Viking River Cruise: Day 9: Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over Amsterdam and River Ij:

Breakfast at the Moevenpick was included with our post-trip excursion. The breakfast was huge!

It also included poffertjes and hagelslag (toast with chocolate sprinkles) – Dutch traditions.

Also, our vending machine had stroopwaffels!

After breakfast, we bought tickets from the concierge for a canal cruise. We grabbed a shuttle from the Moevenpick (you have to pre-register for it, as it can only take 8 people). However, the shuttle only eliminates five minutes of your walk, and you’ll likely wait that long for the shuttle, seeing it only runs every half hour.

The canal cruise we took was through Holland International and ran us about 13 euros.

The first thing we saw was this massive bike parking ramp with more than 2,000 spots for bikes:

We also saw the Magere Brug:

A view of seven bridges:

Many a house on a canal (notice the hoists hanging from the top that they use to get furniture in their homes, seeing the stairs are too narrow):

Houseboats and Klompen boats:

After our canal cruise, we decided to walk around some more.

Across from the photo above, you’ll find Brouwerij de Prael. It’s a neat little place with local beer. They also had the Bols jenever we bought in a Delft bottle:

Oude Kerk:

We grabbed tostis for lunch at Cafe Van Beeren on the Kalverstraat – another main shopping street that runs off Dam Square that offered great people-watching. The lady working there was great!

We bought an espresso at Cafe Van Daele.

Later that evening, after we dropped our purchases at the hotel, we decided to visit a local organic brewery – Brouwerij ‘t Ij. It’s a 30 minute walk from the hotel, but it’s mostly locals out that way.  We enjoyed the beer, cheese, and the atmosphere. We’d definitely go back here if we’re ever back in Amsterdam.

Having both grown up on Dutch food and not really loving it (outside the desserts), we opted to try Indonesian food, which is really good in Amsterdam. Unfortunately,t he concierge didn’t offer many good suggestions, and the ones he did were way out by the Rijksmuseum, so I used my trusty old friend, Yelp.com, and found one called “Aneka Rasa.”

I have included a “rijstafel” menu below. It’s 19 euros per person, but you receive more than 12 dishes to try. It’s essentially Indonesian tapas or small plates. My husband is not usually adventurous, nor a fan of  Asian food, but he loved this – in particular the beef with coriander. I am nearly a vegetarian, and I still had enough to eat despite going with the rijstafel that included meat rather than the vegetarian version. My husband: “How have I never tasted flavors like this before?””

After a delicious final meal (my husband’s favorite from the entire trip), we decided to get one last waffle with ice cream before heading back to our hotel.

Viking River Cruise: Day 7: Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

We were able to sleep in this morning, seeing we were still sailing from Cologne to Kinderdijk. Breakfast was served slightly later, running from 7:30 – 10:00 a.m.

At 10, the captain did a nautical talk and went over the boat and how it works. It was interesting. For example, the boat sewage. The sewage tank contains bacteria that basically eats it, and then they spit the water that the bacteria has ate out of the boat into the river.

Then, on a different note, our Dutch program director went over the Netherlands and held a cheese and jenever tasting. She then shared some more about our post-Amsterdam trip for those of staying the next day.

Then, it was lunch time with a Dutch/Italian menu.

We had some scenic sailing time, and thankfully, our weather was beautiful! There were beautiful landscapes and some interesting ones, such as this ship building:

Around 2:30, we arrived in Kinderdijk. The view from our boat included the windmills and the grassy bank – a polder.

Kinderdijk is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the largest concentration of windmills – 19 of them.

National Geographic has a picture frame at the location, and Kinderdijk also placed some matching klompen in front of it.

We visited the workshop, the gift shop, and toured a windmill museum.

Seeing we our Viking group was the last tour of the day, we had the opportunity to watch a father and son remove the sails from the windmill.

After our tour group departed, my husband and I walked a little farther down, as it was nice evening.

