Gallery photos |
Colleen McKay I decided to take another river cruise in December 2008 to go to Christmas markets. This time a fellow Toastmaster, Mary Ann, went with me. We left at noon on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We arrived at our hotel in Basel Switzerland about 2:00 pm local time on Saturday. We had used my miles to fly business class. When we landed in Amsterdam we took showers and changed, waiting for our plane to Zurich. At the Zurich airport we boarded a direct train to Basel, then a cab to the hotel. After dropping off our things, it was time to go looking for the Church for Saturday evening Mass. We located the Church and verified the time for Mass. We had time to wander around the shopping street. Although the Mass was in German, we both knew what was going on. The church had a display of Christmas crèches at the back of the church. Mary Ann took a photo of each one. The Doll Museum was open at 10 am on Sunday. It was a doll and teddy bear museum. It had lots of scenes of dolls or bears in different settings: schoolrooms, stores, houses, and country fairs. It was four floors. We spent hours looking. The little shop had postcards of the different dolls and teddy bears. A cute little stuffed puppy had to come home with me. Mary Ann found the website of the museum. Photos were not allowed inside. After a cab ride to the dock, we dropped our things and went for a walk. We spotted a streetcar and decided to go back into town to take pictures of the town hall etc. As we returned to the ship we noticed a sign for the Tri-country monument. We hurried down to take pictures for two reasons: the sun was going down, and we did not want to be late for the first passenger briefing. The briefing stressed the importance of being back on board timely. The boat had times to be at locks and could not wait for passengers. Unfortunately, two passengers learned that lesson the second day out. They thought the back on board time was 6:30pm instead of 5:30pm. The boat delayed the 6:00pm departure until 6:25 pm. They did get back on board at 3:00am at our next docking after two cab rides and a train ride with a change of trains. I guess they were lucky there were evening trains. No one was late after that. We toured old churches, and took a bus ride into the Black Forest, with a stop to shop and observe a huge cuckoo clock; a tour of a castle ruin in Heidelberg and castle tour in Marksburg; and a bus tour in Strasbourg France past the European Parliament. The bus dropped us off in Strasbourg. We found a Christmas Market. After a street car ride to near the Rhine, we crossed on a bridge that had a WWII bunker on it. The boat was docked on the German side at Rhine at Kehl. The castle at Marksburg had torture devices set up in the old stable. The guide said school children come and expect to see a torture room in the castle. We toured the Siegfried Mechanical Music Museum. There was one instrument that played violins. In Cologne I was not feeling well. I did not have the energy to climb the bell tower stairs of the Dom (cathedral). I did go to the Lindt chocolate museum which smelled and tasted wonderful. On one floor of the museum there was a production line making chocolates and a fountain of chocolate that sugar wafers were being dipped in to be given away. I would say this was one of the highlights of the cruise. In Amsterdam we had a tour in the canal boats, then visited the Van Gogh museum. Mary Ann and I got info from the desk and a map to find Mass. We found it. The first verse of the opening hymn was in English; the rest of the Mass was in Dutch. At the back of the church there were flyers with the Bible readings, which change at each Mass. They were in English, France, Spanish, German or Italian. I did check my bag on the way home, since Mary Ann was checking. Her father was picking us up at the airport. I am ready to go on another cruise: the Tulips and Windmills Cruise in the spring through Holland and Belgium. But I think that will have to wait until spring 2010. |
