Next two stops on the Rhine river ….. Speyer and Mainz Germany

A walking tour with an English speaking guide using techno vox listening device. Great way to be able to wander and look at nearby things while hearing the guide talk about history and details of the architecture.

We are approaching the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer. It was originally built between 1030 and 1061. It was restored in the 1950s. It was Speyer that gave the religious revolution its name, ,”Protestantism.” The name comes from the Diet of Speyer, a document signed in 1529.

A walk about the old town of Speyer on a cold morning, It was snowing just before we docked this morning.

We found a crowded little cafe and Bernetta from North Dakota/Mesa Arizona had room at her table. Hot chocolate was a welcome beverage.

In the afternoon Rod and Lonn(from Traverse City) headed back to Speyer and discovered a fabulous museum. The Techno Museum of Speyer was right down my Alley. The highlight of the trip so far for me. I’m standing on the wing of a Boeing 747 looking down at an F101 voodoo that I probably flew. It is an old Texas Air National Guard airplane and I trained with the Texas Air Guard when they had this aircraft. There is also an F4 phantom from the Michigan National Guard on display. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the museum and didn’t see it all.

A Texas Air Guard F101, I probably flew this airplane in 1973!

Mainz, Germany and the Gutenberg Museum. Gutenberg invented the printing press that revolutionized book printing. This was the beginning of getting books in the hands of common people rather than the very rich and the church. In the 1450s he printed 180 bibles and 49 remain today. We saw two them in a locked and secure vault.

Our guide demonstrates printing on a replica of the Gutenberg press.

St Stephens church in Mainz is one of 5 places in the world that display Marc Chagall’s stained glass windows. He installed these between 1978 and 1985.

Stops along the Rhine

Heading downstream on the Rhine our first stop in France was Strasbourg. A very nice walking tour of the old town.

Strasbourg Cathedral, built between 1015 and 1439, it’s famous in many ways. It was the world’s tallest building until 1874(466 feet tall). The astronomical clock inside the cathedral was built between 1838 and 1842 and it was based on previous versions dating back to 1352. It has many animated figures that move at various times The stained glass windows were removed and put in hiding in a salt mine just prior to the Nazi’s arrival in 1939. These windows were discovered by allied forces (The Monuments Men) in 1945 and returned to the church.

Strasbourg Cathedral, example of Gothic architecture and some later additions in Romanesque style.

The astronomical clock in the cathedral. The clock is accurate, shows official and solar time, displays zodiac signs, date and day if the week, phases of the moon, and more…..

Just some of the stained glass windows that surround the clock

“Petit France” is a beautiful old part of Strasbourg. Now the highest price real estate in Strasbourg. It used to be not so nice. It includes a leather tanning district and a large hospital once used to treat syphilis. They called it the French Disease. The French soldiers brought syphilis back with them from military campaigns in Italy.

Typical narrow streets of the old town and the home on the left is a timber frame home. They built the first floor of stone to protect against occasional flooding then they built they built the upper floors out of timber. Wood was readily available and cheap. The upper floors extended out over the lower floor because property tax was based on square footage of the ground level.

A nice walk thru the “Petit France” district

Life on the boat

We got on the boat in Briesach, Germany

Friday at 3pm. Unpacked and met some of our new friends in the lounge for cocktails. Patty has found a German Reisling that she likes. We have a nice room and the lounge and dining room are very comfortable.

Boarding Viking Boat, IDI, for the first time. It is 443feet long, holds 190 passengers, a crew of 50. It was built in 2010

All the comforts of home….. a little bit of a tight squeeze. A nice veranda with two chairs and a table. However the unseasonably cool and wet weather has kept us inside

The top deck has two putting greens, shuffle board, small walking path, and a large herb garden that is used by the chef and his staff.

We pass another Viking River boat on the Rhine River.

We meet the captain and his crew before dinner.

This is the captain leading the dancing and singing after dinner….. who’s driving the boat?

We also have some good live entertainment, it varies from night to night and we have a piano player that players every evening before dinner and after dinner when guest entertainers aren’t on board.

Leaving Zurich, heading to Basel to get on the ship, random facts and observations

8.3 million people in Switzerland, largest city is Zurich 440,000, Basel 170,000 is third largest city.

4 languages spoken in Switzerland.

Swiss-German, French, Italian, and Romansh(based on Latin).

Basel economy is based on pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Major Pharmaceutical companies are Roche, Novartis, and Moderna.

Basel is located in the tri country area…. Germany, France, and Switzerland come together here.

Switzerland has 26 Cantons, similar to our states. Each Canton has its own constitution. The National government is a Federal Republic with two legislative houses.

