Hubby and I were in Europe for 8 days last week! We went on the Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise! Oh what a great vacation it was. We flew in to Amsterdam on Friday, June 20th. Viking staff met us at the airport and we were on our long boat the Viking Eir by lunchtime. Thankfully our room was ready so we freshened up, enjoyed a buffet lunch and then set out to explore a little bit of the city near the dock.
By Saturday, the boat had traveled to Rotterdam where we got off for our Dutch Cheese Making and Kinderdijk Windmill tour. The cheesemaking was interesting. We were a little put off by the production aromas, but the cheese was tasty. Hubby and I got our picture taken with one of wheels of Gouda cheese.
There was also a small store where the locals refill their milk bottles and buy cheese.
We toured the farm where the cows live that produce the milk. The farmer offered a wealth of information. There were a lot of cows.
There were even some newborns.
Once our tour of the farm was done, our group set off for the Kinderdijk Windmills. It was wonderful to see these windmills in person.
They are extremely small inside.
Sunday morning we took a tour of Cologne, Germany. There were plenty of sights to see including the Cathedral.
It is a pretty city.
In the very hot afternoon, we took a tour of the Bruhl UNESCO Palaces. This is the Augustusburg Palace.
The Entrance Hall was quite ornate.
Most of the rooms were also. This one is covered in blue and white tile.
It was 104 degrees this day, yet there were brides having their photos taken in the gardens.
We also saw the nearby Falkenlust Hunting Lodge.
It was also extremely ornate inside.
This was a small temple on the grounds.
This was the busiest day for us as we also had tour of Cologne's Beer Culture and a dinner off of the boat. We had a traditional Beerhaus dinner with Kolsch, the local beer. Afterwards we visited two other beerhauses to sample other Kolsch brands.
I don't usually drink beer (I don't really like it), but I had a .2L glass at each stop. Our guide ordered a 5L tube that we could serve ourselves.
We had a wonderfully fun night.
That is the first installment of our 8 day cruise. As soon as I upload more photos, there will be another installment.
Thanks for stopping by!
