Category: 2015 Europe

We had left Cologne at 2300 and awoke beside the town of Koblenz. One of the advantages of a cruise is that you are usually moored right in the centre of the town.

A guided walking tour showed us the highlights of Koblenz  including this cheeky statue.

All aboard by 1030 then we sat up on deck to view the 25 castles of the Rhine Gorge. Some were in ruins while others had been partially or fully restored.

This was the only day we sat on deck and took in the views! There was a lot of traffic on the river which was very narrow in parts.

They have a triangular light system that tells the captain where ships are on the river although no doubt this has been superceded by AIS to some extent.

During the Second World War, the Allies said they would not bomb German castles. The Germans therefore camouflaged railway tunnels as castles so they would not be destroyed.

We took 23 hours to sail from Amsterdam to Cologne. Leaving at 1645 we went through much of the industrial areas at night and then watched the kilometre marks on the river count down during the day while we enjoyed the beautiful food prepared by chef Michael and his team.

We passed through our first lock today. This one had a bit of room to spare but some are 38 feet wide while our ship was 37.5 feet!!

As the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral came into sight we started to get excited about our first tour ashore. There were walking tours at all towns and we found the locals very informative and proud of their history.

Unfortunately the Roman History museum was closed however we could view the spectacular mosaic floor discovered when they started excavating under Cologne.

We awoke Friday morning to blue skies and a forecast of 27 degrees. We wandered through the old town with its “dancing houses”, canals and 800,000 bicycles. Bikes rule here so you need to keep alert!

The weather had all the locals out in all manner of vessels cruising the canals with shirts off. After lunch we visited the Resistance Museum that told the story of Amsterdam people during the war. Well presented and very interesting. Saturday morning we headed to the Amsterdam museum where we learnt that all of Amsterdam is built on piles to support the buildings in the soft sand (14000 under the Royal Palace). The houses dance (tilt) when the piles start to sink. The history to Amsterdam from its beginnings, through the Golden Age when the Dutch were a trading power to present times are depicted through informative exhibits and massive paintings.

Saturday afternoon we boarded our home for the next week, the Avalon Tranquility II. We are going to cruise up the Rhine to Basel in Switzerland. The ship is brand new and we are looking forward to a week of fantastic views, gourmet dining and making new friends. Our friend Jane who is also cruising had a bad start to the trip when her flight from Birmingham was cancelled! Jane and her friend Michelle eventually made it to the ship at 2000.

Sunday morning we were off on a canal cruise to get a new perspective of Amsterdam, then a trip to the Maritime Museum in the afternoon. At 1700, we dropped our lines for an overnight passage that would take us into Germany. No watches to stand and so little motion that you need to look out the panorama windows to see we are moving!

We left Brisbane at 0230 this morning on an Emirates flight to Singapore, Dubai then on to Amsterdam. Each leg was 7-8 hours and stopovers 1-2 hours. I think this was easier than the last trip to England with a long 14 hour leg direct to Dubai. It was nice to get off the plane and stretch the legs and then it was time to board again. Last leg was only half full so we had 4 seats! We landed in Amsterdam at 1940, cleared customs, then caught a cab to our hotel in the middle of the old town. We were both tired so a cup of tea then off to sleep.