River Boat Cruise - Zurich to Speyer

Sunday 2nd September 2007 Zurich to Basel (Fathers Day)

Rang the children at home as all were at Warragal Road with Sarah and Harry. Had a lovely long chat with them and also the grandies. Great to speak with them all together although it made Pam a little homesick. Checked out of the hotel, took a taxi from hotel to airport at Zurich, where we met with the Uniworld (river cruise company) representative and joined a small van (10 people) for the 1 hour drive to Basel, where we boarded (2.00pm) the River Ambassador ship for our 9 day river cruise down the Rhine. Basel is Switzerland’s 3rd largest city, with much of its architecture and history dating back to the 1500’s. During the afternoon more passengers joined the ship which can hold 120 people. We explored the ship, which has three decks, Our cabin, whilst small, is quite adequate with its own bathroom. At 6.00pm we had a safety briefing and dinner at 7.00pm which was a five course meal not dissimilar to the meals on the Millennium. We really have eaten well on this holiday. Back to the cabin around 9.30pm a bit of work on the diary and off to bed. The boat sailed at midnight and travelled during the night to Breisash

Monday 3rd September 2007 Basel (Switzerland) to Strasbourg (France)

This morning we awoke in Breisash after a difficult nights sleep due mainly to European doona’s which Paul loathes and detests and Pam loves for an hour before she wakes up in a lather of perspiration. The pillows also left a bit to be desired. A quick talk with housekeeping and hopefully it will be resolved tonight. Early start this morning with the buses leaving for Colmar at 8.40am. During this day the boat travelled onto Strasbourg while we took a bus and visited the Alsace wine region of France. First we travelled to Colmar where we were joined by guides who took each group (40 people) on a walking tour of Colmar. Unfortunately I had left my camera on the ship as the architecture and beauty of this small town was spectacular. Many of the houses had window boxes (typically geraniums) and one area was called “little Venice” which had a canal and very pretty houses with old wooden facade (In England it would be called Elizabethan so I guess its the same time period). From Colmar we travelled though Alsace wine region to Riquewihr which is a well preserved medieval & renaissance city. Fortification, houses, and courtyards from the 13th to the 15th century and a city wall with gates and towers dating from 1291. Lunch was as per the guides recommendation i.e. “La Tarte Flambé” which is a French Pizza with double cream, onions, cream cheese and bacon on a very thin Pizza base and heated over an open flame. Very tasty but maybe not weight watchers. This region is also home to Storks who build large nests to have babies prior to migration. Their were many places where the locals had built high flat round platforms for the storks to build their large nests. From Riquewihr we travelled to Obernai past many, many grape vines which were just starting to be harvested. This was a month earlier than normal due to a very unseasonably hot start to summer last April/May. We had afternoon tea and then back on the bus to Strasbourg where we rejoined the boat. We had dinner and slept better than the previous night.

Tuesday 4th September 2007 Strasbourg (France) to Speyer (Germany)

Early start again (8.30am), as we boarded a smaller tourist boat for a river tour of Strasbourg which was a fabulous way to get and overview of the city. This was another one of our favourite towns. During the 5th century Attila the Hun took the city from the Romans . After centuries of the city being German it became French under Louis the 14th until 1871 when it became German after the Franco Prussian war. The French again took over after World War 1, and in 1941 the Germans again took over at the start of World War 2 until liberated by the French in 1945. It is the seat of the European Parliament and International Human Rights Institute and home to Albert Schweitzer who was a pastor, doctor and musician, who used to give organ recitals to raise money for his hospitals. The city was the birth place of the French National anthem. The picturesque old quarter of Strasbourg is know as “Petite France”. After the boat tour we walked into the centre of town and visited the Cathedrale de Notre Dame, a medieval masterpiece built over three centuries between 1176 and 1439. Its spire is 469 feet which was Europe’s highest in the middle ages. After a coffee Pam visited La Fayette, a French Department store and Paul headed off to and Internet cafe as we have no internet connection on the boat. Back to the River Ambassador where we had lunch and set sail for Speyer in Germany where we arrived at 8.00pm. During this trip we had an emergency fire drill, rain, sunshine and three locks. Each afternoon we have a port talk about the port we will be visiting the next day. Speyer had a beer garden about 50 metres from the boat that had free wireless internet connection so soon after we arrived Pam and I went over and got on line to get our emails up to date. Had a enjoyable German wheat beer, back to the boat at 10.30pm and then a great nights sleep.