This one’s for you Grant. I haven’t had the motivation to write lately so I am rather late in catching up. However, your recent emails have motivated me to get off my bum and do something about it.
You have mentioned in the past that some of my stories reminded you of places you have been to, and others that you would like to see. Sounds like your treatment is very severe and will keep you pretty quiet and close to home for a while. To take your mind off things, why don't you come with us on this one.
In my last email we had just left the wharf at Amsterdam, bound eventually, for Budapest. We had better backtrack for just a few moments get you on board. There’s one cabin available so you and Sue can settle into it before we do a tour of the boat.
You will be able to find us easily when you're ready. We are in cabin 220 which is halfway along the Rhine (middle) Deck on the Port side.
Both our cabins are very nicely appointed and are in tip top condition, as they should be. After all, the boat is only a couple of months old. We have our own ensuites, modern and functional. Both cabins have private balconies complete with squatter type chairs and a table.
The rear two thirds of the boat consist mainly of three accommodation decks with a Sun Deck above them so it is not terribly high. In front of the middle accommodation level is Reception, and the Lounge and Bar are in front of that. One level down is the Dining Room. Above Reception, sitting higher up in front of the Sun Deck with a 360 degree view, is the Wheelhouse. In front and below it is the Observation Deck. There is plenty of recreational space. Eight laps around the Sun Deck is a kilometre so if you want to exercise, there is ample opportunity to do so. All in all, the boat is some 135 metres long so if you do a full circuit of the Sun and Observation Decks, you will chew up the kilometres easily.
When we pass under low bridges and entry gates into the locks the Sun Deck is out of bounds. We will go through 68 locks during the journey, some of which are only 12 metres wide. For that reason, the boat is only 11.45 metres wide Makes for some pretty bumpy entrances at times.
Anyway, for the really low structures, the railings around the Sun Deck will be dropped and the wheelhouse lowered hydraulically into the body of the boat. When it is in that position, its roof is level with the Sun Deck so the Captain has steer using exterior controls, one on either side of the lowered wheelhouse. After we pass under the obstacle, the crew will pump it back into its cruising position and re-erect the railings and sun shelter. In one place there will be only about 30cms (1 foot) between the Sun Deck and the bottom of the bridge so the Captain will be on his knees as he goes under it. If you happen to be on the Observation Deck during one of our lock encounters you will have to keep your head down - no higher than the back of your director's chair.
OK, now you are settled in, lets meet some of the crew. The Captain is Heinz He's a German who is very comfortable locked in the Wheelhouse steering us safely upriver. He doesn't relish giving welcome speeches or being host for the Captain's dinner. He is, however, very happy to welcome visitors who knock on the door of the Wheelhouse and ask for a look his place of business, and an explanation of how he carries out his duties.
Harold the Hotel Manager as he is known, is a gregarious, good looking, thirty something, fellow from Austria. Austrians are a proud bunch who are very keen to impress upon Americans in particular that, in spite of their firm belief otherwise, there are no kangaroos in Austria. They sell lots of T-shirts proclaiming this as fact.
Harold's offsider is the Purser, Katerina, a six foot beauty with a beaming smile. She is like an Administration Manager in charge of the Reception staff. You will feel good and important after talking to Katerina.
Our Tour Director is Tim whose responsibility it is to ensure that our holiday is something to remember with happiness. He will turn forty during the cruise so he has invited his parents, who will also be celebrating a wedding anniversary, along on the journey. We will get to know them soon (although it will be a while before we learn they are his parents) and will find them to be a truly delightful couple. Another of Tim's guests is his partner; however, he has to return to work and will only stay for a few days.
Lastly, but more importantly, is Rita, our Cabin Steward. She is a very slight young thing who comes from Budapest. Each day she will quietly and cheerfully go about her work cleaning our cabins and making our life comfortable. She is great at sculpturing, using bath towels as a medium. Her creation of an elephant with sunglasses, if we happen to leave them in the cabin, is something to behold.
There are, of course a lot more chefs, kitchen hands, cleaners, sailors, etc whose smiling faces we will get to see regularly along the way but whose names we will never know.
OK, now we are all settled down it's 1.05 pm, we are just finishing lunch and we feel a slight movement and notice we have pulled away from the wharf and are on our way.
Our first waterway is the Amsterdam-Rhine canal, a very impressive man made waterway that will take us to the Rhine River proper. We have only been going for a short way and already have noticed the huge number of barges that ply the European waterways. We had seen large numbers on the Rhine when we were in Basel staying with Ursi and Andreas, but this was something else again.
The next thing we notice is just how well the waterways are maintained. There are walking tracks along both sides of the canal and distance markers every 100 metres. It really comes home to us the length of our boat when we saw that it stretched from one marker to nearly half way between the next two.
We have a fairly busy afternoon but find time to go for a walk around the top decks and to pop in and have a talk with Heinz in the Wheelhouse. Come 3.00 pm and we really get stuck into decreasing the surplus length of our belts. Afternoon is a strudel party, followed by:-
. a slide show which offers an overview of what we are to expect out of the cruise,
. cocktails and music provided by the cruise musician, Metodi,
. our daily briefing with Tim,
. cocktails with Heinz,
. dinner, and finally
. music dancing and drinks in the lounge.
