Title: It's all down hill from here
We boarded the Avalon's new ship "Visionary" which is leaving for it's 4th commercial sailing. We are following a route that has been taken for hundreds of years BC though we will be living in better conditions than most who have traveled it.
I could have entitled this blog "the spread of western civilization" had I known the history lesson we were in for - a lot of the things we learned and were reminded of in Rome are tied together on our Trip down the Rhine - the shore guides not only speak great english but all are well educated and excited about their topics. We see wonderful towns, another wine vineyard, and more churches that are simply amazing.
We have visited places that have impacted everything from religion to knowledge. (Luther to Gutenburg) and have seen the result of many wars, in fact in the German town of Mainz have preserved ant remains of a bombed out church and have added columns to hold up the remains as a monument to the impact of war.
We went for the new boat but should have realized that even Dutch/German engineering can leave the first users of a new product still working through some problems. In any case we have been finding the cruise to be fabulous to inform us about areas in Germany that we may have never visited - places like Koblenz and Spire that we loved and would like to see again.
Cologne still smells (they have fixed their ancient sewer problems but people still wear way to o much "cologne". The church is magnificent inside and out - it rivals the Milano church but it is not as beautiful and it took longer to finish - though they still are working on it.
Our Dutch guide tells us arrival day is a typical Nederland day ( rain, cold and very windy). No wonder they found a way to harness the wind - they have lots of wind and water! They take us in a canal tour of Amsterdam and a cool tour to a "typical Dutch village" of the old days - windmills, cheese making and wooden shoes - a great way to end the trip on the boat - we are already looking forward to being back on our own schedule with three extra days in Amsterdam.
We boarded the Avalon's new ship "Visionary" which is leaving for it's 4th commercial sailing. We are following a route that has been taken for hundreds of years BC though we will be living in better conditions than most who have traveled it.
We have visited places that have impacted everything from religion to knowledge. (Luther to Gutenburg) and have seen the result of many wars, in fact in the German town of Mainz have preserved ant remains of a bombed out church and have added columns to hold up the remains as a monument to the impact of war.
We went for the new boat but should have realized that even Dutch/German engineering can leave the first users of a new product still working through some problems. In any case we have been finding the cruise to be fabulous to inform us about areas in Germany that we may have never visited - places like Koblenz and Spire that we loved and would like to see again.
Cologne still smells (they have fixed their ancient sewer problems but people still wear way to o much "cologne". The church is magnificent inside and out - it rivals the Milano church but it is not as beautiful and it took longer to finish - though they still are working on it.
Our Dutch guide tells us arrival day is a typical Nederland day ( rain, cold and very windy). No wonder they found a way to harness the wind - they have lots of wind and water! They take us in a canal tour of Amsterdam and a cool tour to a "typical Dutch village" of the old days - windmills, cheese making and wooden shoes - a great way to end the trip on the boat - we are already looking forward to being back on our own schedule with three extra days in Amsterdam.
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