On the bus to Basel! Rain and 45 degrees

A city walk in Basel, a beautiful clean city. A little rain doesn’t slow us down

Our enthusiastic city guide, we prepare for a walk in the old town

Some buildings in Basel, Switzerland have three flags….. Germany, France, Switzerland. Currently you can travel between these countries without border stops. For example….. some people live in France(cheaper cost of housing), work in Switzerland(pay is better) and shop in Germany (some things are cheaper).

A nice city walk, one guide for about 25 of our tour group

Then it’s off to find our ship, due to French transportation workers strike, lots of things are affected. The airport, trains, buses, and the locks on the Rhine river all are experiencing disrupted service. Our boat could not make it to Basel because two locks were out of service so we are taking the bus further downstream to Strasbourg, France to start our journey. To enjoy world travel we’ve learned to be flexible and “roll with the punches!”

Our days in Zurich

Riding trams was easy and we used the system 3 days. The weather wasn’t always the greatest, temperatures varied from 40 degrees to 55 degrees. Rain off and on for two days. Last full day in Zurich the sun came out and we had blue skies and 55 degrees, a good way to spend our last day,

Tram system was reliable, clean, and easy to use

FIFA museum was interesting, soccer for you guys that don’t know FIFA !

Papa needs more practice to help Cecilia’s soccer team this spring

Mema says she’s ready to help Cecilia’s team!

The Swiss Army knife store was fun, aka Victorinox company. Still made in Switzerland and produced since 1884

Typical architecture and narrow winding streets. Streets and sidewalks are spotless

Small squares would appear every few blocks

Small quaint squares are every few blocks. Quiet places that often have restaurants, cafes, and small shops

Fountains are everywhere and most have spouts to fill your water bottle. This fountain has a lower bowl used by dogs!

Our intimate group of about 150 people meet for our first group outing and this is the beginning of our boat ride on Lake Zurich.

Patty studies the map and our guide tells us that Tina Turner’s house is out there on the shoreline…. see it there, it’s between the big boat house and the small boat house.

Standing on the bank of the Limmat river, St Peter’s Cathedral is in the distance. Europe’s largest clock face, 28.3 feet in diameter, is on all sides of the tower. The tower was primarily used as a fire look out dating back to 1340.

The Swiss National Museum was a fun and informative 3 hours, even for Patty. She’s more of a two hour museum person.

Patty and Rod’s next adventure… Zurich, River Cruise, and Paris

FIRST….. We had to get there….

We left Detroit Sunday March 5th. We flew to DC Dulles airport and connected for a red eye flight to Zurich. Patty and I like to arrive a few days early to get acclimated and explore on our own. We found Zurich very user friendly.

Our son, Andy, dropped us off at the airport

United airlines was the best way to connect to Zurich

I thought airline food was better than McDonald’s. We enjoyed a vegetarian platter of spaghetti squash and zucchini. Patty thought the wine was good on the airplane.

24 hours after leaving home it was time for a libation in the hotel lobby bar!

A Scandinavia follow up…… food we ate, at least food Rod ate.

It started out with fish….. fish at breakfast, fish at lunch, and fish at dinner. Then it was reindeer ….. reindeer meatloaf, reindeer Pattie’s, and reindeer stew.

A hearty lunch…. Smoked, almost raw, salmon, very good small shrimp, thin sliced roast beef with rye bread, hard cracker cheese and berry jam

Our first taste of reindeer, pretty darn good as long as you weren’t thinking about Rudolph.

A flaky piece of cod from an outdoor market.

Oysters were great! Sweet and didn’t taste fishy.

Patty ate around the raw salmon and beets, I liked both.

Fresh lingonberries, crow berries, and end of season blueberries. We had them on ice cream, crème brûlée, and made into jam they were very good too. Cloud berries were also good, they looked like orange raspberries.

Pickled herring, mackerel, and salmon roe…. Good stuff, at least for Rod.

A leg of duck, it was very good, moist, tender and tasty. However, I’ve never seen a duck with legs this big.

Neither one of us tried the dry fish gelato or the gelato with lager beer!

Can’t go wrong with layers of chocolate, a strawberry and dark chocolate.

A salmon chowder, very good. Patty liked the bread.

Crab claws on a buffet, Dungeness crabs from the Oregon coast are still my favorite.

A buffet with all kinds of seafood, crab, mackerel, prawns, cod, and salmon.

Patty enjoyed the white wine and passed me the salmon and beet appetizer

A slider, fries and a beer, almost like home.

Last day in Stockholm

The previous day we walked 17,500 steps, about 7 and 1/2 miles. We have been on the go for 23 days and Patty was ready for a day off. So, Daniel and I headed out early for a whirlwind 3 museum visit and walking in the old part of Stockholm. We did stop at an old famous hotdog stand for a quick lunch.

First thing we did was a ferry boat ride to the Vasa Museum. This ferry boat is included in our metro transportation pass.

