Our last full day in Europe

Thursday 28/6, today all we have to do is drive 292km to get from Maastricht to Frankfurt. Now when you have a Merc Limo available, why not drive 393km from Maastricht to Frankfurt and visit Luxembourg on the way. Well, that’s what we did. Luxembourg is such an intriguing and beautiful city. It’s a pity we didn’t have more time to explore this city, its history and its ruins. This country has a population of less than ½ a million and even though it has history dating back to the Romans, it is considered to start from about 963AD. We had a very enjoyable afternoon walking around this beautiful city. For Jean, this was topped off with another patchwork shop visit and another 1kg to add to our already bulging bags. Our trip from Luxembourg to Frankfurt was marred by quite heavy rain, but travelling in the limo was still enjoyable. Jean drove for a while this morning and admitted that the ride was somewhat more luxurious than Gina’s ride, but Gina does have some advantages. It was somewhat difficult negotiating the underground car-park in Ellie, and fitting Ellie into some car-parking spots was just impossible. On the way into Frankfurt, we got to see the Rhine once again, a different view than that from the River Boat. We also saw a rather different shape for a VW Passat, the result of some passionate kissing of some Armguard on the Autobahn at some considerable speed. Surprisingly, (well not really, it is German engineering) the driver was walking around talking on his mobile phone. Tomorrow, we plan to look around Frankfurt, and then return Ellie to Mr Hertz, check-in and find the QANTAS Club for a quiet relaxing evening prior to our departure at 10:40PM. The next you should hear from us, is in person or on the phone, sometime after 6:40AM Sunday 1/7.

MAAS, Maastricht, Andre, Aachen, Shops

Tuesday 26/6, we left latish in the morning and head into Maastricht town centre. We find an underground car-park by accident and upon walking out onto the street; we are right beside the Andre Rieu concert stage. We walk around the old town, exploring old watermills, town walls and buildings 400 and 500 years old. We have lunch and do some exploring of the Maastricht University precinct and another look at the concert area before we get the car and head back to the hotel. No patch-work shops were visited, darn says Jean. We get all glammed up and have dinner, then onto the bus to head to the concert. The concert started in broad daylight at 9PM and for an hour we were all enthralled. By 10:30PM, the east half of the sky is dark, but the western half is still blue and intermission has just finished. From here on the concert just gets better and better, and it finished with several Dutch folk songs. We couldn’t understand much of what was said, but the music was just fantastic and the atmosphere just had to be experienced. Jean waved her arm off, with her Aussie flag flying high. 11:45PM and the concert was over, we headed to the bus pick-up point and travelled back to the hotel. We weren’t the only Australians there; we saw several other Aussie flags and meet another couple from Melbourne as we were leaving the concert area. They heard our accent as we were saying good night to the Dutch couple who had been sitting beside us.

Wednesday 27/8, we head off in search of elusive patch-work shops. Jean’s in charge today, her first real drive of Gina. Back to Belgium we go, to the city of Liege. Jean is re-finding her left-hand driving skills. We find the shop and a car-park is directly opposite. Jean wanders around the shop for about 30 minutes, marvelling at the material, but alas it’s not patch-work fabric. They tell us we need to visit their other shop in Awans. Coffee time, you know when you swap old coffee for new, then into the car and off to Awans. Jean says, George you can drive. We find the Awans patch-work shop, it’s hard to miss. 2,500 sq metres of floor space, well over 1,000 rolls of curtain fabric on display, and that’s about ¼ of the shop, patch-work fabric from all over the world and everything else a patch-worker with withdrawal symptoms would ever need. Jean thinks she is in patch-work heaven. And they cater for men too. Four flat screen TVs, with lounge chairs so you can watch sport or whatever you fancy. This shop has a remarkable sales table, one piece of timber over 7 metres long, 1 ½ to 2 metres wide and about 100mm thick. It weighs 660kg and was brought all the way from Indonesia by the shop owner, who is Dutch. 2.5kg of patchwork stuff later, Jean and George depart for Aachen, Germany, in Gina. Those Germans and smart engineers, they can morph cars. Actually, both Jean and George are both amazed that no one has asked about Gina. At Aachen, George arrives in Gina, a white Italian 2 door petrol buzz-box, a Fiat 500, and 15 minutes later George departs in Elly, a black German 4 door diesel limousine, a Mercedes E220 Elegance. Hmm, a nice drive back to Maastricht. Alas, Jean has to return to Maastricht in Gina; actually Jean didn’t mind driving Gina, she was a lovely little buzz-box, reminds Jean of her green Mazda 121. A lovely little car! We then return Gina to Mr Hertz, with close to an extra 2,500km on her odometer. We had planned to travel to Frankfurt by fast train, but weren’t keen on lugging all the cases on and off the train, and we had to change trains on the journey too. So tonight, we unpack our bags, and re-pack them into an orderly fashion, don’t forget we have to get that 2 ½ kg of patch-work stuff and the odd tourist item into those bags that were bulging when we left Brissie 4 ½ weeks ago. Bags are packed, blog to be updated and then sleep before we head to Frankfurt tomorrow.

