Prost with Kölsch!

 Saturday September 19

This morning started bright and early because our bags had to be out in the hallway by 7am in order to be transported to our new ship out of Frankfurt. The Viking Program Director tried to make us feel better about re-packing by having us think of it as an exercise in reassessing how many souvenirs we have purchased and how much room we have for more! Well if you put it that way I can already tell you that I need another suitcase!

We were loaded up on coach buses after breakfast and then made our way about 1.5 hours to the city of Cologne, Germany. The German name for Cologne is Köln and it is the fourth largest city in Germany. It was a Roman Colony in 50 AD and we were shown some pieces of the Roman wall that originally surrounded the city. 

Much of Cologne was destroyed during WWII but the Cologne Cathedral survived 84 bombings. It is a massive gothic style church which took 600 years to build (1248-1880). We were unable to go inside because of time constraints which was unfortunate. Viking may be hearing about that..

The city is on the Rhine river which we were supposed to be arriving on. The is river down 4-6 feet of where it is supposed to be. Not only is this effecting the tour business in this area but also many goods that are usually imported by ships have to be shipped by truck or train which is more expensive. The result is the prices of things are going up for all Germans. 

A fun fact is that Cologne is the birthplace of Eau de Cologne in 1709, a famous fragrance created by Italian perfumer Johann Maria Farina. It was first marketed as medicinal and called “miracle water”. I bought a liter!

Viking treated us and over 100 of our Viking friends to lunch at Peter’s Brauhaus. Cologne is known for their Kölsch beer which is served in slim small glasses. We were forewarned that the Köbes (waiter) will keep bringing you full glasses of beer until you put your coaster on top of your empty glass. We fact checked that today and it’s true! After lunch we had a small window of time for shopping and then headed back to the bus. 

Most of the people on the bus slept after all that beer  - luckily the ride included another pit stop on the way - and we got to Frankfurt around 5:45. About a 2.5 hour drive. We then boarded our new ship Gefjon where we hope to sail on for at least a few days. We have a whole new crew and they seemed happy to see us. We have the same rooms and our luggage was waiting for us when we got there so that was pretty easy. They didn’t unpack for us though…

Meandering Maastricht

 Friday,  September 18

After cruising all through the night, we arrived in Maastricht, The Netherlands this afternoon around 1pm. It was a sunny day and we thought we might spend the morning on the top deck but it was closed. There were many low bridges along our voyage that our ship barely made it under so the railings on the top deck had to be down in order to finagle it. If the railings couldn’t  be up,  a person certainly couldn’t  be standing on top!

The original itinerary had us arriving in Cologne, Germany today instead of Maastricht.  However, due to low water levels we could not make it to Cologne. Instead, Viking had arranged for local tour guides to take groups on a walking tour of the  Maastricht.

Our guide’s name was Karen and she was a resident of Maastricht. This town is on the Meuse River and is very quaint with cobblestone streets. It was established in 50 BC by the Romans and you can still see remnants of the stone walls that surrounded the city many years ago. It is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. Maastricht was really bustling and has many shops. There was a market going on in one of the squares but shopping was not built into the tour. There were lots of fabric and sewing notions but no time to shop. However, Karen managed to buy some socks in record time whithout losing our group. 

At one time Maastricht had over 50 churches. Not many people go to churches anymore so many have converted them into pubs and restaurants, etc. Karen the tour guide took us to a church that is now a popular book store called Book Store Dominicanen.  I would have loved to spend some time there too.

We did have time at the end of the tour to walk around by ourselves so we found an outdoor cafe for a beer and shopped around a bit. 

Unfortunately, because of the low water levels, we have to pack our bags tonight so that they can be transported to another ship outside of Frankfurt to  continue our voyage. We have two options to choose from to get ourselves there. We chose the option to tour Cologne, Germany but it looks like we will be spending around 5 hours on the tour bus. On the plus side we will be getting to see some of the countryside. 

A Gouda Time

 Thursday, September 17

We pulled into Dordrecht around 7am this morning. This was an early day as we needed to be ready to board a ferry this morning at 7:45am. It is a cloudy day and in the low 60’s. 

The short ferry ride took us to Kinderdijk which translates to child dike. There are different opinions as to why the town is named this. Many versions revolve around a terrible flood in the 14th century. It is said that a cradle with a baby was swept away by the raging waters and a cat jumped into the cradle and kept the cradle rocking back and forth to prevent the water from spilling in and drowning the baby. The cat kept this up until the baby was rescued. 

