R&R on the Rhine - Cologne

A tale of a cruise on the Rhine River:
R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rudesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

Mid-morning Monday we docked in Cologne (Köln), Germany.  I loved how we were able to dock right in the midst of the city.  The day was a little warmer than the day before and we had beautiful sunshine.

Our guide was a high school history teacher so he provided a wealth of information.  He led us on a walking tour during the morning and then we had the afternoon to ourselves.  We stopped by an active archaeological dig of the old Jewish quarter (well, it would have been active on a weekday).  It's one of the oldest and largest such areas anywhere in Europe.  There are at least six superimposed building layers from various eras being unearthed.

Jewish quarter archaeological site

The crown jewel of Cologne is its most famous attraction and the most visited attraction anywhere in Germany, the Cathedral or Kölner Dom. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site whose construction started in 1248 but was halted, unfinished, in 1473.  Work was restarted on the structure in the 19th century and was completed to the original plan in 1880.  The spires are about 515 ft tall and give it the largest facade of any church in the world.

It's so large that it's nearly impossible to get the whole thing in one photo but I was able to stitch together a couple to come up with these shots.  C and I came back after dinner to see what it looked like all lit up and with the crowds gone I felt like the photos came out better.  We'd heard there was an Easter-eve service that evening but there was not one being held when we stopped by after dinner.

There are beautiful stained glass windows throughout, most depicting some sort of religious scene or notable Biblical figures.  One window was lost during World War II and initially replaced with plain glass.  In 2007 German artist Gerhard Richter provided a new mosaic window composed of 11,500 identically-sized pieces of colored glass, somewhat resembling pixels randomly arranged by a computer.  The archbishop of the cathedral had wanted a window depicting 20th century Catholic martyrs and thus did not attend the unveiling.

The Richter Window

After our tour ended at the Cathedral, we went back on board for some lunch then ventured out on our own.  The handy thing about the Cathedral is that it's so massive that it's hard to get lost in Cologne as you can always find your way to it.  Next door to the Cathedral is the Römisch-Germanisches Museum or Romano-Germanic Museum.  It's got a large collection of artifacts from the Roman settlements on which modern Cologne is built.  It's built over the site of a Roman town villa that had a number of mosaics on the floor including this giant one featuring Dionysus in the center.

Dionysus mosaic

Of course there were hundreds of pots and pottery shards, glass vessels and goldsmith works. But it was fascinating to see all of these artifacts in a building housed on the very site where they'd been found.

Sensing it was time for a different type of museum we headed back down to the riverfront for the Schokoladen Museum.  Yes, it's just like what it sounds, a chocolate museum run by Lindt.  We considered whether or not we wanted to both wait in the line and pay the hefty entrance fee and decided...let's just go to the gift shop.  There was a bit of a line there too but we were able to indulge our sweet tooths (teeth?) and managed not to break the bank doing so.  Strangely we didn't have to worry about trying to bring any of that chocolate back into the US.  Somehow it disappeared during the week.  Hmm.

Then it was back to the boat for dinner and the sun had set by the time we were through eating.  There was a carnival on the other side of the river and the rides were all lit up and they set off fireworks.  C and I decided to meander back into town since we weren't leaving until 11 pm so we had the opportunity to take more photos and then just relax at one of the many biergartens/outdoor cafes.  It was a lovely end to a Saturday.

R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk

A tale of a cruise on the Rhine River:
R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rudesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

When we awoke the next morning we were approaching Kinderdijk (KIN-der-dike) which is an area well-known for its windmills.  In fact, the windmills and the canals surrounding it are such a man-made wonder that the area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.  At one time there were more than 150 windmills in this general vicinity but today there are only 28 and sixteen of those are in the Kinderdijk area.  These mills were all built in 1738 and are called "bonnet mills" because only the top portion turns with the wind.  The sails are extremely long and come within one foot of the ground.

One of the windmills had been reconstructed specifically for tourists and it was amazing to think that an entire family would live in one of these structures.  Everything was very compact with each item having its own place.  I'm not sure how adults could have slept in the bed we saw as it looked way too short for even someone my size much less someone taller. We noticed some boots and shoes hanging on the wall and, yes, they were made of wood.  With the ground being damp so much of the time, the wooden shoes would keep feet dry.  Even the caretaker was wearing them!

At first we thought all the windmills looked basically alike but our guide pointed out differences in the ones on our side of the polders (canal-like holding areas) vs. the ones on the other side.  He also stated that when one of the millers died, the sails would be locked in one position if the miller liked the deceased and in another position if they did not.  Talk about subtle forms of communication!

