OUR 60-DAY JOURNEY TO EUROPE AND BACK: Part Four....15-day Christmas-time European River Cruise

I JUST NOTICED THAT THIS 12DECEMBER2024 POSTING WAS MISSING, SO HERE IT IS TODAY.  There will also be a posting for Sunday, 30March2025.

 

Note that I use Christmas-time European Cruise, for we were told on the ship that this was not a Christmas Cruise, but a cruise during the Christmas season, which sort of begins in November.  While some Christmas Markets open in later November, most start in early December.  We left Amsterdam on November 21, and saw no Christmas Market until Day 10.

It was cold during the entire river cruise.  It snowed during our taxi ride from the Marriott Amsterdam to Viking Tir.  Tir is the Norse God of Heroic Glory.

We had been traveling for more than a month when we boarded, so did not have of those luggage tags they mail to you (which we saw after we got home), but no problem.  They got our bags into our room.  Had lunch. Beer and wine come with lunch and dinner.

Our room and view of Amsterdam harbor.

Good size shower and fine appointments.

We left Amsterdam and first stopped overnight in Kinderdijk.  On the Rhine River, the city is most known for 19 well-preserved 18th-century windmills.  Watch this video.  The Dutch boy who saves his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike supposedly did this in Kinderdijk.  And his name is not Hans Brinker.

A typical Dutch windmill typically generates 18 kW of usable power, producing 14kW of electricity.  

• A modern wind turbine of about equal diameter, around 66 feet, would generate 125 kW.  
• Thus those traditional Dutch windmills only produce around 10% that of those today.  
• Scientifically, the power generated is the cube of the wind speed.   Thus, if a wind energy conversion device can produce 1 MW at 12 MPH, this same turbine would generate 8 MW at 24 MPH.  I would presume that comparison above was made at the same wind speed.

Cologne was the next stop, where we had pre-dinner drinks in the Lounge of Kir and Champagne.  And, yes, cologne, the perfume, originally came from Cologne.  That green snack is wasabi coated peanuts, and very, very wasabic.  We that day took a bus tour of Cologne.  I feature the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter because it is the most visited landmark in Germany.

Church was badly damaged in World War II air raids.  

• Amazingly enough, here is a video of the final battle around the Cologne Cathedral, where a German Panther tank, knocked out two American Sherman tanks, beforebeing destroyed by Eagle 7, a Pershing.

The Christmas Market of Cologne, unfortunately, was scheduled to open the next day.  Here is a photo from the past.  Note that these markets almost all are close to major churches.

On the way from Cologne to Koblenz, my pre-dinner drink was a Hinotori Japanese Whisky.

Then a typical dinner of soup/salad and steak.

Departing Koblenz, we then were treated to the famous Middle Rhine Transit, a four-hour cruise through what you see in ads for European river cruises.  Go to my posting for all the photos.  Here are a few, beginning with the statue of Lorilei, sitting there, singing sweetly to sailors to lure them to some coming doom.

A lot to drink for the passing show, followed by English tea time.

In the days that followed, we saw Miltenberg, featuring their three pissing boys.

The Wurzburg highlight was their Bishop Residence.

Bamberg.

Another soup/salad and entré of crispy skin pork.

Finally, our first Christmas Market.  In Regensburg.  But first, lunch of fish/chips and pork.

Then off  on walking tour of Regensburg.

Our first Christmas Market.

A stop in Passau.

Just before we got to Melk, our ship got stuck in a sand bank.  We were there all night until the next morning when two tug boats pulled us out.  We were so close to spending the rest of the cruise on busses and hotels.

We nevertheless had a goodbye German supper, with free alcoholic drinks because of this incident. Ordered from the most expensive bottle and must have had at least ten, mostly scotches and cognacs.  Johnny Walker Blue Label was just one example.  And all for free.

Schnapps to toast the dinner.

Program Director Steve was outstanding in his role.

The free drinks.

On the 14th day, we arrived in Budapest, and walked around the Pest side of the city.  Greeted by my Blue-Bar Pigeon.

Some night scenes of Budapest.

Final dinner with a sachertorte for dessert.

Our plane left Budapest at 1PM to Zurich, so we had our first Viking Tir breakfast.

Tomorrow, a recap of the cities we enjoyed between cruises:  Seattle, Amsterdam and Zurich, which had five Christmas markets.

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