Our tour guide was a woman named Janet and she is a resident of Kinderdijk. She was raised here and her grandfather was a miller. A miller is the person who runs the windmill and most often lives there with their family. If the windmill is running, the miller has to be there. She was quite informative as we toured one of the 16 windmills in this area. All of them are very old and don’t really run much but they keep them all in working condition in case the electricity goes out and the new technology used can’t operate. It is very important to have a back up plan because the purpose is to pump the water constantly so the dikes hold and there is just enough water to prevent the land from sinking. The town is built on peat and if too much water is pumped, the peat will shrink and things will sink. 

The windmill they have open for touring is working so it gave us a feel for what it would have been like to live in a windmill. First of all you would have to like to climb stairs because the rooms are on different levels and small. The bathrooms are outside as well as the cooking house. 

In his later years, Janet’s grandfather lost his eyesight due to glaucoma. He didn’t want to move and being a miller was all he had known so his wife became his eyes. She would help him direct the windmill and although blind, would crawl up the blades to attach the canvas by feel. 

After the windmills our group boarded a bus to travel into the countryside. It is very lush green but because of the peat soil, no crops are grown besides grass for the cows. There are few beef cows because it is not as economical as having dairy cows so dairy cows are what we mostly saw. We also saw an abundance of sheep and storks. They do not like swans because swans eat a lot of grass that should have been for cows. 

Our next stop was to Booij (pronounced boy) Gouda Farm. This family has been making Gouda and other cheeses for 300 years. Evelyn showed us around the farm where we met a few of their 160 or so dairy cows and then explained their process of making award winning Gouda. Cheese making begins at 6am right after their cows are milked for the first time. They do not pasteurize their milk but just warm it. Then the curds are separated from the whey, Bacteria is added to the curds and then they are rinsed and packed into wheels of various sizes. The wheels are aged in brine/whey combination and the outside is painted with a product called cheese coating wihich protects the cheese but also allows it to age. The cheese wheels are aged at least 3 weeks or longer. 

The best part was that we got to taste a variety of their cheeses. We did buy a few cheese wedges because it was vacuumed packed and does not need to be refrigerated and is good for 8 weeks. A really Gouda time!

After a short bus ride a leisurely walk through the small town of Gorinchem we boarded back on our ship in time for lunch. You do not go hungry on river cruises! 

Walkabout Through Amsterdam

 Wednesday, September 16

We had a leisurely morning in Amsterdam and decided to just walk around since we have done most of the standard sightseeing on our previous trip here. After finding coffee we meandered to the Red Light district and other neighborhoods surrounding it. We were reminded that in Amsterdam you not only have to watch out for speeding cars but maybe more importantly to watch out for speeding bicyclists. Bikes are everywhere and they go fast. 

We ended up in the museum area where you find the Rijksmuseum, the Modern Art museum and the Van Gogh museum. Since we have already been to the Rijksmuseum we decided to go to see Van Gogh. We didn’t have tickets and the only tickets available were in the late afternoon which didn’t work for us. Oh well, maybe next time.

By the time we got back to our hotel, we had walked over 5 miles and experienced a few rain storms. Actually the weather was partly cloudy and sunny at times so it was a great day for sightseeing. After retrieving our luggage from the hotel we hopped in a private car (arranged by the hotel) for the short ride to the river boat port. As soon as we got out of our car, our friends, Karen and Gary showed up. We couldn’t have planned it better if we had tried!

We sale tonight for Dordrecht.

Roll Out the Grolla!

 Monday, September 14

Today was a leisure day decompressing from our little mini-trip. This is the first day of school for Italian students in the area. Great nephews Noah and Nathan headed off to their schools. Even though one is in 8th grade and the other high school, the school setup is the same. They are with  the same group of students every year and it is the teachers that rotate from classroom to classroom and most of the teachers are the same every year for the various subjects. 

Don, Antonio, and I accompanied Barb to the grocery store so we could snoop around a bit. Grocery stores are pretty much the same although to use a grocery cart, you put one euro in the coin box to release the basket and after you bring the cart back, you get your euro back. This cuts out the need for the parking lot basket retrievers.  Another difference is that plastic gloves are provided for you to wear when touching the produce. This was a thing even before Covid. 

The high school ends at 1pm with the expectation that students will continue studying at home during the afternoon. We decided to pick Noah up so he wouldn’t have to ride the bus and there was a crowd waiting for students. Teens are not allowed to get a drivers license until age 18 although they can get a Vespa or motorcycle license at age 16. Most of the kids are picked up by family or ride public transportation as many are from a different town. Noah’s school is a technology/science centered high school. 

