Cherbourg/Zeebrugge - May 2nd

Cherbourg and Zeebrugge

Well, I guess you could say I called it in our last episode.  The Allies had to cancel and reschedule Operation Overlord (Invasion of Normandy) due to weather and that, with some help from a dazed and confused tour provider, is pretty much what happened to Uncle Jack and I in Cherbourg.

We awakened earlier than usual, excited to be seeing the beaches of Normandy and some of the history associated with our invasion 74 years ago.  Woke right up to driving rain and temperatures that would be right at home in Oregon in the winter — did I mention we live in SW Florida?  Cold wind and cold rain don’t exist in our vocabulary any more, but just to ensure we remember why we don’t live in the climes we were born in any more, Cherbourg thought she’d greet us properly.

Uncle Jack and I had a tour planned and I had checked with our operator two days before hand to double check when and where we would meet them - Check, Double Check…  So at ten after 8 in 15-20 mph winds and consistent rain showers, we got off the ship to wait for our private tour, and wait and wait…  We had of course contingency plan #1 - turn on my cell phone and call the tour operator.  “Yes, we have your names, our driver is enroute, not to worry, they will be there as planned at 0830…”  8:30 rolls around, still not there - call again.  They are almost there - not to worry.  So I don’t bore you with every thing we did do, I can cut to the chase and say what we didn’t do, which was do our planned Normandy tour…  

Why?  The tour operator had two ships arriving on May 1st, our ship and Viking Star.  Viking Star was supposed to arrive first; they ended up docking after we did - so all the tour vans were waiting at the Viking Star dock — while all of us on Zuiderdam - about 10 or 15 people, waited in the rain for more than an hour.  Two hours after we were supposed to have left, the vans finally showed up - already 3/4’s full with folks from the other ship.  Two hours late for an 8 hour tour, sopping wet and chilled to the bone, aboard a van full of folks who didn’t need to be back to their ship until 9:30pm; our departure was 5:30pm.  Uncle Jack said, “Let’s bag it” and we did.

I spent an hour writing a pretty dispirited letter to the tour operator — we were so looking forward to seeing the ground our Greatest Generation had consecrated and now we had missed our chance.  Later that evening, I received what I will consider one of the more moving apologies I’ve ever seen from the owner of the tour company.  Rather than worry about how things had gone, he cut to the chase and apologized, almost (well, actually he did) making me feel bad for him.  In these days of Risk Manager/Lawyer written apologies that are designed to limit liability while making it sound like you are sorry something unfortunate happened, this gentleman took it on the chin.  So my hat is off to Andy - a true gentleman.  I didn’t get to take his tour but having taken his measure as a person, I’d recommend him and his company in a second.

So Cherbourg was a hot mess — well, perhaps a cold, wet mess, but having a bathtub for a warm bath is not too bad a way to deal with a chill.  Next up, Zeebrugge…

Right on time again, Zuiderdam pulled into the harbor of Zeebrugge, Belgium - to, sunshine, yeah!  Hold on there cowboy, you aren’t off the ship yet…  By the time we got off the ship with Aunt Sarah; Uncle Jack having decided to stay aboard, around 1pm, things were a little bit less sunny - but at least not wet - yet…

Zeebrugge is pretty much just a port facility - the closet town, Blankenberge, is about 4 or 5 kilometers away, and the city of Brugge is probably about 15 kilometers away.  These aren’t exact distances on the map — I am judging distance based on how long we had to travel to get there, so how did we get there?

First, there was a shuttle bus that picked us up from the ship and took us to the port’s gate about 400 yards as the crow flies - it isn’t the distance but the fact that the port is a super busy cargo port and they don’t want tourist/passengers walking around amidst the cargo containers getting moved hither and yon.  From the port’s front gate, there are two ways to go - Left and Right - with right being the direction we wanted to go in order to walk to the closest tram stop to head towards Blankenberge.  It was about a 1/2 mile walk on a good side walk to get to the tram stop - passing a maritime museum (old coastguard/light house boat painted red on the shore and what I think is a post WW-II Soviet submarine in the water) along the way.  Inquiring minds might want to know how to catch the tram?  On the same side of the street you are walking on from the port is a small market.  In this market, you can buy a “Tages Kart”.  Now, I don’t know a word in Belgian, but this looked to me like the German words for a “Days Card” so I bought three of them since I’d read we would be taking both tram and bus to get to Brugge city.  The card was 6 Euros each for all the buses and trams you could ride in 24 hours.