Look out Maastricht, here we come

Monday 25/6, we awake to another dull overcast day, but we decide to go via Brussels anyway. This was a good choice. By the time we got there (220km later), the sun was out but the air was still a bit chilly. We found an underground car-park almost immediately and hit the streets. We had a good look around the La Grand-Place (the town square) where the town hall amongst other stately buildings is located. The town hall dates from the early 15^th century. We continued off visiting other streets and building and eventually arrived at the Mannequin Pis, dressed in one of his 800 costumes. After this we (George) treated ourselves to a Belgium Waffle topped with Chantilly cream and Chocolate. It was then back to the car for the 120km trip to Maastricht, what a great trip! The first 5 or so km was slow with very heavy traffic but then the expressway opened up. A beautiful bit of 3-lane highway with a few large sweeping curves and a 120km/hr speed limit, with most of the traffic (Gina included) sitting on 130, with several cars passing in the 160 to 180 bracket. A one stage the railway line runs parallel to the expressway and a passenger train glides past us doing about 150 when all of a sudden it was gone and out of site. Jean isn’t too keen on travelling in the slow lane at 130 when we are rapidly catching a truck, but we indicate and merge left, indicate and move right; all’s good! We arrive in Maastricht, and find that the hotel we are booked into is the “Official Andrew Rieu” hotel. Jean meets one of the back-stage staff (actually the orchestra’s caterer) while we are checking in. The two of them chatted for what seemed ages to George while he continued with the check-in, arranged for the pre-concert dinner for tomorrow night, the bus trip there and back, and unpacked the car. Tonight, an online search located around 6 patchwork shops nearby, so George guesses what we are doing tomorrow before the concert. The concert starts at 9PM and finishes at midnight, the bus returns us at about 12:30, so a blog update may not occur tomorrow.

Just drivin' in the rain

Sunday 24/6, we left Paris this morning in light drizzling rain heading towards Charleville-Mezieres. We chose to head via Soissons. On the way to Soissons, we passed the Vauxbuin French Military Cemetery. Stopped for a couple of quick photos. The rain continued to drizzle. After Soissons, the rain slowly got heavier and heavier and at one stage was so torrential that we couldn’t travel much faster than 80km/hr on the 130km/hr expressway. Arrived at Charleville Mezieres and had dinner in a Spanish restaurant where we met another Australian couple from Albury, VIC, who are currently on a bicycle riding tour of Northern France, Belgium and the southern part of The Netherlands. They are about our age and are riding a bicycle built for two, which has a small trailer behind it where they carry their clothes etc. This bicycle dismantles then folds-up and fits into this trailer. The wheels come off the trailer, too, and then this trailer is their luggage for their airplane flights. A lot of their riding has been along canals. They have travelled on the train a couple of times, like today when the weather is poor, or when they want to move to another area, but most of their travel has been by bike. We had an interesting chat over dinner. Tomorrow, our plan is to travel to Maastricht possibly via Brussels but this will depend on the weather.

Paris, been there, done that

Friday 22/6 and Saturday 23/6. As mentioned for Friday, we took the Metro to the city, the 10:30AM Metro from Port de Clichy (seven stations from the Champs E.) was standing room only, and very, very cozy at that. We searched out the nearest Hop-on Hop-off Bus stop and headed off on a quick trip around the city. Quick it was not. After completing about ¾ of the circuit, we got off at La Fayette. This is one of the larger department stores in Paris. The store is spread over 3 buildings, one for home goods, one for men’s wear and one for women’s wear. Each building comprises a basement, ground floor and 3 or 4 floors above, and the floors are huge. It the ladies’ wear building, there is one floor devoted wholly to shoes, another to just jewellery and perfume. It was then back onto the bus, but we never made it to the Arc de Triumphe as it was peak hour traffic and the busses are not allowed there. So we get on the Metro and came home.

Saturday morning, back on the Metro, back on the Hop-on bus and off to the Trocadero. We walked from there to the Eiffell Tower. Due to a technical issue only one lift is working and pre-booking tickets to the lift doesn’t work. Usually pre-booked ticket holders jump the queue. We had a good look around, had lunch and then took a river cruise of the Seine for an hour. It is just impossible to describe the enormity of the Tower. It’s like the first time you look into the Grand Canyon. Photos just can’t describe it. The whole of Paris is big things, or extremes. Today we heard that there are 14km of corridors in the Louvre Gallery and there are near 38,000 art items on display which is less than 8% of their art collection. After this we Hopped-on and headed for the Arc de Triumphe, and had afternoon tea with nice French pastries. Headed over to the Arc and saw the daily memorial service to the lost and missing soldiers of the wars. Afterward, we walked up possibly 280+ stairs to get to the top of the Arc de T. and had a spectacular view of Paris from there. After we came down, jean commented “It’s ten to eight!” It felt like 4PM to her. We headed back to the hotel had a late dinner, and that’s it for the day. Tomorrow, Charleville here we come.

