Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise
Day 10: Tuesday, November 09, 2021 - Breisach, Germany, and Colmar, France
The day's statistics:
- Weather: high 400s, mostly cloudy
- Steps: 13,638 Linda; 14,706 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 62
One of the first things we usually did when waking up was look out the window. Some of the sights have been
scattered througout the previous days.
This morning's view was a little different. Today we had swans - there were six in all. I took a picture through
the window first, then opened it. They hung around. They have probably been fed by passengers in the past, so
they were probably sticking around in hopes of getting more.
Linda had her egg benedict.
Steve mixed it up a little bit by having French toast, with some berries on the side. After last night's buffet,
a lighter breakfast was in order.
Today's first excursion was to the Black Forest village called Hofgut Sternen, with our guide Ricky.
It was about an hour and a half hour drive (for the metric challenged, that's 90 minutes).
A major crop in the region is corn. But not for food or feed, but rather biofuel.
It was cool when we left, and foggy. But it cleared as we got into the mountains.
There was a church in one town that has a stork nest on top. A webcam was installed to monitor the storks - the nest, and
birds. There are numerous cams around the country, one site being http://geocam.ru.
We were also told that even though beer has just four ingredients, there are over six THOUSAND varieties.
While it is hilly and mountainous, there was a fair amount of livestock. It was reported that the cowbell
came about because farmers would put them on their cows and if a cow "got away", he could go about ringing his
bell to gain the attention of his cow since each cowbell had its own tone.
This is a typical "older" farmhouse. What makes it interesting is how it is designed.
It is three stories. The first floor is for the farm animals during the winter (provides protection for the animals and heat
for the family).
The second floor is the main living quaters (partially heated by the livestock below).
The third / top floor is for the farm equipment, accessed via the drive seen to the right of the of the home.
And a direct shot of the third floor from a different house.
And continuing.
Small chapels on some properties. This allows homeowners to attend church without having to go anywhere,
especially when the weather didn't cooperate.
We were, obviously, in the mountains. But... is that... snow?!!?
This is a (rendition of a) red ball hat. The single ladies wear it to signify... they're single.
Over the course of time, the balls on the hat got bigger, and bigger.
Some wind turbines. There are seven in this shot (the third from the left is an antenna tower, not a turbine).
Europe is VERY progressive with regard to renewable energy.
Umm... snow? YES! IT IS!
As we approached the black forest, we learned that some of the forest in the region was nearly wiped out many
years ago due to the lack of logging laws. Once this was recognized, laws were created that now require two trees
to be planted for each tree that is cut down.
We arrived at the "village" - it is called Hofgut Sternen - that was at the beginning of one enterance to the black forest.
There was a cuckoo clock maker and store, a cafe, a glass blower, a hotel, a couple other buildings, and
this large operating "cuckoo clock".
We walked around (past) the
Hotel Hofgut Sternen,
and up the path toward the black forest.
The forest got its name from the fact that the trees are so dense - especially pre-fall - that the sunlight is significantly
reduced (originally, completely eliminated, hence the original name "black forest"). Plus it was about 5° Celcius
(again, for the metric challenged 10° Fahrenheit) cooler in the forest.
We passed this automated saw (there were six blades cutting the log at once).
We walked a couple hundred yards into the forest, along a stream, and over a small bridge. The one picture is a small patch
of ice on the path we took - that's how cold it was.
Before we started walking out of the black forest. Not sure what the stupid thing was focusing on...
Just outside the forest, they were setting up a Christmas village underneath the train trestle.
A really big Lincoln Log® looking bench / side rail / border.
We finished up on our walk to, in, and from the black forest.
Next up was a cuckoo clock demonstration, where the builder gave a brief history of cuckoo clocks, and briefly
showed how to assemble one too.
There are two types of cuckoo clock, a one-day winding and a one-week winding clock. There is also a switch on the
side of the clock to turn off the cuckoo, for, like, night time (unless you get used to that sort of thing).
Here is a replica of one of the first ever cuckoo clocks.
And a couple cuckoo clocks in action.
After the demo, we walked around the store. There were quite a few items for sale, including some diaramas and some cuckoo clocks,
ranging in price from about 149€, all the way to more than 12,000€ (that would be between $169 to more than $13,500).
The diaramas are only about five cm deep (again, for the metric challenged, 2 inches).
Yes, that is a full size pear in the bottle. We were told that the bottle is put on the tree and the pear grows inside of it.