We took the tram from the stop directly across from the market heading the same direction we’d headed to get to the market in the first place - the stop is right across the street from a church (“Kerk”) so it is a good reference point.  Once aboard the tram (clean and modern looking) we could see that the next stop was on a lighted sign at the front of the tram and the tram routes were depicted in maps on the left and ride side of the ceiling (the one we needed was on our left heading into town).  We got off at the aptly named “Station” which was where we waited to catch bus #33, that said “Brugge” on the electronic sign which was where we were going.

We rode the bus - once again, modern and clean, for the 7 or 8 mile trip into the center of Brugge.  Along the way, we were reminded again of one of the reasons we love Europe, namely, city and country co-exist side by side.  One second you are in city (Blankenberge) - homes and businesses, the next second, you are in the countryside with cows, horses, crops, sheep and farm houses.  This goes on for about 5 or 6 miles and then you are immediately back into the outskirts of Brugge city - the transition from one (countryside agriculture) to the other (city urbanscape) is so smooth it is actually kind of jarring when you are used to the distinctions we make in the USA.  At home, “Farm to Table” seems like a really big deal; here it is just the way it is…

Brugge is a modern city of brick fascias - real and appliqué - the older buildings really are built of brick, the newer are concrete block construction with brick appliqué - the overall effect is esthetically pleasing.  We got off at what we were told was the “Center” - not quite true it turned out - where we got off was right across the street from what appears to be a new urban transportation center - currently under construction.  Even though it wasn’t the historical “Center” of town, it was a nice entrance to walk into the town’s historical center.  It was a nice walk even though a cold rain was now starting to fall and we’d left our umbrella back on the ship (%^&@#$!!!).  We were at least bundled up for the weather, even if we may have looked a bit “humid” so to speak.  The town center was an easy 10 minute walk along great pedestrian streets punctuated by stores and churches (Bless me Father for I have sinned - first the American Express and then the Visa Card) - that is why they are side by side, right???

The town center was true Market Platz (German speak) - the town’s largest cathedral on one side with the other three sides taken by a historical museum and charming side walk restaurants and cafe’s.  There was also a decent line of horse drawn carriages for hire - think I saw 50Euro as the fare on one of the carriages as it clip clopped by pulled by a very beautiful sorrel horse.

Having seen downtown Brugge, and contemplating our return journey back to the ship, we caught a bus and headed back to the “Station” in Brugge - in this case meaning the train station.  At the train station, I could see a sign for Blankengberge, so walked up to the window and asked for 3 adult fares (in English) - each ticket was 3.1 Euros - and the actual time via train was 13 minutes from station to station (we hit 65mph along the way) non-stop.  We had to wait 40 minutes for the 4:05pm train but we spent it in Starbucks with a White Chocolate Mocha and internet…

Once back in Blankenberge, we walked from the Train Station across the street to the Tram/Bus station we’d departed from 2 hours previously, and caught a tram back to our Zeebruge Kerk stop.  

So what did we learn about Zeebrugge, Blankenberge, and Brugge?  Easy and economical to get around — food prices on menus are super expensive - twice what we’d pay in the States - same thing in the store window displays - I don’t think I saw a pair of shoes under 130 Euros and a bunch more than 500 Euros.  And with a limited sample size - e.g. one day on a couple of buses, trams, and trains in three small cities,  I can tell you that Belgium is a lot more like Italy than it is like Germany or Switzerland when it comes to lines and public transportation.  In Germany or Switzerland, people queue up properly and get on a bus or tram in an orderly fashion.  In Italy, it is a free for all, although elders and pretty women get some slack.  Belgium is pretty much like Italy except the pretty women and old guys are elbowing their way ahead of you to get on the bus or tram.  Local customs never bother me - I just need to know how things are done and then I will follow suit.  So after a old guy half my size elbowed his way past me the first time, I hip checked his buddy to let Aunt Sarah and Valerie get on without getting run over…  You gotta’ learn from the locals… Our overall impression of Belgians is that they aren’t the warmest and fuzziest bunch of people we’ve encountered in Europe.  But then you have to understand we think we’re half Italian (at least) and think Germans are warm, loving people with a great sense of humor (truth!)

