March 31...must be Cologne

The River Empress - my home on the Rhine

...and our first real rain of the trip.  According to our cruise director Rik, we have been blessed with fine weather as in the Netherlands it is usually two days of rain to one day of sunshine.

So rain cape on and umbrella up I headed out on the walking tour of Cologne.  Up and down alleys and sidestreets, past an archaelogical dig in the middle of the city, to the Cathedral and Roman-Germanic Museum.  The museum is built on the walls of a Roman villa found in 1941 and contains the famous Dionysos mosaic - the floor intact where it was found with the museum built around it.  The museum also has a huge collection of artifacts from pre-historic to the middle-ages, including to world's largest collection of Roman glass vessels.  There were some really beautiful glass pieces with fine filligree like glass embellishments - incredible! After that overview, we were left on our own to explore.
Photo - archeological dig in Cologne - it seems they keep finding roman ruins whenever they start a new building project in certain areas of the city.

The rain was letting up so I headed over to the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) - a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is the largest cathedral in Germany and took 632 years to complete. In 1248 it was first started then halted due to wars/economics until 1842 when construction resumed until completion in 1880. It features some beautiful detailed stained glass windows and in the cathedral is a golden crypt said to contain the relics and remains of the Magi (Three Wise Men),
The Cathedral also managed to escape unharmed the ravages of WWII.  There is a story, urban legend or truth, that in the final days of the war, passing troops tossed seven grenades at the Cathedral and not one exploded...protection from a higher power?

I hopped the little tourist tram back to our docking...actually it's closet stop to the ship just happened to be at the Chocolate Museum (Lindt Chocolates).  Just missed the final tour of the day but, with the heavenly scent of chocolate permeating the air, I settled for a half hour in the chocolate shop....Yummy. Looked like 1000's of different flavors of truffles, shapes of chocolate for every occasion. You could just feel the pounds packing onto your hips just breathing the air in there.  I practiced extreme control - one small bag of truffles for me, and two host gifts for planned family visits in Germany.
Once back onboard, the Captain annouced we had to leave at 7 pm (about four hours ahead of schedule) due to one of the engines needing repairs.  The ship would be operating on the one remaining engine until the repairs were finished (hopefully by the next day).  In order to be able to do the Castles cruising in the morning we had to leave right away.  Amazingly enough, as were were about to pull the gangway two passengers just made it on and as we were about to pull away the final two remaining passengers got a cable basket lift on board (or so I was told by the two ladies who barely made it on as the gangway was being lifted).  At least no one was left wondering where the boat was when they got back to the dock that night.  By the way, they did have a Plan B to deal with any passengers left stranded by the early departure but didn't need to put it to work.

March 30...cruising

Early morning mists as we pass through a lock while cruising down the river...it is strange to pass by farmlands where all you see are the roofs of the buildings as the land is several feet below the dikes and the water level of the river.

Everyone is becoming so relaxed and losing track of days...day four of the river cruise saw the morning spent  cruising, going through locks on our way to Arnhem.  The movie 'A Bridge Too Far' is based on the devastating battle that saw 7000 Brits drop in to secure the bridge at Arnhem, but only 700 made it to the bridge. ( By the way, if you see an occasional 'z' where a 'y' should be, read it as a 'y' as the keyboard layout is different and the z/y are reversed).

Farber piece of a hanging man made from tacks.

While half the people on board opted to tour the military museum, I joined the bus tour to the Kröller Müller Museum, which owes its existence to Helene Kroller-Muller.  She began collecting paintings after her daughter and her attended an art appreciation course with H.P. Bremmer, who became her personal art advisor.  Being a rich woman she collected almost 11,500 art works from 1907 to the 1920's when the economic downturn threatened the loss of her estate and art collection.  She sidestepped the economic crunch by donating the 13,000 acre estate-hunting reserve and art to the State on the condition a museum be built there to house the collection.
Her favorite artist was Vincent vanGogh who she believed to be one of the 'great spirits of our modern art'. Her collection includes numerous paintings and about 180 works on paper - one of the world's largest collections of van Gogh (with the exception of the family collection). Viewing the rooms with his works you can see the artist's mental ups and downs as he fought depression and stays in the mental asylum.
Despite the number of his works, they are only a small part of the collection on view.  Realism in Courbet, Daubiny and Idealism of Seurat, Cezanne, Picasso, Gris are few other names hanging about.  We also got to preview the soon to be opened Hortus/Corpus feature exhibition of Jan Fabre.  Some interesting pieces from sexually explicit to downright prickly...for example a man-size model of an astronaut and another of a man hanging covered completely with tacks and nails pointing out...or how about a hooded coat made from bugs?