The entire family came together again for a big dinner which was nice because I forgot to take a photo last time. We enjoyed wine from their grapes grown in their little orchard. Their friend harvests them every year and then makes the wine. I enjoyed it. After dinner they showed us how to use the Grolla which is a tradition to share with friends. The Grolla is a wooden bowl with a lid with spouts around the edge for drinking. There is a process involved in making the beverage that includes coffee, orange/lemon peels, sugar and grappa. After it is mixed in the Grolla it is set on fire to carmelize the mixture. When the fire is out you pass it around and take sips until it is gone. It is bad luck to set the Grolla down between sips. I think the bad luck is because if you set it down you forget which spout you were drinking from! Francesco and Daniela gave us a Grolla a few years ago and now we know how to use it!

Destination Duomo

 Sunday, September 13

A long drive was ahead of us today - about 4.5 hours to go back to Strambino. Surprisingly the traffic wasn’t bad coming out of the mountains. Semi trucks are not allowed to travel the highways until Sunday evening in order to ease the impact of Sunday travel…hmmm what a concept ..are you listening CDOT? However we did have some construction slow downs as we neared Milan. 

We decided to stop for lunch at what we would call a truck stop. Autogrille is the most famous but we stopped at a Chef Express. All of the food is prepared while you wait and of course we hit the pasta line! Real food made fresh with real plates and silverware. No greasy hamburgers and fries or shriveled hot dogs. A great place to gas up, eat well and impulse buy snacks in the shop!

We arrived in Milan around 4pm. Antonio was willing to drive down to the center of Milan since it was a Sunday. During the week it is too busy to take the car. We found parking not too far from the Duomo di Milano. This cathedral is astoundingly gothic with art and sculptures everywhere. Unfortunately there were people everywhere too. We labeled them the “to sees” and the “to be seens.” -tourists and those who were on display, wearing the latest fashions. Milan is well known for fashion and there are many high end fashion stores in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is across from the Duomo. 

Because there are so many tourists now, we had to buy a ticket to enter the Duomo. Barb remembers when you could just walk in. The expanse of the interior is awe inspiring but I have to say not as ornate as one would think and certainly not as ornate as the outside. Across from the cathedral is the museum which had the history of the Duomo. It took 579 years to build- from 1386-1965. The Italians have a saying “Duomo di Milano” when describing an endless project or someone who is very slow. 

The museum also housed some of the original sculptures that were carved in the 14th and 15th century in order to preserve them. Replicas have replaced their spots on the cathedral. Also, cars are no longer allowed in the area which is preventing a lot of marble deterioration from pollution.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was built in 1865 and is Italy’s oldest shopping mall. The space is outside but covered with an elaborate glass and iron roof with a huge dome in the middle. The original Prada store was opened here in 1913.

 A walk through the Galleria leads you to Teatro ala Scala (The Scala Theatre). This is one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses and was built in 1778. We weren’t able to go in because they were preparing for an opera that night.

It was a long day in the car but we sure got our steps in while we were in Milan!

The Dynamic Dolomites

 Saturday, Sept. 12

Today we made our way north to the mountains to see Cortina where some events of the 2026 Winter Olympics were held. We were very close to the Austrian border. In fact, after World War I some of the villages near here went to bed as Austrians and woke to discover that their area was now a part of Italy. To this day, German is the language in these villages and they have kept their Austrian traditions. We didn’t have the opportunity to stop in any of these towns but a little Austrian influence was apparent in the areas we were in. 

The mountains, called the Dolomites, were breathtaking. They look different from the Rocky Mountains in that they are not as high in elevation but they seem higher because you are starting from a lower elevation (sea level) and then..boom there are mountains! They are also more jagged. Another difference is that there are not many mountain passes to climb because there are several tunnels that go through the mountains. We did have to climb to get to our hotel in an alpine village called Misurina. It wasn’t until we arrived did we realize that we were at the base of Tre Cime di Laverado - the famous 3 peaks of Laverado. The road in front of our hotel led up to a big parking lot and from there you can hike to see the peaks. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do the hike so instead we had lunch near the lake, Lago di Misurina. It turns out that this lake was where the natural lake speed skating events were held during the 1956 Winter Olympics. No ice today but it was definitely cool mountain air. 

After lunch we made our way into Cortina. This is a beautiful village that reminded me of Vail without the annoying I70 rushing through. We found the ice arena first which housed the curling events during the 2026 Olympics and the opening ceremony in the 1956 Olympics. The hockey rink is at the base of the ski area so we decided to take the gondola up to have a look from up high. On the way we saw the bobsled and luge tracks on the side of the mountain. Our gondola ended near the top where we had a terrific view of the beginning run of the Olympic women’s Alpine events which was much higher than we were.  I knew it when I saw it because of the menacing rock formations on each side of the run. The man at the gondola ticket booth confirmed that it was indeed the run that “Lindsey Vonn broke herself!” 

In the center of the village are a lot of shops. One shop owner told me that he had visited Breckenridge a few years ago. I think that if I lived in Cortina, I wouldn’t need to go anywhere else!