Some Final Thoughts

This was an amazing trip.  I was very impressed with how amazing the Viking staff was and how excellent the customer service was.  The food on the ship was wonderful.  They really went out of their way to accommodate Mark's food allergies.

I was impressed by how devastating the second world war was on Europe.  The bombings destroyed much of the historic buildings.  Although there has been a concerted effort to rebuild as close to the originals it is a shame to have lost so much history.  It was very evident that whole communities of Jewish people were decimated.   It was very common to come to a street called Judenstrasse (Jewish Street) and find that there was nothing Jewish about it today.  There were no Temples, shops, mikvas or any other evidence that Jews had lived and thrived there.

I had really wanted to go through the Panama Canal but since going through 50 locks on this trip I don't think I need to go through another one!!!

I love traveling with Rick and Sandi.  They are lots of fun and add a lot if information and knowledge to the trip.

If anyone wants to go on a Viking cruise please let me know as I have some $100 coupons.

By the way, Mark took the gold ring we were given in Paris to a jeweler and it is a fake...what a scam!!!  But I do feel much better that I did not take something that was of value to someone else.

July 29  Prague

Today is our last full day of the trip.  Our first stop is the Prague castle. The castle was built in in 1344 by Emperor Charles IV for whom much of Prague is named. The palace was opened to the public after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. It was the offices of the Communist party before that. The current appearance of the castle dates back 250 years. The last king to live here was Rudolph II in 1612.

As we approached the castle we arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard. This is repeated hourly at each of the gates.

The cathedral next to the castle was first built in the 10^th century. The 2^nd church was built in the 12^th century and the 3^rd by Charles IV in 1344. Newer additions were built in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The oldest parts of the church are black with age but they can’t clean them without damaging the soft sandstone from which it is made. The cathedral has 20 chapels, the nicest one to Saint Wenceslas, the duke to Bohemia during the 10^th century. He is referred to in a Christmas carol as “Good King Wenceslas”, however this song is not familiar to the Czechs.

 Sunday services are going on so we do not go into the church. The Czech Republic is not religious and about 68% are atheists.

It was Sunday and the bells began to ring as our tour guide was talking about it. She waited to continue but after 15 minutes of bell ringing, we proceeded around the cathedral to continue our tour.

We exit through the front gate of the castle and arrive at a street where there are palaces that were built by the rich and powerful in the 17^thand 18^th centuries. We also have a view over the Little Quarter of Prague, the US and German embassies and the river.

We return to the bus and drive past a stadium built 80 years ago by the communists. It was built to hold 250,000 people for sporting events. In the hills above Prague there are many nice homes built in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

We continue our walking tour through a park along the river. As we approach the Charles Bridge, we see many restored homes. There is a wall that Prague residents paint with pictures, words, etc. It was first painted as a memorial to John Lennon’s death and it continues to be painted over again and again today.

As we walk across the Charles Bridge, our tour guide talks about several of the 30 statues on the bridge. The statues weren’t added until the 17^th century. One of the most viewed ones is of St. John of Nepomuk who was thrown from the bridge in 1393 after taking the side of the church in a dispute with the king. In 1387 the first stone bridge was built here replacing a wooden one.. At one end of the bridge is a small building that was the toll house for collecting taxes to cross the bridge.

We continued our stroll into Old Town, as our guide described the history of various buildings.  At the corner of one is a statue to Rabbi Lowe, the rabbi from the Golem story, who is buried in the Jewish cemetery.

We ended up in the old town square by the astronomical clock to watch the figurines move at noon.

We had been told that the Jewish Quarter was closed for the holiday of Tu B'Shvat (the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem) so we had arranged for a private tour guide to take us to the Terezin concentration camp.  Our Viking tour leader, Monigue, found out that the Quarter was indeed open so we called our guide and negotiated for him to give us a tour of the Quarter.  His name is Jay and he was very knowledgable about the Quarter and the Jewish customs.

We had lunch at the Golem café before meeting our guide. There is a legend that Rabbi Lowe created a robot like creature from clay to protect the residents of the ghetto. One day the Golem got out of control, caused damage and hurt people so the rabbi made him lifeless again. The Golem supposedly is still asleep in the attic of the Old New synagogue.

We met our tour guide, Jay, and he took us for a walk through the streets of Old Town to show where the Ghetto walls used to be. We went into 4 synagogues that are all museums today, learning about the history of the Jewish quarter, and who their influential leaders were throughout the years.

