Survival and Emergency Preparedness

On the way back to our hotel yesterday we walked through the red light district. Yes there are sex shops but it was late afternoon and the cafe's, coffee shops etc were booming this being a holiday weekend. It was all very interesting. No, we didn't partake of any of the wares.

Got home last night. Dealing with the 6 hour time change.

In the process of going through the 800 photos I took on my camera. My wife took about 900 more on her phone and camera.

All in all we are very happy with our cruise and trip. We thought it would be a good way to see this part of Europe. Kind of a snapshot view just to get a taste. It wasn't cheap but you could spend a lot more and see a lot less if you did it by yourself.

Having said that, we did use Viking for the air fare which was considerably (something like $600) cheaper than what we could have gotten airfare ourselves. That included going in a couple days early and staying a couple days late. Viking assigns a cruise agent to answer all your questions and deal with reservations etc. I think our guy's name was Paul. He was very good. My wife is OCD at times and was on the phone with him a lot.

Hotels through Viking were more expensive but we booked our own hotels in Basel and Amsterdam. Looked at good reviews on Trip Advisor to pick them. Those were not cheap either because everything is expensive but we thought the ones we booked were better located than the ones booked by Viking. We talked to people on the cruise who booked through Viking. In Basel Viking uses a hotel down near the Central Station which is a long way from the old town center where we booked.

In Amsterdam, we booked the Park Central hotel just down the street from the Rijks Museum across the canal from the Hard Rock Cafe. It was within walking distance of everything. Some people who booked through Viking were way out by the Airport or were at the very most expensive hotel in town.

If anyone is interested in specifics of the cruise i.e, prices, costs, names of hotels, tours we did on our own etc, just let me know.

I'll try and get more photos up of some of the things we saw but it's going to take a while to go through them.

And BTW, Viking has a spring sale going on until April 30 offering a $25 deposit and 2 for 1 airfare. The deposit would hold your reservation at the current price if you booked it at today's prices. You could cancel up until the payment is due. You would only lose your deposit.

Here's a link the Rhine Getaway on Viking
https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/crui ... icing.html

We tentatively booked a 2027 Paris and Normandy beaches river cruise. We thought that would be a good way to see Paris. Boat docks near the Eiffel tower for few days then goes down the Saen River to Normandy (about 150 miles) then back to Paris. We have a different big trip booked in 2026 (more about that next year) so it'll be at least 2027 before we get back to Europe.

Here's shot of the front of the cathedral in Cologne Germany. You don't really get how massive it is until you see it in person. At one point it was the tallest structure in the world.


Here's the inside

Some random pics.

Windmills....At one time, the guide said, there were over 8,000 windmills in Holland. Today there are only 80 something. Out of that 80+ only two are run for pumping water. Many of the others still work but are no longer used, except people still live in them. They are 5 stories tall with living quarters on the first two floors. The gears and shafts take up the top two floor but with observation windows on all floors.

The arms have canvas sails that unroll over the frame work to catch the wind. Back in the day, they used the arms to signal to each other in code. They'd attach flags and/or set the arms in certain positions.

There is a brake lever on the upper gear that sticks out and it operated by a rope. The rope is tied off to keep the blades from turning. The blades are always tied off at the 12 o'clock position. The domed roof also rotates to face the wind using a wheel on a bottom rail turned by hand.

More stuff...All viking river boats on the Rhine are the same. I think we must have passed half a dozen on the river during our trip.


Amsterdam....Scooters, bikes, E-bikes and motorcycles. The gas powered 49cc scooters (we call them and license them as mopeds in Michigan) can drive on the street or on bike paths. Of course bikes and e-bikes can go anywhere but there are bike paths on every street and they have the right of way. Very few stop lights as most of the major intersections are round-a-bouts. No stop signs on side streets. You really have to look around when crossing, bikes/ebikes and scooters have the right of way.

A few castles, there are something like 30 castles along the Rhine.