A month in Europe (with a Scenic tour thrown in)

[petercr]

Today's activity for us was a trip to Bruges which is a UNESCO recognized city and also referred to as the 'Venice of Belgium' as its surrounded by and has canals running through it.

Scene of movies including In Bruges and The Monuments Men and known for lace, beer (they have a beer pipeline going through the old part of town to breweries outside), chocolate and fries (or frites - never to be called French Fries)


One of the entry points to the old town

... More photos to come when the Internet improves (after we leave port)


(45 min going but double that coming back due to peak hour traffic)

 

[petercr]

Oops... Have been a bit slack but I think they must be using Sky Muster for the Internetz here as it's very slow...

Okay, so more of Bruges from the other day (all becoming a blur as to what day of the week it is)...

No, it's not Venice...

A far bit of gilding around the old town

And church towers...

The recently installed beer pipeline outside one of the town's drinking establishments...

 

[petercr]

It's Saturday afternoon as I type this and have 3 days to catch up on... (have to check the previous days itinerary to work out what's what)

Wednesday we docked in Veere around 10am however we were early so we lazed around a bit before lunch (which seems to be getting better).

Moored...

Looking toward the village from the top deck of the Pearl

After lunch the options were a walking tour of Veere (which my wife went on) or for the engineering enthusiasts (me included) a trip to the Delta Works which is part of the Netherlands effort to protect the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta from the sea.

A mammoth skeleton on display in the museum, found nearby..


The area we visited (the Eastern Schelde) consisted of 65 of the above barrier segments split into 3 groups covering a distance of about 7km. These were sunk on specially prepared areas and consist of an area on the left where the barriers slide up and down and on the right a 2-lane road. Each one weighs approx 18,000 tones and all of them were installed within a year. The barriers are designed to be open normally but once a storm surge of 3m (above normal high tide) is predicted, the barriers will close and allow a clearance of around another 3m.



The black object is one of the barriers in the partially closed position.

 

[petercr]

This is one of the massive pistons on each end of the barriers that help close them. We were told that the hydraulic force the close with is 220 bar (that's 22,000kpa) each and they take about an hour to fully open and close.


Inside the roadway segment over one of the barriers is a museum space with displays and information on the construction. Inside was at least 2.5m high and would have been at least 8-10m wide.



A bust of Dr Ir Johan Van Veen who was one of the chief architects (the 'father') of the Delta Plan in the visitors Centre.

More on the Delta Works... Deltawerken - Deltaworks

 

[petercr]

Wednesday evening had us setting sail from Veere and arriving in Arnhem lunch-time on Thursday.

One thing that has really surprised me over the last two weeks is the number of vapor trails that I've seen in the sky...



On arrival at Arnhem, we docked just near the John Frost Bridge which was the scene of the Battle of Arnhem which was dramatized in the movie A Bridge Too Far. We then boarded a bus to the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Oosterbeek which contains the graves of over 1800 men who gave their lives in Sept '44. (American soldiers who grew were buried elsewhere in their own dedicated cemetery)



Nearly all the gravestones were British, Canadian, Polish and Dutch, however we spotted a couple of Aussie flags together...

 

[petercr]

After we paid our respects to those interred, we boarded the bus again and headed to the museum which is now in the hotel General Urqhart used for his headquarters once they had successfully taken Arnhem.


There were two levels of displays of various artifacts from the period



And then a level with life-size dioramas


And then finally in the sub-basement, an area that you walked through that portrayed interactive scenes from the time of the battle (with full sound effects);

 

[petercr]

And the official memorial to the battle in the park opposite;

 

[petercr]

After this we continued on to Nijmegen (scene of another battle around the same time - this time involving the American soldiers) before re-boarding the boat for the overnight journey to Maastricht. Somehow all but one of my photos of Maastricht somehow disappeared...



I've lost count of the number of locks (or sluis in Dutch) we've gone through but it's amazing to watch the process and work out how far up or down you've gone... (this is just the one over a period of about 30 min - note the footbridge across just in front of the boat)




And how close we come to the walls... :shock:

 

[love_the_life]

Having twin beds pushed together to make a queen is common on most cruise lines as it gives them more flexibility for bookings. Actually I would have liked the two doonas as I sleep at a different temperature from husband. I love travelling through locks and find the mechanics of them fascinating.

