December 17-20, 2021 The rest of the cruise

After dinner on Thursday night we were taken to a Coffee House in Rudesheim. The specialty of this Coffee House was strong coffee, brandy and whipped cream. A couple of cubes of sugar and brandy were put in a coffee mug and while mixing the sugar and brandy it was lit. While the brandy/sugar mixture was still aflame the coffee was poured in. Finally a dollop of whipped cream with chocolate sprinks was put on top. After we all raised a toast with this delicious coffee a pianist/singer was introduced who was going to lead us in some Christmas carols. Unfortunately, the first sing-a-long was Sweet Caroline (oh! oh! oh!). Not long after that we were singing YMCA. Fortunately, there was some dance music that we danced to. We were one of two couples on the dance floor. The final indignity was the "Chicken Dance". We keep reminding ourselves that the coffee was good. Friday we docked at Ludwigshafen with the intent to take an excursion to Romantic Heidelberg and Christmas Markets. Having been to Heidelberg previously our plan was to skip the Castle tour and just enjoy the Markets. Unfortunately, the day before we found out the Heidelberg Christmas Markets were cancelled. Instead we went to a large Mall that was right beside our dock. It was all high end goods and was very crowded. The people watching was outstanding. Strasbourg, France was the city besides Cologne that we were looking forward to visiting. The Christmas Markets in Strasbourg are among the best in Europe. There are four of the markets spread around Strasbourg, two of them surrounding the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. We enjoyed browsing and sampled our first mulled wine. The plan was to find a nice French cafe for lunch before returning to the ship. However, it was a cold damp day and the walk from our bus to the Cathedral had been long and tiring so we took the first bus back to the AmaLucia. Before leaving on this trip we had broached the possibilitiy of sometime in the future renting an AirBnB in Strasbourg for a couple of weeks. While Strasbourg is a wonderful city we decided it might be too big for what we want to do. Today, Monday, was our last port of call and turned out to be our favorite. Riquewihr is reputed to be one of the most beautiful small towns in France. It was the inspiration for the town in Disney's blockbuster movie, Frozen. Kelsey tell us if you recognize it. It was about a 45 minute bus ride to Riquewihr and we were immediately captivated with its beauty and charm. The whole town was like walking around in a fairy tale. There were Christman Markets that we enjoyed as well as many wonderful shops. We returned to the ship/boat at 1:00. At 2:45 we were bussed to a parking lot (!) where four nurses came out and gave us a rapid Covid test so we could get on our plane tomorrow. Good news. We were both negative. Bad news. We leave the boat at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow for the airport. Lynda is not happy but has our bags packed. While there were a few disappointments on the trip we still had a wonderful time. After all, we were traveling again. 1

Cologne, Germany - December 16, 2021

We have spent little time in Germany in all of our travels. Back in the early 70's we spent some brief time in the Black Forest and Stuttgard and then several years ago we cruised the Main River seeing several small cities including Hieldelberg. That is why we were excited about this cruise in northern Germany. We were particularly anxious to see Cologne as it is the home of one of the great Cathedrals of Europe. From where we docked we could look up a hill at the majestic twin spires of the Cathedral. We took a walking tour that went through the old town area of Cologne that surrounds the Cathedral. This tour took us through 3 different Christmas Markets. We did not stop at any of these markets but knew we had free time after our tour concluded. During World War II 93% of the buildings surrounding the Cathedral were destroyed by Allied Forces bombing, while only 10% of the Cathedral itself was damaged. There are several theories for this. 1.) There was a secret agreement between the warring parties not to damage these edifices. 2.) Divine intervention. 3.) and most plausible, these large Churches were navigational markers for the bombers. Most of the destroyed buildings were rebuilt to look as they did before the war. There was a large Romanesque church near the Cathedral that was destroyed but still returned to its previous grandeur. This took over 40 years. Cologne was the northern outpost of the Roman empire so we were shown many ruins from this time. Of interest was a Roman mosaic floor that was unearthed during the construction of bomb shelters during WW II. This floor was re-covered with dirt to preserve it and later uncovered again. The Cologne Cathedral is of Gothic design with the foundation stone being layed in 1243. It was another 600 years before it was completed. At one time the Cathedral was the tallest building in Europe. Even now it is the second tallest of the cathedrals in Europe. The outside facade of the building is awe inspiring, particularly its twin spires. That is why we were a bit disappointed when we went inside. While the shear size of the interior is overwhelming, from a decor standpoint it is pretty blah. Most of the Cathedrals we have visited have small side chapels along the walls of the entire building. These chapels are usually elaborately decorated with large paintings and alters that are also impressive with gold crosses and candle holders and the like. The Cologne Cathedral only has these chapels in the area behind the main alter, and, other then one or two, were not particularly impressive. But still we were thrilled to finally see it. Now, about the Christmas Markets, afterall that is why we chose this cruise. The markets consisted of sturdy wooden booths that abutted each other and were situated to create a small warren of short streets. There was a mix of quality goods as well as lots of food and drink booths. The food was not your typical county fair food. There were shops with very nice Christmas decorations from beautifully designed and constructed paper stars to elaborately carved decorations to fancy snow globes. A ceramic booth featuring many Christmas decorations. Tim found a ceramic treble clef sign painted a beautiful forest green with white trim that will fit perfectly on his "football tree". At one of the food shops we bought a traditional German snack similar to a latke, a shredded potato pancake, that is deep fried and served with applesauce. It was delicious. Our first Christmas Market experience was wonderful. If we weren't so tired from the hour and a half walking tour preceeding the Market visit we would have stayed longer. Thankfully we have more Christmas Markets to look forward to. It is late Friday afternoon as we write this post we are docked in Rudesheim. Unfortunetely, this towns Christmas Market was the only one cancelled on our tour. This morning we cruised through the Rhine Valley Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We saw ruins of castles build 1000 years ago. There were impressive 500 year old castles that are still inhabited. We probably should not have been surprised at the number of vineyards we saw on the sides of the steep hills that line the river. And, of course, there were many picturesque villages. Check Tim's facebook page for some pictures. A word or two about food. The food on board has been excellent. There is a decided German bent to the menu which is to be expected and which we have enjoyed. We had an excellent Wienerschizel last night and we both enjoyed a cheese spatzle at lunch. Today at lunch we had a stuffed egg, think deviled egg, topped with a small dollup of cavier. A note to our grandchildren who are in charge of deviled eggs for the winter picnic and Easter. Start looking for the cavier that we now expect on our deviled eggs. We had a notable meal on Wednesday night. The ship has a specialty restaurant called "the Chef's Table". It is a seven course tasting menu. The meal opened with an Heirloom tomato carapccio with eggplant caviar. This was followed by a beet root marinated salmon with avocado, egg cruble, caper berries and mustard-dill sauce. Next was Lemon Grass soup with shitake-pumpkin relish and a vegatable dumpling. A skin grilled Pike Perch with citrus sauce, celery mash and beluga lentil ragout was next. These four courses were all paired with a lovely German white wine. To clear our pallete for the main course we were served a Cassis Sorbet in sparkling wine. The main course was beef tenderloin with truffle jus, sweet potato, wild broccoli, radish, artichoke and green peas. For dessert we finished with lemon pie, yoghurt, and fresh forest berries. With the last three courses we were served a wonderful German red wine. Other meals have been nearly as fun.

