People Watching

Taken by a nice German Couple

A friend once told me that the best thing about travel is the interesting people you meet. I am not quite as outgoing as he is, and although I have met some great people on my travels who I have been able to add to me growing “friends” list, I am in reality more of am observer of people than a “meeter” of people. I tend to observe rather than involve, and if not for Regis I might not meet anyone.

No Idea what this was about?

I do love to watch people however, and here is a story of someone who I observed on this cruise.

This lady did not seem nice at all. She was a stern looking lady who I judged was of Italian heritage. She had mobility issues and used a walker to get around and really did not look like she was enjoying herself. It looked like most activities caused her pain. I admired her for her tenacity in doing as much as she could, but I did not actually meet her or speak to her. She seemed to be traveling with family members and stuck pretty much to them. In addition her stern looks and the general lack of a smile did not make her a person I was interested in starting a conversation with. She did not look like she was getting much fun out of the cruise at all.

Then one night there was a concert put on in the lounge. Something about “The Music of Europe, from “The Danube to the Adriatic Sea”. Not exactly something I was keen on, but there was nothing else on, and the night was still young, so I said I would go.

Four young performers, three singers and a very talented piano player put on the concert. They sang opera, not exactly my “cup of tea”, but they did manage to make it entertaining and funny. They really did put on a good show.

1 Euro Beer and People watching

Then I noticed the lady mentioned above. She started singing along with the first song. One of the performers came over to her and she sang with them. She was completely enjoying the concert. She knew almost every song, and sang along to most of them. I actually thought she might have noticed me watching her and became a little self-conscious so stopped singing at one point. However she could not restrain herself on the next number and I could see her mouth moving to the remembered words. She seemed to be completely enjoying herself and this was the first time I saw her really smile and look happy.

I stopped her the following day and told her how much I enjoyed seeing her singing along with the songs. I said I was amazed that she knew every word. I got another smile out of her and she said “Oh yes I love those songs, I wish they would do more concerts like that.”

I think she was enjoying the cruise more than I realized.

Then there was the fellow who spent the entire concert playing solitaire on his phone . . . . . . “people watching” is so much fun!

River? . . . . . Ocean? . . . . .

River cruising is not the same as ocean cruising. There are many differences, but the main two are the number of people on the boat, and the scenery you get as you cruise.

On Board and Ready to Cruise

The River, the Ship and already a Cathedral

I love ocean cruises, but even I will admit they are getting a bit out of control in the size department. Some of the new “Super-ships” hold more than 3000 passengers. Even on some of the ships we have sailed on, we often see people seven days later that we have never seen previously. On one cruise we met a couple as we were standing in line to check in, and never saw them again. If you sign up for “Set” seating for dinner you sit with the same people all the time, and therefore get to know them well by the end of the cruise, but many of the cruise companies are opting for “Open-seating” or “Freestyle-dining”, where you sit with different people each meal. Sometimes you meet interesting people and then never run into them again. On the River Cruises this is not the case. There were only 183 passengers on the boat, so in 14 days you get to know lots of people. It only takes a few days until you recognize everyone, and it is easy to really get to know many people. Unless you are very anti-social and sit in the corner every meal, over time, you usually sit with someone you have sat with before. We have met many wonderful people on this cruise from all over the world. There is no one else from Nova Scotia, but lots of Canadians. The majority are from the US, but there are Australians, and quite a few from Great Britain as well. All good sources of travel information for future trips, and my personal travel advisor is making good use of these resources. A number of couples we have sat with at dinner or taken tours with and we have gotten to know them well. I met someone who takes pictures of interesting things to sketch later as I do, and I even met another person who collects pictures of doors . . . . and like me, he really does not know what he is going to do with them . . . I love people watching, and often as I observe people I wonder what their story is, but on this boat I have actually gotten to know many of those stories.

Another Bloody Castle!

It is the same with the crew. You really get to now them, and they get to know you. Even though we switched boats mid cruise, the crew is small enough that you actually get to know many of them. I know their names and they know mine.

The other major difference is the scenery. On both types of cruises, you sail between ports where you stop and tour interesting locations. The difference is that while cruising on the ocean your scenery is waves, waves, and perhaps another boat or an island in the distance. We all saw what happened when the captain of the Costa Ship tried to make the scenery better . . . Now I love sitting out on my Ocean Cruise balcony relaxing as the ocean glides by, but the scenery is really far more interesting on a river cruise. This ship has taken us through some of the most scenic areas of Europe and we have seen so many castles, churches and quaint villages that to be honest, it is getting a bit boring. We just got back from a tour of Vienna and I almost did not bother going into St Stephen’s Cathedral, since it really just looked like all the others, a big church, twin steeples, vaulted ceilings, and big pipe organs . . . nothing new . .

A beautiful Cathedral?

