Our European Vacation, Part 4; Exploring the Rhine!

Heidlberg

After almost three weeks in the U.K, it was time to fly to Switzerland to begin our river cruise on the Rhine. We walked from our hotel to Paddington Station and caught the train for Heathrowe in the early morning. We found a pretty long line at airport security but made it to our plane on time. Then, we sat on the tarmac for some time while we waited for the weather to clear on the continent.

We took off after an hours delay and arrived in Munich with less than 20 minutes to get to our connection! We dashed across the airport to get to our gate, which seemed like it was on the other side of town! Upon arriving at the gate with only one or two minutes to go, we found the area deserted! Turns out there was a time change that wasn't accounted for in our itinerary, we were in fact an hour early!

The Viking Cruise proved to be wonderful! Normally, the boat would cruise at night and be dock by the morning. The stateroom was very comfortable, and we had the cheap seats! A river cruise is less regimented then ocean cruises, we could sit wherever we pleased at meal time and the food was generally very good. I would do another, and probably will someday.

Our cruise started in Basel, Switzerland and followed the Rhine up to the Dutch border. We stopped at Breisach and took an excursion by bus to the Black Forest in the morning. In the afternoon we strolled through the town of Breisach.

Basel, Switzerland.

Our ship, the Viking Idi

Our stateroom.

The view out of our stateroom's window. Our floor was below the waterline!

Ferry across the Rhine in Basel.

Day tripping to the Black Forest.

On a little hike.

Old Breisach

A walkway runs along the old city wall.

Then next day found us outside Strasbourg, where we toured the old city and it's magnificent Cathedral. In the afternoon Shelly rested in the stateroom and I took a walk through the German city of Kehl, where our boat was actually docked.

Strassbourg

The cathedral in Strassbourg really dominates the old city.

Here's a peek inside.

Another view.

The town of Kehl, on the German side of the river.

After Kehl/Strasbourg, we disembarked at Mannheim and took a bus to Heidelberg, visiting the old castle there.

Heidleburg

Looking up at the Heidleburg  castle.

There is also the world's largest wine barrel.

Another look at the castle.

After Heidelberg, we returned to the ship at Mannheim and cruised up to Rudesheim, where we stayed the evening then cast off for Koblenz. while at Rudesheim, we strolled through town and came to a very nice square where a lot of local folks were relaxing. There was a small kiosk selling the local wine, (a nice white), which we enjoyed while relaxing in the square.

Back on the river.

At Rudesheim, a nice public square afforded us a chance to sample the local wine.

Next morning was a change from the routine, we were cruising during the daylight hours today in order to see the variety of castles strung along the Rhine, roughly from Wiesbaden to Koblenz. Unfortunately the weather had changed to cool and cloudy so our views weren't as great as they had been up to now. Still, it is an impressive sight and we enjoyed it. We were glad we brought our down jackets!

Castles...

Many are undergoing preservation and renovation.

A big one!

Loreley Rock.

By early afternoon we had reached Koblenz. Here we took a bus to Marksburg Castle. Shelly, (nee Marks), was especially eager to see this castle. It is a fine example, over 700 years old. It is probably one of the most complete examples of a Rhine Castle in existence.

Heading to Marksburg Castle

Quite the view from the castle walls.

The King's bed doesn't look too great!

The next day we arrived at Cologne in the morning. We had an interesting tour of the city, Viking always provided excellent guides for our tours. I learned all about Kolsch, a favorite beer in this region. In the afternoon we were free to stroll through town. That night we cast off for Holland.

Last stop in Germany, Cologne.

Cologne's twin-spired cathedral

Remarkably well preserved tile floor from the Roman period, found next to the Cologne Cathedral.

On a Cologne bridge, lovers' locks.

We arrived at Kinderdijk at midday and were soon on a tour of the World Heritage site. There are quite a few of the old mills intact here, in various states of repair. All the real work is done by more modern means now, but there is an effort to keep these old machines going, and they are an impressive looking lot.

Kinderdijk World Heritage site.

Shelly and the windmill!

