Vacation 2016 - Day 5

Vacation 2016 - Day 5 - 7/18/2016

Today was a very long, hot day, but it was also replete with good food and drink, and a good deed.

We woke up in Kehl Germany, across the Rhine from Strasbourg France.

Strasbourg is a medieval city with a surprising number of canals and waterways. We had a bus tour through it, then had our own time for about 1 hour.

We split up, so that we could see more of the city, and I could try some beer. Unfortunately, the 12 Apostles (near the main cathedral) and La Lanterne were closed.

Actually the latter was open for restocking, but no beer until 4 PM! I did ask politely in French, but told remorsefully that no beers until then.

They did tell of another place open maintenant - Au Brasseur - that was not on my list. However, in looking at the map on CityMaps2Go ( a great utility where you pre-download maps, no data charges!) a quick mental calculation said that there was no way one could get from here to there and back here to meet up with the tour group.

Then like an angel from heaven, a gentleman from Vélo-Taxi stopped by. A very quick ride for a reasonable 10 Euros (as in "it's hot and I'm obviously a tourist and I don't really care") and it was beer time. Tried the

Au Brasseur   |   Blanche d'Ill   |   Ale, White   |   ?%   |   [7.8]

Au Brasseur   |   Ambree St. Guillaume   |   Ale, Amber   |   5.7%   |   [8.2]

Au Brasseur   |   La Rouge   |   Ale, Amber   |   ?%   |   [9.5]

I did explain to the waitress in my basic French that I understand that good beer - like wine - should be savored, but time was not a luxury I had. Met back up with the tour group with minutes to spare. Also note there was a faint sulfurous hint from the beer; this was not a defect, nor an infection - the water in the area is high in sulfides.

It was back for lunch, then a bus tour of Obernai and a winery visit. And by "lunch" I mean a fantastic repast, as the pre-lunch snack of white and green asparagus with salmon caviar deviled eggs indicates!

An interesting diversion was that - although not released in the EU yet, there were plenty of Pokemon landmarks, for those who play the game for iOS and Android.

Getting through Obernai was a trick, as the old city gates just barely allow a motor coach! At the city center we saw a lot of older architecture; and had time for one beer.

Pelforth / Heineken   |   Brune / Brown   |   Ale, Brown  |   6.5%   |   [6.8]

We toured the vinery of Zeyssolff, which also included tastings of their Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Greegio Pink, and Gewurtz. Bought a couple of bottles as well as a whiskey from Armagnac!

The owner and the guide both admonished us that the limit for USA (as 80%+ of those on the tour were from America) was 3 bottles. I did mention that I think that's a gift limit for non-USA visitors. I later confirmed and emailed the winery that the stated US customs limit is a case of wine (typically 12 bottles). You could be taxed, but if it's for personal consumption, and a mixed case, it's highly unlikely.

Back to the ship for a quick shower and dinner. Sat with two sisters from PA, and a couple who had moved from the UK to Australia.  As a nightcap had a

JungfrauBraü   |   Jungfrau Helles   |   Lager, Helles   |   4.8%   |   [7.2]

Vacation 2016 - Day 4

Vacation 2016 - Day 4 - 7/17/2016

The day began with a fantastic breakfast, from eggs to salmon to fruit to sausage.

Reneee - our ebullient Program Director - had joked you will gain a minimum of 5 (pound? kilos?) on this trip, but with the walking it may be a wash.

We started out with a trip to the Black Forest region. 

There was a cuckoo-clock making demonstration, glassblower, local beer:

Fürstenberg      |   Pil   |   Lager, Pilsner, German Pils   |   4.8%   |   [6.8]

Fürstenberg      |   Hefeweizen   |   Ale, Wheat, Hefeweizen   |   4.8%   |   [8.0]

{*score on an open ended scale of 1-10, resolution 0.1}

Then back to the ship for lunch, we opted for the informal buffet, and even had an EU version of the classic "chilly dog." Had a

Benediktiner   |   Weissbier   |   Ale, Wheat, Alpine Weise   |   5.4%   |   [8.0]

Also chatted with a family from Minnesota, Grisham and Grace, with their son Joel, who is also a beer fan.

Colmar France was amazing. Besides being the one-time residence of Bartholdi (yes that Bartholdi) it's a beautiful collection of shops and buildings, some very old. 