So - all in all, a great but once again, rainy, visit ashore in Belgium.  Tomorrow is Amsterdam - one of our favorite cities in the world.  Even if it rains, we are scoring some seriously aged Gouda cheese…

MS Zuiderdam - 16 days from Ft Lauderdale to Copenhagen - Ponta Delgada and Three More Sea Days...

Ponta Delgada and Three More Sea Days…

Zuiderdam ran quickly East South East the 100 or so sea miles from Horta to Ponta Delgada arriving off the harbor around sunset.  The wind was approaching 60 knots as we entered the harbor, a fairly narrow entry with a strong sea wall to keep out the raging Atlantic.

Thus began the delicate dance of trying to get Zuiderdam to her berth, starting with turning her around to back into our assigned dock.  This started about the time we sat down to watch our evening entertainment in the Vista Theater at 8pm.  We could feel and hear our bow thrusters working hard throughout the 45 minute show.  We were still about 50 yards off the dock with two tugs pushing hard against our starboard side when we reached topside after the show ended.  We watched for the next 15 or 20 minutes as we inched our way closer to the dock on our port side, finally getting close enough for lines to be sent to the dock and pull her in the last few feet.  Our Captain, Pilot, and Tug boat crew really earned their money in our Ponta Delgada docking!

First impressions of Ponta Delgada at dark were mixed - seemed a lot less “quaint” than Horta.  Another cruise ship, Aida (a German cruise company) was docked and a small “expedition” class cruise ship “Serenissima” was next to us on the same pier.  Waking up the next morning and being able to see Ponta Delgada was a pleasant surprise - period white and black architecture, at least 6 churches in sight, and a fort 1/2 mile away to our left down the seaside walkway.  Green hillsides were in evidence behind the downtown area and on the plateau above the fort, we could see the end of the island’s runway.  One of lasting impressions of the Azores in April will be beautiful green hillsides, reminiscent of similar scenes in the Emerald Island.

We got off the ship about 9:30 or so, short easy walk off the ship to leave the port area, setting out to do some sightseeing.  Turns out, most stores don’t open until 10am so we walked around for a bit to kill some time and found out an important lesson.  In the Azores - or more accurately, Ponta Delgada, the drivers are so polite that as soon as you look like you are going to cross in a crosswalk, they stop immediately.  This is not Naples, Italy to be sure — we love Napoli and having lived there, know how you have to cross the street because Napolitani drivers will never stop for pedestrians, they just drive around you as you fearlessly proceed without stopping across the street.

Over the next hour, we walked along graffiti free, scrupulously clean cobblestone streets, a very nice morning stroll, finding in turn a pharmacy for some cough remedies, and later on, a super market for soft tissue.  Prices in both were reasonable and folks in both stores understood our questions and helped us get what we needed.  We checked out a Mexican restaurant - ouch, prices were expensive - essentially 12.90 Euros - $14 for a burrito; $25 for Fajitas.  We walked far enough along to reach the fort which is a pretty typical fortification - 3 Euro entrance fee to enter the military maritime museum, but across from a beautiful, tree-lined plaza centered on a bandstand that appears to be a civic center kind of area.  Having walked around for about 90 minutes, happily impressed with our first impression of Ponta Delgada, we headed back to Zuiderdam to take Aunt Sarah to lunch.

After lunch, we took Aunt Sarah ashore to give her a chance to see some of what we’d seen earlier.  This time though, we set course to the city market (Mercado) to see what we might see.  The Mercado was a little bit up the hill from our dock, but a very gentle and unchallenging grade.  We asked directions once since the tourist map we had didn’t do a very good job with street names.  After getting properly on course, we didn’t know we’d reached the Mercado until a delicious cheese smell wafted out of a nondescript white door.  Was so focused on walking forward, I wasn’t paying attention to the store’s entrance, fortunately, my nose grabbed my attention.  Walking inside, we could see three walls of local wine and a long cooler counter of delicious looking cheese wheels.  Have to love a market you enter through a cheese and wine store…  Once into the market proper, we could see fresh fruit and produce in the covered, 50 yard by 50 yard market area - since it was now about 1pm or so, many of the vendors were starting to pack things up.  One price that stands out was 2 euros for a 10 kilogram sack of potatoes - so prices seemed pretty reasonable all told.  Another thing that stood out was that locally grown items were designated as “regional” produce - and looking at the variety of what’s available, the green fields of the Azores are clearly productive.  The fish market was already closed but the meat market was still open — fresh meat and sausage looked great.   Once again, regionally grown meat was advertised for sale in the market so it seems the Azorians can avail themselves of local produce from farm and field.  I didn’t do a comparison between products notated as “regional” and similar products without the regional designation so can’t say if there is a substantial price differential one way or the other. 

