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

[petercr]

Must be enjoying myself as I'm losing the plot as to what day of the week it is. One last photo from Cochem (just to satisfy the inner child in me)


seems they don't quite vet number plates like we do in Australia...

From Cochem we headed to Bernkastel-Kues however I was feeling adventurous (or stupid if you believe my wife) and decided to take up the offer of bicycling the last 25k's or so from Traben-Trarbach with a group of about 15ppl on the e-bikes that Scenic have on board.
for those of you thinking 'that's easy,' the e-bike function only provides assistance once you're pedaling so if you coast then it's up to you...



And time for a spot of site-seeing at the half-way mark...

A new highway bridge being built to cross the Moselle - the road deck on those towers is about 160m above the river...

does anyone know where I can purchase a new set of buttocks? (was going to say bum...)

 

[petercr]

To be continued once home... Mobile interwebz are painfully slow in the French/Swiss/German corner

 

[petercr]

Back at home where the internet is a bit more reliable... (darn you Rhine River for being the border of 3 countries in this area)

For those of you who drink the genuine stuff, here's an example of where your Moselle comes from...


Tuesday 25th saw the crew along with a number of Aussies, English and Canadians meet in the lounge for a dawn service - Scenic being an Aussie company made sure that we remembered those who made the supreme sacrifice for us. It was kind of surreal to think that we were commemorating Anzac Day on foreign ground of what was once an enemy...

 

[petercr]

Wed 26th saw us still docked in Bernkastel, we had the option of a tour of Luxembourg City, Trier or a guided tour of Bernkastel.

Seeing as my wife and I had never been to Luxembourg and some surveys (including Red Planet) ask whether you've been there we thought it would be interesting and another country to add to the list (makes #5 on the trip if you exclude Singapore)...


Another historic old house, bought by a Dutch millionaire and done up - was partly being let out as a B&B...


Almost at the centre of Luxembourg - in the foreground construction for a light rail from the airport to the city centre, in the middle one of the International Court of Justice buildings (the one on the right is home to over 1000 translators who translate much of the EU legislation and ICJ court proceedings.


The Monument of Remembrance, usually known by the nickname of the Gëlle Fra (Luxembourgish for 'Golden Lady') - the drop-off point for our coach which was only a 5 min walk to the city centre...

Notre Dame Cathedral...

 

[petercr]

Luxembourg Palace - home to the Grand-Duke and his Cuban-born wife (although they weren't home at the time we tried to visit)



It was about then that my phone decided it was too cold (might have looked sunny but it was only about 2deg out) and the battery ran out of charge so no more photos of Luxembourg. Luckily we had my wife's ipad with us...

The 'old' part of Luxembourg and the Alzette River running through it

Of course we did some window shopping...

One pair of very comfy slippers - just one problem... asking price was 150 Euros !!! :shock: ????

And on the journey back to Bernkastel...


And back to our floating home-away-from-home to heads back up the Moselle to Rudersheim (via Koblenz)

 

[petercr]

Early start for on Thursday 27th... got up at 5:45am to catch this shot...


We wound our way back towards Koblenz


and past through yet another dock...


Past the statue of Wilhelm the Great at the German corner and back onto the Rhine heading south...

 

[petercr]

Even more castles (it soon became an acronym to us and our Canadian friends... ABC - Another Bloody Castle)


Past the town of Boppard where my wife spent 6 month studying German 20-odd years ago and of which she still can remember some...



The Marksburg Castle which is the start of the Rhine Gorge

and the infamous Lorelei who according to legend lured many sailors to death on the rocks and shoals in the area with her singing...

 

[petercr]

The afternoon saw us dock in Rudesheim where we visited 'Siegfrieds Musikkabbinett' (which didn't excite me much - here a link to a youtube clip if you're more old-fashion-musical-instrument minded than me)...
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLHwVlunhU5o&usg=AFQjCNFjgBR5YbP5CdWOKpQOv8dHu26AmA

And then a chance to go up the cable car to the Nierderwarld Monument which celebrate the victory at the 1871 Franco-Prussian war and the subsequent creation of the German Empire.



After (once again freezing our proverbials off) , we retreated back to the town to warm up, my wire and our Canadian friends decided to partake of the local delicacy... a Rudesheimer Kaffee;

take a tall heat-proof mug,
3 cubes of sugar,
30ml of warmed Alsbach brandy (which comes from the region) poured over the sugar to dissolve,
set fire to the brandy and stir...
add hot coffee and stir again,
top with about half a can of whipped cream and grated chocolate and consume.

My wife enjoyed it so much, we brought home a bottle of the local brandy.


Our Canadian friends in the Drosselgasse (after coffee) trying to navigate back to the boat...

 

[RB]

Even more castles (it soon became an acronym to us and our Canadian friends... ABC - Another Bloody Castle)



and the infamous Lorelei who according to legend lured many sailors to death on the rocks and shoals in the area with her singing...

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Enjoying your write-up. We were very surprised at how ordinary the Lerelei was. Must say though that the caravan park there and in various spots along the Mosel are in prime position

 

[petercr]

We had, earlier in the cruise, joked with our kids that we were just cruising up & down Pummicestone estone Passage as so much of the view out the window looked like the north end of Bribe Island and all the caravan parks added to the illusion. Must be freezing in those vans in their so-called Spring...