Jews first came to Prague in the 10^th century since it was on an important trade route. By 1215 they were forced to live in ghettos by the pope. The gates were locked at night and during Christian holidays. At various times through history the Jews were protected by the king, or the victims of persecution. The 16^th century was the best time for the Jews in Prague. In 1680 Old Town burned including the ghetto. The only buildings that remain from the ghetto are 3 synagogues and the cemetery. The Jews only had one site as a cemetery and over the years they had to add more levels, but the tombstones were all raised to the current level, resulting in thousands of tombstones only inches from each other. The oldest synagogue, called the Old New Synagogue, dates back to 1270. The Jews were taxed not only by the city but also by the king because he offered them protection.

In 1850 the Jews were freed from the ghetto and allowed to live elsewhere. As the area became vacant, it became a slum and was eventually torn down and rebuilt. In 1868 a reform synagogue was built in the Spanish-Moorish style. It is still a beautiful building today.

As we ended our tour with Jay, our feet were sore from walking all day so we went back to Old Town Square for a beer. It started to rain but our table was covered by an umbrella, so we stayed reasonably dry. When it stopped, we found a taxi and went back to the hotel.

We had our final dinner in Prague at a nice local restaurant in the Imperial Hotel. The walls were covered in colorful ceramic tiles and art. It was a pleasant meal and a nice way to end the trip.

Again, thank you to my sister as I used some of her blog for this one.

July 28

We departed the ship after breakfast for our final two days of the trip. Our final destination for the day is Prague with a stop in Nuremberg along the way. The heat has finally broken but we were greeted with intermittent rain.

Our guide in Nuremberg is Rolf. Nuremberg was founded around the year 1050 and was the center of Nazi rallies in the 1930’s. Between 1300 -1600 Nuremberg was one of the 5 richest cities in Europe. Today it is more a working class city with a population of 500,000.

Hitler decided to have his Nazi rallies here for two reasons. First, the city has a major railway system making it easy for people to travel there. Secondly, this was the city of Imperial coronations during the middle ages. Hitler saw this as his city for coronation.

Our first stop was at the Nazi parade grounds. Here the Nazis would have massive demonstrations and parades, first with the brown shirt Nazi party members and their shovels, and later as a military force. The rallies would last several days. Surrounding the grounds were high beam lights shot light straight up for 8 km. The light was so intense that it could be seen as far away as the Czech Republic. Today the parade grounds are still used for car races and rock concerts but is in disrepair. Next to the parade grounds is the Nazi Congress Hall that was started in 1935 but never finished.

We returned to the buses as the rain started to fall. We saw from the bus some of the remaining the old city walls. Our next stop was the courthouse where the Nuremberg trials were held. The Allies decided to have the trials here for security reasons. The courthouse is connected to the jail so the prisoners never had to be transported outside. The trials lasted from November 1945 until October 1946. The four judges were from the US, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. 24 Nazi leaders were tried for Major War crimes here. They all professed their innocence until Rudolph Hess took the stand and described in great detail his role in murdering over 1milion people at Auschwitz. In October 1946 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death and 3 were acquitted. The rest were given prison sentences.

We again retreated to the buses as it started to rain and proceeded to the Imperial Castle. The castle was first built in 1050 and its current form is from 1545. The emperors would only live here a few weeks a year. They traveled between their many castles all over the country during the year to rule their country. The most important function of this castle was for coronation of a new emperor. The royalty would come here to swear their allegiance to their new ruler.

The castle was built with some interesting defense mechanisms, but the castle was never attacked. It was, however, badly damaged in WWII and was rebuilt. The city was destroyed in the war, but most people survived because of the extensive beer cellars underground to which they retreated during the attack. Reconstruction of the city started in the 1950’s and was completed in 1970.

The rain had stopped as we toured the castle. We then proceeded to the old town square where we had time to look around, shop and have lunch. As it was Saturday, there were a lot of locals in the old square enjoying lunch, shopping at the produce stands and listening to the various musical groups. A stage was set up for a music concert to be held that evening. 

We walked around and did some shopping before returning to the bus. We left Nuremberg at 1:00pm and continued onto Prague.

Thank you my sister Sandi as I copied this from her blog.  She has a better memory than I do....she is six years younger.

We arrived in Prague at about 5:30.  We went to our hotel, the Hilton.  This is the hotel that US presidents stay in when they visit Prague.  It is beautiful and very modern.  After a quick shower we headed for the Kampa Park restaurant where we had reservations for dinner.  We walked across the famous Charles Bridge to the restaurant that is located at the foot of the bridge in a very famous park.  We had a wonderful table along the river.  Unfortunately, I had an allergic reaction to something and I felt slightly ill and could not eat my lovely dinner.  I did enjoy the company and the view.  Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. 

July 27, 2012  Bamberg

Today we took a bus to Bamberg, a city known for its Rauchbier, a smoked beer made with malt that's been dried over open flames.  Eight breweries operate here upholding a tradition that's two centuries old.  I tried the beer and I really liked it.  I hope I can find it in St. Louis.

