Rhine River Cruise Pt.5 (Alsace Wine Tour)

Before leaving the Strasbourg area Ross headed off to tour a Mercedes Benz factory (no photos allowed) where they make the very popular A and B class. The factory employs 6 thousand people working in three shifts a day. Much of the work is performed by robots and the production rate is in excess of one thousand vehicles a day.

Beverley at the same time opted for a wine tour in the Alsace region of France.

The winery has been in the family for generations and the current wine owner/maker provided an interesting presentation on the history of the region surrounded by very old wine casts.

The winery shop has a wide selection of wines and foods.  Some on the tour bought several bottles of wine. Beverley purchased a delightful Riesling and some grainy mustard.

It is the custom in this area to serve this cake with white wine.

The wine tasting was conducted in this cosy cellar.

Cheers Ross and Bev

Rhine River Cruise Pt.4 (Strasbourg)

By day 6 we had reached Strasbourg. We docked in Kehl and toured this picturesque city where we saw beautiful canals and amazing homes that were hundreds of years old. 

 

We strolled through lanes where the smell of freshly baked breads tempted us. This is the home of the baguette and the pretzel.

 We visited the magnificent cathedral,

With its outstanding stained glass windows which are centuries old,

and this very imposing and ornate organ.

We enjoyed the local black berry pie with coffee.

 It cost 7 Euros ( US$10).

It was a treat to sit in the sun and to enjoy the experience.

With the cruise nearing its end we still had Breisach and the Black Forest to look forward to.

Cheers Ross and Bev

Rhine River Cruise Pt. 3 (Heidelberg and Speyer)

By day 5 we had cruised to Mannheim where we boarded a bus to Heidelberg  which is a beautiful and historic town with many elegant homes.

The view  from the beautiful sandstone ruins of the imposing Heidelberg Castle provides a very scenic view of this very old city which has Germany's oldest University, founded in 1386.

The castle ruins are impressive with some parts still in use .

Within the castle grounds there are many examples of Gothic and Baroque buildings.

This map shows the layout of the town.

The Castle as seen from the city square in Heidelberg.

Just around the corner from the city square we stopped into a pub for a light lunch.

We ordered what we thought would be a small sampler of local meat and cheeses.  This is what a light lunch in Germany looks like.

Ross' face says it all "you've got to be joking" -  Is there an Army out there to help us eat this?

 Later that day we visited Speyer were the central feature of the town is a Romanesque Cathedral  built in the 11 century. This church has soaring interior features, graceful rows of sandstone columns and large stained  glass windows  installed in the western facade during a later Gothic period.

Speyer is a pretty town and very easy to walk around.

From here we cruised overnight to Kehl where we disembarked to begin a tour of Strasbourg which will be covered in Pt. 4.

Cheers Ross and Bev

Rhine River Cruise Pt.2 (Middle Rhine Valley)

From Colongne we proceeded along the Rhine where we toured the 700 year old Marksburg Castle which sits on top of  hill and can be seen for miles.   

The views from the castle are amazing and such a good position to see the approaching enemy.

Every room had a purpose, from the well equipped kitchen,

To the armour room.

We continued south along the Rhine with this beautiful scenery.

As we cruised the middle Rhine (which is a UNESCO proclaimed site) we saw castles which overlooked the river and passed may quaint villages.

Once in Rudesheim we had free time to walk around the pedestrian only Drosselgasse. 

From here we continued the trip to Heidelberg and Speyer which we cover in Pt. 3

Cheers Bev and ross

Rhine River Cruise Pt.1 (Kinderdijk and Cologne)

 We recently embarked on a Rhine River cruise from Amsterdam to Basel then to Lucerne by bus then Zurich by train.
Our journey began in Amsterdam where we were picked up at the airport and delivered to our ship the "Viking Sun".
Amsterdam is a beautiful city and so easy to walk around.  We took many photos of this lovely city where everyone rides a bicycle.  Unfortunately while visiting the Windmills, Beverley's camera with all of the Amsterdam photos on fell into the canal.  So to see some of what Amsterdam has to offer please have a look at : http://www.amsterdam.info/sights/
From Amsterdam we travelled to Kinderdijk which has an ingenious  network of windmills.  The windmill below is how they used to pump water.

 Today water is pumped via an electrical pumping station.

The opportunity to live in a windmill is passed down through families and apparently there is a waiting list of those who yearn to experience this way of life.  Most windmill owners today support themselves by working in the city and in their spare time tend their windmill duties.  Our tour took us to a very old still working windmill and here is a photo of the gatehouse to this windmill.

Beverley took the opportunity to go to the very top of the windmill and had taken lots of photos which now rest peacefully in the canal you can see behind the gatehouse.

From Kinderdijk we travelled to Cologne where we strolled through this picturesque old city.  

Throughout the city there are many pretty gardens.

With many cafes displaying a wide variety of breads.

The Lindt factory is also located here so we took the opportunity to sample some this freshly made chocolate. 

The display of chocolate was amazing.

During our strole around Cologne we passed St Martin's Church and  visited Cologne's Dom which is a remarkable Gothic cathedral whose construction was begun in 1248 and completed in 1880.  The stained glass windows are magnificent. It is interesting to note that during WW2 many of the widows of the churches in Europe were removed and hidden thus preserving them for future generations.

From Cologne we travelled through the middle Rhine valley. More on this in the next post.

Cheers Bev and Ross