After another hour or so ashore, Aunt Sarah and I dodged a few rain showers to re-board Zuiderdam.  Once back in our room, Valerie and I saw a phenomena which we will always remember in context of Ponta Delgada — the afternoon swim.  First a bit of additional context…

The outdoor temperature was high 50’s - scattered clouds, winds in the harbor at 20+ knots, and two - three foot waves inside the seawall.  I can’t imagine what the water temperature in the harbor was but doubt it touched 60 degrees.  First, a guy in a wetsuit jumped into the water and swam about 400 yards before pulling himself out on the steps of a sea water filled swimming pool with water sloshing back and forth into the pool from the harbor.  Geez - that doesn’t look fun - but at least he had a wetsuit on.  For the next three hours, we watched men and women from 30’s to their 70’s walk down to a small harbor side building, doff their clothes, get into bathing suits and walk directly into the harbor water for brief swims.  We froze our little tushies off just watching them - in some cases, folks spent more time getting undressed and redressed than they actually spent in the water - must be some kind of daily check off - 3 or 4 pm, head to harbor and take my daily polar bear plunge, carry on with remainder of my daily schedule.

Three earth shaking blasts of the ship’s whistle and we were away from the Ponta Delgado dock.  It was way easier leaving the dock than getting there about 24 hours earlier mostly due to the fact we were just sailing directly away from the dock and out the harbor entrance.  The Captain noted on our departure that the low pressure weather center was stronger to the east south east of Ponta Delgado so rather than taking the shorter direction, we were going to sail west around the island and from there head north.  The seas were still pretty good sized but apparently not quite as bad so off we went to our next stop, Cherbourg, France.

On the way to Cherbourg, and in celebration of King’s Day (Birthday of the Dutch King) we wandered up to the Crows Nest Bar on deck 10, port side (left) forward for a great view of Zuiderdam rising and falling on the 20+ foot swells which were heading directly into.  Fast forward two days…  Heading directly into the waves is a way smoother ride (in most of the ship except the lower areas forward) than having them directly aft (behind you).  Considering that the stabilizers keeping our ride smoothed out are like “wings” riding below the water, like wings in the air, the faster you move through the medium,  the better the wings work.  When the waves are coming from behind, they make your speed through the water, relative to the wing, less effective.  Anyway, seeing those big waves coming at us was a cool view.  Cooler still was seeing all the people pour into the Crows Nest to celebrate Kings Day — announce there are free drinks and everyone decided they aren’t going to bed at 9pm tonight…

Just so you don’t think Valerie and I were up there for the free drinks, we were drinking our new substitute for “Fireball” which isn’t available on Zuiderdam - “Damn”…  Not even Jack Daniels “Fire” is available - so no cinnamon fix for us — we had to be satisfied (and we mostly were) with Jack Daniels “Honey”.  A very nice drink to share and watch the people roll in like the tide.   The soft pitch and roll that night rocked us softly to sleep and the beginning of our three day sea journey to Cherbourg.

Weather on all three sea days was gently deteriorating as our latitude went from the high 30’s (38) to the high 40’s (48.20N) — basically off the French coast at Brest — with the temperature dropping from the mid-60’s to the mid or low 50s with gray skies and intermittent rain.  The other thing that has changed this afternoon (Sunday) is that we are now essentially in the southern end of the English Channel and there are ships ahead, abreast, and behind as this is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world.  Directly out my  window, I can see a tanker and a break bulk cargo ship (when I looked closer, I could see a third a few miles farther away) going south within a mile of our port side.  The other weather observation this afternoon is the big ocean swells that have been pushing us along, are still there but the wind (from an Irish low to our Northwest) is now coming at us on the port side so there is a lot of confusion out there.  The swells are behind us, the whitecaps are coming at our cabin with the net effect looking like the agitation cycle in your washing machine.

Predicted weather for our Cherbourg port call isn’t good - gale force winds and rain - hmmm, didn’t the Allied invasion get moved around for funky weather about 74 years ago?  I guess we’re going to have a proper tour of Normandy tomorrow.