After that, we went into the little village nearby. Immediately upon exiting Kinderdijk, there is another souvenir shop. But, the benefit of buying at the gift shop at Kinderdijk is that the proceeds go to Kinderdijk and the windmills.

The town had an adorable Dutch bakery. In retrospect, I wish we would have stopped in.

Upon returning to the boat, we realized that the boat crew was waiting on us. They were standing at the door and asked for our departure cards. Be sure to take these with you whenever you leave the boat. The advertised sail time is a general guideline. A few times, we left earlier than this list sail time, because it appeared everyone was on board from the stateroom cards that were turned in. With us that evening, we had our stateroom cards, so they must have known we were still out in Kinderdijk. Immediately after we boarded, we began to make our way to Amsterdam.

Our evening started with the Captain’s Cocktail Party at 7 p.m. This was then followed by a massive Farewell Dinner (5 or 6 courses) at 7:15 p.m. It was probably a little late for some of those that had 5 a.m. departure times the next morning, but it was a very nice dinner.

I opted for the delicious cheese plate in place of dessert. The chutneys and fruit spreads they serve on this are amazing!

My husband’s dessert and wine:

They also introduced every member of the staff and they all received rounds of applause from the guests. They truly did a fantastic job, and I cannot say enough about them. They were on-point every meal, and they work some long days. I have yet to experience the caliber of service that I received at EVERY single meal on the Viking at one restaurant meal in DC. Kudos to their entire staff!

Viking Post-Trip Excursion: Day 8: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

On Saturday, we arrived in Amsterdam around 2 a.m. A light cafe breakfast was provided for those with early departure times from 4:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. A regular breakfast was provided from 6:30 – 9:00 a.m. Starting around 8:30 a.m., folks for the next trip were already boarding the boat. I have no idea how the staff on the boat does this without rest!

At 9:00 a.m., those of us staying in Amsterdam were to meet up. Although, I didn’t seem to know where, which led to let a bit of confusion. I was at the front reception area at 8:45, and around 8:55, I decided to quick use the restroom and told my husband.  I came back and my husband was gone. I went searching for him and couldn’t locate him. Finally, I stopped the receptionist and asked her where we were supposed to be for the Amsterdam tour, seeing it was 9:05 a.m. by now and Viking is prompt. She indicated that everyone was already out at the bus, and they were probably waiting for me. I immediately ran out and found my husband coming back to the boat. He didn’t hear me saying I was going to the restroom, and thought I had already left to confirm our luggage, when they asked if anyone from our stateroom was in the reception area.

To top it off, I thought we were doing a walking tour right from the ship, and then we got on a bus, and the bus driver started to make jokes about England, Disney World, and about how our hotel was an hour away. This is one area I think we could have had a little more communication in – perhaps in the Viking Daily Briefing. In retrospect, we could have started the walking tour and/or hotel from the boat, but I think they had a lot of people with hand luggage and perhaps some who wanted to go to the hotel rather than on the tour.

We went to the Moevenpick and checked in at the registration desk. Our hotel rooms weren’t ready and would not be until 3 p.m.The tour of the city departed roughly at 10 a.m. and lasted until 11:30 a.m. Our tour guide was great, and she walked us from the hotel, giving us the best paths and tram instructions, for the rest of our weekend in the city, to the center city. We went through Chinatown, Nieuwmarket, and then to Dam Square. We stopped at a little Saturday market in Nieuwmarket, and we purchased my favorite – poffertjes.

You’ll see the two massive slabs of butter. The guy cooking the poffertjes said, “You Americans are so afraid of butter!”

After our tour, we decided to walk over to Singel to see the floating flower markets.

We found this delicious cheese stop. I recommend trying the pesto cheese! Their Old Amsterdam, what they’re known for, is also really good.

“Floating” flower markets. I used the quotations, because they aren’t really floating anymore. They are on blocks in the water.

We also saw the fast food meals from a vending machine at FEBO:

For lunch, we ate ate a cafe called “Kobalt” near Centraal. I had a good asparagus sandwich there, and I had wished I opted for their mint tea – which uses fresh mint leaves. The building has hard wood floors, wooden beams, and even a resident cat. It reminded me of an old farm house. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures.

