Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

OMG I totally forgot to mention that yesterday we learned we were on a kruezfahrt!

Ahhahahahahaha! 

We’re 12.

OK today - Amsterdam! 

We took advantage of a tour offered by our kreuzfahrt. First a visit to the Rijksmuseum. A gorgeous and well engineered (very Dutch) Museum with a lot of history and Dutch Masters like Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

 If we’d had time we would have gone to the Van Gogh Museum too but we couldn’t fit it in. A reason to return!

Anyway the Rijksmuseum was great. The “Watchmen” by Rembrandt is there - under restoration. 

After our time at the museum we took a canal boat ride - A very charming way to see the city.

Then we were on our own. We thought we’d try a place known for cheese tasting but when we got there they weren’t generous with the tastings. We had to buy a little chunk of Gouda. Determined - We went to 

The Cheese Museum...

Which offered many, many tastings...

And information about cheese!

Next we made our way to Rembrandt’s House - Where he lived for 10ish years at the peak of his career - Before he declared bankruptcy (1650s).

He was a collector of many things - especially seashells. 

The art books in this photo contained over 8000 pieces of art from other great artists he’d collected (how he paid his debts).

Here’s his easel and studio...

And one of his students...

Here are some etchings...

We strolled back to the ship - Time to pack.

Luckily we had a little cheese snack for our packing time  - And Mike is very resourceful with the wine opener!

We finished packing then went to dinner and to the bar for one last listen to the ship entertainment (Roz & James).

Although I think we might be about 10 years too early for making a cruise like this our regular way of traveling - We had a great time!

Travel home tomorrow!

Cologne (Germany)

Today we are in Cologne - Leaving early this afternoon for Amsterdam - so we packed a lot into our morning. 

We tried to get another photo of the ship.

We started with a city walk excursion that took us around the city center. Cologne is an interesting city for several reasons...

1) Cologne citizens are very relaxed. They’re not like typical Germans who are strict about tasks and schedules. Their motto is, “Whatever happens, happens.”

Mike Schmitt, are you sure your family isn’t from Cologne? 🙂

The cathedral (2nd largest gothic cathedral in the world) took over 600 years to build.

2) Cologne was a key city during WW2. It was one of the main cities the US used when they joined the war - so it suffered a lot of bombing. It was pretty devastated with only the cathedral left standing (the cathedral itself was bombed 14 times) so the architecture is now very mixed between old and modern.

3) Because the city is divided by the river there is a rivalry - The main side (where we spent the day) thinks people from the other side are elitist and they say those folks are cross-eyed because they have one eye looking at where they’d rather be from. Here’s a statue that represents both sides. 

That’s our guide, Robin. He’s Norwegian.

Here’s a better look at the cross eyed guy from the other side of the river.

After our tour we went into the cathedral. Look at this window from the outside...

And now from the inside - Amazing!

Also the three wise men are buried in this church! They’re in this box!

If you look from the altar they’re in that gold box way in the distance.

The cathedral is beautiful.

Oh! I meant to point out - When you’re looking at this photo - The light stone areas of the church (like in the lower left side) are the areas hit by bombs that had to be restored.

After exploring that we went over to the Modern art museum - The Ludwig Museum.

They have a very large Picasso collection.

Mike is assessing a Miro.

I have always loved Miro - First of all because I thought he was a woman for a very long time. And 2nd because I always thought his art was so carefree and happy. It wasn’t until we went to the Miro museum in Barcelona (many years ago) that I learned he was a he and also quite depressed. Miro has taught me a lot about art!

Adler calls this one, “cats,” but I like to call it “Dellbert and Chloe.”

Since it’s our last day in Germany we decided we would have a traditional German meal. We went to a Beer house - Brauhaus where we had the beer of Cologne - the Kolsch.

And Mike had knuckle - and dumplings.

And I matched the decor.

We had a lovely walk along the river back to the ship.

This afternoon we played “name that tune” on the ship. We teamed up with some real music buffs and ended up winning! 

We even got a certificate!

We toured the galley with the chef and learned that they have flagged Mike in the kitchen for his scallop allergy!

Tomorrow is our last day - We’re ready to really whoop it up in Amster Amster dam dam dam!

Koblenz to Cologne (Germany)

We spent last night and this morning in Koblenz and are now headed up the river again toward Cologne.

So last night we attended a special concert at the Electoral Palace of Koblenz. It was pretty fancy! Here’s where it was...

It was four string-playing women and they were bad-ass! 

Of course they charmed with Vivaldi but they also broke out some more contemporary music - Led Zeppelin!

We came back to the ship and hung out at the bar. It was disco night and I couldn’t resist dancing to Barry Manilow’s Copa Cabana!

This morning we woke up to this view!

And off the other side...

We went on a tour to a nearby castle - Marksburg. It’s the only medieval castle that has never been conquered or destroyed.

It had some beautiful walls and gates.

We were able to see some interiors too.

This app hasn’t been putting photos in the right order when I post - so I’m not sure but the last one is supposed to be of the toilet.

I feel like we always have a toilet reference in all of our travel posts. Hmmm.

Speaking of toilets - we have been quite amused by the German word for “journey” which is - fahrt. And we see it EVERYWHERE!

Rundfahrt (tour), Ausfahrt (exit) - We find it quite hilarious.

And we’re having an amazing bootsfahrt!

Here’s a photo from our tour today - Marksburg castle is behind us.

We arrived back on the boat for lunch. We played an afternoon trivia game (not our best). And now have been hanging out talking with other travelers. We’re gearing up for our next lecture - Urban History - It’s likely wine will be needed.

We arrive in Cologne tonight - More tomorrow!