Coral Princess - 5-15 April 2016 - Limón Costa Rica, “Italian Night” in the Main Dining Room, and Man, these people work some hours

Our approach to  Limón was a bit rough and noisy - yes, it was lumpy after all the wind blowing the past two days - but we heard a few new sounds we hadn’t heard before.  Its funny that once you settle into a rhythm, anything out of the ordinary seems different and mildly threatening.  Our dock was essentially front and center in downtown Limon - a relatively small city spread equally along the shore and up the hills around us.  Very tropical and green - the air temperature absolutely perfect and without the humidity you normally associate with such tropical greenery.  Limon is 100 miles east of San Jose (the capitol), and 1.5 driving hours north of the border with Panama.  It is also the main port for fruit shipments (Banana, Pineapple, Cantaloupe) to the USA, Germany, Holland, and China. We saw ships from both Dole and Del Monte being loaded in an interesting ballet between ship, crane, container, and truck…

As we typically do — we read through all of the cruise line provided excursions and then proceeded to do our own by walking out of the port, talking with a couple of local tour operators, and deciding whose offer we liked best and looked the most trustworthy.  We went with Mr. Doctor, who introduced us in turn to our taxi driver and tour guide Danilo (Danilo Orlando Hall - 00506 - 85339489) who would drive, narrate, teach, and spot wildlife for us the next 6 hours.  The tour we chose was the “Scenic Drive”, “Banana Plantation”, “Canal Cruise”, and Lunch for $60 for each of us.  We much prefer private as opposed to bus tours - they give us a better chance to learn more about our guide and how people live where we are visiting.  Additionally, we probably saved about 40% and had a lot more flexibility with what we saw and how long we spent seeing it.

So off we went in Danny’s cab to see some of the coast, foliage, flowers, and animals.  Interesting that we felt a different vibe in Limon immediately - kind of a Jamaican - Latin fusion - honestly, we really liked it.  Turns out that a large number of Jamaicans were brought to Limon years ago to work and stayed to make a new life in Central America.  As noted, we liked the result…

To SW Florida residents, we felt right at home with the plants, flowers, and birds we saw along the way - except everything here seems to have grown bigger with stronger sunlight (closer to the equator) and no occasional winter cold snaps.  Then there was the addition of animals we don’t see at home except in a zoo — Howler Monkeys 50-75’ above us in large trees moving slowly from branch to branch as they fed on berries or leaves.  Continuing on the road to the banana plantation, we saw several schools and a lot of neighborhoods with small homes along the way.  None of the homes were grand or grandiose, clearly homes where working people live and raise families, many with small garden or farm plots alongside to supplement table fare and income.  Turns out that 4/11 is a national holiday — commemorating the day that a Costa Rican hero halted the advance of troops from the USA who had already conquered Honduras and Nicaragua to the north.  So traffic was perhaps lighter, the schools empty, and folks were taking some time off visiting neighbors. Oh, and for people who’d paid for a tour of the banana plantation - bummer…

Along the way to the banana plantation, we could clearly see that road conditions leave a bit to be desired — the huge amount of truck traffic loading and distributing fruit to the shipping port exceeds the government’s ability or perhaps desire to repair and upgrade the roadways to meet current demand.  Not the worst roads we’ve seen - Cambodia has that honor - but clearly in need of improvement.

We spent about ten minutes with Danny as he explained how bananas grow, the fruit is tended, and ultimately harvested.  The workers who care for and harvest the fruit have a pretty tough job and based on what Danny said, are not well paid for their labor.

Danny explaining how things work on the plantation

River of "No Return"

From the plantation, we headed to the Tortuguero canal cruise - a one hour small boat ride to see wildlife (Monkeys, Iguanas, Eagles, Caiman, Herons, and Egrets) in the waters or in trees along the canal.  If anything, it reminded me of childhood memories of the Jungle Boat ride at Disneyland - you leave civilization and head into the jungle in a small boat on a brown waterway no more than 75 yards wide as your guide points out animals along the way.  The canal trip was included in our $60 fee and was well worth the time invested.