Pretty street, during our after lunch walk:

Haarlemmerstraat (shopping): 

We also visited the Saturday market in Jordaan. It was mostly stuff that would be difficult to transport out of the area – fresh herbs, veggies, etc.

Afterward, we headed back to Wynand Fockink by Dam Square, as they opened at three, and I had read good things about their jenever. Jenever is served in a tulip glass and filled to the very top. You must sip it from the bar before grabbing it.  Jenever is also known as “Dutch gin.” I found the younger ones to taste more like a vodka/gin mix, and the older ones to taste more like a whiskey.

  

There’s also a sign next door for Bols Distillery, but it doesn’t look like it’s open to the public.

After this, we went back to our hotel room to drop off some stuff, and also, finally get into our room for a minute before heading back out for dinner. The Movenpick is in walking distance to nearly everything, as long as you’re comfortable walking a mile or so. Amsterdam isn’t too big. If you aren’t comfortable, there are plenty of trams. With the three course meals and wine we were served on the boat, we felt we needed to do our walking.

First stop out that night: De Bekeerde Suster (Translation: The Converted Sister) a brewery recommended by our tour guide, located in Nieuwmarkt:

After a beer here, we walked to a fry cone place around Dam Square called Vlaamse Frites. They have 25+ sauces to put on french fries that they serve in a paper cone. You can try the traditional Dutch way with just mayonnaise as a topping.

Dam Square was lively at night with a guy making giant bubbles, Christmas lights, and lots of people.

For dinner, we struggled to find something. Many of the places in Chinatown and Nieuwmarkt had lines around 7 or 8 on a Saturday night. We did find a place called De Vergulde Lanteern  – just below Dam Square. It did appear they close rather early, because after we arrived and ordered, he turned the sign to closed. After fries, we just wanted a light dinner, and they offered sandwiches that were really good. The place was really cute, too.

For dessert, we stopped at a crepe, waffle and ice cream place in Nieuwmarkt. Delicious. I need to open a waffle and ice cream shop in DC.

Oh, and I also picked up these Klompen slippers. As a side note, they’re very comfortable on feet with high arches!

Viking River Cruise: Day 6: Cologne, Germany

Day 6: Cologne

The boat arrived in Cologne around 9 a.m. during breakfast. This was a great opportunity to get a good picture of Cologne from on the river:

The tours depart at 9 a.m. on buses. The bus ride is maybe 5-10 minutes. You’ll go on a walking tour until about 11:30 a.m., followed by an hour of leisure time. If you want, you can head back to the boat on the buses for 12:30 lunch, and then return back to Cologne. Otherwise, you can stay in Cologne for lunch, like we did, and shuttles return back to the bus at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30. Or, you can also just walk back. We did that, and it’s about a 20 minute walk along the river. Our guide said it’s a mandatory walk if you visit the Lindt chocolate museum (or if you did the Kolsch brewery tour, like us…)

We started out in front of the Dom Cathedral.  We only had 10 minutes or so, we made a quick tour, and made a point to return during our leisure time, but before the 12 p.m. prayer.

In the back of the cathedral, there’s this golden box that is said to hold the bones of the three wisemen.

Our tour guide also took us to the Rathaus to view the nice 1950s architecture. In reality, there were free bathrooms there (Starbucks also has free bathrooms). But, the group really enjoyed his tongue-in-cheek approach to things.

After the tour, we decided to walk down the main shopping street. Side note: There’s also a Primark in Cologne! I saw all of the people with Primark bags (I discovered them while in Scotland), and I stopped a guy and in my best Deutsch, asked “Wo ist die Primark?” He then proceeded to rattle off directions for a good minute in German, with me just nodding and not understanding. I did understand his hand motion, so we proceeded in that direction. We stumbled across this very entertaining band:

Another option during the free time is to take the train to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. It departs in front of the Cathedral. I think the train costs 3,50 euros and the museum entrance fee is 9 euros. I am also pretty sure our guide told us it costs 6 euros to take the train back – maybe because they have a captive audience?