A Few More Photos

Brugge St Salvator Cathedral (above)

Brugge Basilica of the Holy Blood upper chapel (above)

Above - Scouts Plus in Enkhuizen

Scouts 100 year Parade Start in Enkhuizen

Scouts 100 year Parade in Enkhuizen

Gent - Riverside (above)

Gent - St Baafs Cathedral (above)

Monickendam - old boat

Villers Bretoneaux - War Cemetery

 Villers Bretoneaux - War Memorial

What tower in the distance?

Zaanse Schans - Working Mill

Some oddities on the way to Paris

Thursday 21/6. Today started off OK, I took the suitcases to the car and brought back a paper-bag. I asked Jean the simple question “What is the opposite of Pi…. Off?” Her answer “Found.” How do we get to that? Well, we misplaced a paper bag containing about 50 postcards bought during the river cruise. Some had even been written on ready to send. Jean searched high and low and everywhere in between. No paper bag, no postcards. Jean was well and truly Pi…. Off (to put it politely), as she told some of her friends in an email. I found the missing bag. All happy, we got in the car, instructed Annie to take us to Amiens, not far from Villers-Bretonneux (our destination on the way to Paris). I estimated it was about 150km due south. We followed Annie’s instructions and discovered she calculated 167km. I must be wrong. Now remember back on Tuesday, I made a mistake on our way to Boulogne-s-Mer on the way to Dunkerque when Annie was misbehaving. Today she was trying to make up for her bad day, because she first took us west to Boulogne-s-Mer then south-southeast to Amiens. I guess it may have been faster as over ¾ of the trip was on a 130km/hr expressway. Gina cruises well at 125km/hr but slows a bit on the up-hills. Just prior to Amiens, we reset Annie to V-B and with a bit of local help arrived at the Australian War Memorial and Cemetery. We spent about an hour walking around here, then headed off for lunch. Not much on offering in V-B, so we headed to the local supermarket. Another oddity! Jean shopped in her first Aldi today. After a home-made (in Gina) lunch, we headed to the Franco-Australian Museum. As we were about to walk in, a bus-load of high-school aged boys and a couple of adults followed us in. All the boys had Australian sports shirts on. They were a cricket team from St Pauls High School on their way to England to play cricket during their mid-year school break. (For non Brisbane people, St Pauls High School is not far from where we live in Brisbane). The Museum was very interesting. As we were about to leave the museum, thunder and lightning arrived. We quickly jumped in the car and started our trip to Paris through torrential rain. About another 150 km to go, and the first 40 was in driving rain. We arrived in arrived on the outskirts of Paris at about 6:00PM right in the middle of evening peak hour traffic. Induction by fire, into driving in Paris. What fun! Left turn into a narrow 2-way street to be confronted by 2 cars side-by-side facing us, we squeezed past. Need to stop to check the map, pulled into a small space behind another car, to then discover that we were both in a bus stop, bus arrives, no problem, just stop in the middle of the road and let passengers off. Paris parkers are ingenious. At most intersections, you can find four cars parking at 45 degrees on the corners of the intersections. Easy parking, difficult to negotiate the corner while driving. At last we made it to the hotel, checked in, had dinner, took a short walk to find the Metro station (with the help of a young Paris girl) for tomorrow’s escapade into Paris city. Jean hopes that loos are easier to find in Paris. She is getting tired of having to search out a WC and then pay EU$0.50 to use it. It seems that all eating places must have a loo and they are free if you are a patron, so we call in; buy a cup of coffee, dispose of the previous cup of coffee, then drink the fresh one.

