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Published: June 19th 2022
Last night June 18 was my birthday. I have been fortunate enough to have spent many birthdays in Europe and this was one of the best. Viking Longships are like small floating hotels. We have a beautiful lounge, an outdoor lounge area, a well stocked bar, and a superb dining room. With a total capacity of 180, we had 140 onboard. It was spacious, not crowded, and very pleasant. If you get a chance to book a Viking River Cruise I highly suggest you take advantage.
Some of the great parts about this trip is the new folks you meet along the way. Suprising, the crew become more than background. They are a rich part of the experience. Take for example our two waiters, Gianny and Yanni. (Brothers from another mother is how they bill themselves!) Gianny is is the older of the two "brothers". I have no idea their real ages and Cathy won't let me guess.
Gianny is the leader for sure but Yanni follows his lead well. Gianny tells a story that during the time of the Russian occupation he was a Russian KGB agent spying on the locals. He was able to keep his identity
a secret from Viking and kept his KGB contacts so he can find out anything he needs about you and is willing to use this information to extract a better tip! That is how he thinks and it is a blast. He teases me endlessly about my food or drink choices, but provides the most excellent and attentive service. I asked earlier during dinner if I could mix up the selections a bit and he said, "Well, if you have to, I will wrestle with the cook to see what I can do!" His laugh is infectious and his sense of humor compliments mine so we are having a blast.
Yanni is our drink waiter and is also very attentive but, like Gianny, always has a fun comment. He is very knowledgable about the local wines and yesterday suggested I try the local Silvana wine made from local grapes. He opened a fresh bottle, told us the history of the wine, the grape, and the vinyard. He even explained why the bottle had a pecular shape, all the while throwing ina few digs. I drank 1/2 the bottle and it was superb.
About that bottle. It has a
Iron Maiden From the Criminal Justice Museum
No historical records exist showing conclusively that this device was used for tortue. The iron soikes were added in the 17th century possibly to enhance the horror. It may have been used as a device to shame a woman! bit of a tear drop shape, much like the old Matteus wine bottle. The shape prevents the bottle from rolling and is designed to look like something the item Nomads uses to hold wine. The medieval nomads used a sack made from sheep testicles to hold their wine. This sack had a distinctive tear drop shape, hence the bottle design.
These two add to the flavor, humor, and the easy atmosphere of Viking. Join them on a cruise and you will enjoy the experience.
As I said, yesterday was my birthday and Viking left a box of chocolate in our room as a gesture. Gianny and Yanni also surprised our table with a birthday cake personally delivered by the head of the service crew. I was wished a happy birthday and we enjoyed a delicious lemon cake. This was followed by a second desert which was part of the meal. You can't say you didn't have enough to eat on the IDI.
Today Cathy and I were scheduled for a tour of Rothenburg (Red Castle) and Wurzberg. The tour was schedule from 9:30 to 5:30. We got up about 6:45 and had breakfast outside in the open
The Rack
Definately used and used often lounge. We knew this may be a long day when at 8 AM is was already close to 80 F with a forecast of over 100!
Having enjoyed a very leisurely breakfast with some folks, Roland and Adriana who hail from southern California. Now, if you don't believe in fate, let me tell you a story. Roland is a real estate developer. He is developing property in Denver, Co. and has a water treatment issue. I am a water treatment design and installation expert. He has a problem with selenium and uranium. I developed a treatment system for managing Selenium and Uranium in ground water. I am installing a system in Denver at the Wolcott Building. Roland knows the owner of the Walcott Building. So, a vacation trip to Germany ends up with a high quality sales lead for Clear Creek Systems. Talk about coincidence!
The other side to the Roland story is not as good. He is one of several folks who have lost their luggage due to the inefficiency of the airlines and the lack of workers available to manage luggage. Roland's bag is in Prague and has been for several days. They just can't get
it from there to here. We met at least two other couples on our boat who have luggage in Toronto or Prague and have very little hope of getting their bags anytime soon.
Here is the lesson: ALWAYS bring you medication in your carry on. Roland failed to follow this rule and his medicines are in Prague and he is in Germany. ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS buy trip insurance, and the platinum plan. These are dollars well spent.
One couple did buy the platinum plan and they are covered for $300 per day for new clothes until they get their bags or a limit of $3000. Roland bought a lower cost plan and he only gets $1500. So, do not save $45 to buy a lower cost plan. This is the time to make sure you are completely covered for anything and everything.
OK, so we have breakfast complete and we are ready to board our bus for the hour ride to Rothenburg, a medievel city that did not suffer destruction as so many cultural landmarks did during WW2. We met our guide Katrina and our driver Deter and locked in for the ride. It was
now nearly 85 F and the A/C in the bus would not immediately work! Before the 24 passangers could riot, Deter was able to push some buttons and a slight cool brease came through the vents. After 20 minutes, the bus finally cooled.
We arrived an hour later at a beautiful example of medieval city. We toured the town while listening to a running commentary from Katrina. This was a very Catholic city, unlike Wurzberg, which is heavily Protestant. One of the churches in the center of town has a famous relic known as the Blood of Christ.
It seems that during a Mass in the 1500's a priest spilled three drops of wine on the white altar cloth. Since the wine has been consecrated and, therefore, transubstation had occured, it was know the Blood of Christ. People started to pray and venerate the cloth and claimed miracles. Being a bright man, the priest cut out the three drops of wine (blood?) and fashioned a glass globe and put it on display high in the church's tower. Pilgrims were happy to pay a fee to go to the church, climb the steep to the top of the steeple,
and venerate the miracle. Not a bad way to make a buck!
We toured more of the city and soon came to the central market area. It was now over 90 and the temperature was climbing. Fortunately, our tour included lunch in a local restaurant, so we headed inside and enjoyed a local lunch of potato soup (as if we were not hot enough), followed by the local bratwurst, and sauerkraut with mashed potato. This was washed down with a choice of local wines and of course beer. We sat wioth a pair of sisters who were follow travelors who enjoyed travel as much as we did. Lunch complete we had free time.
On our walking tour we passed by the Criminal Justice Museum. The exhibit included methods of medieval torture! Cathy gave me permission to go so I paid my 7 Euros and went inside to see all manner of medeival torture devices. There was various pillories, stocks for various parts of the body, thumb, wrist, and ankle screws designed to help you confess your crimes.
They also showed the evolution of the law from medieval times to the 19th century. It was fascinating, but I
did not want to leave Cathy for too long so I hot-footed it back to the market area. I found her wandering the shops so we hooked back up and continued our shopping until 2:30 when it was time to leave. It was now 92 out.
Back on the bus, we had another hour ride back to Wurzberg and the continuation of our tour. On the way back the temperature was continuing to build. When we got back to Wurzberg the temperature broke through 100. We were advised that there was a rule in the palace that we had to wear a mask, could not take pictures inside, and there was no A/C. We were given the choice to continue with the visit or head back to the air conditioned , booze filled ship. Can you guess what we did?
Back at the IDI, Cathy took a bit of a rest, and I completed today's Blog. I enjoyed another glass of Silvana. Another great day in Germany!
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