Viking offers a beer hopping additional excursion in the evening,  for 29 euros. Seeing we wanted had an afternoon free, we spent this time visiting some of the Kolsch breweries. It is also less expensive to do it on your own – with one Kolsch costing about 1,70 euros on average.

We grabbed lunch and a drink at Fruh before the 12 p.m. lunch rush. The interior of Fruh is worth checking out on its own.

I ordered a Ratler – their Kolsch mixed with lemonade. This was both my husband and my’s favorite.

We went traditional with our meal – brewery bratwurst with a rye roll:

We also visisted Brauhaus Sion. I think these are the same ones that Viking visits. They are all in close proximity (less than a half mile), so you can easily walk it.

And Peters Brauhaus:

They tally your drinks and bill on a coaster there:

After this, we headed over to the love lock bridge on our way back to the boat. This was really neat to see and worth your time.

It also gave us a great view of the Dom on our walk back.

Viking River Cruise: Day 5: Castle Cruising, Marksburg Castle & Koblenz, Germany

Day 5 AM: Scenic Castle Cruising

At breakfast, we pulled out of Rudesheim at breakfast around 8:30. The castle viewing with commentary began at 9 a.m. The best views are on the top deck, and thankfully, it wasn’t raining this morning! It was very cold with the wind on top, so everyone bundled up and took their to-go coffee cups with them.

Map of the castles:

Everyone shielding themselves from the wind on the top deck:

A few of our favorite castles:

This one is my husband’s favorite. The two feuding brothers put up a wall between their castles.

Katz Castle – one of my favorites just due to the design (You’ll also see its counterpart – Maus Castle):

This castle collected tolls from ships passing on the river:

And, we saw the Loreley rock.  They played the Loreley song, while sailing past.

The Loreley statue is about a half of a kilometer or just a little more past the rock.

And, the sun finally made an appearance (but it was still frigid)!

The views of the small towns and mountains were pretty, too:

Day 5 PM: Marksburg Castle:

The ship docks in Koblenz during lunch, and then you grab a bus at 12:30 p.m. to head to Marksburg Castle to tour the only castle here that hasn’t been destroyed. It’s more than 700 years old.

You’ll pass the Marksburg Castle on the morning scenic castle cruise before arriving in Koblenz. The castle looks like a Disney castle, situated on top of the hill.

Inside the castle, you’ll get to see the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, garden, chapel, torture room, wine cellar, and blacksmith.

There are great views of the Rhine from the castle garden. I’m pretty sure this is where Viking gets some of their promotional photos. We saw a few Viking ships sail by:

One of our fellow tourists got to try on the armor and the sword in the weaponry room:

On the way back down (or up to the castle), you’ll notice a small little stairway that leads up to a cemetery. We found this on our own while walking back to the bus:

Day 5 PM: Koblenz

Koblenz roughly translates to “confluence,” as it lies on the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers.  Our boat was docked right next to Deutsches Eck and right underneath the cable cars. It didn’t appear the cable cars were running. It might be neat to check out in the evening, as they go up to the fortress.

Koblenz has a rather small Altstadt (old town), and there’s a decent amount of shopping. In the Altstadt, we stumbled across this neat fountain that depicts Koblenz, from the bottom up, through the centuries.

We returned to the boat in time for the “Taste of Germany” dinner at 7. I had heard some good reviews, so I wanted to check it out.  First, a number of the staff dress up in traditional German costumes. Then, they set up food stations around the boat of traditional German food. There’s one in the lounge, one in the kitchen, and one in the dining room. The dining room was swamped at the kick off, so we stayed upstairs in the lounge to start.

They served Gaffel Kolsch in the meter trays, and also had Schnapps tastings:

There was traditional German musicians from Koblenz, playing accordions and these music boxes:

The food station in the kitchen as interesting, as we were able to see their small space in which they crank out three plus courses for 188 people.

