Out of Germany and Into Holland

After leaving Trier we spent a beautiful afternoon and evening sailing back down the Mosel toward the Rhine River. The sun was shining, the breeze, such as it was, came from behind us so there was almost no wind, and the temperatures were shorts-comfortable. But the low bridges were still low bridges and the Captain had to periodically shoo us off the Sun Deck or risk bumping our heads! This also meant taking down the sunshades and putting them back up again, so the crew was pretty busy!

Looking from the stateroom passage to the
foyer and the lounge beyond. The ship is beautifully
laid out

The Compass Rose Dining Room. Nicely spacious
with tables for 4, 6 or 8

Friday morning found us docked in the small town of Remagen, Germany. There really is no reason to stop here, other than a remarkable event from WW II. While there are almost no reminders of the war, the Rhine and the territory around it played a large role. The area of the south bank, from around Strasbourg to the Dutch border was known as The Rhineland after WW i, a demilitarized zone, and the first territory "occupied" by Hitler in 1936, giving him his first major victory when the French let him get away with it. The Rhine was also the last natural defensive border for the Germans in 1945. Remagen is notable because the American 7th Army was able to capture the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine before the Germans could blow it up allowing them to move heavy forces across the Rhine quickly. Nothing remains of the bridge today other than the towers on either side of the river and the closed up entrance to the rail tunnel on the north side. The south tower contains a small museum with some artifacts from the crossing and the ensuing attempts by the Germans to destroy it.

Looking down the river - the two bridge towers
are at the bottom of the ridge

The Peace Museum - established by the mayor of Remagen
to commemorate the people who died on the bridge, fighting for it
and trying to fix it. He sold pieces of the brick from the
original bridge to finance the project.

The view from the museum to the towers on the other
side.

Remagen's Marktplatz

It was interesting, but we found the ice cream shop beside the ship even more interesting!!!

After leaving Remagen we enjoyed another beautiful afternoon sailing the Rhine toward Holland. After many days of cool and damp, this afternoon was sunny and HOT! We heard later that the high for the day reached 34C, and there were no clouds. We spent much of the afternoon under a sun shade watching the world go by. This part of Germany is very flat, the southern edge of the North German Plain, but it also contains three of Germany's biggest cities, Bonn, the former West German capital, Dusseldorf, a major industrial city, and Cologne with its very impressive twin-spired cathedral. One of the largest in Germany, it was also the only building in Cologne not seriously damaged when the war ended. We are not entirely sure why we did not stop at Cologne, but the southbound sailing does, so it gives us a reason to do this itinerary again!! (Like we need an excuse!!)

Interesting apartment buildings along the riverside
near Duesseldorf

A river car ferry. There aren't that many bridges along the Rhine
and many small towns use ferries instead to move from one side
to the other.

A floating restaurant outside of Cologne

How would you like to live in this condo building?

The Cologne Cathedral in the background. Should we maybe
sell this picture to Viking River Cruises??

Once past Cologne, the Rhine becomes very much a commercial river and both sides of the river are lined with heavy industry and more nuclear power stations than we could have imagined in such a small area!! But it was still pleasant after dinner, so a large group of us gathered at the front of the Sun Deck to enjoy the air. And watch the weather change. The Captain had mentioned the weather was going to change, and after the heat and humidity of the afternoon, we were thinking a thunderstorm. And we were not disappointed. We watched the sky darken all around and in front us, but not above us, and there was no wind. And then there was wind. From nothing to a 60 KMH gale that came out of nowhere, followed almost immediately by the first bolts of lightning. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the evening watching the light show from the lounge. Oddly, it never did rain!!

Saturday morning found us docked in Nijmegen, Holland under another clear, blue sky. Today's tour took us a little north of Nijmegen, to the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Hoge Veluwe National Park. The park was actually the private hunting ground of one of the richest families in the Netherlands in the 1800s, now given to the country as a park. The museum was established from the the family's private collection as well, and is the home of the largest single collection of Vincent Van Gogh's work in the world as well as paintings and sculptures of other artists. 

The Rhine at Nijmegen.

A hunting hut at the Visitors' Centre of the
Hoge Veluwe Park.

Once inside the museum, we had our guided tour, which included some well-known van Gogh paintings. The Dutch language is very gutteral, with the G sounding more like you are clearing your throat. Therefore, van Gogh actually sounds quite weird. In fact, Petr, one of our tour directors, told the story of a lady who was disappointed after going to the museum because she had expected to see Van Gogh's works but the guides kept showing her 'von Tctkotctk' (we can't get any closer than that to describe the sound). So since then he makes sure he points out the different pronunciation.

The collection also included works by Renoir...

and Claude Monet

The outdoor sculpture park

Back in town we had a little chance to explore Nijmegen:

The town square and Weigh House.

There was a farmer's market going on as we strolled around. The
most prevalent items:  Cheese, Herring, and Flowers.

This area also has an important WW II connection as the site of the largest airborne operation of the war, Market-Garden. This was an attempt in 1944 by the British to capture bridges across the Rhine using both British and American Airborne forces to secure Eindhoven (further south), Nijmegen and Arnhem. The whole story was made famous by the book and movie A Bridge Too Far. The title is a partial quote attributed to a British General explaining why the British failed in Arnhem. "We perhaps tried to go a bridge too far." Sitting on the Sun Deck in the afternoon Larry was reading a book about the battle in Nijmegen between American paratroopers and the Germans and found it interesting to be sitting looking at the places he was reading about in the battle that took place in that very spot!

We left Nijmegen in early afternoon and while it was sunny, the wind was blowing straight down the river, so between it and the forward motion of the ship, it got too windy and a bit too cool for the Sun Deck. Just as well, since we had to get ready for dinner. Sunday being the last full day on the ship in Amsterdam (and also packing day!), the Captain's Farewell Dinner was held Saturday evening. 

Larry with Kurt, one of our tour directors, and Diane & Michael
from Pennsylvania.

In the dining room with our wait staff, Anthony and Joanna. We ate with
Diane and Michael quite often, and never got the chance to get
past Anthony's tables!