Next, we spent about 15 minutes on a hilltop watching trucks and ships load and unload fruit containers - empty and full.  A truck pulls up with a full container - this is picked up and loaded onto the ship; the ship’s crane then brings out an empty container which is then put on the truck that takes it back to the container yard for reloading.  Apparently it takes about 36 port hours to unload the empties and reload the ships - Dole has two ships arrive and depart each week like clockwork - Del Monte was docked just forward of Dole.  Interestingly enough, we have seen the other end of the Dole pipeline in San Diego - having watched the full container ships arrive in San Diego and be off-loaded within that same 36 hour window.  Since Costa Rica’s growing season is year round, the pipeline is always moving product from plantation to market.

San Diego end of Dole fruit pipeline - this fruit comes from Pacific coast sources

Little did we know in June 2010 we'd be seeing the other end of this pipeline 6 years later...

San Diego Dole Terminal

Loading and Unloading operations in Limon - heading to Florida or Europe

Now for lunch - on a hilltop above town from which we could see our ship with NCL Pearl alongside.  We ordered a mushroom risotto, a half chicken cooked local style (grilled and then braised in a yummy coconut based sauce) with rice, beans, and a salad - accompanied by local beer and a pretty decent glass of red wine.  The restaurant - Red Snapper - was really good - honestly this is a “Must Visit” recommendation - not dirt cheap but very reasonable.  Three people (we treated Danny to lunch), four beers, one glass of wine and three entrees for $67 US (they take credit cards).  The food quality was excellent - risotto was the best we’ve had outside of Italy and we’ve never had chicken prepared like this anywhere else in the Caribbean.  Trip Advisor will be getting a review real soon….

After lunch we asked Danny to drop us off at a supermarket so we could shop for our traditional hot sauce purchase (every port in the Caribbean - we are addicted to the taste and variety offered in each country - guess this would be “Feeling the (real) Burn” LOL.  We were really happy we bought our hot sauce in the supermarket - it was slightly less than $1 US per bottle — at the port tourist shopping facility, it was $3-4 US per bottle for the exact same bottle - score!!!

Saying our goodbyes to Danny we promised sending our friends and clients his way when they visit Limon - he is a great ambassador for his city and country, educated and educating…  The 6 or so hours we spent with him taught us a lot and left us wanting to come back with more time to see and experience more of Costa Rica.

Panoramic view of Limon from Red Snapper Restaurant

Eating lunch at Red Snapper

This was truly good!!

Restaurant Red Snapper - great view, great food

Pulling away from the dock to the soft colors of sunset, we waved goodbye to Costa Rica and headed back into the Caribbean while getting ready for “Italian Night” in the Main Dining Room - what a treat we were in store for…

There are theme cuisine nights in the dining room every night - but why is it the food always tastes better on Italian night?  As these pictures show, the food looks great and tasted equally good.  A highlight was Penne Arabiata personally prepared by our head waiter, Eugenio.

As we spend time with our waiter Omar and his lovely assistant waiter Veronika, we are learning more of their life and work aboard the ship.  It has always been apparent that our waiters and cabin attendants work very hard on our cruises - honestly, we had no idea.  By comparison, when I used to do labor estimates for proposals on our software or lab work, we used 1960 labor hours to represent one labor year (52 weeks, two weeks of vacation, one week of sick leave, working 40 hours/day).  Waiter contracts are typically for 9.5 months of work -- no scheduled days off and up to 13 hours per day - 91 hours per week for 38 weeks - 3458 labor hours.  There is a little bit of time shifting and perhaps some swap arounds but I doubt they work less than 80 hours per week during their contract.  At the end of each contract, they get 2.5 months off - this is a nice chunk of time - but they've already worked almost two years worth of hours to get it.  I remember working like this when I was young and wearing a uniform - ambition, mission focus, and desire to get ahead give us an energy we'd be hard pressed to find in our later years.  My hats off to our staff, they're bright, attentive, and cheery each night; making our cruise so very special.

Veal - Val loved it...

Shrimp and Scallops Gratinata

And a little Tiramisu

Vangie, Omar, and Veronika in Gondolier garb

Cruise Planners - On The Road - Sailing on Ama Dara on the Mekong River Delta

One of the things we love about Ama Waterways River Cruises is the full (completely inclusive) itinerary they put on for you.  With local guides at each stop to explain history and culture, you learn so much about the places you are visiting. Meanwhile, the chefs aboard are creating local delicacies for lunch and dinner - it really is a 360 degree travel experience...  Following will be blog entries on each stop we made along the way: Kampong Chhnang, Ko Chen, Oudong, Kampong Tralach, Phnom Penh, Tan Chau, Sa Dec, Cai Be, My Tho, and Ho Chi Minh City.

