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