Little old town, Big old town

Wednesday 20/6, we headed off for Brugge today and chose to go via Poperinge (a little town along the way). We have found that choosing a small town along the way, away from the freeways and expressways causes Annie to take us along country roads. Here we see the real scenery, not hidden by sound barriers. Another thing Annie is good at is taking us to the actual “Market Square” centre of the old town. This usually involves bouncing along very old cobble stone streets, some one-way and just wide enough for a car and a bicycle to pass. Some of these streets don’t even have foot paths. The ones that do have foot paths, have sacrificed ¾ of the footpath to car parking space. Poperinge was a very nice little old town. Here we had a coffee and a very interesting chat with the owner. Poperinge is in Belguim, and we have found them and the Dutch very fluent in English. Actually, we found this true in every town that we visited while on the river cruise. This is even true for older people, especially if they are involved in hospitality or tourism. On the other hand we have not found this true so far in France. One of the waitresses (about 20+) in the restaurant at our hotel doesn’t appear to speak English. The other one, speaks English the way I spoke French in year 10, 45 years ago. In many countries, school students learn English from age 10, and in some countries they learn several languages. I don’t think this is true for France. Back to the coffee shop owner in Poperinge, one of his friend’s daughters lives in Australia somewhere in the outback where her neighbour is a one hour drive away. He finds this hard to comprehend as it takes less than 3 hours to drive from one side of Belgium to the other. After our coffee and chat, we headed for Brugge, a big old town. Parking on the streets in the centre of Brugge is non-existent. We eventually found an underground car-park, the entrance to which is off a tunnel. Our map showed where the car-park was, but not where the entrance was. It took quite a lot of round and round driving to find the entry, and to make things worse, I kept avoiding the tunnel, because who would expect to find a car-park entry in the wall of a tunnel? We spent all of the afternoon walking around Brugge. Again many spectacular buildings, but a big cathedral doesn’t look quite as impressive in a big town, as a big church does in a small town. The upper chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Blood was especially impressive inside, but unfortunately we were 10 minutes late so we did not get to see the venerated relic, a phial said to contain cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ. After a late afternoon snack of warm apple tart for Jean and a Brussels waffle with ice-cream and chocolate sauce for George, we headed back to St Omer, the quick way via a 130 km/hr expressway. Upon arrival back at St Omer, we walked across the road and then around the outside of a magnificent white stone cathedral, the Saint-Omer Cathedral known in French as Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer (a national monument of France). 

A day to forget, but so many memories

Tuesday 19/6, today we planned to head west to the coast then northward through Calais and Dunkerque and onto Brugge; well that was the plan. Yesterday Annie started misbehaving, proof that all women can’t do more than one thing at a time, whenever Annie was giving spoken instructions she never moved the map and after she finished talking it took several seconds before she updated the map; so, often 600 metres or more passed before the map was updated. This meant that visual cues were not available at intersections. Yesterday, a couple of times, I missed the correct corner; but that wasn’t a problem, just do 3 sides of s block and we are back on course. Today, without the visual cue, I missed a corner and ended on the entry ramp to a toll-way. OK, I pay the $2.40 toll and then find that the new route to the destination is now 20km LONGER. Next, I miss our exit and find that we are now on the way to the Calais-Dover tunnel. Luckily, we find a last exit and head off towards Dunkerque. We arrive and find the Tourist Info office is closed for lunch, so we go exploring on our own. Oh, a Kodak scene, out comes the camera, point and NO PHOTO, the battery is flat. I knew I forgot to do something last night. Well, we just have to rely on Jean’s camera for the day. It too has been misbehaving, sometimes just refusing to take a shot or waiting 4 or 5 seconds before doing so, and missing a great opportunity. Time for a coffee, then the Tourist Info office is open, so we get directions to the Dunkerque War Museum for Operation Dynamo (the evacuation of the Allies from Dunkirk in WW2). Well, Annie made the 1km drive into about 5km and 20minutes. If she keeps misbehaving like this, we may need to rename her Fanny. Anyway, the Museum was very interesting and moving. While having lunch, I did a reset of Annie, unloaded the European maps and reloaded them. After the museum visit, we decided that we didn’t have enough time left to visit Brugge, so we set a course north along the Belgium coast to a small town of Veurne, and Annie got the message, she behaved well. Veurne is a beautiful little town, and guess who sniffed out a fabric and patchwork shop? From Veurne, we headed of towards Ypres, yet another magnificent town. From here we headed to Armentieres (with my eyes open for a Mademoiselle or two). The old churches in these small towns are just amazing, and again we weren’t let down, well almost; because now the battery was flat in Jean’s camera, thank goodness for phones that can double as cameras. Then it was off back home to St Omers, a great dinner and soon a sleep to prepare for tomorrow on French roads, and hoping that Annie continues to behave. French roads are reasonable but their signage leaves something to be desired. French street name signs (if they exist) are small and hard to read, but there are numerous speed signs. On an open country French road we get 110, then 90, then a warning of an impending 70, then the 70, and a 50 and maybe a 30 followed by a 50 and then an “End of 50”. What does this mean? 70, 90, or 110? But don’t worry before you get to 100, there is another warning of an impending 70. Some freeways are 130, but there are few service stations. Belgium roads are far better. All freeways are fully lighted for night travel; there are regular service stations, and the road surface is better than the French. Also, there are distance markers every 100 metres! The Dutch roads aren’t fully lighted, but the surface is even better than the Belgium roads, again regular servos, and their 100 metre distance markers are on both sides of the road or freeway and also contain the Freeway or highway number and the current speed limit. What an expense, but so good to drive with. Lane discipline is also very good here, except for trucks in France where they are not limited to which lanes they can use. In Belgium and Holland trucks are limited to the slow lane, and only occasionally the middle lane when there are three. It is similar in Germany. In Germany, trucks are limited to 80, buses to 100, and cars to whatever. Well enough of my ramblings. This has been prompted by the lack of internet at the hotel, but access is back again, so I will stop typing, and post this. Till the next episode, au revoir. 