My plate (minus the pretzel I had before):

It was a fun dinner on board!

Viking River Cruise: Day 4 Heidelberg & Rudesheim, Germany

Day Four AM: Heidelberg
Today, we got off the boat and onto buses at 8:30 to go to Heidelberg. Heidelberg is on the River Nekar, so the boat continued sailing, while we are in Heidelberg, and we met up with the boat post-tour in Gernsheim.  Viking divided us by leisure (slower) and faster paced groups. Our guide on this day did seem better suited for a leisure group. She stood around quite a bit in the same place, and our tour moved really slow. I believe we were the last ones out of the Heidelberg castle ruins, so it ate into our leisure time, which was a bummer.

The Heidelberg Castle ruins are really beautiful and neat, but you can probably see what is available to the public in 30-45 minutes (our tour went for an hour and a half), as it seems like there is a lot that isn’t accessible on a regular tour.

There’s a huge wine vat in the castle. I thought the first one was the giant one, but there was even a bigger one. Here’s a picture for scale with me standing below it. Note that there are stairs that bring you up and over and around the wine vat. I think a lot of folks on our tour missed this (or just didn’t want to deal with more stairs).

There are also some great views from the ruins of Heidelberg and the Nekar River:

Again, the ruins were beautiful, but downtown Heidelberg seemed to have quite a bit to offer in terms of shopping and cafes, and everyone post-Heidelberg seemed to wish we had more time here. Seeing we were running low on time, we ditched the 20 minute city tour that is offered following the castle ruins and started our leisure time early.

I stumbled across thisdisplay in a shop window and took a picture, seeing it looked pretty and also interesting. I pulled my husband into the store. Apparently, it’s a shortcut pastry (think a mix between a harder cookie and waffle cone) rolled into a ball with a variety of fillings you can get in and around it as the frosting. We went with the champagne truffle schneeball, and it was delicious, albeit messy.

This was a cute little shop with some mustards, sauces, liquors,etc.

The city gate was also closer by than I anticipated. It’s worth a stop and a photo, and is maybe only one or two blocks down from the main shopping street.

You may notice my hand is tucked in in the following picture. The monkey and mice by the gate carry a lot of superstition. For example, touching the coin? can bring you money, touching the monkey’s outstretched hand will bring you luck, and touching the mice will bring you a lot of children. The wiser folks on the boat that morning ribbed us some about touching the mice.  Also, with my germophob tendencies, I would argue touching any of these would bring you a cold.

Our next stop was Vetters, a brewery, per a recommendation of a friend who lived in Heidelberg. They didn’t open until 11:30, and our bus was departing at 12:15, so we had to make our visit quick! Vetters has a beer with the highest original gravity (33%). My husband tried this, and I opted for the wheat beer mixed with sparkling wine, with fresh strawberries mixed in. Both were delicious, and these were our best beers in Germany.

PRO-TIP: You can purchase a growler at Vetters. There was another couple from our tour also in there, and they asked us to make sure the bus waited until they were back on it. They came strolling onto the bus with a growler from Vetters, which left my husband and I with some regrets.

The bus departed at 12:15 (keep in mind the buses depart promptly), and we arrived in Gernsheim shortly after 1 to a little surprise from the crew. It’s a small gesture, but everyone liked it and was taking photos. The crew even recruited one of our friends, who stayed back on the ship during our trip to Heidelberg, to hold the letter “E,” and he and our server were hollering our names from the deck!

Lunch was served promptly at 1:15 p.m. We had scheduled a 2:35 p.m. wheelhouse tour, as well. I recommend this time slot, because then you have sufficient time to eat your lunch, and can still join in on the coffee demonstration at 3:30. Sign up when they first mention it the day before to get the time slot of your choice. I went by a little later and there was a line of people waiting to sign up.

After lunch, we went to our wheelhouse tour. It was very interesting, and I would highly recommend it.