First up, Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia...

Kampong Chhnang is at the southern tip of the big lake (Tonle Sap Lake). Siem Reap is at the Northwest tip of the same lake.

Ama Dara anchored mid-stream and small local boats came out to pick up the excursion groups.  Each group had their own local, English speaking guide and each guest had a small headset giving you the ability to hear your guide from 50'.

Ama Dara anchored mid-stream

Boarding our boats

Beautiful Tourists

Leaving Ama Dara to see Floating Village

We headed south and then turned east into a channel leading us to Kampong Chhnang.  Kampong Chhnang is a combination of Floating Village and small shoreside town.

Shoreside Town

Floating Village

We spent most of our time taking a close look at how a floating village is built, what it is composed of, and the lives of people who spend their lives afloat.

Taxi

So, if you live in a floating village, there has to be a floating equivalent of Uber, right? Depicted above is a mom and her son being taxied from one side of the floating village to the other.

Bamboo used to float the village homes

The homes, stores, meeting halls, and businesses making up the float village which encompassed both banks of the river are essentially homes built in place on top of long bamboo logs that form the primary floating foundation for the homes.  According to our guides, the individual bamboo logs (stalks?) are replaced every 2-3 years as they become water logged and begin to rot.  You can also see the bamboo is supplemented by more modern floatation aids in the form of blue or white plastic barrels lashed under the home floors alongside the bamboo.

One of our tour boats

Floating Main Street

Fish are a major component of their diet

Ferry from one side of the river to the other

So you might ask, who are these folks who live on the river and what's their story?  According to our guide, the majority of these folks are ethnic Vietnamese who have been there in many instances for more than one generation.  Those born in Cambodia receive citizenship papers but as is often the case, if you are different, there is a level of prejudice present even after so many years.  The reason these folks initially started living on the river is that they immigrated from Vietnam and found that living on the river was a lot cheaper than trying to buy and build a home ashore.  

After a two hour two, we headed back to Ama Dara in time for lunch - and oh what a lunch...  

"Action Station"

The finished product - Yuuummm

We started enjoying noodle soups for breakfast and lunch when we arrived in Bangkok.  We are sure that having soup for breakfast and lunch aboard Ama Dara is a key reason we both lost weight for the first time on a cruise - it wasn't as if we weren't eating a ton - because we were - and enjoying every bit of it.  But I think the soup just tended to fill us up and keep our appetite satisfied better than what we typically eat for breakfast and lunch here at home.

Leaving Kampong Chhnang

Beautiful view from our sun deck cabin

Pastoral scene along the river

After lunch, we headed south on the river, bound for Koh Chen and our afternoon tour ashore.  Koh Chen is a small village on the banks of the Mekong that is known for its silver smithing.  A number of families in town have passed their craft from generation to generation - we visited one of these families and were introduced to their craftsmanship - and how to tell Sterling silver from plated silver.

Our guide Sophia explaining how things are made

Everyone in the family has a skill

After our visit to the silver shop, we took a walk through the village to the local elementary school.  Here at the school, the teacher introduced us to the kids and our guide helped serve as an interface between the kids and cruisers. It was a really wonderful experience -- education beyond grade school is still a big deal in rural Cambodia - but these kids had a ton of enthusiasm for learning.  How do you learn about cultures when you travel?  You walk out into their villages and start to learn how they live, how they learn, and how they eat.  This was a wonderful day starting our Cambodian education.

Class welcomes us

Valerie talking with a rapt audience of young girls - they were able to keep up a pretty decent conversation in English - amazing to think about in a small village on the Mekong Delta.

Good shot of the headsets we used to listen to our guide's stories.

Cruise Planners "On the Road" - River Cruising on AMA Waterways - Paris to Amsterdam on Ama Lyra - November 4-14 2014 - Day 8 and 9 - All Inclusive - Learning about Mainz & Rudesheim

"All Inclusive" is an interesting concept - this is our first experience with an all inclusive cruise of any kind.  Generally, we don't bother with cruise line offered excursions.  We are experienced travelers and accustomed to finding our own way to the places we want to see.   In a non-all inclusive environment, adding excursions means the price of your vacation just seems to keep going up. As a result, we've never seen the value of paying someone else to go see something. So what have we learned on our first all inclusive cruise?