Another Farber piece covered in bugs...strange but also strangely compelling.

March 29 Amsterdam Keukenhof Gardens

Four hours of fabulous floral overload as our tour guide Ben hurried us through the first pavilions to the farthest (Beatrice Pavilion I think it was called) to start the tour surrounded with orchids and other exotic species. Once orientated we were left on our own to meander and enjoy on our way back to the entrance.
The garden just opened the previous weekend and is only open for 8-10 weeks each year...crocus-daffodils were blooming in the fields and throughout the gardens, but it was too early for the tulips other than in the pavilions. The pavilions are a showcase of the various growers' varieties and are a riot of color and creativity.  All kinds of tulips, crocus, lilies, daffodils, etc. along with creative ways to grow and display the flowers.
Dotted throughout the gardens are the bulb sellers kiosks...in October I will expect to receive about 175-200 bulbs in nine plus varieties to dress up my yard for next spring.

The park has beautiful formal gardens, tree and floral lined walkways, sculptures, fountains, waterways, bridges, birds/ducks, lovely niches of nature...all in a a beautiful and relaxing experience.  Though the fields were not seas of color it was a great time to enjoy the spring sunshine, natural beauty of the gardens and without the crush of crowds that will soon be swarming the area.

Photos: Top - bed of beautiful crocus flowers; right - tulips the size of dinner plates, a show of new floral developments by the growers that may be a few years before commercially available; below the Kuekenhof Gardens windmill and the Tree Hugger sculpture that bring a chuckle to all who see him.

In the late afternoon we headed via the freeway and along picturesque rural roads out to Volendam on what used to be the Zuider Zeas, and inlet ot the North Sea, but with land reclamation along a 19 mile dam/causewaz it is now a freshwater lake called IJselmeer. Volendam went from a quaint fishing village and favorite of many landscape artists to the country's second largest tourist destination.  It is very quaint and picturesque but after the long hours wandering the gardens I only had enought energy and time for a quick stroll around the harbour area.

Seems the old men gather at the ice cream stand, rather than the coffee shop, in Volendam to check all is well in the world...scolding children, catching up on the days news as workers return home and discussing who knows what as they chain smoke.  Thankfully the ship is smoke free other than a few restricted areas topside.  We've become spoiled by our relatively smoke free environments in Canada and that is definitely not the case in Europe cafes and public places.

Photo: Full size bronze figure of a woman in traditional costume looking out to sea, waiting for the fishing boats to return to Volendam; below the bird mimics the statues waiting, looking out to sea stance.

Amsterdam first impressions

Canals of Amsterdam - no gondolas but impressive as they actually have more bridges and canals then Venice.

I like it better than London ~ the people are smiling and don't seem to be constantly attached to their electronics (phones, ipods, kindles).  Of course that could be that Amsterdamites need both hands to drive their pedal bikes like maniacs.  I am developing a nervous twitch, pavlovian reflex, to the jangle of a bike bell as the rule is 'if you hear the bell JUMP' or be run down...and everyone (just about) gets around by bicycle.
The Uniworld River Empress is a beautiful ship, cozy with a passenger load of 138 (I think) if full but as this is the first run of the season we are running with just over 105 passengers.  A number of the passengers are travel agents on a fam tour, and the rest of us are a spectrum of ages, occupations and nationalities from Ecuador to Australia.
The room is sizeable, especially when compared to the big cruise ships cabin sizes (unless you're in a suite) and I have a very comfy queen bed, plenty of closet space, windows and shower in the bath.  So I am comfortably set for the next week.  The only negative is the SLOW internet here so photos will have to wait until I can access a high speed option.
The morning was spent on a tour to the Anne Frank museum, the office/house where the family hid for 25 months before an anonymous tip alerted the occupying Germans who sent the eight people hiding in the cramped rooms, plus two gentlemen working in the office below their hideout, to Aushwitz. Only the father Otto Frank survived and returned to Amsterdam. It was moving and somewhat depressing to think of the months of not knowing how long they would have to hide, not once leaving the hideaway in over two years ~ to see the family photos, actual pages of the written diary, the rooms ~ bare of furnishings but still showing the movie star photos pasted to the wall, pencil marks that marked the growth of the children in hiding.
The museum is a reminder for tolerance and understanding of all nationalities, religions, differences and to avoid prejudice of any kind.

It was a relief to get back out into the bright sunshine and breathe after the oppresive air, black out blinded rooms.  The canal cruise lightened the mood substantially, with an hour on the canals to enjoy the beauty of buildings, bridges and the ingenuity and adaptability of the Dutch through the centuries. Our tour guide teased that Amsterdam is sometimes called the Venice of the North, but with over 1200 bridges and over 100 plus kilometers of canals in the city it is much more impressive and Venice should actually be referred to as the Amsterdam of the South.
It is time for tea...a cuppa...