Lots of windmills!

That night a number of us came on deck to watch the ship pass through the final lock of our trip. It's really a tight fit!

On deck the last night of the cruise to watch our final passage through a lock.

That just about concluded our trip. Our ride to the airport in Amsterdam departed at 4:30 in the morning so we didn't get to see Amsterdam at all. We didn't realize that we could have booked a layover of a couple of days after our cruise. Oh well, maybe next time!

Click for (more) Rhine Cruise Pictures.

Overall, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the cruise experience. I think a lot of it has to do with this being a river cruise. It is more relaxed than an Ocean cruise and we had plenty of time to explore the ports on our own. We both thought the Viking facilities and services were excellent. We will probably try another some day.

This brought an end to our month long holiday which included London, Hadrian's Wall, Scotland, Bath and the cruise. It went by fast!

Our European Vacation, part 3; Exploring Scotland and Bath and Stonehenge.

At Stonehenge.

 With our walk along Hadrian's Wall completed, we now returned to Carlisle to pick up our rental for our drive into Scotland. I was a little anxious about driving in the UK, particularly since I selected a rental car with a manual transmission! My anxiety was well founded when I discovered our rental was a 6 speed Fiat!

Shifting 6 speeds, left handed in a right wheel drive car on the wrong side of the road, what could possibly go wrong?

The four of us took a taxi into Carlisle from Bowness. Bob and Deb were able to pick up their car early and left for Oban. Since we had a bit of time before our car was ready we strolled around town, visiting the Castle and doing a little shopping. Shelly found some sunglasses and I picked up a nice lambswool sweater.

We then picked up the car and armed with the Rental office's receptionist's directions headed out of town, thankfully through a less busy section of the city. I managed to stall the car at a road construction site, mistaking 3rd gear for 1rst, but I must say that the drivers behind me were remarkably patient, not a single horn was heard! I would miss 1rst several more times before our trip was done! It seemed like a long throw to get the shifter all the way into that gear!

After missing one turnoff we managed to get our bearings and got on the correct road, soon we were cruising down the M-74 highway heading towards Glasgow. Along the way we stopped for lunch at that well known Scottish cafe, MacDonald's, located on a highway rest area. Actually, the Big Mac was pretty good! an interesting feature of this MacDonald's was the automated ordering kiosk. (There goes another entry level job!).

At MacDonald's.

Our drive actually bypassed Glasgow before turning onto A-82 through the Trossachs National Park. We then turned westward on A-85 to reach Oban by mid afternoon. Oban is a small city with a large Ferry Terminal. It provides access to the many islands off the northwest coast of Scotland.

Oban.

Carefully making our way through the town we came to our hotel on the south side of the city. We had a nice room, it's the one on the lower left side of the building in the photo below.

Our hotel in Oban.

Parking is a valuable commodity for British Hotels, fortunately we had a spot, directly in front of our room! You can see the back of our Fiat in the picture. About the only bad thing about the room was that it was located right next to the breakfast room, which could get a little busy in the morning!

We spent the afternoon exploring Oban and reuniting with Bob and Deb. We found an excellent little pub, the Oban Inn, and enjoyed a few beers there. We had dinner with Bob and Deb at a nice local restaurant.

Looking out for Nessy.

The next morning Shelly and I left for a drive north, heading toward Loch Ness. What pretty country Scotland has. Lovely hills and many lakes. Roads are generally pretty nice and even seem a little better than what we had encountered in England. I was gradually getting used to the left hand driving, although I did have a habit of tapping the road curbs with my left rear wheel.!

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness.

We eventually made it to Urquhart Castle, about halfway up Loch Ness. We stopped and took a couple of pictures then headed back down to the southern end of the Loch to the small town of Fort Augustus.

We had a real mixed bag of weather on our drive to Loch Ness, but were encouraged by the sight of a rainbow!

Fort Augustus is split by a canal which connects Loch Ness to Loch Lochy. A small lock in towns allows boats to navigate between the two Lochs.

There is a short canal between Loch Ness and Loch Lochy, and there is a lock on the canal between the Lochs!