First found that the Schwendi restaurant brews their own:

Schwendi   |   Schwendi-Bier   |   Ale, Blonde   |   5.0%(?)   |   [7.5]

At Brasserie Tanneurs, had a very low ABV:

Juplier / Piedbouf   |   Blanche   |   Lager, Pale   |   1.1   |   [7.0]

A gent at Tanneurs directed me towards some other bars that might have some better / local beer. Unfortunately did not find any other Colmar-brewed beers, but at James'on Pub (yes, that's correct) tried a lovely

Fischer D'Alsace   |   Amber / Ambree   |   Ale, Amber   |   5.0%?   |   [7.0]

At Les Incorruptibles, they served two of the same beer, I assume it was happy hour based on the price?

Chouffe   |   Ardens Blonde   |   Ale, Belgian Blonde   |   8.0%   |   [7.5]

Back at the ship, finished off dinner with

Fürstenberg      |   Weizen Hefe Dunkel   |   Ale, Wheat, Dunkelweizen   |   5.4%   |   [8.0]

chatting with Stan and Carol from Long Beach, CA, and Rita and daughter Daniella from San Francisco.

Interesting footnote - the wheelhouse on the ship retracts to all but ensure that at high-water times, the ship will make it through low bridges.

Tomorrow will be docked in Kehl Germany with a tour of Strasbourg France and some Alsatian wine tasting!

Vacation 2016 - Day 3

Vacation 2016 - Day 3 - 7/16/2016

Viking River cruise, Basel to Amsterdam. Today was mostly a tour of Basel Switzerland, via both tram and walking tour.

The Tram was actually rented out by Viking, which was quite convenient. As luck would have it, we traveled some of the same routes.

The guide was extremely knowledgeable, both on the sights and history of Basel and Switzerland.

We also had a mystery solved, in that what we thought - from a distance - was a boat flying a large kite.

It turns out there is a cable across the river, and the ferry steers towards port or starboard; crossing the Rhine with no electricity.

There seemed to be a lot of graffiti around the city, which oddly enough was in English in many cases.

Near where the ship was moored was a spot where Switzerland, France and Germany come together.

Dinner was fantastic again, followed by our first-ever trip through a river lock. I have seen river- and canal-locks before, but never been in one.

It's a bit disconcerting to see the ship appear "sinking" as the walls rise up beside you!

During the night we will be cruising to Breisach, Germany.

Vacation 2016 - Day 2

Vacation 2016 - Day 2 - 7/15/2016

Note due to connection speed etc. pictures may not be posted until later!

Started out after a good night's rest, with a German-influenced breakfast of meat, cheese, bread and fruit. Also met a couple from AZ (Lisa and Craig) who wer eon the same cruise.

Walked down to the street Mittlere Brücke to get some pictures of the Rhine from the bridge. Seeing several color-coded trams in the area, we figured let's get on one and see where it goes.

Unfortunately, the one we chose - the green tram - kind made a short loop and stopped back where we had gotten on, but facing the other direction. So we got off and took a yellow tram to see where it took us. We took it through some of the city on the east bank, then looping back towards the main train station.

This was also near a pre-defined "beer spot" known as "Drinks of the World." Not a beer bar, but a beer store with a dizzying array of beer, especially strong in the American craft selection. Picked up three to either enjoy later or to bring home, depending on my resolve.

Had a brief stop for a drink at Le Central Café, near the train station. Had a

Erdinger   |  Urweisse   |   Ale, Wheat, Hefeweizen   |   4.9%   |   [6.5]

The funny thing here was in asking the waiter for a "toiletten," was directed to a sign that led to a door that led to another door that led to... the main train station. There was no bathroom sign, so decided to just leave. We went on a yellow tram heading the other way, thinking (quite incorrectly) that this would re-trace the path we took previously. As we approached the zoo, leaving town, we decided to get off; and read the tram signage. Apparently it's not just color, it's also tram number that matters. So back to the main train station, to the correct tram to get back to Schifflände stop.

From there it was a short walk to Bierstube zum Stadkeller, which was supposed to be a very good restaurant, and it was.

We had the raclette and spiced raw beef for lunch. Extremely good, the former was meatless but very filling, the latter was like a Belgian carbonnade, but spicier. Also had to drink:

Fischerstube Ueli   |   Hopfen Ueli   |   Lager, Pilsner   |   5.4%   |   [9.0]

Feldschlössen Amber   | Lager, Vienna, Amber   |   5.2%   |   [6.9]

While there, decided to use the toiletten, and was directed by a sign to a door, which was not a sign to a door, but an elevator. Fearing a repeat of before, entered with some trepidation and found the bathrooms were indeed down a few floors.

