We left Amsterdam heading south. When we reached the German Boarder we were on one of their famous ’autobahns’, (freeways), until we reached COLOGNE.
In Cologne we were given a short 15-minute tour of the Gothic Cathedral and then our half-hour for shopping. When I came out of the Cathedral I saw a store with the name of a friend who had survived the holocaust. His last name was unusual and he thought he had lost every one during these terrible years. I walked into the store and asked to speak to the owner. The man told me he owned the store. I asked him if he had been born in Belgium and he nodded yes. Then I asked him if he had a relative by the name of Henri. He broke down in tears. He paid for a long distance phone call so I could talk to my Husband and get Henri’s home and business phone number for him. What a magical moment that was as this man thought he had no relatives that survived the holocaust.
Our Guide told us to meet at a small German Cafe for lunch. When we sat down my friend decided she didn’t need any help from anyone as she could speak German because her sister-in-law was German. I understand Yiddish, (that is similar to lower German), but I have to read a menu aloud because what I thought was one word, (in Yiddish), was at least 3 words long. The friends we had made crowded around me as I read the menu to them. We all had wonderful veal schnitzel and she was presented with a huge ham hock. The waiters surrounded her and all laughed as they put the platter in front of her, (it was a shared meal she had ordered.
Following lunch we were taken to a small ship for our few hour Rhine Cruise. I think I forgot to tell you that my friend was afraid of water, (she hid behind a sofa during out ferry crossing from England to France). I had to push her onto the cruise ship because she wanted to stay on the coach that would be meeting us at the end of our cruise. The only way I got her on the ferry I told her on the cruise we would see the ’Lorelei’, (a rock that sailors thought was a mermaid and many boats were lured so close to it they crashed).
We sailed past the hills and famous Rhine Castles. I did not know why there were so many castles built along the Rhine so I asked our Guide. You would have thought he would have told us before I asked but in any case he did answer me, (some times he ignored any ones who asked him a question), that each castle was on the edge of a kingdom and the king of the castle collect money from each ship that passed through ’his’ water. With that many stops what took us a few hours would have been at least 6 hours way back when. We were offered a variety of Rhine wines to drink and by the time we were half an hour into the cruise my friend was giddy and began to love the cruise.
The cruise was worth it because the ’’Lorelei’ rock that slope down to the Rhine. It is covered with ivy and is full of archways, pillars and stone walls.
We boarded our coach and thought we would be going to Ancient City of Heidelberg to spend the night. Instead we were told that all the rooms were booked there and we would be staying in MAINZ, (a city that is over 2000 years old).
My friend (who was still giddy), got excited because this is where the famous NHL hockey player, Mark Messier, came from. She knew his Uncle and said she would phone him to take us out for dinner to get away from the ’group’ for a while. We stayed in a 3 star hotel, (instead of the 4 star hotel we had paid for). He did take us out for a delicious dinner at an Italian Cafe. After dinner he invited us to take us to his Church, (Lutheran), to heard a Pipe Organ Concert. Before he took us back to the hotel he drove us through the quaint downtown area. The buildings were at least 4 stories high and were trimmed in wood.
In the morning we were driven to HEIDELBERG. This must be the most beautiful city in Germany. It is a walled city on top of a mountain. We toured the beautiful Cathedral and the oldest university in Europe. We stopped for a beer and a ’wurst’, (hot dog), before we got back on our coach to go to Austria.
SOME THOUGHTS:
I wish we had more time in Cologne and Heidelberg. The 2 hour cruise was long enough for us to get the ’flavor’ of the longer Rhine Cruises and we both agreed we wouldn’t want to go on that one.
©LL