First, we learned so much from our local guides -- we had no idea of the back and forth of France and Germany over the past 450+ years - we'd heard about this war and that war but you don't even begin to understand the effect of this much war until you understand how long this went on.  All but two of the castles we saw on the Mosel and Rhine were completely destroyed by the armies of Louis 14th (leave no stone unturned) in the late 1600's and early 1700's.

Then there are the Netherlands whose King is connected directly back to France - Napoleonic period - a monarchy had no place in Dutch history until the early 1800's when Napoleon's brother was installed as King.  I am sure this is all middle school history to students in Europe, but to a middle aged (ha!) American, this is what you end up learning when tours led by local guides are offered each and every day of your cruise.  The places you see have infinitely more significance when they are place in historical context and you begin learning about people and places from the people from these places...

So, what were we seeing?  Mainz and Rudesheim - two cities along the Rhine (or Rhein) - both to the north and east of where the Mosel meets the Rhine in Koblenz.

In Mainz, we did a "Tastes of the Rheinhesse Region" tour.  Starting in Koblenz, and continuing into Mainz, Rudesheim, and Cologne -- in contrast to the German cities along the Mosel -- most of the cities on the Rhine  were essentially destroyed by Allied bombing during WWII.  When you consider their location - along a main line of communication (the Rhine) and most containing major rail yards, their importance to Germany's war effort and thus importance on Allied targeting lists is obvious. This meant that most of these cities along the Rhine have been rebuilt since WWII but in many cases, they have been restored to their traditional look using pictures that pre-date WWII.

Our Mainz tour was a complete blast because we were there on one of the most important party days of the year - the start of "Carnival" - the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:11 am.    We saw all kinds of people in crazy costumes running around as we walked from AmaLyra through the downtown streets to our tasting location in downtown Mainz.

Historical District in Mainz, Germany

Timber on Stone buildings (1400-1600 construction) in Mainz

11/11 at 11:11 party preparations

Museum honoring the man who invented movable type printing - In Mainz

Costumes Aplenty - but no beads...

Main Church in downtown Mainz

Getting ready for Christmas Market in downtown Mainz

Rhinelanders love a party

Tastes of the Rheinhesse Region location

 

Yes - before lunch - good Red wine in Germany

Feasting before lunch

So after wading through the Carnival crowds back to the ship, we were greeted with warm towels and mulled wine on AmaLyra - I could get used to this kind of service.  After a short lunch cruise, we reached Rudesheim - another picturesque town along the middle Rhine region - a place Valerie and I visited when we were stationed in Naples Italy.

Continuing on our wine journey along the Mosel and Rhine, we spent the afternoon tasting wine in the vineyards of a family owned winery (Adolf Störzel) in the hills above the Rhine.  On their web site, they call it a wine ramble - walking through the vineyards with your host - pictured below, providing informative and humorous commentary on wine, the region, and its history.  He was truly good and is a "must not miss" if you are in the area.  Their wines aren't bad either - we are bringing two bottles home with us

Narrating German humor in English

Telling Valerie where to find the Lady's Room

Val and June posing in fall fashion

The downtown streets of Rudesheim are quaint and inviting.

Beautiful fall grape leaves

I guess one last thing I learned during our narrated tours along the Rhine and Mosel has to do with Germany's history and its peoples.  Specifically, I always thought of Germans as by the book, hard working folks - turns out that people along the rivers Mosel and Rhine - are fun loving people more focused on fun than work - today rather than tomorrow.  You can't believe the wine rations provided back in the day (we're talking liters per day) for priests and generally well to do people.  Supposedly the wine had less alcohol in it back then, but egads, they were drinking wine instead of water - no wonder they liked to party and enjoyed their lives.  We heard the term "Prussians" on several occasions in the towns we visited - guess the Prussians and their habits are what I have always associated with Germans and Germany.  Turns out that the river folks were essentially brought into "line" by the Prussians - our guides used this word in the same tone reserved for Louis 14th and his march along the rivers.  Germany may be a republic today but her soul is much more complicated and interesting than I had imagined.  Like I said, I learned a lot having all inclusive tours that helped me learn local history from local guides.

Tomorrow - Cologne (Koln) and our last day in Germany....