Amsterdam, December 14-15, 2021

Our overnight flight from Detroit to Amsterdam landed at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, December 14. Amawaterways was there to greet us as we left baggage claim. We were transported to where our riverboat AmaLucia was docked. We were able to leave our luggage at the boat but could not board until noon. We knew this was going to happen so had a plan. We took a tram to Museum Square where the Van Gogh Museum is located. The plan was for Lynda to convince Van Gogh Museum personnel that we were unable to reserve our tickets online so could they let us buy tickets on location, something that Lynda is very good at. They would not let us do this but did direct us to a kiosk where we could purchase tickets. Because we had seen the "Van Gogh Experience" in Detroit last summmer, at the last minute we bought tickets for the Contempary Art Museum located next to the Van Gogh Museum. It was a good decision as we saw a wider variety of artworks in this museum. We saw several Picasso's and Calder's as well as a Matisse and a Van Gogh that managed to escape the next door museum. There were many other works by artists whose names we didn't recognize but enjoyed none the less. By the time we left the museum it was after noon so we took the tram back to our boat where we had a light lunch, settled into our cabin and took short naps. We were scheduled to start our cruise on Wednesday, setting sail at 1:00 p.m., so we were quite surprised when the boat left dock as we sat down to dinner on Tuesday evening. It turns out that the Netherlands instituded a 5:00 p.m. curfew on all restaurants and entertainment venues. The only way the cruise line could serve dinner was to be cruising on the river. We returned to our dock at 9:00 p.m. Today, Wednesday, lunch will not be served until we are underway at 1:00. Don't ask how we got away with breakfast Wednesday morning, but we noticed the curtains on all of the windows were closed. Wednesday morning after breakfast we took an hour long canal boat cruise. The architecture of the houses lining the canals was very unique to Amsterdam. When the system for taxing houses was begun in the 17th century the tax was determined by the amount of frontage the house measured, resulting in all the houses being very narrow but quite deep. The other feature of interest was the number of houseboats that were permanently moored in the canal. Many were actual boats that had been remodeled into houses. Many more looked like small houses that just happened to be located on the canal. All of these "canal houses" have sewer, electricty and running water. There are approximately 2500 of these canal houses. This reflects the housing shortage that Amsterdam faces. Fortunately Lynda expressed no interest in buying one of these canal houses. Another interesting fact about Amsterdam. There are about 850,000 residents in Amsterdam while there are an estimated one million bicycles. Crossing a bicycle lane is actually more difficult then crossing auto and tram lanes. A few words about Covid protocals. In Amsterdam every place we went into asked to see our passports and vaccination cards. Everyone was wearing facemasks. On board our ship we are required to wear N-95 facemasks all the time except when we are eating and drinking. Our temperatures will be taken each morning when we go to breakfast, or in Lynda's case lunch. We have been given assigned tables for all meals. Only people traveling together sit together. There are no buffets. After our tour this morning Tim went to get ice. A crew member brought him the ice and asked if we would like coffee brought to our room. When it was brought we asked the crew member to come in but were told that they could not enter our room. We were told that in the lounge in the evening we must wear facemasks, even when we are dancing. If a crew member sees us dancing without a mask they will immediately stop the music until we put on our mask. We heard someone say it was interesting that we could sleep with our wife without a mask but had to have a mask on to dance with him/her. Even on our first tour we were told to have passport and our vaccine card with us on the tour. We think we are going to be safe. As mentioned earlier, we set sail at 1:00 on Wednesday. The weather is very nice by Amsterdam standards, partly sunny with no rain, so we are looking forward to pleasant scenery as we cruise the Rhine River. Tomorrow we arrive in Cologne, Germany and are looking forward to visiting our first Christmas Market.