Wednesday was our last full day on tour, all good things do come to an end. We left Bad Durkheim and set out for Amsterdam with a stop along the Rhine to do a boat Cruise.
We started this trip with June and I in the front row seats of the bus, the seats with the best view, and we rotated seats daily. I am unsure if Matt planned it or it was just luck, but we were back in the front on the last day and the Allens were just across the isle from us in in the other front row.....awesome.
We exited the highway and drove along the Rhine and through many small towns, some of which had their own castles in the middle of town.
We made our way to the small town of Boppard which is on the Rhine River. The weather was cloudy and about 60F, but no rain.
Before boarding we walked through the town just to see it, it is a very typical German town with a church and square, very pleasant.
We set off up stream, and although scenic, for the first half of the cruise we saw few castles.
We did eventually come upon castles and very pretty small towns along the Rhine.
It was chilly so we all got coffee or cappuccino, we had an artist behind the counter.
We passed the two closest castles on the Rhine River, separated by a stone wall, Burg Sterrenberg and Burg Liebenstein. June and I visited Liebenstein in 1993, it was good to see it was still there...it has been since the 1300s.
Jean got jealous watching the Asians doing their photo sessions...she is working on it. JeanModel
We passed the "Zur Klosterschenke," which combines a church and a pub. To enter the church, visitors must pass through the bar, and the priest is known to serve at the bar when he's not fulfilling his other duties.
We saw lots of castles, pictures did not have a lot of pop because it was pretty overcast. None the less, they are beautiful.
As we got off the boat, Matt got us together for a group picture, I will have to get that from him and update our blog later.
After our boat ride we started out of the Rhine valley towards Amsterdam, we turned onto a secondary road and were immediately faced with a low underpass. Matt says into the PA system on the bus " Oh this is where we try to pass under a bridge that is lower than the bus", everyone held their breath, including Marco our driver. He said to Matt..."thanks for that". A bit later the road got really narrow and climbed a mountain with switchbacks, Marco says to Matt, "we have made a wrong turn, I think we are lost". Matt looks at him with disgust, Marco just smiles...that was for the bridge announcement. Such are the conversations you get to hear when you ride in the front...aside from June making squeaky noises now and then...it is the best place to ride on a bus. June's brake was not working either; Marco was tailgating at times. :(
When we reached the top of the mountain it was beautiful countryside (and more windmills), Marco clearly knew where he was going. German Countryside
We made our way into Amsterdam, unloaded and walked to the docks for a canal tour. It was cloudy and rather cool, but still no rain. Amsterdam is known for its famous artists and wealth.
We almost died several times before we learned to look for bicycles, there are even more than there are in Paris or London and they will run you over. The red paths are not to walk on...they are for bikes and they don't like people in their way. The scooters also use them and they are going very fast. They don't care about the pedestrian crosswalks either.....
Our boat was called the Blue Boat and is covered with glass, it was cool and it was nice to be inside out of the wind.
The houses along the canals are beautiful and expensive, they are multiple 10s of millions to buy.
Our captain is not a fan of the mayor, she said she is trying to mandate EVs in Amsterdam, yet, as you can see from what is parked in front of her house, she drives a big diesel Audi. It sounds too familiar.
In addition to the expensive houses there are expensive house boats on the canal system. Some look pretty rough and are just floating houses but still cost well over $1million to buy.
After our tour, we were turned loose to explore and find dinner.
I really liked the town center and even on a Wednesday, it was quite busy.
We settled on a small Pub for dinner, the food and beer was good....and that is all we wanted.
As we left Amsterdam the sun was setting. We only saw a glimpse of the city, it would be easy to come back and spend a week or so exploring.
We got to our Ibis Hotel near the Schipol airport around 2100, it was the end of our tour but it did pass very quickly.