Some Odd Photos

Jean and new Cologne friends

Jean and old Cologne friends

Jean and Gina

Amsterdam leaning building

Amsterdam new buidling

Amsterdam old building

Big boots to fill

Floriade Brom

Floriade Orchid

Exploring Gent then off to France

Monday 18/6. We were up earlier than the alarm, being woken when a locomotive shunted into a bunch of carriages and then to find that it was pouring rain. By the time we were ready to pack the car the rain had stopped. We headed into the centre of the old town of Gent and found an underground car-park right on the edge of the historic section of Gent. From here, we spent 6 hours wandering the streets and doing a one hour river trip. The trip was very interesting with the guide repeating everything three times, in the local Belgium version of Dutch, in French and in English. Gent is yet again another interesting old town. From around the year 1000 to 1550, Gent was one of the most important cities in Europe. It was bigger than London and second only to Paris. It had a population of about 60,000 in the 14^th century. Gent was fortunate to suffer little damage during the two world wars; so much of its historical heritage has remained largely intact right up to the present.

Around about 4PM, we left Gent and travelled about 130km most of it in France to arrive in the town of St Omer. 

Just a bit of a Haul

Sunday 17/6, we left Nijmegen about noon and set of for Gent in Belgium. We drove via Eindhoven, Turnhout and Antwerp. Antwerp was our only significant stop. This is a very interesting city with its mix of old and new buildings side-by-side. Jean had her first (and possibly last) introduction to Formule1 motels. She will have a story to tell everyone about this. Tomorrow we are planning to head for St Omer.

On the road with George, Jean, Gina & Annie

Friday 15/6, we head north out of Amsterdam and arrive at Zaanse Schans. A little village where there are still operating Dutch Windmills and demonstrations of cheese making and clog making. Wandering around here in the rain. After here, we head off to Monnickendam and then onwards to Marken with still the odd shower. Backtrack to Monnickendam, and then off further north to Volendam. We had accommodation booked in a B&B in Hoorn, so that was our next destination. We had the street name but no number, and when we found the street, the B&B was not obvious. Thanks to McDonald’s and their free Wi-fi we found the number and then met with our host, Donna and her little dog Suzy. Suzy is a long-hair Teckle, very nice and friendly.

Saturday 16/6, we head off through the old town of Hoorn and onwards to Enkhuisen. We stopped here for morning tea and while walking around the old town centre, I saw a Scout flag, then a banner which said “Scouting, 100 years”, and then an arrow sign which said “Scouting, street event”. Walking a bit further, I came across 3 “Rover Scouts” and they told me a parade was about to pass in around 20 minutes so we stayed around for that. We watched the parade, lead by the Town Crier, who announced in Dutch “Scouting in Enkhuisen, 100 years.” After here we headed along a dike which is 28 km long, and has two tunnels in it, which take the road under the boat locks, very interesting! Then we were off through Lelystad and on to Apeldoorn. In Apeldoorn, Ronald McDonald saved me again, as we then booked this hotel via their Wi-fi. Meanwhile Jean found a bead shop, and 45 minutes later left it after discovering that they should have closed just after she walked in. Then it was a quick trip down the freeway via Arnhem to Nijmegen where we stayed overnight and are about to depart for Ghent in Belgium, where we have our next night’s stay already booked. Holland is full of “Killer Bikes”, bicycles ridden by everyone with no helmets and no rules. Families go for a ride with children on the back carrier, and young children (about 1 year old) sitting on the handlebars drinking from their bottles. Thank goodness that The Netherlands is flat. At the Central railway station, next to our hotel, there is a 2 storey bicycle park. Each floor has twelve bicycle racks. Each bicycle rack is double height and each rack in total holds 100 bicycles. That’s 2,400 bicycles in the bike park.

Off the ship and into a car

Wednesday 13/6, we left the ship after an early breakfast and then went on a self guided walk of Amsterdam. Guess who found two patchwork shops, side by side. One was very nice and friendly and had lots of traditional Dutch fabric, and also a large range of USA fabric. The other had modern Dutch fabric designed here and produced in some cheap country. The owner was not very helpful and so we spent little time here. This made up for the longer time spent in the first shop. We then collected our luggage and travelled by taxi to our hotel. After checking in, we then returned to the city, this time by train, to have a final farewell dinner with 2 of the 3 couples that we shared much of the cruise with. The train trip to the city was shared with lots of backpackers and others travelling from the airport to the city, standing room only. The train trip back was just as interesting with a diverse range of passengers, but plenty of seats this time.

