Koblenz

This is the pretty town of Koblenz. Here's a row of houses packed up onto the wall which protected the town from frequent Rhine river flooding.

And one of the ever-present church steeples peeking over the roofs. This was a courtyard and park - yes, that's a sculpture of a thumb. The medieval St. Castor Basilica can be seen in the background.

This is the courtyard of the Jesuit school.I love the creative mosaic tile decoration on this house. Love this pink house!I thought this house was a great blend of the best of old and new. An architect's office (I think) is in the modern extension of the old gatehouse. People still have a a right-of-way through the gate. We are here in the Ehrenbreistein Fortress - it is huge and I couldn't get a picture that captured it. The fortress is high on a hill on the other side of the river from Koblenz, and this view from one of the walls was the best part of being there. That is Koblenz spread out below, with the Moselle River coming down the center to meet with the Rhine in the foreground.Stay tuned for Aschaffenburg. Stay tuned for Aschaffenburg next.

Scenes along the Lower Rhine

When imagining a romantic cruise down the Rhine, you wouldn't expect an image like this. The lower Rhine (the end nearest the ocean) is actually quite industrial. And the river was full of barges carrying all kinds of cargo - you can see one of them docked near this site. There are also a number of nuclear plants.

But further along, you'd see scenes like this - cows and farms.

Almost all of the river has some kind of man-made border - stones or pilings. The trees control erosion, and look pretty too.

Typical town, always with a church steeple and a small dock.

Lots of campers enjoying the last few days of summer.

Here the boat is entering one of the first locks we had to pass through (57 in all). That's our captain guiding us in.

In a few days, I'll have pictures of Koblenz, the next city we visited.

Cologne and the Cathedral

The shopping streets in Cologne look pretty much like those in any big city, except the signs are in German. People seem to dress a little better in Europe than in the US - I think in the whole trip we only saw a couple of teenage boys with baggy shorts hanging around their hips. We saw one store window with a display of what they called "rap" clothes. Well-fitting jeans were the usual dress code. And European men commonly wear scarves, women too.This is the cathedral, one of the largest medieval cathedrals in Europe. Gorgeous, isn't it.

And here's what is right next to it. Also note the graffitti, which is everywhere in all the cities. Not on the cathedral, at least!

Impossible to get a picture of the interior - this is a sample.

And these are the original medieval stained glass windows - most of them were damaged in the War and replaced. The older ones are more intricate and beautiful.

This is allegedly the tomb of one of the Wise Men of the Christmas story. We'd like to believe he is in this beautiful gold casket, but who really knows.

Next time, cruising down the Rhine to Koblenz.

From Amsterdam to Germany

Leaving Amsterdam, we traveled a small waterway down to the Rhine, where we next visited the German town of Xanten. Here's one of the pretty shopping streets. Xanten was a Roman garrison town 2000 years ago, and most of the Roman ruins are gone. What is here to see are medieval buildings, including the town gate, below. From the gate, you could see the remains of the town's moat.

Every German city has its church, and Xanten was no exception. These are two views of the Gothic church, with some older Romanesque elements as well.

I love this guy standing under his little porch.

And there's the only windmill we saw up close. I didn't realize they are so huge.

Next, we travel down the Rhine to Cologne (German spelling Koln). Check back in a few days.

Amsterdam Streets, Canals and Bikes

This was my first impression of Amsterdam - bikes everywhere! Amsterdam has narrow crowded streets,

and wide thoroughfares. Trolley lines go down the middle.

These buildings and cafe are on the edge of one of the many canals. It was a drizzly day, which is pretty common in this low-lying, oceanside city. Then sudden bursts of heavy rain, followed by brief sunshine.

Old and new buildings side by side. The hooks at the roofline allow furniture, etc., to be hauled up, avoiding the narrow winding stairs.

We took a canal ride, circling and winding through the city. Lots of bridges. Note the bikes.

A view from the canal boat. Houses are built right on the canal with boat access, like Venice.

A visit to one of the world's famous museums, the Rijksmuseum.

No pictures were allowed, but I sneaked this one of the fabulous Delft porcelain. Sorry I couldn't photograph the Rembrandt and Vermeer.

And another famous spot, the Heineken brewery.

Invitation to a European River Cruise

The next few weeks of this blog will take you on the cruise Hubster and I took down several rivers in the heart of Europe the first two weeks of September.
First is an introduction to our ship, the Casanova. It was owned and operated by a German company, and the crew was mostly German and Hungarian, who spoke English much better then I spoke German (which is not at all). We were with an Elderhostel group of 18 other people (all extremely nice, I might add); there were also a large group of Canadians and a few Germans on the cruise.
So here's what the boat looks like, with room for just over 100 passengers and 40 crew members. with a shot from the sundeck, with our bartender Attila bringing us our "wishes", also interior photos of the registration desk, the lounge and bar, and the dining room. And I should add that we had a 4-course meal plus salad bar twice a day, huge buffet breakfast, and snacks in between.

Here's the little cabin where we lived for 14 days. The couches were made into beds while we were at dinner, and back into seating during breakfast. There's a bathroom with shower to the right of the door to the hall which you see below. We had wonderful views through floor-to-ceiling french doors.

And these are the people who made our trip so wonderful - the captain is on the left (I only saw him dressed up like this twice), the restaurant and housekeeping managers, the purser, etc. Not a great photo, but you get the idea.

So if you'd like to continue the tour, please check in every few days for another episode. Next up is Amsterdam, where we started our journey.

Cruise Knitting

Hubster and I are back from our two-week European river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, and selected pictures will be posted in the next few weeks. I was on the lookout for yarn to buy as souvenirs, and managed to spot only one yarn store - it was actually a guilt shop but she also had a shelf of yarn. I bought two balls of Kaffe Fassett colorway sock yarn, which I could have gotten anywhere locally but this is my souvenir from Germany.I also knitted a few feet on what has become my standard travel knitting, lace weight yarn for a feather-and-fan scarf. I haven't finished this yet, but it will go to Indiana with me in November. This photo is actually last years scarf - the current one is rose red, but I didn't take a photo before I tucked it away in my suitcase for the next trip.

Last Minute Stuff

We're leaving for a long-awaited vacation - cruising down the Rhine and Danube from Amsterdam to Budapest - on Friday. I'm hoping for some time to buy souvenir yarn and/or antiques, but last year they kept us pretty busy, and I had to shop on the fly.

This is my planned knitting project - a lacy mohair scarf (maybe two) on circular plastic needles which are easy to pack. A lot of knitting in a small ball and an easy feather-and-fan pattern. (This was one I made last year.)

I wanted to share this picture before I went - this is GD5 Maisie with a penguin, taken at Mystic Aquarium last weekend. She was thrilled to have these friendly birds come up to her finger underwater.

I'll be back in three weeks, and will share some photos.