The Vasa sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. It only went about 100 yards and a gust of wind blew it over. It was a Warship armed with 64 guns/cannons. It was top heavy and a poor design. A similar, almost sister ship, that was 40 feet wider sailed for over 30 years. The ship was on the bottom of the harbor for over 300 years and the brackish water didn’t allow for worms to eat away the wood. It was raised in the 1960s and is over 90 percent original.

Next stop, the army museum. It was a very interesting display of not only weapons but room displays and diorama’s of Swedish military involvement dating back to the 1500s.

Then it was time for a stop at one of Stockholm’s famous hot dog stands, Rorstrandsgrillen hot dog stand, there was a line of about 10 people ahead of us and it was worth the wait. Daniel suggested Pucko chocolate milk to wash it down. It was a good quick lunch before heading off to the next museum.

A lucky moment! We were walking near the palace and Daniel said that this should be about the time that they do a changing of the guard……. Sure enough, and man do these soldiers look young.

Then it was off to the Nobel Prize Museum. Alfred Nobel made is fortune developing dynamite in 1867. He donated his fortune to the Nobel prize institute. There are 5 prizes awarded annually…… physical science, chemistry, medical science, literary work, and peace. I went to Washington High School in Portland, Oregon and so did Linus Pauling. He won two Nobel Prizes. In 1954 he won the chemistry prize. He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1962. Linus Pauling was a credit short in history and didn’t graduate from Washington High in 1917. He was accepted to Oregon Agricultural School( Oregon State University) and went on to get his PHD at Cal Tech. Washington High gave him an honorary diploma in 1962.

Albert Nobel’s “will”, has had a lasting impact world wide. He changed his will after a reporter thought Alfred had died when it was actually his brother. This reporter said that Alfred was a man who made his millions with his development of dynamite. The reporter also said that it was blood money because of the increase in battlefield deaths using dynamite. Nobel wanted to change his legacy and donated 97 percent of his estate to the Nobel prize program. Sometimes guilt can lead to good things!

Then it was one last happy hour and a farewell dinner with Daniel and time to say good by to 24 days in Scandinavia,

Stockholm, day 2

Off to Strangnas, Daniel’s hometown. We took the subway to the train station and had a nice ride on a smooth quiet and clean train. His apartment was a 10 minute walk and it was right in the middle of a nice small town.

Very nice old part of town. The red paint, Falun red, is commonly used in old wooden cottages, barns, and houses. This “paint” dates back to the 1700’s. It is more of a dye than a paint, made from copper mine tailings, linseed oil, flour and water. It not only acts as a paint but it protects the wood from decay. This historic district requires that you use this Falun red to color(paint) your house.

This gentleman is painting his house with Falun red. I talked to him and ask about his Wisconsin baseball hat. He got his PHD from Wisconsin back in the 70s and then moved back to Sweden to to teach economics at a Swedish university. It’s a small world! “Go Badgers” he shouted as we walked away.

An old windmill,still in good shape after 100 plus years

This is the Strangnas cathedral, dating back to 1260, it has one of the oldest working libraries in Sweden. The library dates back to 1316. It is still accessible, just need an appointment to visit the library inside the cathedral.

A runestone outside of the cathedral. Sweden has over 3,000 runestones, most date back to the 11th century, the end of the Viking Age.

Gyllenhjelmsgatan is deemed the most beautiful street in Sweden. A Swedish poet deemed this in one of his poems so it must be so. Our guide says it looks even better when the flowers are in full bloom.

Another small library. They pop up all over Sweden. They are proud of their libraries, big and small.

On the train ride back to Stockholm we saw a truck assembly plant. I was not aware that Saab and Volvo (Swedish auto companies) sold out to the Chinese. The cars are now made in China. The trucks, both Volvo and Saab, are made in Sweden.

We finished the day back in Stockholm at a small nice restaurant in an old gentrified area of Stockholm. Daniel’s friend, Christian, met us for dinner. It was like another ‘people to people’ experience talking to Christian. He lives around the corner and he was willing to tell us about his life in Sweden. A very nice evening.

After dinner we walked by one of Stockholm’s public libraries

And books galore! Scaffolding is there for renovations and painting.

Now it’s off to Stockholm, Sweden.

Sweden is a 3 night post trip. Our main trip had 22 travelers and twenty of them went home after the main trip. Patty and I are the only ones on this post trip. Daniel is also the guide for the post trip. He’s from Sweden and he has figured out an itinerary that will cover lots of Stockholm and most of one day will be spent in his home town, Strangnas, which is a one hour train ride away. Stockholm is made up of 14 islands. A little over 10 million people live in Sweden and metro Stockholm has 2.4 million people. 1/3 of Stockholm is water, 1/3 is parkland, and 1/3 is developed with buildings and housing. This made for a pretty drive around the city on our way to our downtown hotel.