Thursday 14/6 was a house keeping day, luckily because we slept in till 8:45. After breakfast, we headed off by taxi to Hertz and collected our hire-car, a new snazzy little Fiat that I call Gina. With the help of our GPS that we call Annie, we negotiated the freeway back to our hotel with no problems. Then, Jean sorted our washing while George searched for Laundromats on the internet. Having discovered 4 Laundromats nearby, we headed off to do some washing and drying. The closest Laundromat had closed down, so off to the second, a “full service” Laundromat. The owner does the washing (40 mins), drying (20 mins) and folding for you and for 7 Euro for 5kg of clothes. We had about 9kg, so two loads were set off. Some of our clothes couldn’t handle industrial drying, but that’s no problem, just come back in 40 minutes time and sort out what needs to be rescued from the drying. We went and had lunch and came back for the sorting, then headed off to the supermarket whilst the drying was in progress. In the supermarket, we found some SE Australian white wine for Euro 2.99 a bottle; are we being ripped off somewhere? After this, it was back to the hotel, some ironing and re-packing of clothes, and then a nice dinner in the hotel’s dinning room. Our plan for tomorrow is to head north of Amsterdam and to see where Gina and Annie will take us.

The last few days have been busy. First, Sunday 10/6, we started with an excursion into Rudesheim and went on a tour of the Music Museum. A building full of music boxes ranging from one that is built into a Cigar Box, to ones that are the size of a small room. This was followed by a cable car ride to look out over the start of the Rhine Valley then a leisurely walk back to the ship for and interesting afternoon’s cruise along the Rhine Valley. For about 2 hours, we cruised, and about every 5 to 10 minutes there was yet another castle. This ended when we arrived in Braubach. Here we were taken by coaches to Marksburg Castle where we had a guided tour of the only Medieval Castle that was never invaded or damaged and of which many parts are still as built hundreds of years ago. During the dinner here, we were entertained by minstrels, jugglers and acrobats. Later we travelled by coach back to meet the ship which had cruised on to Coblence.

Monday 11/6, there was a slight change in schedule. After sailing from Coblence to Cologne in the wee small hours of the morning, we headed off on a walking tour of Cologne. More amazing churches and cathedrals, and an even more amazing Roman Mosaic floor which was uncovered in pristine condition buried 6 metres below the current ground level. There are a couple of other archaeological digs of the Roman times, right near the centre of the old town. A quick lunch today and then we were onto a couple of coaches. This was the change of itinerary. Many of the passengers were planning on doing an extension after the cruise to the Floriade near Venlo. (We were planning to do this as well but on our own.) For the passengers, this would be a 2 ½ hour trip each way from Amsterdam to Venlo and return. Our Cruise Director had arranged for the trip to Floriade to be done from Cologne and then meeting up with the ship in Duisburg. Cologne to Venlo is only 1 ¼ hours and Venlo to Duisburg about ¾ hours, so doing it this way saves 3 hours of coach travel time. When this change was made, all other passengers were given the option to do this trip at an additional cost. Jean and I decided to do this and are happy that we did. The Floriade visit was only 3 ½ hours but was enough for us. It was not what we were expecting (the Cruise Director had told everyone this). The International Floriade is not like the Canberra Floriade as we had thought it was, but more like a small Expo based on Agriculture and Horticulture. It was, never the less interesting, we saw what we wanted, liked what we saw, and now have 2 extra days for our touring as we had allowed 2 days for Floriade. After arriving back on board the ship, it was time for a quick shower and change and then off to the Captain’s Gala Farewell Dinner. It was close to midnight last night when we got back to our cabins.

Tuesday 12/6, we docked in Amsterdam this morning and we had chosen to do a canal boat trip of the city. The boat trip was for 1 hour and this was preceded and followed by one hour each of bus trips around the city. We certainly had a good tour of Amsterdam. This afternoon, we are packing our cases as they need to be outside our cabin doors before 7AM tomorrow. Tonight is our last dinner with our new friends, tomorrow at 9AM we all depart, some to return to Oz, other to continue, like us, on more holidays. Where we will go depends largely on where our hire-car takes us and the route chosen by Annie (our GPS guide voice). All we know is that we will be in Maastrich on 26/6, Frankfurt on 29/6 and Brisbane on 1/7. Stay tuned, we will attempt to keep you updated.

More Photos to Enjoy

Just some more happy snaps

Rothenburg Citizen Past

Rothenburg Citizen Present

Rothenburg Downtown

Rothenburg Transport Past

Rothenburg Transport Present

Main river Vineyard

Meal at Monastery

Meal at Ratskeller

Village Life, off the ship and on the ship

Saturday 9/6, this morning we headed off on 4 coaches but in 10 small groups to experience life in the local community in the country villages. We chose a trip to a Franciscan Monastery, Kloster Engelberg. Here, we were met by a Franciscan Monk for a short tour then we were given a sample of the meals that they supply daily to pilgrims. At breakfast this morning, they served 400+ pilgrims with a meal. For morning tea, we had Beer or Wine with Monastery bread, cheese, ham and sausage. Quite a filling meal for a snack! We then went for a walk through the Monastery’s Beer-garden, their vegetable garden and vineyard, and then through their tourist shop. After a short coach trip back to Freudenberg we then had lunch at a Ratskeller, a traditional midday meal in the “council’s cellar”. A meal of salads, noodle pasta, and rissole-like meat patties, with more Beer and more Wine was served. This was enjoyed by all. During the meal we were entertained by a Bavarian DJ.