Not that we can fit in more drinks after the two bursts of cocktails during the afternoon and the plentiful supply of wine served during dinner. Complementary drinks are served in bountiful volumes at both lunch and dinner and we can also have a champagne and orange with breakfast if we feel sufficiently deprived (or if we feel the need of a hair of the dog)!!
An early night (relatively) seems appropriate. In the meantime, we team up with a group that appear to be the sort of people that could lead us astray. I'm sure mate you are going to enjoy this trip.
Throughout the night and next morning, Heinz and his vice captain take turns in the Wheelhouse guiding us to our first port of call, Cologne. After lunch we walk around town with the group and a local guide. However, we soon break away and, as we are not yet awash with alcohol, we call into a pub for a drop of a local brew. Would never do in Oz (or New Zealand hey mate) but the glasses hold only 200mls. Small enough to sober one up while one waits for the next. Not that we have to wait for long as the waiter walks around constantly with a tray laden with the little shot glasses filled to the brim. No money changes hands at this time. The waiter simply puts ticks on our beer coaster and we will fix up him up at the end.
After a few of these nectars of the Gods, I inexplicitly agree to visit the Farina Cologne shop, the oldest eau-de-cologne manufacturer in Europe. Would have preferred staying with you in the pub Grant and letting Sue and Rob do that bit.
In the evening we have the option of going back into town to sample the nightlife but elect to stay behind and walk around the deck. Just have to counteract the effect of three full meals, morning and afternoon teas, cocktails and, still, bountiful supplies of local wines. Tim has tried to ensure that the wines we have each day are from the area we are visiting.
We are now well and truly entrenched in the group we met on the first night and have all become best friends. That's all well and good but it doesn't help us meet new people so we decide after a couple of days to start sitting with different people each meal. Good for us but our best friends appear to take it as a personal affront and we are soon not their best friends after all. Ah well, so be it.
Our first couple of meals are with Eberhardt and Helga, two of the very, very few non Aussies on board. Don't worry though Grant, you are not the only two Kiwis on board, you might remember John and Lynn Smart who I spoke about in an earlier email. It is not until our second meeting that Eberhardt and Helga let on to us that they are Tim's Mum and Dad. They proudly proclaim that he is their only child, he is gay, he is a wonderful son and they love him dearly.
At 1.00am, following our day in Cologne, we set sail for Rudesheim in the Rhine Valley. Next morning, as we make our way along the river, we are struck by the beauty of the Rhine Valley. We pass huge numbers of vineyards with row upon row of plantings, in perfect order, stretching from the river to the tops of the mountains that seem to engulf it. Mid morning, as we negotiate some fairly tight bends, we pass by Lorelei (or Loreley, depending on your preference) Rock.
Being German, Tim is beside himself with excitement and pride and he has us all out on deck to witness the event. As we pass by, he stops his excited commentary, unfurls the German flag and plays the Song of Lorelei, full blast over the ship's PA system. This is not only for our enjoyment but also for that of those within a radius of some 20 kilometres of the boat. I feel like frog marching around the deck, saluting all and sundry with a Heil Hitler salute. I do jest as it was one of the many most enjoyable moments of the trip.
Lorelei is around 120 metres high and marks the narrowest part of the waterway between the North Sea and Switzerland. All sorts of fables exist about the rock but the one I like best is about a young maiden who jumps to her death from the rock and becomes a siren who lures shipmen to their fates with her hypnotic voice.
After passing the rock it is time to enjoy morning tea - morning beer more like it. Beer is served courtesy of Scenic Cruises.
After lunch we all go for a shore excursion of Rudesheim. Our first visit in the town is to Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum. It is a 1600's house just filled with music boxes - wind up, gramophones, organ grinders and pianolas. Some of the machines produce the sounds of a full orchestra. Just spectacular they are.
After the museum we go on a cable car ride up the hillside, passing over massive vineyards, to the Niederwald Monument at the very top. It commemorates victory in the Franco Prussian war.
Just before dinner we set sail once again to enter the Main (pronounced 'mine') River and the town of Miltenberg. As we make our way towards the junction of the Rhine and Main, we enjoy a night of dancing to the music of Metodi, the ship's entertainer. Later we find ourselves ploughing through a stream of gold as the lights of Frankfurt gaily dance across the rippling Main.
After breakfast we dock at Miltenberg for a short tour of the town before catching a bus to the historical town of Rothenberg. Other than spectacular, there is little to say about this beautiful place. Its medieval, renaissance and baroque buildings blend spectacularly and, together with the charming junction, Plönlein, are a photographer's dream. After a good look around, we make our way back to the bus. While we have been in Rothenberg, the boat has moved downriver to Wurzburg, so that is where we will catch up with it.
The restaurant team is waiting to serve us a Bavarian lunch when we get back and after that, we have time to walk it off before setting sail for Bamberg. The afternoon is taken up with an ice cream party, a lecture from Tim on the European Union, Germany and Berlin, cocktail hour, daily briefing, French dinner, music and dancing and, finally, a late night snack before bed. Well, someone has to do it and who better than us!!
Well mate, I think we all need a bit of a break so let's call it a night. Until we continue with our big adventure, look after yourself. As I have already told you, both you and Sue are in our prayers. Beat the bastard!!
ps. Grant didn't make it. He has since died, a victim of cancer. I know he wouldn't mind me saying it as we would often jest about it; but, he was a terrific bloke, even for a Kiwi!!