After this, we had a Rudesheimer coffee demonstration, while we sailed to Rudesheim. Rudesheimer coffee has Asbach (similar to brandy) in it. You can find Asbach in a number of the German cities, if you wish to purchase some to bring home. You can also buy the china coffee cup and saucer on the boat.  It was good, but we tried a better use of it in Rudesheim later that night.

Day 4 PM: Rudesheim 

Viking offered an excursion with a train ride, a musical museum, and dinner for around 60+ Euros in Rudesheim. It’s a bit costly, so my husband and I decided to explore on our own, after discovering it is only a 10-15 minute walk from the boat to the Drosselgasse (the main street in Rudesheim).

We arrived at 5 p.m. The part of Rudesheim that the group was going to was abandoned. I had read on another review before leaving on my trip that Rudesheim was equally as empty when they went the week before the Christmas Markets (the same time as when we were there). It’s normally a happening place, but there were only two restaurants open in the entire Drosselgasse area and surrounding streets.

This was the one time on the trip we were disappointed. If Viking had known Drosselgasse had most things closed, we wished they had skipped Rudesheim and spent more time in Heidelberg. Many folks on the ship shared our sentiments, and a lot of folks were in town on their own, confused as to why nothing was open. Again, there is the excursion to dinner, but someone we spoke with on the boat said there wasn’t anything to see on the train ride, seeing it was dark, but she did say the dinner entertainment was good. My opinion from her review that it is probably not worth the price (and there was free entertainment on the boat that night with the glassblowing demonstration).

There were only two places open on Drosselgasse, and one of them was opened for the dinner excursion. On top of it, these places were priced higher than most others on our trip – probably because of it being a mainly tourist attraction.
“Lively” Drosselgasse:

Seeing we still had another hour before dinner, we knew there had to be a more day-to-day/modern part of the town, so we continued wandering back toward the boat, but a few blocks up from where we walked to Drosselgasse.  We found a Scottish Pub. While at first it was intimidating walking into a bar with only my two years of German, the girl behind the bar realized I knew only a bit and my husband was trying to learn, so she humored us.

This bar was a local joint, with a guy walking in, and the staff immediately setting a beer down in front of him without him ordering. We tried an A&A (Asbach and Auslese Riesling wine) here, and it was pretty good.  Seeing we were getting accustomed to our three course dinners, we decided to forgo pub food and booked it (we literally ran) back to the ship to make the 7:15 p.m. international dinner.

That evening, my husband and I decided  to check out the glassblowing demonstration. To be honest, I thought we might just stay for five minutes and then leave, as I had the impression it would be dull. It was anything but. It’s a very impressive trade.

Viking River Cruise: Day 3: Strasbourg, France & Kehl, Germany

Day Three: Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg ended up being one of my favorite cities on the trip.  The boat docks in Kehl, Germany, and the bus departed at 8:30 a.m. and took us across the bridge and river into France, where we received a brief 20-30 minute bus ride tour (you’ll see the European Parliament building) before disembarking for a walking tour.

Strasbourg has a number of canals, so during your free time, you could take a canal tour.  You’ll see a little house between two canals at the beginning of your walk:

Our walking tour also went through the Petit France district, where all the tanners lived. It’s similar to Colmar with the half-timbers, but with less color.

PRO-TIP: Carry your own umbrella. A lot of folks used the Viking umbrellas, which are a nice convenience, but they are huge and bulky, and also make you a tourist target. Nothing screams tourist to pickpocket like a giant red Viking umbrella. There were also some on the tour still wearing their Viking airport stickers. My husband was wondering how these were still adhering at the end of the week.

A canal tour boat (they go through the locks, and we had an opportunity to watch them from the bridge during our leisure time):

The Notre Dame of Strasbourg Cathedral was my husband’s favorite cathedral – even more than the Dom in Cologne. Another leisure time activity is to climb the spire. We had intended to, but couldn’t seem to find where to go inside the church. I believe it is separate entrance on the right side. Our guide took us into the church and gave us good recap on the history.