In the afternoon, we had time to relax onboard while cruising down the river. Just before dinner, we were again entertained, this time by a professional Zither player. After this, it was time for dinner, more food, more beer and more wine. This evening after dinner, we were entertained by the ship’s “hotel” crew with songs, dances and skits. It was very obvious that the hotel crew on-board this ship enjoy working for/with the “hotel manager, Thomas”.

Visiting the Picturesque Town of Rothenburg

Friday 8/6, a late wake-up today but an early lunch and in-between an entertaining talk and demonstration by a glass-blower from Wertheim. Karl Ittig is a sixth generation glass-blower and is not only extremely talented at his craft but also an interesting and very entertaining presenter. After lunch, we boarded coaches and headed for the old town of Rothenburg. Here we had an interesting and informative tour of the old town followed by an equally interesting free-time walk around. We came across about 20 vintage European cars, and surprisingly only 3 of them were left-hand drive. All the others including Benz and Renault were right-hand drive. On the way back to the ship we came by Autobahn, an interesting drive; trucks limited to 80km/hr, buses limited to 100km/hr and cars travelling at unlimited speed, most in the 130 to 180km/hr bracket but the occasional car in the 200 to 250km/hr bracket and all on a 2-lane dual carriage-way. After dinner this evening, we were entertained by the executive chef and the hotel services manager cooking “Seafood Paella”.

A couple of photos

For your viewing

Cesky Krumlov House

Cesky Krumlov Street

Bamberg Cathedral

Bamberg Downtown

Two different towns, two different themes

Wednesday 6/6, Jean wasn’t feeling the best so George headed off on his own for the afternoon excursion into Nuremberg and then the Documentation Centre which depicts the rise and fall of the Nazi Party prior to, during and immediately after World War 2. A tour not for everyone, but very well done and we had the services of an excellent guide (actually a Welshman) who was extremely knowledgeable. Upon return to the ship, we were treated to a Bavarian Beer tasting party (four nice but different beers) and then a Bavarian Gala Dinner.

This morning 7/6, we docked in the old town of Bamberg, one of the few German cities that were not destroyed by the allied bombings during WW2. The old town of Bamberg is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage. Today was the Roman Catholic Corpus Christi celebration and so the whole town was pretty well closed as a public holiday until 11AM. Its main cathedral was founded in 1004, finished in 1012 and consecrated on May 6, 1012 (1,000 years, 1 month and 1 day ago). Jean was feeling better today so we had to discover the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas store and marvel at the fantastic Christmas decorations. We bought just one, to bring home and share with everyone. This afternoon while cruising to Wurzburg, we will be doing a tour of the ships Galley, to discover how they produce 160 breakfasts, 160 four-course lunches and 160 five-course dinners each day.

Update after the galley tour. This little ship with 8 Chefs and 2 kitchen hands produces 700 meals per day. The kitchen and dining room staff work 10 hour days and they work 7 days a week for 9 months straight, then they get a break. By the way, the daily wine consumption of the 160 passengers on this cruise is between 190 and 220 bottles. In 2011, the record was set at 260 bottles. Each ship is independently assessed for each cruise. So far this season, the Scenic Ruby (this ship) has had the top score for all but one cruise. In 2011, the Scenic Ruby got the top score for every cruise.

Rain, rain go away, a cold wind may blow today

Monday 4/6, an early breakfast this morning before we board a coach for the trip to Cesky Krumlov. On the way we stopped in “No man’s land” between the Austrian and Czech borders. Wine $3 a bottle, Baileys $16 a litre, Cigarettes (bleh!) $3-4 a packet; no wonder so many people smoke here. We had a nice walk around Cesky then lunch and more free walking time. A pity it rained, but we were luckier than those who chose Salzburg because it rain even more there. Some retail therapy dulled the pain of the rain. A further trip by coach to Passau to meet with the ship that had cruised to there, then a walk around the town of Passau. Dinner tonight (for us and 18 others) was in Portobello’s Restaurant, an exclusive dining experience on board the ship. Just a slightly later evening after consuming 7 courses, to finish the day with.

Luckily, today 5/6 was a later start. While we were having breakfast we passed the Greek Temple of “Walhalla” built on the bank of the Danube in the middle of the Bavarian Forest, just because! The inside of the temple is empty, and the guy who commissioned it to be built never visited the temple after he ordered its construction. What else do you do with too much money? Mid morning we arriving in the city of Regensburg and walked around at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, the temperature was around 15 degrees C with a brisk breeze, so it was a bit uncomfortable, but nice all the same. Retail therapy also helps when it is cold. Time for a rest on board this afternoon before we set sail for Nuremberg this evening around 6PM (2AM for those of you in Oz).

