The Search is Over!

Boy, did Summer show up with a vengeance! We had been warned that it was going to be hot, but it has turned into a real scorcher with temperatures of 35 to 39 degrees Celsius and not a lot of wind most of the time. We've finally got time to catch up on the blog on the second last day of the cruise, but we'll split it into a couple of posts to keep them shorter.

Our morning in Koblenz finally got us across the river to see the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein, where a defensive position of some kind has overlooked the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel (or Moselle) Rivers since Roman times. Most of this part of Europe was at one point part of the Roman Empire so there are lots of ruins going back to that period. Most of the castles or defenses have been destroyed and rebuilt quite a few times throughout the region's history, so each has its own particular story to tell.

History notwithstanding, Ehrenbreitstein is now used more for the views and as an event venue. The cable car which has been taking people from Koblenz up to the hilltop, about 300 metres above river level, was put in at the cost of the cable car company when Koblenz hosted the German Flower Show in 2000 (and this is a big thing in Germany) to show that their product could be used elsewhere than just in the Alps to get people up and down the mountains.

You can't miss the German Corner, or Deutsches Eck, because of the construction that sticks out into the Mosel. This was built in the 1800s to show everyone Prussia's power, with a gigantic statue of Kaiser Wilhelm on his horse as the centrepiece. Only from across the river can you actually see that it is shaped like the bow of a ship. Now it serves as a national monument and the flags of all 12 German states stand there.

The Rhine River in front and the Moselle River in back,.

We had a little time to wander around in the old town of Koblenz once we returned from the fortress, so we looked at a few buildings nearby and strolled around the 'corner' to see Kaiser Wilhelm from a more impressive angle.

And of course we had to take a picture of the flag of Bremen!

We left Koblenz in the early afternoon and started our sail up the Mosel, with our next stop being Bernkastel.

There are a lot of low bridges on the rivers, so everything needs to be lowered from time to time. The round white structure is the top of the Vista Bar, which drops down into the deck, barstools and all!

Passing under a REALLY low bridge!!

That evening our entertainment directors, Joseph and Olivia, gave the first of their shows. They are great, and tend more toward folk tunes and singer-songwriters than pop or rock. They had been playing on Crystal Serenity over Christmas and left just before the world cruise started. We hope we'll be able to see them again next year.

Monica's Strawberry-Peppercorn Gin and Tonic!

And the next morning we arrived at Bernkastel, where we had booked a tour to visit another castle ruin, Burg Landshut, and then take a short walking tour in the town. This castle ruin, too, had a Roman history which was discovered through excavations on the site. Most of the towns where a high lookout position was built also had an economic presence - many were points of taxation. The local government, be it a baron, an archbishop or a prince elector, depending on the time period, made sure that it got its share of the value of all goods moving along the river, and with these castles placed high over the river, nobody could get around it.

First semi-official "tourist shot" of the ship!

Yes, all of that greenery is really vineyards!!

Bernkastel's Old Town Markt Platz. Most of the buildings date as far back as the 1300's!

Weiner Schnitzel and Bratkatoffeln for lunch in Bernkastel!

In the evening, the Crystal Signature event for our cruise was a concert by La Finesse, the same group we had seen on our Christmas Markets cruise, but this time instead of freezing in the venue, we were almost melting! Nevertheless, we enjoyed the concert:

Once back on board, we set out for our next stop, an overnight docking outside of Trier.

Still No Summer.........

....but at least it isn't raining!!!!

We arrived in Amsterdam at just after 6:00 a.m. to find it very foggy and a little on the cool side. So much for a jump into summer! But once we had taken a couple of hours of rest and were ready to go exploring, the weather had improved quite a bit and it was a very nice afternoon.

We were staying in the Andaz Hotel Prinsengracht, which is located on the far western side of the city centre away from the river, but still within an easy walk to most of the important sites. Rather than try to get into some of the more popular attractions, we just spent our time walking around in the area.