After the cuckoo clocks, we went downstairs to the café for a black forest cake making demonstration. Philip,
our baker, assembled a cake in less than 10 minites. Layers of chocolate cake, cherry jam, sour cherries, more
cake, cherry schnapps, whipped cream - a LOT of it (take a look at the mound of it in the second image below, and
Philip is adding even more), more cake, more cream, cherries, and chocolate shavings.
Due to timing, it would have been a challenge, but we could - and should - have had a slice of black forest cake
while we were in the black forest. But we didn't. But we at least got to see one being made.
Goats on a hill. There were six here. And we saw others elsewhere.
After the demo, and spying the goats, it was time to board the bus and return to the ship.
On the way back we were told a story of these two. The cross was captured on the way in, the stag on the way out.
They are on opposite sides of the road, high atop cliffs. The story is that a hunter was chasing the stag for
some time. He alsmost caught it when the stag jumped from one side to the other. The hunter, in hot persuit, wasn't so
lucky. The cross is in memorium to him, the stag in honor of that. Also, the stag gets decorated, such as at Christmas,
or painted. And no one knows who does that either. The stag has been replace a couple times too, because the town recognizes
the importance of the symbolism of it, and how much it brings people together.
And more sights on the return trip...
As we passed through one particular town, we learned of what is called a Freiburg light post. This town was a
"college town", and there was a little bit of a problem with noise. Police were frequently called. One student
came up with a nifty invention: a light post that responds to noise. At night, if the volume is acceptable,
the light is green. As volume increases, the color turns yellow. If it gets too loud, it turns red and the police
are summoned. This monitoring is helpful to both the noiseamkers as well as the authorities as it helps keep the
noise down, as well as pinpoint where the noise is coming from if it gets too loud.
This lovingly adorned building is actually a wall paper factory.
Lady Liberty. No, she isn't just a US thing.
Some of the original city protection wall.
There were a couple farms that had large round bales. The guide told us that one of his friends, who owns a farm,
said that the government wanted to ban the round bales and require the farmers to bale their hay in smaller,
square blocks. The animals would go through three of these blocks a day. The government said that they wanted to
make sure the animals were properly fed with three square meals a day.
OK, that one was a joke. Our guide was rather humorous, and told a couple "stories" like this, so there is an
ever so remote possibilty that some information above may be erroneous as it was deemed a fact, and not joke (the
webcam thing is NOT one of those, that's real).
Another one, though more applicable to being there, was a story about how many sharp turns the bus went through
going to and returning from (we did not take the exact same route the whole way) the black forest. He said that
the architect hired to design the road system was named Heir Pin (Heir is German for "Mister").
After returning, we each had more than 4.5k steps.
Not long after returning it was time for our last lunch on the ship.
Just before ordering, the server thought that our masks on the table looked like a bra.
Today's menu.
For some reason, today we were not offered a market fare selection. We didn't really need it anyway, so we
didn't make any fuss over it.
Linda had zucchini and mint soup, Medittaranean tuna toast with salad, and black forest ice cream for dessert.
Steve had crudite platter, fish and chips, and black forest ice cream for dessert.
This afternoon's excursion is a trip to the medieval village of Colmar. First, the bus ride.
There were two groups riding on the bus, each with 8 members. The guide from the other group was our narrator on the ride to Colmar.
Some ruins. In the middle of a roundabout.
Another Lady Liberty. In the middle of a roundabout.
Some grape vines. In the middle of a roundabout.
Apparently they like to put their roundabouts to use...
A river with some mountains in the distance.
A mural on a building (though it may be a hydroplant) over the water.
Farmers dry the hay bales in these racks, rather than just stacking them.
Some old city wall.
Some additional sights along the way.
When we got off the bus, the tour of Colmar had an option to go with the "leisurely group" (less walking).
We chose to do the normal tour, and Ricky was our guide [again] for our group of 8.
Here is an approximation of our tour.
- Dark green line from the bus, through the square where we'd meet later, past the two churches, down streets, and eventually
to the outside of the indoor market.
- Medium green line into the market, through a park and to St. Martin's church.
- Light green line from St. Martin's church to the Dominican church.
- Light pink line from the Doninican church to the square where we were meeting the group.
- Medium pink line from the square to the bus.
We started off. On the first street after the parking lot, we passed a guy on a cigarette break.
At the end of the block, while we waited to cross the street, the leisure group rode by in their train.
This is the square where we would eventually meet after some more guided tour, then some free time.
Some more sights of Colmar.
The wood on the homefronts is a sign of [supposed] wealth - at least for a period of time.
Then there was a fad wherein stone fronts were the "show-of-wealth-du-jour". So some home owners started
covering their wood with stone / masonry. Then the fad faded and some people started to removed the masonry.