It might be surprising to learn that this inebriating city was founded largely on a very sober Christian faith.  In 1007, Emperor Heinrich II made Bamberg the center of the Holy roman Empire and the capital of his reign.  He intended for it to become a second Rome, like its Italian model, Bamberg was built on seven hills, each with a church on top.  He ordered the building of a new cathedral, which was consecrated in 1012 and remains the architectural and spiritual heart of the city.  The cathedral art work includes three dimensional art like this leg.  Both the Emperor and his wife were buried in the cathedral, as was Pope Clement II.  Heinrich also founded St. Michael's Abbey for the training of the clergy. Both are still standing and are considered superb examples of late Romanesque architecture.  Soon, Bamberg was the center of the Holy roman Empire and bishops became princes of the land.  but the Protestant Reformation eventually cut the bishopric's territory in half.  Later, the 17th century Bamberg witch trials cast a dark and tempestuous curtain over the city.  Bamberg was unusual in that five of its mayors--all men--were identified as accomplices to witches and burned at the stake.

Bamberg's prosperity has always been linked to the river.  In the Middle Ages, it was the starting point for shipping on the Main, and its now the northern starting point of the Main-Danube Canal that was built between 1960 and 1992.  It is also a vibrant cultural center that blossomed beginning in the late 17th century at the time of the founding of the University and rose to prominence 100 years later when Bamberg became the center of the Enlightenment for southern Germany.

One of the few cities in Germany not destroyed by World War II bombing, Bamberg is the largest Old town to retain its medieval structures; because of this, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.  Along with its Gothic, baroque and Romanesque architecture, the city was laid out according to medieval planning rules as a cross with churches at the four cardinal points.

When we arrived back at the boat, there was a challah and wine waiting for us so that we could have a brief service to welcome the Sabbath.  The boat's chef used my sister's challah recipe to make his first challah.  Although there were about a dozen Jewish passengers we only had about half a dozen at the service and several were not Jewish.

Rolling to Rothenberg

Thursday, July 26, 2012 We boarded our buses to Wurzberg, a city that began with construction of a Celtic fortification on top of the Marienberg around 1000 BC. In the early 700's A.D. Germany's first church was built on that spot, which is also the site of the present Wurzburg Cathedral, constructed from 1040 to 1225. We visited this Cathedral. Wurzburg was a center of the Peasants' Revolt in the 16th century. The exploited underclass tried to besiege the prince-bishop's castle but their attempt failed. Theought the peasants' wars were ultimately lost, prince-bishop Julius Echter van Mespelbrunn introduced a number of reforms that benefited them. The next century saw more violence against another undervaued segment of the population..women. The Wurzburg witch trials lasted for four yers, from 1626 to 1631, but executions of women who had allegedly made a pact with the devil continued for 200 years throughout France and Germany. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about today's Wurzburg is its determination. In 1945, 90% of the city was destroyed by British bombers in 17 minutes. For the next 20 years, structures of historical significance were rebuilt in incredible detail, mostly by women (the Trummerfrauen or "rubble women") because their men had perished or gone missing in the war. Wurzberg is also the capital of the Germany's Franconia wine region, which is famous for its dry white wines especially from the Sylvaner grape. I had a chance to taste this wine and it is very good. I do not like sweet white wines and this one is not sweet. For some of our group they spent the rest of the day shopping in Wurzburg. Mark and I took an extra excursion to the city of Rothenburg. This is a university town and we had the chance to witness a demonstration on the town square. It seems that the town wants to build a horse stable and school on land that is currently being used for growing vegetables. The protestors came to town with a big cart full of fresh vegetables!! I spotted a Joseph Seibel shoe store and went in. The shoes were all half of what they cost in the US so of course I had to buy two pair!! There is a woman on our trip who has recently been diagnosed with ALS. She also has some difficulty in walking so the two of us have been hanging out together. I really hope they find a cure for this awful disease before it is too late for her.