The hotel was a bit of an interesting destination in itself. The building used to house the Amsterdam Public Library before it was moved to another location, at which point Hyatt bought it and had one of the more famous architect/interior designers from the city redo the whole thing. As a result, it is a mix of modern, antique, kitsch, and library references.

The reception area

The garden has an 'Alice in Wonderland' theme. There
had been a open garden show in the city the previous weekend, and
they had over 1,500 people come in to see it!

Our room had a canal view, but being over the front lobby area, it was also over the bar, and the thump, thump of the late night music was a presence. The room itself was something you'd never see in North America. It was entirely open-concept, with the shower stall behind a mirror door and the WC in a separate little room - with some really great wallpaper. Even this was designed by the architect to provide a little Amsterdam history to anyone who had to spend any time on the 'toilette'. Gives a whole meaning to "reading in the bathroom!" While not a large room, it was comfortable and suited our purpose for one night.

The wallpaper in the WC

The room isn't overly large, but big enough. The open
style of the vanity and dressing table makes it
look much larger.

Friday was "boarding day" and dawned sunny, but cool and windy. The taxi arrived promptly and we left for the ship, proceeding about 50 feet, and stopped. Amsterdam is a city of canals, most with a narrow, single lane, one way street running along each side. When a business or resident requires a delivery or pick up, the vehicle doing the work simply stops in the street, and everyone behind it waits. And waits. And waits. We waited for almost five Euros, at ten cent intervals!!!! We had been advised a week prior by Crystal that the ship would be docked in the commercial harbour, instead of right at the city waterfront, and that they would reimburse our taxi fare, so the extra five Euros wasn't that bad.

We arrived at the ship without any other problems, and were onboard and in our room, with bags delivered in less than ten minutes. One of the nice things about a small ship. Really quick check in! Our room is an S1 Suite, just about midship on the starboard side. Unlike the ocean ships, the rooms on the river ships, even though called Suites, are on the small side, but more than enough since you use the room literally to sleep, shower and change your clothes. And do blog posts! We were very quickly unpacked and spent a leisurely day on the ship, including enjoying the sunshine and (finally) a little bit warmer temperatures, on the aptly named Sun Deck, the top-most deck of the ship.

We had an overnight in Amsterdam, so our first official "touring day" was Saturday and we had our tour to Zaanse Schans, an open air museum, sort of like Pioneer Village (but bigger) or Upper Canada Village. Our guide, Peter, looked a bit like Albert Einstein, but with less hair, and spoke like a university professor, but he knew his history. Probably because he lived most of it! While he certainly didn't look it, he told us he was 80 years young, and still going strong. He told one of our fellow guests that he used to do guided tours to all the major European capitals when American Express was still offering them, so there was very little he couldn't tell us about just about anything.

Zaanse Schans is a very pretty village, with the museum across the Zaan River from an actual residential area where all of the homes have been built and/or kept in their traditional design, looking sort of like  Dutch gingerbread cookies. In the village itself, most of the buildings, homes and small cottages had been transplanted from their original sites to Zaanse Schans and are actually inhabited. We guess that the residents and the entity that runs the museum have some kind of deal on the cost, as it would probably be very disconcerting to have a curious visitor barge into your home, thinking the interior was on display as well as the exterior. And with the number of tour buses already there when we arrived right around 10:00 a.m., and of course, the commensurate number of Asian tourists, just about any odd situation could happen!

One of the highlights of Zaanse Schans is the working windmills. Of the four, one mill produces paint, like oil paint for artists, one produces oils, mainly by grinding peanuts, and the remaining two are both sawmills. To see just how these industrial mills work, we visited Het Jonge Schaap, 'the Young Sheep', a special windmill that was opened in 2007. All of the parts were made and assembled entirely by hand, based on the detailed drawings from a derelict mill that was being taken down elsewhere. The short movie showing how the mill was built was quite fascinating, and our visit to the working part of the mill even more interesting. The mill can actually cut about 2 1/2 metres of log, using multiple blades, in an hour if the wind is strong enough.

