Maastrict, Netherlands

 Last night we were treated to "German night" since it was our last night in Germany. The staff dressed up in native garb and everyone had a good time and fun meal. This is Marco, our ship director.  He has stayed with our group thru all the buses and changes.  He is a man of many talents and keeps the crazy schedule under control.  

The hotel manager and head of wait staff participated in the fun too.  

Approaching Frankfort, we didn’t go ashore.  

We were told that we needed to do another ship swap so we dutifully packed our bags and had them out the door at 7AM.  No fun to have to set an alarm clock!

Then it was time to load up for a bus ride to see all the castles along the Rhine River.  Passing thru the German countryside once again on the autobahn highway.  Very agricultural. 

About 90 of the people on the cruise with 108 guests signed up for the small boat Rhine River castle tour to replace the day that we should have sailed on a Viking boat. You will see the sad state of the river levels several times in the photos.  This boat was a great substitute  for the Viking experience. They made us comfortable with open air seating and cake/coffee for the 2 hour sail. 

I’m not going to narrate much…we followed a brochure with all of the castles along names and Marco gave commentary as we sailed along. Most of the castles and towers served as medieval “toll booths” along the Rhine River castle 

Ancient terraced  walls for grape vines. 

Dozens of small towns on either side of the Rhine.

Enjoyed seeing all the grapes growing on the steep banks near the castles. 

We met lots of barges, many obviously  not vert full of cargo with several feet of hull visible indicating light loads for shallow water.

Evidence of sand bars all around. 

Soon we were back on the bus, still seeing lovely castles and towns on our way, 45 minutes to a lunch break in Koblenz, Germany. 

Who knew Germany  grows so many grapes?

Beautiful  drive thru small river towns. 

We didn’t have much time in Koblenz to explore. We found the large horseman sculpture.

And nice public square. 

And a lovely church  of course.  

Pipe organ being played, calm and uplifting. 

Pretty stained glass. 

Nice garden  behind the church. 

Back of the church.

A cable car across the river to a castle.  

I wanted to ride it but limited time made it hard to schedule.....and penalty for missing the bus back to the boat was large.

Walking back to the bus i believe this is the police department having a festival on the lawn.

Back on the bus, driving 2+ hours to the edge of the Netherlands. Rolling farm country. 

A coal power plant destined for closure in 2029.

Arrival to Maastricht, Netherlands  for the evening.

We took a nice walk once settled. 

Vibrant busy town.

Crazy number of bikes!

We found a church, of course. Love it that the churches always seem to be open here.

Walking back to the boat

After dinner we went to the lounge for a

nice duo playing some familiar  tunes.