After that, to the Xocolatl chocolate shop, which to a chocaholic like CR, it was heaven. Did a brief facebook post about her being lost, and a few minutes later the owner cam out and said someting like "a good place to be lost" - the power of social media!

From there it was back to the hotel, to claim our luggage; thence to the Viking Lofn. This is a nice ship; it is relatively new, and designed from the ground up as a river cruise ship; small draft, lots of room, even the cabins, although compact, were very efficiently laid out.  

Went to the bar to check the basic beer selection, and chatted with Peter from Slovakia. Very nice guy, and wanted to speak with us later about places to see in his native country, should we ever visit there.

The orientation was funny and informative, and people are very friendly. This is definitely an "all child left behind" cruise, with the bell curve for age centered I'd guess around 68 or so.

The dinner was fantastic, a dazzling array of choices, with wine included. Drinks are not included in the price, so may have to check what the price per beer is; the "Silver Package" may be cheaper in the long run. We sat with two good friends who go on trips together sometime: Maria from GA and Veanna from TX, and Laura from KY; and in that "it's a small world after all" sort of thing, Veanna and Laura had been on a cruise in Italy a couple of years ago!

Now about that rented a WiFi hotspot; some of the blame for non-functioning is mine (and the revised review on FaceBook reflects that). As it stopped working unexpectedly the second morning, and finding the company worked 8:00-5:00 PST, with no 24/7 support - I decided to reset the unit, and re-enter the APN values again. It didn't work, in that it was apparently connecting to my iPhone, but not connecting to get data.

Did get the unit working again, and here is what happened; I'd say mostly my fault, but with two unknowns. The first real unknown is why did it stop after one day? Don't know. However, when I reset it, I manually added the APN required, and spelled "vodafone" as "vodaphone"! Okay my bad 100%.

However, I also found when resetting the unit - which retains all info such as password, ID, etc., the data plan resets to 1 megabyte per day.

Yep, just 1.

Once I bumped that up, the unit worked fine. Did chat with a really pleasant tech support person, and did mention that

1) their product offerings and price was what attracted me; but frankly had I noted  the limited hours of operation, I might have gone elsewhere

2) suggested they offer a "premium support option" of say $40, staffed 24/7/365; I know many would pay it, and like insurance, not need it.

Vacation 2016 - Day 1

Vacation 2016 - Day 1 - 7/14/2016 

So we decided on a Rhine River cruise, and based on info from friends and the Web (in that order) we selected Viking. Should

Left the house evening of 7/13, with a limo ride to Logan, left Boston to Heathrow on the 10:00 PM British Airways flight; had a nice time in the "economy plus" seating. 

We had a fairly long layover, then to Basel, arriving 7/14 evening. Altho not complaining as our travel agent found a deal with airfare included!

Checked into the Hotel D in Basel, which is really a nice 4-star hotel near the river. 

The room is very modern and generous, the view is great, and it was a short walk to the café Lällekönig. This is the type of place to go for local flavor. Very little English was spoken, so it was iPhone for translation and very basic knowledge of critical German ("Wie lautet der name von dem brauer?"). 

Very good food: had the calves liver and CR had the pork cordon bleu; the Spätzle was obviously made by hand. With love.

For beer had two from the same local baruerei:

Fischerstube Ueli   |   Weizen Obergärig   |  Ale, wheat, Hefeweizen   |  5.4%    [9.0]*

Fischerstube Ueli   |   Robur Dunkel  |  Lager, German dark, Munchen  |  4.8%    [7.0]

{*score on an open ended scale of 1-10, resolution 0.1}

Also did pack some beers; this time the neo-classic Spencer Abbey as well as some Lawson's Sip of Sunshine. And did pick up a BACtrack, which works with iOS and supports Apple's HealthKit protocols. So I can now track my heartrate, steps and BAC via my Apple Watch. Plan to be at a daily average of 70 BPM, 5,000 steps; and 0.06%, respectively.

One thing we tried differently was renting a WiFi hotspot, which connect to the 3G/4G/LTE network and gives you a WiFi node. It worked swimmingly the first evening, once we figured out "connect via Web and be sure it says 'Vodaphone' if not edit the APN to say "vodaphone.it" (WHAT??!!). but this AM there's no connection. I'll reserve judgment and/or vilification one I speak to their tech support. In California. only there 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST. For a company servicing global travelers. And the tech support link from their email goes to a dead link *sigh*.

Also note - it's been a while since our last update - have a crap-ton to get posted form 2015/16, which will happen soon!