After lunch in Fort Augustus, we headed back to Oban arriving by late afternoon. We explored a bit more of Oban with Bob and Deb then had dinner and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Bilingual road sign on Scotland. Distances are always in miles, no kilometers here!

Next day we departed Oban and headed east for Edinburgh. Enjoying the signs and the scenery along the way.

Roadside attraction seen on the way to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is an old city, with the ancient part of the town on a hill. Up in this area is the "Royal Mile" which is the main concentration of tourist attractions. A lot of your typical tourist trap stuff, but also some nice pubs and bars. Actually, some of the most interesting parts of the place were off the Mile...they would be worth investigating someday.

Old Edinburgh.

Whisky menu on the "Royal Mile" in Edinburgh.

Seeing the sights in old Edinburgh.

We only had one night in Edinburgh. Here we said goodbye to Deb and Bob as they were flying home from Edinburgh. In the morning we were on the highway driving back to Carlisle where we were drop off the Fiat and catch our train to Bath. The drive back was surprisingly uneventful and we dropped the car off with no damage! While wandering through town we came across a dancing program in the old town.

Folk dancing in Carlisle.

We picked up our train tickets for Bath and had lunch at a nearby pub. Shelly found Brew Dog here so all was well. We were soon on our way to Bath. Our host at the place we were to stay in Bath ad emailed me, asking if he could pick us up at the train station! He had a party to attend and wanted to get us straightened away ASAP. sure enough, when we arrived he was waiting for us. A very nice fellow who had been in the Merchant Marine and been all over the world. Our place was nice enough except for one thing I had overlooked when booking it, it had a shared bath and toilet. Shelly was not pleased. But generally everything else was okay with the place, and it was an easy walk to get to the old town.

In old Bath, the Cathedral ahead, the entrance to the Roman bathhouse is to the right.

The big thing about Bath is, of course, the Baths. The Romans constructed the Baths around a natural hot spring. After the Roman era the baths were somehow forgotten and overbuilt until the 19th Century when they were uncovered and returned to use. Over the years there has been more and more restoration of the old Roman facilities.

The Roman Bath.

Just an FYI.

Original lead piping!

The Baths are extensive and impressive. The displays are also pretty well done with some really neat video displays which are integrated into your tour. This tour is definitely worth your time.

The stacked tiles supported a floor that is long gone.

Trying to take a selfie!

Outside the Baths, the rest of the old town is quite lovely, below are a few scenes. However, some of the cafes looked a little iffy:

They should rethink that name don'cha think?!

An unusual art project had these little sculptures inserted on a wall.

The day after our tour of the Baths, we had scheduled a tour to Stonehenge! Shelly had wanted to visit Stonehenge for years, so we were excited to head out. The bus ride is about an hour or so out of Bath, our guide gave us a little commentary about the sights along the way as well as some background of Stonehenge.

When you arrive at Stonehenge now, you start at a large visitor's center about a half mile from the stones. you then take a small shuttle to the site. You have the option to get off the shuttle about halfway to the stones and walk through a field among some ancient burial mounds. We did that, partly to look at the mounds and to stretch our legs.

After that we arrived at the site. The stones themselves are cordoned off nowadays to prevent damage from the literally millions of  visitors to this place. Still, the stones are impressive and you can get fairly close to them, you just can't touch them!

You can walk completely around the stones. After about a million pictures, we headed back to the museum/shop at the visitor's center. Soon it was time to head back to Bath.

The next day we boarded a train back to London for our last day in Britain. We arrived at Paddington Station and found our hotel was just a few minutes walk away. The area around Paddington at first seemed sort of sketchy, but it turned out to be okay. We lunched at a pub and were waited on by a nice girl who was about to go on vacation to L.A.!

We spent our last day in London walking through Hyde Park and Kensington Palace.

At the Park is an interesting memorial to Princess Diana, a large circular watercourse.

Diana's Memorial.

At Hyde Park

Early the next morning we took a train to Heathrow and were soon on our way to Basel to start our cruise!

So long England!