The view from inside a windmill

This was the day with the most changeable weather.  It was sunny when we docked, started raining while we were touring the windmill and then the sun came back out.  All in the space of a couple of hours.  It was a little cool but really very nice considering it was mid-April and the weather only got better from there.

We cast off again around 11 AM and shortly thereafter had our safety briefing.  On a sea-going vessel we'd call this exercise the lifeboat drill.  While we did have to put on our life vests and meet at the designated spot, our longship doesn't actually have life boats.  Since it was so cool and raining occasionally, the crew allowed us to meet indoors instead of up on the sun deck where the normal gathering spots are.  The crew told us that in case of an accident we were to come up on the sun deck and hope our ankles don't get wet.  They pointed out that if we were on the upper-most deck we'd likely stay dry the whole time sine the river just isn't that deep.  Also, we were in view of the shore at all times - an advantage of a river cruise vs. a sea-going one - so it was never a far swim.

We were able to visit the wheelhouse that afternoon as we cruised and it was interesting to see how it all works.  Since there are bridges and locks on the river, the wheelhouse is on a hydraulic lift and can be raised and lowered as necessary.  The awnings over the lounge chairs on the sun deck can also be raised and lowered.  As we watched the captain carry us along, we received company - the river police.  They trailed us for a bit and the captain said it was because we were a new ship and they'd want to be sure we had all our papers.  Sure enough, a bit later we were boarded so they could ensure we were legitimate.  The captain told us that because the Rhine is such a busy river both with tourists and cargo, Viking had to file paperwork two years in advance to ensure they got the rights to the route they wanted!

We cruised through the afternoon and all night to reach our next port.  That was our longest cruise of the trip but it was nice to have a relatively slow day to start things off.

After a welcome reception from Captain Alex and Hotel Manager Harald we enjoyed another wonderful dinner and settled in for the night.

R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam

A tale of a cruise on the Rhine River:
R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rudesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

After lunch it was time to explore Amsterdam a bit.  I had two main things I wanted to see: the Anne Frank house and the Rijksmuseum.  I accomplished neither.  Thinking that we'd be ready to explore the city before lunch we had pre-booked a canal sightseeing tour.  While that wasn't a mistake it also took up most of the afternoon.

The first hurdle we faced was finding where the tour departed.  The crew members we asked didn't know but waved us in the general direction of the Centraal Train Station, which was pretty hard to miss.  It was probably a quarter to half-mile from where we were docked, an easy walk.  There were no canals on our side of the station so we tried to walk through - but you can't walk through to the other side without a ticket.  We took off down one side of the station and ran into canals and saw the tour boats but had the hardest time figuring out how to get to the other side.  Eventually C saw an underpass where we were finally able to cross over the canal and emerge on the other side of the train station.  But that little jaunt probably cost us a good 45 minutes!

Centraal Train Station in Amsterdam

There were several operators selling tour packages.  We finally found the one that matched our vouchers and stood in line for another 15 minutes or so.  Once we got our tickets we then had to stand in line to actually get on the tour boat.  And that was another 45 minutes.  So by now it had been nearly two hours since we left the boat and we really hadn't seen anything!

The boat tour itself was quite nice.  The recorded narration was in three languages: Dutch, German and English.  Naturally English was the last narration each time so we were sometimes past the point of interest before we had a clue to its importance.  The boat was glass-topped but the roof opened.  It was fairly cool as the wind blew but down below the roof line it was actually pretty comfortable.  Alas, our jet lag began to catch up with us and we really had to fight to keep from dozing off.  We knew at that point that we weren't going to see any other sights that day and we'd have to make Amsterdam a destination all its own for a later trip.

Note the hoists at the highest parts of the roofline.
Those are used to move furniture into the upper rooms.

The walk back to the ship was much quicker than the adventure walk out had been and we were able to meet up with the rest of our group.  It turned out they had stood in line for hours to see the Anne Frank house and it was very chilly that morning as they stood in line in the shade.  So a note for next time: buy tickets online before you go!

We'd heard about how much the Dutch love their bikes and we found that to be absolutely true.  People were riding bikes everywhere, even parents taking their kids to school.  There were bike lanes everywhere and we had to be careful not to get run over by them as they were often so quiet they'd sneak up on us a bit.  This parking garage for bikes just cracked us up.  We don't know how anyone would ever find their bike among all these and we've heard theft is fairly rampant but looks like there's always a large selection to choose from!

A parking garage for bicycles

Just before dinner all the passengers on the ship met up in the lounge for a few words of welcome from the crew.  They filled us in on some of the "need to know" things and then we went down to the main deck for the first of many wonderful dinners.

That night we had no issues getting to sleep as we tried to make up for a lack of it from the night before.  While we slept, the boat got underway.