Vacation (Part 3), The End

This is the final installment of our Viking Rhine Getaway River Cruise. I hope you have been enjoying the photos. The Wednesday of our cruise found us in Strausbourg, France. We casually walked around the city. Along the canal were beautiful, colorful old buildings. 

We were able to tour the Cathedrale Notre-Dame of Strausbourg. 

The carvings on the facade were magnificent.

As were the stained glass windows. 

This rosette window supposedly rivals that in Notre Dame, Paris.

There was a fascinating automated clock that "performed" every quarter hour. 

The organ pipes were wonderful also.

After our tour of the cathedral, Hubby and I had time to stroll around the city on our own. There were lots of little shops to peek into. 

In the afternoon we took a tour of the Alsace wine country to a little town called Barr. We had a wine tasting at the Hering vineyard. The wine was good, though nothing special. 

This vineyard only produces about 60,000 bottle of wine each year so it is quite the small operation. 

There was a pretty little town square to walk to before boarding the bus back to the ship.

That evening the ship traveled through several locks. It was interesting pulling beside another ship and experiencing the boat being raised to the level of the river on the other side.

On our final full cruise day, we took a tour of the medieval village of Colmar, Germany. Many of the homes were fancifully decorated. 

We saw a sculpture that was designed by Auguste Bartholdi who was the designer of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Of course there was another cathedral. This one we did not enter.

Colmar is know for its storks. You can see a nest with a chick and its parents on top of this roof.

There were many pretty streets. 

There were canals also.

In the afternoon we were on our way to the Black Forest. There were pretty homes along the way.

There is a lot of farmland and forest to be seen along the very twisty turny steep road.

We enjoyed a cuckoo clock demonstration in a local Hofgut Sternen Black Forest Village. It was fascinating to learn that different families from the area made the various parts of the clocks. Individual clocks were not made by one person or family.

There were a lot of cuckoo clocks. This one had a little train. 

There was also a glass blower. This "flower garden" was full of glass flowers.

There was also a Black Forest Cake demonstration.

I bought a Christmas nutcracker in the gift shop. My one and only souvenir. This was such a pretty place.

There was a sign that informed us that we were 6272 km from home. 

The next day found us in Basel, Switzerland for the return flight home. That was a long day as we had a short flight to Frankfurt, Germany followed by a 4 hour layover. There were another 2 hours in the plane on the tarmac as there was a flat tire. Then an 8 hour flight home. Thankfully, once we were through all the checkpoints and retrieved our checked baggage it is only a 20 minute limo drive home. All in all we had 20 hours of travel home. 

I hope you enjoyed all the photos from our European trip.

Thanks for visiting.