Heidelberg

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 The ship has actually docked in Worth. We boarded buses for Heidelberg about 1.5 hours away. Poor Rick looks miserable and I know that it will be a tough day for him. It is very hot here (but not as hot as in St. Louis). Air conditioning is not as cool as it is at home so we are always slightly sweaty. Lying in the steep valley where the Odenwald mountains meet the Rhine and Neckar Rivers, heidelberg has long been considered the jewel of Germany. The city is often thought of as Germany's intellectual capital. It is home to the country's oldest university established in 1386.  It is home to the world's largest beer barrel.  Many of the older, well-preserved buildings that the five the old city center such charm are owned by the uniersity. The most notorious of these is the student jail. Students could end up here for all kinds of infractions, and many came to wear a sentence as a badge of honor; in fact, amny a student failed to get into the Big House felt that he had missed out on a crucial part of a Heidelberg education. Heidelberg was also the epicenter of the country's Romantic period, drawing artists, writers and scholars from all over the world--inspiring Goethe's poetry, Turner's landscapes and even Mark Twain's travel tales. In fact, Mark Twain wrote extensively about his travels in Germany, and no other city seemed to have attracted him more than Heidelberg. A book containing the best of his writings from this period, including a hilarious piece on his attempts to learn German, is still a popular best seller in Heidelberg. While other German cities were destroyed during the Allied bombings of World War II, Heidelberg was largely spared. As a result it has retained its baroque charm with narrow streets, helmut-shaped towers, stone bridges, historic churches and, of course, ivy-covered castle ruins. After the war, the US built a military base, which now houses 30,000 Americans made up of soldiers and their families. The most defining feature of Heidelberg is surely its castle, considered the most magnificent castle ruin in Germany. It took 400 years to build and exhibits a mix of Gothic, Renaissance and other styles. The building suffered severe damage several times during the 30 Year's War and the War of Succession. Rebuilding followed, but when lightening struck in 1764 and set the arsenal ablaze, attempts at restoration ended. Many houses in Heidelberg were built with stone taken from the ruins, until Count charles de Graimburg put a stop to the looting in 1800. So beautiful is the castle, even as much of it liesin ruins that many believe American raiders during WWII steered their bombs away from it. I began taking my Predisone and my knees have stopped hurting and the infection on my thigh has cleared up. I guess I should have taken the meds sooner so I wouldn't have had so much pain. The ship met us in Miltenberg with a brand new rudder. The First Officer Ferdinand gave us a slide program showing how the ship was repaired. I forgot to mention that during our free time in Rudesheim, I began searching for a new walking stick to replace the one I left on the mini bus. It was very hot and I walked for a long time. I finally decided that there wasn't one to be purchased in Rudeshiem and I started back to meet the bus. Then, all of sudden, I saw a shop with walkingsticks displayed out front. They were adjustable. I found one that had a headlight and a compass. I paid 13 Euros for it which is about $17. Sure beats the $85 I paid at REI for the one I lost.

The Rhine Valley

Tuesday July 24, 2012 Today we docked in Rudesheim. Rudesheim marks the southern entrance to the romantic Rhine Valley, a 40 mile gorge where the river is squeezed to its narrowest and deepest point making it more difficult to navigate. The Lorelei rock rises on the cliff above the river and comes with the legend of a woman whose singing bewitched the hearts of ancient sailors, causing them to crash. The entire town is a part of the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its unigue combination of geology, history and culture, and one of the country's most important tourist destinations. We took a bus to the Marksburg Castle. This is a very primitive castle with uneven steps and lots of climbing. I was a little hesitant since my knees have been hurting so much. I went anyway and I am very happy I did. I made it up and down and was very happy I went. Rudesheim is a winemaking town known primarily for its Riesling grapes, the area produces mainly high-quality white wines like the Rudesheimer Reisling. Another local wine variety, the Ehrenfelser, was named for the Ehrenfels castle which is located amidst the vineyards on the steep eastern bank of the river. The castle was built in the early 13th century and, along with the Mouse Tower, it served both as a barrier and a toll station controlling travel along the Rhine. The bishop of Mainz became its proprietor in 1370 and in 1688 the fortress was nearly completely destroyed by the French during the Palatine War of Succession. Today it is considered one of the most beautiful and picturesque castle ruins on the river. Whentraveling along these rivers, the water levels change frequently so we go through some 50 locks before we reach our final destination. On the Moselle River we had to go through the locks to be lowered to accomodate the drops in the river. On the Rhine and the Main rivers we had to be lifted up to accomodate the higher water levels. It is really weird to look out your window and see the walls of the lock. My brother-in-law Rick has been stricten with a stomach bug. He really looks bad and has been staying in his cabin. We have learned that during our initial departure in cochem, the ship ran aground slightly and damaged a rudder. When we dock in Heidleberg everyone will need to get off the ship as it will be going to the dry dock for a repair of the rudder. This means that Rick will need to be well enough to leave the ship for a day. I am learning to enjoy white wine again. All along the river we see miles of grape vines just waiting to be crushed into wine. We also see many castles. I have lots of great photos but have not figured out how to transfer them into my blog. The pics may need to wait until I get home. I talked with the cruise director about having a Sabbath service on board on Friday evening. They have never done it but they were very anxious to try it. We agreed that we would hold a short service at 6:45 pm Friday before dinner and that the ship would provide a challah and wine. We can't have candles because of the fire hazard. We don't have any prayer books or a printed service but I think we can make it nice. My sister, Sandi, gave the head chef her challah recipe and he is very enthusiastic about trying this.