A small Austrian Village and a Wow of an Abbey

Sunday 3/6, after cruising since midnight we arrived in Durnstein, Austria just after breakfast and then went for a walk around this nice little village on the bank on the Danube. Some people walked to the ruins of Richard the Lion-heart’s castle which overlooks the village. This is at the eastern end of the Wachau Valley. Then it was back on board and westward-ho up the Wachau Valley. 150 photos later we arrived in the town of Melk and after lunch we headed off to visit the Abbey. The Melk Abbey is the original abbey of the Benedictine Monks. Wow and double wow, did they collect some gold to decorate the inside of their church, and there is plenty more of it on display in their Museum. Their library is just as impressive with several thousand books per room, and there are 12 rooms. They even have some of the oldest manuscripts in the world on display. Today’s weather was excellent, the max was around 26 degrees C, so when we returned to the ship we had a BBQ on the sundeck with lots of beer and wine to wash down the food. Here are some photos from today, followed by a couple from previous days.

Richard the Lion Heart's Castle overlooking Durnstein.

Melk Abbey

And another

Parlament House in Budapest by day

and by Night, this parliament house is the second largest in Europe, UK is the largest

Schronbrun Palace

Our stewardess left a dog on our bed one morning. It looked like this....

with my glasses, too.

This is St Mathias Church in the Castle District of Budapest.

Enjoy!

A day in Vienna

Saturday 2/6 with an early start we headed off to Schonbrunn Palace to visit some of the 1,441 majestic rooms. This huge summer home of the Habsburgs family is set amongst expanses of rose gardens on a block of land 1km by 1km in the inner suburbs of Vienna. The weather wasn’t too kind to us today so we didn’t get to experience the gardens, but experienced a great morning tea in a Viennese Coffee shop instead, Café Residenz. My eyes were almost bigger than my stomach but I still digested a chocolate coated waffle cone filled with sponge cake, strawberry mouse, sliced strawberries and almond slivers; washed down with a latte. Meanwhile, Jean enjoyed an apple strudel with a (decaf) latte too. After this, we visited the Carriage Museum, and viewed numerous horse drawn carriages covered in gold. A while later a Bratwurst lunch was dealt with, followed by a visit to St Stephen’s Cathedral. Afterwards, a walk up town to the Spanish Riding School and their magnificent Lipizzaner stallions filled the afternoon. Back to our ship and another of those fine dining experiences. We set sail at midnight tonight and have been told that internet access is almost non-existent for a day or two.

The first 3 days of the Cruise

Wednesday 30/5 Hectic, calming, relaxing. Today started out with a full repack of our bags then a short walk from our Mercure to the Marriott where we left our bags and had a slow stroll around Budapest before preparing to board. 3PM, we were collected from the Marriott and taken by coach to the Scenic Ruby for check-in. Shortly afterwards, we were introduced to our Captain, Hotel Manager, and Cruise Director. This was followed by our first sumptuous meal (many more have followed). Wednesday night, we stayed docked in Budapest. We had dinner with the Kiwi couple (previously met) and a couple from Adelaide and another from Sydney. After dinner, we went for a cruise up and down the Danube (which is not blue) for about 1 ½ hours. Accommodation on these river boats (Scenic Space Ships) is Five-star plus, beautiful rooms, plenty of space, luxurious fittings, and great staff.

Thursday 31/5 morning (after one of those breakfasts) we headed off on a tour of Budapest and a tour and concert at the University of Musicology. The tour was about Franz Liszt and the concert was primarily of his music. The pianist at the concert was Professor Csaba Kiraly (coming to Sydney in July) and his piano playing is unbelievable. The tour guide said that Professor Kiraly has done over 80 concerts and has not yet repeated a piece of music, and most of it he plays without the score. A quiet afternoon, then we set off up the Danube at about 5PM. There was the compulsory fire drill at 5:15 and this was followed by dinner with entertainment by a Hungarian Band and Hungarian Folk Dancers. The other 3 couples are all very similar age to us with very similar tastes. We are all getting along very well.

Friday 1/6 is river cruising until about 6PM. We encountered our first of 68 locks this morning at 7:30. It raised us 20 metres in 25 minutes into the Danube canal, and then we cruised up past Bratislava around noon. We are due into Vienna around 6PM. After an early dinner this evening, we will be taken by coach to the Palace Lichtenstein for a private Classical Concert for where we have been told we need to “Dress Elegantly”. Tonight we stay in Vienna and there are a number of day trips planned for tomorrow. Stay tuned but please be patient, internet access along the Danube is patchy to be polite.