July 7 - Oberwesel/Bacharach - Mainz

Your Ramblers hit the Romantic Rhine today, the middle portion of the river that is very rural, very picturesque and very old.

Oberwesel is a very small town on the west side of the Rhine. We took bikes and rode about 10km (see--turning Euro already) back down the river from the direction we had sailed (and back). Excellent roads and bike paths, at least along this part of the Rhine. In the afternoon we climbed to one of the many towers in the area above the town of Bacharach (spelled like Burt, pronounced in German like hocking a loogie.

Rail tunnel disguised as a castle 

The famous Lorelei, which highlights a particularly dangerous stretch of the river.

Water view of Oberwesel

Doesn't The Tour de France start today???

Riesling vineyards. Very steep slopes.

A castle at the edge of Oberweisel

View #1 from our hike destination

View #2 from our hike destination

Back in town after the hike downward

Pretty little stream running right through town

After we returned from our hike, our ship sailed up river to Mainz (pronounced "mines", not like the plural of the state in the US).  There we got off and wandered with our new friends Jay and Becky.  Some very fancy dancing was going on along the river bank as evening came.

Tango-esque dancing along the Rhine

The World Cup was ongoing during our trip and that night the Russians and Croatians were playing. Mainz seem to have a population of each. Croatia won.

They used mini Stay Puft Marshmellow Men for crossing signs

Stately Church - it is Europe, after all.  The Protestants call this one home.

St. Peter's Church--Catholic church and Rococo architecture

Museum, but wow the horse

New friends Becky and Jay

After three towns, one 20k bike ride, a hike up a very steep hill, and carousing in Mainz it is time to go to bed and get ready for Frankfurt tomorrow.

As the saying goes, mach weiter (keep on rambling).

July 6 - Koln (or Cologne)

The first port-of-call for your intrepid Ramblers was the city of Cologne, Germany or Koln (with two little dots over the "o") as it is spelled here. It is a medium-sized city on the Rhine with lots of churches.  The most prominent is the Cologne Cathedral called St. Peter's Dome.  Its style predates most of the flying buttress-type architecture of churches in Europe. It supposedly holds the skulls of the three Magi in an ornate golden box.

Gives a sense of scale

Twin Spires on the far left

After visiting church, we did the German thing and went to have a beer. Kolsch beer to be precise, which is native to Cologne. It is served in straight 0.2L glasses using unique and handy trays. Why other beers have not adopted this type of tray I have no idea.

The Tray

The Glasses

The Ramblers

The Facilities

After our beer excursion we took a quick jaunt to the Lindt Chocolate museum gift shop to pick up some goodies. Along the way we took some photos for Rambler Alex.

Auf wiedersehen!

Tomorrow is another day. Until then--food, wine and mach weiter (keep on rambling).

July 5 - Dutch Masters and Suicycling Amsterdam

After our first night on the River Empress, we started what will become our ship board routine: Breakfast, tours/activities, lunch, tours/activities, cocktails, dinner rinse, and repeat.  (Occasionally there will be free time when your Ramblers will go to the fitness center, do laundry, or watch the landscape pass by.)

We started today with a tour of the Hermitage of Amsterdam, an affiliate of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. They have a large collection of paintings by Dutch Masters like Van Gogh and Rembrandt.  Amsterdam was a center (perhaps the center) of world power in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The trading wealth built by the Dutch made them bankers to the world as well as fearsome merchants. It was a very self-organized city at the the time with guardian organizations similar to fraternal groups. They liked to have themselves portrayed in portraits.

Hard to see here but the fellow in yellow (center) was particularly vivid

Lots of religious depictions of families

Fancy organ

Public Anatomy Lessons Were Quite the Draw (get it draw). I crack myself up.

After the museum tour we met our biking guides for the jokingly named (sort of) Suicycle Tour of Amsterdam. So implied by the stat that there are 50% more bikes in Amsterdam than people and bikes and scooters are everywhere. The rules of the road can be summed up in one statement: "let anarchy rule".  However, the system works surprisingly well and we never saw an accident, which is good because no one wears a helmet. The most dangerous part of the tour was our fellow tourists who were not very familiar with riding bikes, especially in crowds.  We had a wonderful time and it is a great way to see the city.

Our bike rental company. They exist all over and you can pick up and drop off a bike at any location

Fresh herring is "in". Dutch sushi.

Very good

Flag facts. Of all the red, white, and blue striped flags in the world, the Dutch flag is red on top with horizontal stripes.

This scene is typical on any street

A hidden courtyard behind a house facade

One of our biking guides

Bike parking at the central train station - the outside alternative

After all our biking and sightseeing, we headed back to the ship for a mid-afternoon departure.

The harbor of Amsterdam floats past

We went up on deck for awhile and watched the city fade away while the Dutch countryside emerged. After that, it was more wine and dinner.

See you tomorrow and as always blijven wandelen ("Keep on Rambling").

July 4 - Around Amsterdam and River Empress

We started our nation's holiday (Go America!) with a great breakfast at Hotel Andaz and got "the secret" from Prince Andaz.

Jane, what did he say???

Arnaut our captain

Our canal cruiser

 The canal system of Amsterdam is quite unique. It probably could be used in places like Miami to control for climate change and the rising water levels. The Dutch have done that for centuries.

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you...many houses in Amsterdam are crooked because they've settled over time.  This

particular group is referred to as The Dancing Houses.

After our cruise of the canals, your Ramblers cabbed over to our ship to drop our luggage off.

After dropping the luggage, we went in search of food and a little more sightseeing (which included the famous Red Light District).  At 1pm in the afternoon the District seemed mild. A little leather, a little lace, ho hum.

After touring on land and sea all day, it was time to check into our room on the ship and hit the restaurant for our first dinner on the River Empress.

The first of MANY glasses of wine

We will post soon and until then, blijven wandelen ("Keep on Rambling").