The walking tour ends around 11:30. You have an option to go back on a bus to the boat for lunch. You could then return to Strasbourg after lunch. Or, you could stay in Strasbourg for lunch and return at a top of the hour bus. I think they ran until 5:00 p.m. We caught the second to last one back at 4:00 p.m.

There were also two excursions offered that day – a Mercedes factory tour or an Alsatian wine tasting (four wines)/visit to Obernai. Surprisingly, the wine tasting did not have enough people sign up for it. We weren’t interested in the Mercedes factory visit, and we can do wine tastings for $10 or less here in Virginia, so the 40 or 50 euros they were asking for the trip seemed a bit steep.

During our leisure time, we decided to walk around some more, grab lunch and dessert (croissants, of course!).

Right outside the cathedral, there are a few cafes. We tried a flambee and a local saison at one, and both were delicious.

  

The mom-and-pop pastry, bakery, candy, and toy shops in Strasbourg are impressive. There’s probably a mile or two in each direction that makes up the older town. After that, you will make your way into a more modern city. We tended to stay in the older areas, as there were a lot of shops and cafes there.

Kehl, Germany

Once our bus returned to Kehl from Strasbourg , we ran into some friends from the boat, heading back from what looked like just apartment buildings and homes. They told us they had just gone into Kehl, and that there were some decent shops and shopping there. The walk from the boat dock to the shopping in Kehl is maybe only five minutes. There is an H&M (which we went in to just compare to the one back home – basically the same stuff), Woolworth (our friends were impressed by that), and some other shops I haven’t heard of. It provided us with a good hour of exploring before returning to the ship to get ready for dinner. We’re from the mindset of that we might only be here once in our lives, so we might as well explore whatever we can!

In the evening, the program director hosted a music quiz. We teamed up with another younger couple on the boat, hoping to hit the jackpot on some of the newer music. Unfortunately, almost all of the 10 questions were for music before 1980… Nevertheless, it was a good time. Extra points were scored for singing and dancing, which alone was worth attending just to watch.

Viking River Cruise (Day One: Basel, Switzerland & Day Two: Breisach, Germany & Colmar, France)

Recently, I took the “Rhine Getaway” Viking River Cruise from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam. The cruise went to:

• Basel, Switzerland
• Breisach, Germany
• Strasbourg, France/Kehl, Germany
• Heidelberg, Germany
• Rudesheim, Germany
• Braubach, Germany
• Koblenz, Germany
• Cologne, Germany
• Kinderdijk, the Netherlands
• Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Seeing I don’t have a better blog spot for this, I figured I would do a “side note,” if you will, to this blog, seeing it does relate to travel.  As an additional note, the average Viking age is probably in the late 60s or early 70s. My husband and I are both in our late 20s, so our perspective might be a bit different than most.

Basel, Switzerland

After flying overnight, we arrived very tired in Basel. We were efficiently boarded on to the bus (and given complimentary water – hooray!; it was 3 euros at Schipol!) and headed to the ship that was docked only 10 minutes away. The bus arrived to the ship at 12:00 p.m., our room was ready, and a light lunch was already underway in the Lounge and the Aquavit Terrace.

We were also given the opportunity of going on a 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. tour of Basel.  To allow us time to unpack and take an hour nap, we opted for the 3 p.m. tour.

Our room (we were in a stateroom on the bottom floor, at the very end next to the crew – Room 122). We had very little noise in our cabin, unless we were just taking off from a port or arriving in one. I only heard noise once at night, and I think it was when we were departing a port.

I was very impressed, as I thought it would be more of a “stowage” dark room, but it was very well-lit and modern. They made very good use of the space and lighting. Plus, even the bottom floor rooms still come with windows! And honestly, how much time does someone spend in their room on these cruises?

The bathroom. Note: the flusher is weird on this. You have to tap it really quickly and firmly.  I struggled with it the first few times, but by the end of the trip, I was a pro. We weren’t the only ones who had difficulties at first. The next day we overheard a gentleman in the hallway telling a crew member that his toilet flusher was broken…

At 3 p.m., we departed for our tour with Jose. In Basel, we walked to the main cathedral and Rathaus (town hall).

