ship docked in Breisach, Germany and our included afternoon tour took us by bus into The Black Forest.  But, we had an upgraded morning excursion that took us by bus back into France to the town of Colmar.  Just like Strasburg, Colmar is adorable.  This town is known for the man who created the Statue of Liberty and her presence is known all over the town. 

Also, France has a special relationship with the stork bird.  This bird is encouraged to nest each year, where they mate for life and have an average of five babies a year.  They migrate to warmer climates in the winter but always return to the same next each year.  It is quite amazing to see the stork next perched high above the rooftops.  We were told they can get so heavy it can cause damage to some buildings.

 

We took a small train trough through Colmar and then had some time to explore on foot where I was able to get a photo of the smallest house in Colmar.  I can’t believe somebody lives in this house.

 

We boarded our bus again and drove back to the ship for lunch.  Our afternoon included excursion was an hour and a half bus ride through The Black Forest to the land of cuckoo clocks, glass blowing, and cake.

 

 

I had been waiting for this stop the entire cruise because I really wanted to buy a authentic German cuckoo clock.  The decision was tough, but I got it!  I will wait to share more about my clock once it arrives in the USA so I can get better photos.  It is perfect and I can’t wait.  I had it shipped home so I didn’t have to carry it back and I also saved on their added taxes that way.

 

We also took part in a demonstration of a Black Forest Cake being made, which the secret ingredients are Brandy and sour cherries.  It was delicious!

 

 

Our time was short as we had to load up on the bus and get back to the ship.  This was our last port stop.  We spent the evening saying goodbye to the new friends we made and packing up our luggage.  Cruising the definitely the way to travel.

I’ll fill you in on our last two cities including a visit to a new country…Switzerland!

Kinderdijk, Netherlands; Cologne, Germany; & Marksburg Castle

Viking has included daily excursions and also upgraded excursions.  We booked two upgraded ones but other than that, we stuck to the daily included ones.  I did wish we had booked a couple of the dinner/drinks excursions as it sounded like it was a lot of fun.  Perhaps next time.

Our first port was in the Netherlands.  We started early in the morning by boarding a bus and taking a drive through the town of Rotterdam to a farm where we signed up to learn about how cheese is made.  This was an upgraded excursion.  We really enjoyed the small farm and the woman we met, who is also a cheese maker.  It was interesting to taste the difference between “mature” cheese, which is dryer and has a sharper taste, than the young cheese.  The cheese made at this farm is Gouda and is either made with milk or goat cheese.  We learned so much about cheese but I do wish we could have tried more of it.

We loaded up on the bus again and arrived at our included excursions in Kinderdijk...windmills!!  

This was an amazing sight to see and I couldn’t wait until we got a closer look.  The windmills were build to control the dams and they are still working today with the help of a “Miller” who lives inside.  We were able to tour inside of one of the mills and see the Miller, who was wearing his iconic wooden Dutch shoes. 

This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Our second port was Cologne, Germany.  The major attraction is Cologne Cathedral and it was beautiful.

After lunch we went back out on our own so we could place our lock on the Love Lock Bridge.  I had been seeing this on Instagram and came prepared with a lock.  It was so neat to see the millions of locks.

Our third port and highlight of that stop was Marksburg Castle.  It sat up on a hill and we were able to go inside for a tour. 

It was really neat and is currently available to rent as an event venue.  Have you ever wanted to get married in a castle? 

We sailed down The Rhine for the rest of the afternoon looking at castles along the hillside.  We ended our evening in a town called Koblenz, Germany.  Sadly, the cable cars were already closed, which is something I really wanted to do. 

Life Aboard The Viking Hlin

Before we left for Europe, we he had gotten word that the water levels had rise enough for our River Cruise to continue it’s course uninterrupted.  The only change was that we would be boarding the Viking Hlin, a sister ship to our scheduled ship Viking Kara.

One of the many locks we traveled through

We passed many other watercraft as we made our way down The Rhine and even ended up at port a few times with other Viking sister ships, including Viking Kara.  There was a glass blowing demonstration one evening on their ship that we were able to hop over and view.  I think I liked the group we had on Viking Hlin better.

There are so many things we loved about Viking and we would travel with them again. We had extrusions each day and transportation to/from was organized and a breeze.  After being on our own in London and Amsterdam, it was nice to have some structure and somebody else telling us where to go.

Life on board was really relaxed.  You had the choice of sitting in the dining room for meals or casual seating on the terrace each day.  I enjoyed the dining room so I could visit with other guests.  The food was excellent and the included wine/beer/pop at lunch and dinner was well consumed!

We met so many wonderful guests and made many new friends.  I really enjoyed the time spent with all the other travelers.

One of our days on board was spent cruising the middle Rhine and seeing all the of impressive castles up on the hill.  Our Cruise Director, George, did the narration as well.

If you are thinking of taking a River Cruise...do it!  What we loved most was the smaller amount of passengers, easy to get around on the smaller ship, and no major security.  If you wanted to leave at the port all you had to do was take your check in/out card with you.  Easy-Peasy with no metal detectors and restrictions on what you brought back on board.  That was the best part.

I’ll recap our days at port and each of the cities we visited.  

Stay tuned.