 

[drron]

Ah but spring is spargel time.When we fahrted around Germany in May schnitzel and spargel was our favourite meal.

 

[petercr]

Love the schnitz (didn't have any though) but hate the sparrows guts...

 

[love_the_life]

Love the schnitz (didn't have any though) but hate the sparrows guts...

Que????? :shock:
You don't like spargel?

 

[petercr]

Nope... Can't stand it, let my wife have my share (which did happen twice on the cruise)

 

[petercr]

Friday 28th April saw the ship docking in Mannheim. Choices for the day (apart from staying on-board all day which could be done any day) were 2 options on a visit to Heidelberg (no, not the north-eastern suburb of Melbourne) or my choice - a visit to the Hockenheim F1 racing circuit and Motor-Sport-Museum...


Even though it was a Friday, there was racing going on - our guide told us the circuit is used (on average) 300 days per year.

Video from the main grandstand - just outside the VIP boxes

[video]https://www.facebook.com/100016873417183/videos/a.120054861900294.1073741830.100016873417183/120054881900292/?type=3[/video]

As part of our group visit (there was about 20 of us), we got early-bird access to the Museum and had about 30mins to wander around before the general public were admitted...


A flock of Sunbeams


You can probably guess this


Mr Daimler's first attempt at a motorcycle

We also got to wander through the pit paddock and climbed onto the podium - no time for champagne spraying though...

Picked up a souvenir polo-shirt and a couple of Hockenheimring stickers for my car (so that people think it's been there) as reminder

 

[petercr]

We sailed early that afternoon to make our next stop at Karlsruhe were we were to be shown around and attend a concert in the Rastatt Palace (don't know why but these places have a 'no photography inside policy'). Sitting in concerts in cramped plastic chairs isn't my thing to so while the evening concert was taking place, I decided to do a self-guided tour of the palace grounds and enjoy the nice crisp clear weather (they don't put A/C in these old buildings so I was glad to be outside)






We finally arrived back on-board about 11pm for a late snack and drinks (and didn't we have a few drinks over the course of the cruise )

 

[daft009]

thanks for the trip report! any more to come?

I was just getting into the holiday mood myself and I got to the end of pg6 :O

EDIT: the sinshiem private museum is on the outskirts of Heideberg, forgot to tell you to check that out if you were in the vicinity.
they have two concordes!

 

[petercr]

Yep... Still another 3 days on the cruise plus 2 days in Switzerland to report on...

 

[petercr]

Saturday the 29th rolled around and saw us arrive in Kehl is southwest Germany... Kehl is across the Rhine from Strasbourg which was French, then German, then French again depending on who won which war...

Options for the day were either a bus tour of the wine regions of Alsace or a guided tour of Strasbourg - we took the wine tour as in the afternoon we had free time which included a shuttle bus going from the ship to Strausbourg.

First stop was a visit to the winery of Pierre & Albert Seltz in Mittelbergheim - it's amazing how a 50+seat coach can navigate through the tiny streets of these villages... (imagine the laneways of inner city Melbourne or Sydney :shock

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Unfortunately light was pretty dim in the cellar so I didn't get any good shots but luckily my wife did...



Albert talked about the history of the place and how the geology of the region is so important to the wine growing as there can be major differences in the soil within a few hundred metres. He's the 14th generation of his family living in the village and they've all been involved in the wine industry and he hopes his teenage son will follow in his footsteps.



We tasted 4 white wines (me not being a wine connoisseur couldn't really tell the difference) of which my wife though two were fantastic. Albert was selling them at the cellar door for 15 and 20 Euro each and he mentioned that he had an agent in Australia, we later looked the agent up and the price back home was $75ea plus freight... :shock:


Lucky for those in the tour party who bought them direct...

 

[petercr]

After we said goodbye to Albert (who had a bucks party arriving just as we were leaving !!!) we headed to Obernai in the Vosges Mountains, Obernai is an important center of wine and beer production (including Kronenbourg beer) as well as a touristic destination.


(the Place du marché)

The city centre is a walled city that dates back to the 1200's and was taken by the Holy Roman Empire then the Swedes (?!?!) in the 1600's, then ceded to France, captured by Germany in the 1870's and finally returned to France after WW1. (phew)


The area is renown for being home to many bird species who travel to northern Africa for the summer. Our guide said that storks frequently nest in the area and we spotted two on a chimney... They're also featured on the town's coat-of-arms and souvenirs all over the town.



After returning to the ship for lunch (the usual 3-course buffet plus wine), we decided to see what Strasbourg had to offer. Our Canadian friends went off on a tour of Kehl as this was the town of Wayne's forebearers and the source of the family name. Poor Wayne tried to locate 'Kehl' souvenirs in the town but was totally out of luck... :-|

Being a long weekend, Strasbourg was pretty packed and we had to avoid a few pre-May Day demonstrations but we managed to get some shots of the Cathedral (on the historic Grand Ile - which is yet another Unesco heritage site);


and a sign pointing us in the right direction to home (well sort of) on the banks of the Ill River before we boarded our coach back to the ship...