Grand European River Cruise

City Mode

We arrived in Cologne on June 12th. Got to town shortly before 9 AM and got the guided tour of the center of the city, the Roman – Germanic Museum and the Cathedral.

The people are a little anti government as you can see with the man sticking is tongue out when the clock tower chimes and the “moon”  next to the blue building.

I later looked up the “4711 cologne ” perfume store and then took a tour of the Chocolate Museum.

I stopped into the Peter’s Brauhaus for a taste of Cologne’s beer before heading back to the ship. We set sail for Amsterdam at 1:30 PM.

(pictures finally uploaded!)

After sailing all day yesterday, we arrived on the Rhine and Rudesheim this morning. This the beginning of the Middle Rhine and where the Robber Barons of the Middle Ages established  castles along the river to extort tolls from river travelers. We walked around town in the morning, took the tram up to the Monument of the Watcher of the Rhine and had lunch at the Rudesheimer Schloss Restaurant. where I participated in tasting schnapps Fred from Frankfurt joined me at the restaurant and we later had a drink of the local brandy and an ice cream before I headed back to the ship. Then we cruised along the river towards Cologne through “castle row”. Along the route we made a surprise stop at Koblenz and took a brief walking tour.

I still have 5 0r 6 pictures of castles between Rudesheim and Cologne which I haven’t posted.

Tomorrow its Cologne.

Today was sailing day – stops except in the locks! I caught up on posting Rothenburg photos. Later in the day we did have a demonstration of glass blowing. In the evening after dinner we had a game of Majority Rules. Just a “do nothing day” before a stop tomorrow in Rudesheim, Germany.

Yesterday we sailed to Wurzburg. In the morning some of us took the coach to “fairy-tale” city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The city is completely surrounded by a wall with several entry gates.

St Jacob’s Cathedral above.

Then there was the Old Craftsman’s House from the 13th Century

Later I visited the Medieval Crime Museum – or better  described as the “weapons of torture museum.

Some Photos of Wurzburg.

In the late afternoon we did wine tasting at Staatlicher Hofkeller in Wurzburg:

We were off to town at 9:30 this morning on June 8th, for our colorful walking tour of Bamberg. We viewed the Green Market, which is open 6 days a week. Observed white asparagus -normal here, the think green asparagus is odd.

We then passed by the Old Town Hall,

the Imperial Cathedral,

the Old Court,

the Rose Garden,

and the Prince-Bishop’s New Residence.

We then tasted the smoked Bamberg beer(“lagniappe”) and had bratwurst.

After leaving the town of Regensburg, we entered the beginning of the Main-Danube Canal at Kelheim. It is about 106 miles. and has 16 locks. We crossed over the continental divide at about 5:30 this morning and have passed through an aqueduct on the canal.

We have arrived 3 hours early to Nuremburg. We will still have lunch on board before exploring Medieval Nuremburg. We were bused around town and stopped at the Imperial palace. This was the las day of a beergarden festival. We toured the palace and then went into the center of twon to see the Town Hall. We passed the Bratworsthausle kitchen where their bratworst is a direct rival to the sausages of Regensburg. It is closed on Sunday so off to the Brautwurst Roslien we went for a bratwurst meal. We visited the what was supposed to be a gargoyle-adorned golden statue fountain called the Schoner- Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain),but it was under construction. I have a picture of the ring in it that is supposed to be lucky if rubbed. We walked around St Sebaldus church, which is a mixture of Catholic and Lutheran style.

Back at the ship we played Trivia tonight. Alas, our team came in 3rd. But I already have the prize MS Treasures cap from the last time we played and won.Had dinner at the ships Bistro-French cuisine tonight-.

Today we walked around in the village of Regensburg

and toured the Palace of Turin and Taxis. No pictures were allowed inside the palace

.After leaving the palace we walked through the farmers’s market and then waited in line at the Historic Sausage Kitchen (Wurstkuche) on the Stone Bridge for a grilled sausage. I sampled one with sauerkraut and croissant, instead of the traditional six-pack,  because I didn’t know how long the waiter service would take so I stood in line for a kind of self service.

Then back to the ship for departure. We had a quartet from the Regensburg Boys Choir perform. They were slightly older boys!

The Boy’s Choir Quartet