Sunday, May 28. Tied up in Breisach. Took bus to the Black Forest. Beautiful scenery, but we made no stops to view. Our destination was a pure tourist stop with various shops. Being Sunday, it was crowded. One storefront had a building-sized cuckoo clock. Cuckoo clock demonstration, glassblowing, Fruit wine, etc. The only redeeming demo was on how to make Black Forest cake. Very entertaining. But, though we were told we’d be able to taste the cake, as soon as the demo was over we were rushed back onto the buses. It was a worthwhile bus ride but it could have been so much more.

Our last dinner on board served black forest cake, made for 175 people. Small pieces that did not look at all like the demo’s result. I had seconds, but still felt short-changed.

Saturday, May 27. This was a busy day. It began with a small group to climb the Strasbourg Cathedral. Unlike every other morning excursion who took a bus, we set off on a one mile walk to the tram station. Probably because there were only eight of us. Our guide led the walk, talking all the way about Strasbourg’s history of shifting back and forth between Germany to France. (Strasbourg is now part of France, but I’m classifying it as Germany.) The guide provided enough details to suggest that a test would follow. During the entire morning he made one joke that I can remember. It was clear to me that there were other places he wanted to be on a beautiful Saturday morning.

The Tram was very new, which has contributed to a significant reduction in vehicular traffic. (The plaza around the Cathedral had once been a parking lot.) The old town of Strasbourg is, well, old. Very nicely preserved. The cathedral is beautiful, inside and out. It has a multitude of sculptures, a celestial clock and some inventive oddities.

Our climb was night and day different than Cologne’s. No elevator. 323 steps up, mostly via a circular staircase. Except for a momentary stop to look down after 100 steps, it was a non-stop climb to the rooftop. I’m clearly not at risk of a heart attack. The top had a few nice exhibits and a sweeping view of the city. But we had no view of the interior and no behind-the-scene looks. The single steeple towered above us. The climb down was circular and non-stop. Not much of a tour.

The guide continued the tour down several streets, which were crowded with antique markets and people. (Saturday.) The walk followed the “non-stop” theme. It ended when the guide essentially ran out of things to say, giving us free time. We wandered back to the cathedral to begin a long walk to the buses. It was a revelation to see the city at 9AM (empty) and noon (masses of people). The complete lack of interest by the guide was countered by the beautiful city and obvious vibrance of its citizens.

After lunch on the ship we depart on what was titled “Wine Tasting Excursion”. Total disappointment. One winery, which prided itself on making a new age wine. Maxi-organic. Which meant that what we tasted might not be representative of the Alsace area. Four tastings, including one sparkling wine and one red, in a region that’s known for its white wines. No wine cellar, no walk in the vineyards, not even a visit to their normal tasting room. We tasted while seated on too small benches among their steel tanks. Fortunately the wine rep was excellent and the two white wines were very good. Unfortunately, that was the whole show. We didn’t visit another winery. Four hours of excursion, one hour at a winery, four tastings.

The rest of the excursion was devoted to a small village. The guide called it a small version of Strasbourg, which I found especially silly, since we had spent the morning in Strasbourg. Overall, the afternoon was not worth the price or my time.

Friday, May 26. Most of the day was cruising. Nothing special. Some towns, many industries. I napped for much of the morning.

We docked in Speyer and had a short walking tour. It’s main claim to fame is it’s cathedral. A few busy tourist streets. Pretty parks. An interesting miniature gold course without turf. The town is one of the many traditional starts to the Camino de Santiago “Way of St. James”.

Thursday, May 25. Too many photos. Massive statue on the river’s edge. Spitting child tradition is from Napoleonic times when illegitimate children resulting from French soldiers being housed in the city. Offspring were treated poorly, resulting in their disrespectful conduct.

The river has a huge number of castles on both sides. Lots of small towns. Vineyards.

Had dinner off the ship in Rudesheim. Nice time. Fun entertainment, though the music was nearly all American.

Wednesday, May 24. Failed to take photos of many things. Also, we were asked to not post photos of the day’s (and possibly the trip’s) high point: An inside tour of the Cathedral Cologne, the world’s tallest cathedral.

The day began with a quick bus ride across the Rhine to the west side, then assembling into groups for a walking tour back to the ship. Our guide was excellent. There were a great many topics to discuss about Germany and Cologne, spanning from Roman times to the current day. He included a long explanation about the war from Germany’s view which I thought was very well and carefully presented. Pointed out many remaining remembrances of the city’s wartime damage. The effort to retain damaged parts while not highlighting them was impressive.

Stores selling Eau de Cologne were common. Bars selling local beer (Kolsch) were more common. The beer was not special, but the tradition for serving it was cool. Small glasses, refilled automatically, with the count marked on the coaster. We were never more than a few blocks from the Cathedral, which was massively impressive. It’s size was hard to perceive from the ground.

After the tour we shared a great lunch of potato soup and the German equivalent of bangers and mash. Plus beer. We returned to the ship by walking across the train bridge, with it’s famous mass of locks attached everywhere. The tradition is to throw the lock’s key into the river to represent unending love. I had to laugh at the small number of combination locks.

Shortly after our return a small number of us set off again to the cathedral. The ship surprised us by arranging pedicabs, which resulted in us having more time to experience the cathedral. It was absolutely amazing. We used a construction elevator to go one-third of the way up, then used it again for the second third. The tour went both outside along the edge and inside, overlooking the interior. Sometimes we could look either way at once. We toured old unused sections of the church that had become storage areas, walked through the gigantic “attic”, including a fully equipped tool shop and sculpture reconditioning area. It was all just incredible to see how much open space was available. Most of the areas we visited weren’t built until the nineteenth century, so, unlike Notre Dame, the structural material was metal.

We did the last third of the climb via stairs, including a very ornate circular staircase. This only brought us to the central, lower tower. The two main towers are climbable, but our guide said the view from their tops are highly screened off. Our view was more than enough (250 feet). Sadly the clouds darkened the scenery. But overall the tour was superb.

After the tour we had some more beer and apple strudel. We also found that the Information Office had the best gift shop.

It was a full but most impressive day.