The River Winds Homeward

Now that we've been home for almost a week, it's about time to get the last blog post up!

Trier was the farthest port along the Mosel. After two days here, we turned back towards Amsterdam, with stops in Cochem, Bonn and, supposedly Arnhem. Once we reached Bonn, our captain took a look at the return flights for many of the guests and decided that it would be safer to dock in Nijmegen instead, as there would be no locks to go through to get to Amsterdam, and therefore no chance of being late.

We had a beautiful morning of sailing between Mehring and Cochem, and most people were up on the Sun Deck.

We often wondered how the vineyards were fertilized or sprayed against pests - all organic and non-toxic, of course. And this morning we found out. These pilots are amazing, flying only a few metres from the ground while the spray the vines.

We reached Cochem almost two hours earlier than scheduled, and were docked on the opposite side of the river from the town, a good fifteen minutes' walk from the bridge. As we were scheduled to go on a tour in mid-afternoon, we didn't have quite enough time to get to town, wander around, and then walk back. We had been to Cochem before, and to the Reichsburg Castle that sits high above the town, so there was no pressing need to try to fit this in before the tour.

Our tour went to the Schlagkamp winery in the very small town (population about 250) of Senheim. We had been here on our tour with Tauck, and Monica enjoyed their special vineyard-slope grown peach liqueur so much that she wanted to buy another bottle. The wine museum, full of equipment that had been gathered over the family's 11 generations (since the early 1600s!!) is quite an interesting spot, and Andreas, who has taken over running the winery, is a very humorous story-teller. Last time he told us how his named wine, Cuvee Andreas, was developed; this time he told us about the history of the wineries on the Mosel. It seems that in times past, family vineyard holdings had to be divided up physically and given to the children upon the owner's death, so 1) some holdings became very, very small, and 2) the only way that anyone could increase their vineyards would be to have them marry into the family. So Andreas told the stories of his parents and himself, and his grandmother's (a shrewd businesswoman) reactions to girls without vineyard dowries coming into the family. Very funny!

Once back on board and on our way toward Bonn, we had dinner in the Bistro. On a number of nights during the cruise, there is a tapas-style dining option offered there, and we decided to give it a try. Our waiter suggested that he bring us a bit of everything - the menu didn't have a huge number of choices, so it sounded like a good idea...but we hadn't asked him how big the portions were!

The appetizer course consisted of: beef tartar (with baguette), cured salmon in dill cream, olives with goat cheese, and a deconstructed caesar salad. Everything was absolutely delicious!

 

We had expected the main course to be a selection of smaller portions. Well, they were smaller than you would get if you ordered them separately, but together, it was quite a plateful! A slice of beef tenderloin, garlic shrimp and pork sliders, with sides of regular AND sweet potato fries and cauliflower gratin. Although it looked like a lot, the meal wasn't huge, and we still had room for dessert...

...which was a good thing, because the pastry chef had prepared one of Monica's favourite cakes! There were always German-style cakes on the lunch buffet dessert table, and Monica had asked hotel director Paul if the chef was planning on including Bienenstich in the rotation. Paul didn't know, and made a note to ask. Well, whether he usually did or not, he made some this time! Bienenstich, or Bee Sting, is made from a yeast dough and baked with a topping of almonds in a sugar syrup. When baked it is cut in half and filled with a combination of pastry cream and whipped cream. Wow, it was fantastic!!

After dinner, we went outside to take in the ambience of the Mosel for the last time. By the time we woke up in the morning, we would be back on the wide and bustling Rhine, probably already in Bonn.

We had never been to Bonn before, but none of the tours really sounded too impressive, so we decided to walk around the old town by ourselves, and stop somewhere for a drink or lunch - it was still quite hot outside. We picked up a map and set off.

Statue at the Old Toll Building overlooking the river

The Koblenzer Tor, the gate into Bonn from the direction of
Koblenz. And look - scaffolding!!

So what are you looking at??? Larry beside an
art piece in the Hofgarten

The Minster - the cathedral of Bonn. It isn't called a Dom
because it isn't the seat of a bishop. (And more scaffolding!)

We HAD to take a picture! There's a convenience
store beside the bakery - when's the last time
you saw a cigarette sign??

One of Bonn's claims to fame is that Ludwig von Beethoven
was born here. Unfortunately his home is closed
for restoration.

We noticed that Bonn has far more bakeries than it does
breweries or beer halls.

The Sterntor, or Star Tower was once another gate into the city

The old Town Hall. We stopped for a drink at the place beside it in the
corner, which has been a public house of some kind for so many years,
that Beethoven apparently brought his first girlfriend here
to dance!

Time for another ticky-tacky tourist shot of the ship.

Our last port stop was in Nijmegen. As mentioned, we were supposed to go to Arnhem but the captain decided otherwise. No big deal; everything in the Netherlands is quite close, and it only meant a slightly longer bus ride for those, including Larry, who went to the World War II Museum there. We packed up in the morning, and Monica had a leisurely afternoon while he was off on tour.

On our final evening, it seemed that almost everyone was in the Palm Court. We had really enjoyed this cruise on the Crystal Bach. As usual, the staff on board were a big part of the experience. We hope to see them again sometime, either on the rivers or on the oceans.

