BOARDING

Busy old day in port, 5 large cruise liners, 15000 people or so not including crew. Roads were really congested into port, cabbie was really fed up. Congestion also getting on board, took an hour to drop our cases & pass through security. Otherwise all good, had a snack & drink in the buffet, cabin is really nice, 2 big rooms right at the front of ship, view over the bow & to the side. Just trying to sort out dinner, Italian tonight. Just to cap it all Lil's nil, Arsenal one. Norris also good.

SOUTHAMPTON

Good run down to Southampton, lovely Uber to Waterloo, carriage to ourselves on the train - left home 11:15, in hotel 3pm. Cases are a bit weighty, packed for one months journeys in unknown weather!  Good dinner in Slug & Lettuce, espresso martinis two4one for afters. Then off to the theatre to see Aladdin. Now lying knackered in bed - hoorah

ON OUR WAY

Travelling again, just back from Pompey, & now off to Southampton to board our cruise to USA & Canada.

Portsmouth was good, can you see what was making the ripple on the water. The Hovercraft was excellent, fast, comfortable & such a rapid turnaround, land, disembark, board & off again - all in 10 minutes. See Queen Elizabeth in the background?

FINAL DAYS

Docked in Amsterdam, but a short drive took us to visit Utrecht, a university town with a canal network. We took a guided tour on the canals, that included a Gouda cheese tasting. I really enjoyed the oldest that had salt crystals formed in it rather like vintage cheddar or Parmesan. Utrecht was a bit dirty & tatty with a lot of closed shops.

Won the quiz again, Linda's poem was the tie breaker winner.

All in all the river cruise was very nice, visiting some lovely places, the boat was very comfortable, but there were too many early tours for our liking. Food good, you just had to be careful with your selection. The entertainment was limited but good & Noel, the Northern Irish activities manager was brilliant. Would go with the company again.

Flight home good, trains cancelled because some Muppet crashed into a bridge, but we worked our way around it.

KINDERDYCHE

We've left Germany and rocked up in the Netherlands. Kinderdyche is a well preserved set of wind pumps that were used to reclaim a large tract of land in Dordrecht, now a suburb of Rotterdam. We climbed a working wind pump and the power of the whole thing is incredible.

It's a World Heritage Site & a lovely spot to visit, nice walking scenery.

Won the quiz again.

KOBLENZ

Koblenz sits at the confluence of the Mosel & Rhine. Medium size city. The free tour was to an original but destroyed castle, unrestored. It was too tough for us & too hot, so we went out early & caught the cable car to the fortress overlooking the city. The statue is Kaiser Bill.

Boot moored in town, so took the bike out early evening while Lin chilled.

COCHEM

Further back down the Mosel to Cochem, another wine growing region with a restored fairy tale chateau now owned by the town. Views are lovely but I went wrong walking to mustard museum and took Lin over a mountain goat ridge. That finished her off for the day, just to cap it all the museum was closed.

In the evening we had the German Swiss bell ringers. Interesting.

That thing hanging on the chateau ceiling grants your wishes. I tried it, let's see what happens.

BERNKASTEL

Bernkastel on the Mosel, beautiful picturesque town, only 1076 inhabitants. Arrived late in the morning so we had a lay in - first this holiday. Went on a walking tour with Marita. Had to delay the start because it was tipping it down. We learnt about the wine, she told us not to touch them. They start out fairly normal in the early evening,  go to bars, have a skinful, move on to the next bar, drink even more & by 2am they can only walk on their hands & knees. After about 20 mins it started to pour & we ducked into a church. The whole interlude was enlivened when one of our fellow guests burst into song - tenor, wow, very impressive in the large church 

Tommy the zither entertained us the other day. That instrument sure is something to play. Right hand thumb picks the 6 lead guitar strings while left hand forms chords/notes. Pretty normal, meanwhile first 2 finger right hand play rhythm guitar & second 2 fingers right hand play bass guitar. Wow, I can't even pick my nose without sticking a spare finger in my eye.

MAINZ & RUDESHEIM

Continuing northward up the Rhine then turning left on the Mosel. Mainz, a peaceful, smallish city with a lovely market with beautiful fruit, veg & flowers. Walked to the cathedral, then up the hill to the Catholic Saint Stephan's church that boasted a full set of Marc Chagall stained glass windows. Interesting when Chagall was a Russian Jew. Went cycling along the Rhine to see some new dockland modern developments & older boat club communities. Couldn't face the climb up the stairs to cross the bridge to the other bank.

Wine tasting at Rudesheim at the Johannisberg winery. Too much tasting for me, but Lin loved it. They had a lockup where they kept their best vintages, some back to the 1700's. Nice cruise through the Rhine gorge - many castles & little reverside towns. Won the movie quiz - not down to me, we had some good team members. More Johannisberg bubbly.

COLMAR STRASBOURG

Started our cruise northward up the Rhine. We have visited Colmar & Strasbourg, two cities that have yo-yo's between France & Germany, depending on who was winning the war at the time. Currently in France, there still seems a little enmity between the people. Colmar we had a German guide who was quite critical of French people, in Strasbourg we had a French guide who explained the meaning of the shop sign where a French monk is lecturing a pig, symbolic of the Germans & the second part of the scene, the pig is slaughtered & on it's way to be eaten. Very Catholic down here with massive cathedrals. 

Boat nice, weather's so-so, thunder & lightning yesterday. Eating, drinking too much.

FRAGERSWERLAND

Early flight, silly-o-clock up. Taxi to London Heathrow went with no hitches. We had pre-ordered duty free that got us additional money off. The discount also applied to anything we added to the bill before paying. Linda added to the bill! It's a good deal to pre-order as you pay on collection, if you are delayed, or cancel, no pay.

We had fast track security & BA Lounge, which is all very nice. It's 6:30, had breakfast & now chilling watching the aircraft landing.

Flight was great, very smooth & on time. Basel airport not so good, board said go to carousel 2. Suddenly board went blank & our flight appeared on carousel 3. Stampede to carousel 3, everyone waits expectantly... 10 minutes later.... the bags appear on 2. Swiss precision? Swiss roll? no.... Swiss shambles. Now on boat, all lovely, had lunch & drinks and it's only 1:15. We are docked on an interesting bit of shore, it's the point where France, Germany & Switzerland all meet. Interesting border control.

Some poor sausages flew Wolverhampton, Frankfurt, Basel. Nice flight, they said but the luggage didn't make it

BLOG IN THE DOLDRUMS

Not much action in the blog lately but about to set off on a river cruise, Basel to Amsterdam on the Rhine with a detour on the Model to the vineyards. Being doing other things.

Western dramas in middle England;  lunch at oldest Indian restaurant in London; short break in a motor museum in the Cotswolds; In vintage aircraft, vintage buses, vintage teams & yes, Caribbean islands.