The main cathedral:

There’s a great overlook behind the Cathedral that the tour guide took us to. There’s also a view of the ferry that is generated by the river current.  It would be something fun to try if you have more time.

The very colorful Rathaus. There was a market set outside late on Saturday afternoon when we were there.

The tour was an hour and a half, and we returned to the boat with enough time to get ready for dinner. Prior to dinner, there was a brief presentation. Everyone was pretty tired, so the presentation had a few folks resting their eyes during it. The staff we had at our dining table that night was so fabulous and on point, that we made a point to sit in their section going forward.

Day Two (Sunday): Breisach, Germany

The next morning, we arrived in Breisach, Germany.

The view from our window that morning:

My husband and I decided to skip the Black Forest tour, so we woke up toward the end of breakfast. The omelette guy was gone, but there was still plenty of food to be had. Our game plan was to skip the Black Forest tour and explore Breisach in the morning. Then, we would take the Colmar excursion in the afternoon. If you did the Black Forest AND the Colmar excursion, I feel like you might miss out a little on Breisach, unless you go into Breisach before dinner, upon returning from Colmar.  We did that, and we maybe had an hour between to grab a beer at a winestube.

My first impression of Breisach was that it seemed sort of touristy with all of the little cafes and a giant souvenir shop right off the boat. However, I don’t think it was in retrospect.

I had done some research prior to our trip, and I knew climbing the hill to the cathedral was a highlight for those who did wander in town. Immediately upon getting into town from the boat (a one minute walk), we located a street heading right up to the cathedral. There are some impressive views, as well as a city gate, on the way up.

There is also a great view of the docked Viking boat:

We found a cute little bakery/pretzel shop that was open on a Sunday morning (until about 11:30). It was my first opportunity to practice a little Deutsch! We bought a delicious chocolate pretzel there for a little snack. Unfortunately, I don’t think we ever finished it, because we ate so much on the boat.

We also found a little shopping street, that also had a great view of the Cathedral:

There was also a cute weinstube that we saw. We ended up grabbing a beer here after our Colmar excursion and before dinner. They have a local beer from Freiburg there. This was another great opportunity for me to practice my German! It was only locals in there that evening.

We had some free time and the sun was out before the Black Forest tour returned, so we played shuffleboard and mini-golf on the top deck:

Before lunch, we had a safety demo. Everyone puts on their life jackets and awaits further instruction on where to go. It is quite a sight seeing everyone in a life jacket, but it serves a good purpose.  We also decided to take a selfie while waiting further instruction:

Colmar, France: 

Colmar was a pricey excursion, but after reading about it, I knew it was definitely something I wanted to do.  There were mixed reviews about a number of the excursions, but everyone on the Colmar trip seemed to enjoy it. It was one of my husband and I’s favorite cities.

On the bus ride there, you’ll pass a “Statue of Liberty,” as the artist, Bartholdi, is from Colmar. Once you’re there, you’ll go on a tour with a guide. I was anxious for more leisure time, so my husband and I split from the tour group about halfway through and did our own thing, as we already knew our meeting place and time before leaving.

We decided to explore farther out of town, and we also grabbed a beer (my husband) and an Alsace wine (Colmar is the Alsatian wine capital) for me at the place below. It was a neat place with wooden beams in the ceiling that still contained old nails in them. The couple next to us had a flambee that also looked delicious and the oil on it was lit on fire!

Right before we had to return, we stumbled across this carousel and crepe stand. I really wanted to try a crepe, but we didn’t have enough time to stand in line.

Each night during dinner, they will bring you a Viking Daily to your room, which lists the next day’s events, times, concierge tips, history, etc.

The second night features a toast from the captain at 7:00 p.m., followed by a welcome dinner at 7:15. By this time, we had already been dubbed “honeymooners” by the staff, despite us explaining we had been married for nearly five years. It was all in good fun!