 

[sinophile888]

Actually I would have liked the two doonas as I sleep at a different temperature from husband.

I often think that using separate doonas is the main key to a happy marriage.

 

[petercr]

Yesterday (Saturday) saw us dock in Xanten (the only town in Germany to start with an X but which is pronounced with a KS or just an S depending on which part of the country you're from) and I took the trip to Essen to visit the Zollverein coal mine (which makes UNESCO listed site #3 while on our holiday) ...

The first mine was opened in 1847 and shaft 12 was opened in 1132 and closed in Dec 1986.

It became a UNESCO site in 2001as an architectural and technical masterpiece.

The escalator up to the visitor center and museum... (from ground level to 24m up)

And from the outside...


Inside the old #12 pit building

 

[petercr]

Models of what the inside of the pit building and the overall sight would have looked like


After a trip through the pit building, we went back to the museum and then up to the roof viewing deck (40m up) which gave us a great view of the surrounding country




More info... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zollverein_Coal_Mine_Industrial_Complex

 

[petercr]

Catching up again after a few days....

Saturday saw us leave Xanten in the afternoon, arriving in Koblenz (at the junction of the Rhine and Moselle rivers) around noon on Sunday

That's 6 barges each with a loaded weight of around 3000 tones each... :shock:


The Rheinturm (Rhine Tower) as we sailed past Dusseldorf


And the former Mullheim-Karlich nuclear power plant which was completed in 1986 and taken off-line only 3 years later and decommissioned in 2001.


Thought I'd include a couple of shots of our home for the last week... Our suite measures about 19 sq m in total with a balcony complete with sliding glass window

(with my wife waving from the balcony)

 

[petercr]

After arriving in Koblenz and lunch we split into 4 groups for a guided walking tour of the town;



In many parts, the tulips had just started coming out after winter...



Checkout how square the red building is... :shock:


And the statue of Wilhelm the Great on the 'German Corner'

 

[petercr]

After our walk around town (but not before seeing some of the city's 'artwork')...


We took the cable-car across the Rhine as a group to the Ehrenbreitstein fortress for an organized drink and 'concert' (by an oompa duo who I found very annoying) and then free time to wander before taking the cable back down...






We left around 11pm after fireworks from the top of the fortress and sailed through the night to our next destination - Cochem.

More on Koblenz... http://www.koblenz.de/stadtleben_kultur/koblenz_allgemeine_infos_e.html

 

[ellen10]

We spent a week based in Cochem. The Mosel is a quieter and cuter area I think.

 

[petercr]

After sailing overnight we arrived in Cochem which is believed to have been settled by the Celts and Romans. Our main visiting point today was the Reichsburg Castle which overlooks the town...

 

[petercr]

And just for RB, I managed to find Toff Toff but it was just about to close... (was a special day in town and some were only trading for half the day)




It was only about 10deg out but at least the sun decided to make an appearance so my wife and I decided to have a late morning tea at one of the many coffee shops, as you can see I went with waffles, strawberries and cream.

Need to head off to bed so more tomorrow...

 

[RB]

View attachment 96436

And just for RB, I managed to find Toff Toff but it was just about to close... (was a special day in town and some were only trading for half the day)
View attachment 96437

View attachment 96438

It was only about 10deg out but at least the sun decided to make an appearance so my wife and I decided to have a late morning tea at one of the many coffee shops, as you can see I went with waffles, strawberries and cream.

Need to head off to bed so more tomorrow...

Cheers, thanks for the photo. Not sure if you are reporting live, but if you have time there is a good walk that starts near the Cochem railway station (runs parallel to the river). For a bit more exercise & a harder climb but a great view you can climb the hillside on the other side of the river.

 

[petercr]

RB,

Nope... Running about 2 days behind although we did sail back through Cochem a couple of hours ago in the middle of the night. 5:30am local time as I write and we're only about an hour from heading back past Koblenz.

We did do a good walk through the town though - very hilly and lots of little narrow strasse.