Photo at left of one of the homes on the Amsterdam canals...everything from houseboats to mansions and churches seen on the canal cruise...in the olden golden days the size of a man's house was a show of his wealth and power...size did matter.

London Photo Gallery

The Tower Bridge from the right and left banks of the Thames. Below the famed prison - Tower of London full of dungeons and ghosts of victims of attrocities.
 Near Tower Hill is this ancient church (below - left) which claims to be the oldest church in London...and right next door the metal and glass of modern office buildings.  London is a mishmash of old and new and in Hackney Downs, where I am staying, they have the remaining tower of a church from the 1200's (below- right) across the street from MacDonalds...it makes for interesteing sightseeing.  You can just hop a bus and be amused by the streetscapes.

A grave marker in the cemetary at the old church in Hackney Downs (heritage site)



War memorials are another common sight in communities around London - from ancient battles to the young men who fell during World War I from the Hackney Down parish.  The memorial is in the park of the church grounds.





London Town



St. Paul's Cathedral

 I guess you can't really call it London town as it is a huge city with about 5 million people scurrying about. I took Sunday off as a rest day, then headed out early Monday morning to take in a few sights - St. Paul's Cathedral being one of them.
The towering dome is an easy landmark to find, and a quick walk from the underground. Took the time to listen to a choir and steep in the enormity of the cathedral.  It is an active church with several services each day, which the paying tourists are admonished to respect people at worship.
You also can't take photos in the church, so the following is a photo of a sign depicting a portion of the interior.  Parts of the exterior are undergoing a facelift.  Many of the city's icons are getting spruced up for the impending 2012 Olympics.

In the plaza next to the Cathedral is a monument...that you get to by walking through an old archway with medieival wood and metal looking gates. People were sitting eating their lunch and enjoying the sunshine...and with all the different languages being spoken you could have been at the Tower of Babel.
It was a good spot to people watch, as are the tube and trains.  I've noticed that people don't smile alot, maybe something to do with the gloomy weather. But they are always willing to answer my questions and give directions which bodes well as hosts of the Olympics.

Monument by St. Paul's Cathedral

 I hopped a bus out front of St. Paul's headed to London Bridge, which by the way is NOT falling down...where I ended up was a huge, bus, train, tube station a couple blocks from the Thames river walk. So I strolled to views of the Tower Bridge and stopped in at London City Hall.  City Hall sort of looks like a off balance easter egg - distinctive but I'll take Edmonton's glass pyramid any day.  Inside was quite sterile, airport security check and people all locked behind doors. Council chambers had a nice view of the river though (just in case business gets too boring).
I have to get ready to head out to the theatre - going to an afternoon matinee of  'WICKED' - sort of a prequel to Wizard of Oz.


London City Hall



Solstice and Stonehenge



Stonehenge - over 5000 years old and still a question as to how or who created the circle.

Managed to book the afternoon Stonehenge Express tour with Evan Evans tours - two hour drive out of London through the countryside, one hour visit, and two hour ride back into the city. It was well worth the £25 price. During the pick ups for the tour the drive through London passed some of the highlight points as we followed the guards marching up the street for the changing of the guard at the palace, around the people packed Trafalgar square, and through the west end theatre district, and Hyde Park area. Traffic is somewhat insane and I give the bus driver full points for managing not to kill anyone - pedestrian or vehicular (definintely not a job for the weak of heart).
Spring is well underway as we headed into the greening countryside, with little lambs chasing about spinning their tales. Daffodils growing wild, some hedgerow with yellow flowers, cherry blossom laden trees and most trees just beginning to show green though there is some crazy ivy or vine that had wrapped some of the huge trees trunks from base to limb in green leaves. Not sure if it is a weed but it gave the trees a very weird look, like thousands of leaves were growing out of the trunks, then the skeletal tree limbs up top where the hint of green shows as the leaves are just beginning to unfurl. Also saw my first thatched roof on the drive out on the multi-lane M4,

Stonehenge was smaller than I had imagined - still huge 40 plus ton rocks. You aren't allowed to actually go into the rock circle but the walk about it puts you in close vicinity (15-20 yards). Considering the limited resources, lack of tools during the time of its construction it is a pretty amazing construct that has largely stood the test of time.
You listen to an audio guide as you walk the perimiter of the circle and it gives the details of the various stages of the development of Stonehenge as it was built in phases. It is still an acurate calendar based on the arch that the sun rays fall through during the year and the geometry is spot on for the equinox sunrise to hit the centre altar stone (which has fallen from its original standing position).