Monica with Olivia, one of the entertainment directors

Olivia and Joseph performing

A calm evening on the river. This is why we love it!

Some Like it Hot!!

But probably not the European people who have to live through it with NO air conditioning!

This heat wave is the worst in a number of years, with temperatures in the mid- to high-30s Celsius, with spurts up to 40! The Americans on board were all trying to convert on the fly, so we just told them that 40 is about 106 Fahrenheit, and to go from there.

Our next port stop was an overnight in an idyllic spot about 20 kilometres from Trier at the village of Mehring. It was as if the Bach had tied off on the shoreline in a quiet part of Georgian Bay - except that there were vineyards right beside the ship! We found out later that our captain had made a point of leaving Bernkastel a little early so that we could get there before another ship, the Arosa Bella, and get the best docking spot! The campers who had their tents and trailers set up right there probably weren't too happy to see us, but there aren't many ships coming this far up the river so they would have their quiet spot back soon.

The view from our suite window

The pool on the Bach, where Monica spent some time almost
every day. Even from there the views were lovely.

The river views to the other side. Just so lovely and peaceful.

Some of the locals. There are lots of swans on the river

Crystal Bach at her mooring

Some of the very, very, very young grapes on
the vines. About 90% of the grapes in the Mosel Valley
are Riesling

On our first day here, we took the hiking tour in the Mullerthal Valley in Luxembourg. This area is also known as 'Little Switzerland' because of the high hills. The tour description promised flora, fauna and even a waterfall...but maybe that was written when there had been more rain! Our bus took us to the city of Echternach, where we walked up, and up, and up some more, until we reached the actual trail. It was very nice as forest trails go, and all of the paths and stairways (and there were lots of those!) were well maintained, but we barely saw a bird, never mind a deer, and there was no sign of any water falling anywhere!

Views over the valley

The trail we were on was quite a challenge at times!

Overlooking Echternach and the old monastery building

A last stop on the way down, at the Shrine to Our Lady.
There's no special reason for her being here,
but she overlooks the city as well.

The only real advantage was that the air was a bit cooler deep in the woods, so we managed to escape the 36 degrees for a little while. Once we were done we had a bit of time on our own, and stopped at a local cafe restaurant for some refreshment. Can you tell we were both ready to melt??

Eiskaffe - iced coffee made with ice cream and
topped with whipped cream and a wafer.
Yummy!

The scenery throughout the Mosel Valley is so beautiful, even from the bus Monica managed to get some pretty good photos

Back at the ship, entertainment director Olivia took
a photo of us out-standing in our field!

That night's dinner included rouladen, beef rolls that were one of Monica's Mom's specialties, and an apple tart with whipped cream. Couldn't pass those up!

And after dinner it was lovely just to look out over the river for a little while.

The next day we took the shuttle bus into Trier and wandered around on our own. It would have been hard to keep a tour group together anyway, since the whole old town was being prepared for the Altstadtfest, the Old Town Festival, that was taking place on the weekend. Dodging people, vehicles and any number of mobile beer stands that were being placed and set up took away from the beauty of the market square and even the Porta Nigra, the remaining city gate from the Roman times.

 

Overlooking the Marktplatz

Front entrance to the Church of Our Lady

One of the towers of the Cathedral

And we found another Glockenspiel!

The front of the Hotel 'Zum Domstein'

The interior of the Church of Our Lady

The inside of the Cathedral

We had planned to stop somewhere for lunch, and we found Zum Domstein, a hotel on one side, facing the Market Square, and a restaurant in the courtyard and the back, facing the cathedral, or Dom, and the Church of our Lady. What is it about Germans that they go directly from church to the local bierstube? No more than a hundred steps or so takes you from one to the other!

Larry had goulasch with potato dumplings
and red cabbage

Monica's lunch was potato roesti, like
a grated potato pancake, topped with tomato
and cheese and served with a salad
and cured ham on the side

We walked a little more after lunch to work off that meal, and found a couple of places where we had been on our previous visit. First was the Constantine Church, which is attached to the Palace of the Prince Elector. And we even found some scaffolding! They're renovating the Constantine Church.

The garden and reflecting pool at the palace

 The Porta Nigra, or Black Tower, built by the Romans along with the baths and the amphitheatre. Wonder what they would think of the bandstand put up in front for the festival?

This is a much nicer view

Once back on the ship we prepared for our sail down the Mosel to the town of Cochem. That would take all of the morning and we were looking forward to spending the time on the top deck enjoying the scenery.

At the Crystal Society party, we had been recognized as the guests with the highest number of Crystal cruises on this voyage, and Monica was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers for our suite. When we had dinner with the Society Hostess, Carolien, and Paul, the hotel director, Larry told the story of the oatmeal raisin cookies from Crystal Esprit...and that meant that Paul went to the pastry chef and had him make some!

The sailaways were what we most looked forward to, especially when we could sit outside and watch the world go by. With the sun only setting well after 10 p.m., this is the best time of year for a cruise like this.

Coming out of a lock