We also saw a 'modern' wooden shoe making operation - lathes are used instead of manual labour, cutting the time for a basic rough shoe down from a few hours to about 5 minutes!

With only 3 machines, a wooden shoe can be made in
no time flat!

And with all those wooden shoes around, you have to find some
novel uses for them!

Our final stop was for coffee and apple cake at one of the restaurants beside the river.

It was a very interesting tour, and we learned quite a bit about the history of this part of the Netherlands. But we were ready to set sail...and at 2 p.m. we cast off the last lines and headed out into the river. While we enjoy the tours on a river cruise, the best part for us is cruising the river, and a 2:00 PM departure meant many hours to sit on the Sun Deck and watch the river go by. Since the commercial harbour is "downriver" from Amsterdam, we got to do a "sail by" of the Old City and river cruise and cruise piers before heading to the Amsterdam Canal connecting Amsterdam Harbour to the Maas/Waal/Rhine rivers.

Some very interesting new architecture for the residential
buildings on the opposite side of the river from city centre

Trust the Dutch to come up with new ways to
house people, even temporarily!

Along the canal toward the Rhine you can see how much lower
the ground is than the water. And there are lots of little
'weekend houses' - tiny cottages with gardens...

...and also regular sized cottages

Amsterdam is one of the busiest ports, so there's always lots
of water traffic to and from the Rhine along the canal

Our first stop, today, was in Duesseldorf, where, unfortunately, it is Sunday. Not that this is a particularly bad thing, but most of the states that make up Germany have only very limited Sunday openings allowed for anything but churches, restaurants and breweries/beer halls. We had chosen a culinary tour which was originally supposed to take us to a local market, but, of course, it too was closed on Sunday. On top of this, the annual Duesseldorf Triathlon took place today, and at the last minute the running route was changed from one that followed the river on the opposite side to one that ran smack dab through the old town, so that meant closed roads so our Crystal tour buses couldn't get to us at our docking on the riverside.

We ended up walking along the Promenade and into the old town, where we visited a chocolate shop and bakery. This is Heinemann, a very well-known chocolate shop. We tried these heavenly champagne chocolate truffles that have won a number of awards - but nobody think that we were bringing any home with us - the weather had turned hot enough that, by the time we got back to the boat, they may have started to melt!

Our other stop was at the Brauerei 'Zum Schluessel', one of the older breweries in town. We had a tasting introduction to the local Duesseldorf beer, which is made with roasted malt and is therefore a little darker and more bitter than regular beers. We had planned to walk a little further around town and then go back there for lunch, but we had forgotten to plan for this when we had breakfast, and really weren't very hungry, so we strolled back along the Promenade toward our boat instead.

One of the churches, with, in very un-Germanlike fashion,
a crooked steeple!

The Rathaus, or Town Hall, square

Duesseldorf even has a carillon like Bremen does, but theirs
is much smaller and not nearrly as ornate. Sounds very nice, though!

The river promenade is bustling in summer as it is
lined with small restaurants and beer stands

Our afternoon on board was very relaxed - we spent some time up on the sun deck - and we left at 6:00, heading for Koblenz and the Mosel (or Moselle) River. One thing of note - on the ocean ships, the captain plays Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' when we leave port; on the river ships, they play his version of 'Moon River' instead!

We finally found the weather we were looking for! When
the breeze dropped, it got quite warm on the
Sun Deck!

The promenade seems to be the place to go on a warm
sunny summer day. At least it looks like about half of Duesseldorf's
130,000 residents were there.

We didn't have to worry about crowds for our meals.
Here's Christian preparing Larry's appetizer
of mushrooms under a flaky pastry

 After dinner, we spent the better part of two hours on the top deck as the sun descended and we sailed toward Cologne.

As we write this, we still haven't passed that city and the great cathedral that we saw on our Christmas Markets cruise......maybe it's taken way too long to prepare this post, but we've just sailed past Cologne. Here are some photos of the Cathedral and waterfront at 11:00 at night!

More after tomorrow's stop in Koblenz!