Look at these two buildings. The one on the left still has the wood covered, while the one on the right had
the masonry removed - you can tell by the chips and marks in the wood, damage from removing the covering.
If you want some tarte, THIS is supposed to be THE place to get it.
While walking along this street, an employee of a bakery was standing outside his shop, giving out samples. A little
further down, another employee of another bakery was giving out samples from their shop.
Notice the dark brown house, in the corner of the yellow one, to the left of the white one. In this town, taxes
were paid based on the building's first floor footprint. Ah, but the brown house has no footprint. That's right.
The tax collector knew the best way to build a house to save the most on taxes...
Like Strasbourg, some buildings in Colmar have their build dates on them. This one has that, plus the dates the
house was remodeled.
This sign is attached to a pub. There was a story that Zues got so drunk in the bar, that he lost his
lightening bolt. He couldn't find it the next day either.
We were making our way to??? Right, the church.
The stone on the front of the church was from the outside being repaired with stone from a different quarry
than the stone from the original build, which was from the black forest.
I bet you thought we went in, didn't you?
Taking a look at the white house, here is what is interesting. Most houses are consistent, to some extent. This
one, however, not so much. Looking at the windows, the first floor has square bottoms and rounded, pointed tops.
The second floor has square ends and a different styled flat bottom with a pointed top. The third floor has all square
windows with shutters. The fourth floor has flat bottomed windows with curved tops.
And moving on.
Our tour with the guide ended near the canal in the image above with the white Christmas trees.
So we took a quick selfie before moving on.
On the other side of the road, was an indoor market place that had booths. We stopped for a technical break.
There were probably two dozen booths in all. Unfortuantely, only about a half dozen were open. Perhaps it
was the day of the week - it was Tuesday, after all. There were also some vacant booths, probably the result
of the pandemic. Some of the open booths included a fruit and vegitable stand, a bakery, and a bar.
For some reason, I have NO pictures of the inside.
We moved on, and started making our way back to the square - we had about an hour on our own.
We stopped by a small gift shop on a corner for our usual items of rememberance.
Further on, we passed a group of young school kids, and one had dropped their hat. Linda told the teacher about it -
IN FRENCH! (No, French is not a language she "knows").
We got to St. Martin's church, because... you didn't actually think we wouldn't go inside, did you?
Of course We did...
We finished our time at St. Martin's church, and headed to the Dominican Church.
The Dominican Church didn't appear to conduct regular services anymore. What they did have, however, was a rare painting - one where the blessed Mother and baby Jesus are not looking at each other. It is called
The Madonna of the Rose Garden by Martin Schongauer, done in 1473.
We departed the church and made our way to the meeting square.
Someone was looking for, but couldn't find, the restroom that we were told was in the supermarket in the corner of the square. I couldn't
leave that challenge alone, so I went looking for it. And eventually found it - it was off the parking garage, one flight down. When I
got there, the men's room was closed due to some work being done. The plumber told me to use the lady's room. O.... K....
After everyone gathered after a little bit, we started to make our way back to the bus.
We passed that guy on a cigarette break, though we weren't sure if it was the same break, or another one...
We boarded the bus, and headed back to the ship.
We gathered in the lounge a little before dinner. There wasn't a port talk tonight, but we did have a "final
farewell" from the captain, hotel manager, and program director.
Then it was downstairs for our last dinner on the ship.
Tonight's menu.
Linda had the regional specialties of Schweizer wurstsalat, Zurich veal geschnetzeltes, and zwetschgenwahe for
dessert.
Steve had French goat cheese souffle, Zurich veal geschnetzeltes, and creme brule for dessert.
Some of our travel companions that we met on the trip. Mary (who was the third member of our cruise trivia team)
and Mike, from Massachusetts; Joannie and John, also from MA; and Bob and Kathy from Seattle.
This group of six does a lot of traveling together, including other cruises, as well as a trip to Cuba, and
they were planning a trip to Egypt next.
Tomorrow morning we were departing the ship for a transfer to our hotel in Basel.
That meant that we had to have out luggage outside our room by 7:30 AM, with, in our case, the green tags on them
to signify our next destination. Most people were leaving the country, a few were staying in Basel for the post-cruise
extension in Basel, and a couple (literally two) were staying in Lucerne for their extension.
So when we got back to the room, we packed and prepped our bags. We planned to use our carry-ons for what we needed
overnight and the next day - like PJs, toilet kits, and an outfit.
Time for our last ship's night sleep.