I think that the general consensus of people on this ship is that river cruising is far superior to ocean cruising, but I am not so sure. In fact I think each has its place. Twelve days into the cruise, and to be honest, I am ready for a couple of “Relax Days” in Budapest, but I do not dare skip any activities because I may miss something wonderful. On ocean cruises, I relax. I have seen most of the islands, so some I do not even get off the boat; time to sit in the warm Caribbean breeze with a cold beer and a book.

German Beer

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The Germans brew good beer, but the brands we are used to in Canada are brands such as Becks or Heineken (Although Heineken is Dutch not German). This is a nice quality style brew, but not really exciting. I have discovered that if you dig a little below the surface, there are some quite interesting German beers. Since I have written about the beers I discover as I travel, I thought I’d let you know about some of the excellent beers I have discovered so far.

Bamberg Smoky Beer Pub

In Cologne, one of the optional tours was a “Pub Crawl” to sample some of Cologne’s unique Kolsch style beer. This is a top fermented brew only produced in the city of Cologne. It is served in pubs all through the city, but a pub is only allowed to serve one brand of Kolsch. It is always served in small thin glasses unique to the beer. People often are deceived by the small glasses and think they can drink more than they should.

The pub crawl was interesting. You normally associate “pub crawling” with a younger crowd, but our gathering was a group of slightly older beer drinkers and we attracted a few stares as our group of 10 noisy seniors entered their pubs.

The beer itself was very good, and although we all agreed that each brand was unique, and tasted slightly different, everyone enjoyed them. I had a bit of a problem however, because since Regis is not really a beer drinker, I had to help her, so I ended up having double the beer. Oh well, everyone has their crosses to bare.  . . .

Another nice German Beer

In Bamburg, we discovered yet another quite interesting German beer. In this city they brew a unique beer with a smoky taste. This beer is made with a barley that is smoked, and we were warned that it is not to everyone’s tastes, and we might think it tasted a bit like bacon. When we arrived at the pub where the beer was brewed, it was immediately obvious that it was very popular with the locals, not only was the pub itself packed but the street out front was also packed with people enjoying pints of the brew. I wondered how they maintained their inventory of beer glasses with them all wandering the streets, but discovered that if you want to take the beer outside you pick it up at a window where you pay a deposit on the glass.

I would hardly call it a bacon flavored beer, but certainly the first mouthful had a smoky taste. After that it was just a very nice beer. I’m looking forward to sampling some more beer along the way.

Love Locks

Yea I know, it’s a really terrible play on words, but I couldn’t resist.

Beautiful View out our window

We have seen the locks of the Panama Canal twice, gone in from the Caribbean side once, and done a complete transit from the Pacific side. On those voyages the locks are the big attraction, and they are up front and center in the brochures and advertisements for these cruises. I developed an interest and respect for locks on the English Narrow Boat trip where I actually had to work the locks to get the boat through, and the town I call home used to have a lock system on its canals. I do not however recall Viking even mentioning the locks on this trip.

A Tight Fit

There are in fact over 60 locks the boat has to traverse during the 14 day journey. There are locks that slow the boat down through every section of our journey, but most are in the middle section and there are only a few during the last section on the Danube. The trip is however very well planned and many of the locks are scheduled during the night. The boat is amazingly smooth, so when I felt it hit something I investigated and looked out the window.  What I saw was a concrete wall inches from our cabin window. I could reach out and touch it (Although covered in green and brown river slime, this was not a real interesting option). A rare occurrence, the captain had nudged the side of one of the locks he has to go through. We went through ten locks that night, and they continued every 10 to 20 miles from then on. Expressing an interest in the locks, I was given a map showing the location of all of the  locks. Around Nuremberg they are spaced only a few miles apart. I wondered why at times we were dropped in one town and then picked up at another only 20 klm away. The reason is that it can take hours to get through the locks, so the captain goes through the locks while we tour interesting towns on foot or by bus. At one point we were gone all day, and the boat was still late picking us up 30 Klm away because of traffic through the locks.

For those unfamiliar with this use of the word lock, it is a section of a canal or a special enclosed section of a river where doors can be closed in front of and behind the ship and water can be pumped into or allowed to flow into the lock to float the boat to a higher level. In reverse, the ship enters the full lock on the high side, the water is allowed to drain out, thus lowering the boat to a lower level.

Bonus . . . A Castle and a Lock . . .

On a Panama Canal cruise the famous locks are the reason for the cruise so a lot is made of them; on this trip the locks are a necessary nuisance slowing us down, so they are basically ignored. Me I have an appreciation of the locks and how they work, and love watching the power of the water transfer the huge ship meters up or down to continue at a new level. I was surprised at how many people knew nothing about them, and the teacher in me momentarily came out of retirement and I happily gave lock lessons when questions were asked.

Not Another Bloody Castle!

Regis loves castles. She loves looking at them from afar, loves touring them, and just really enjoys visiting places that have castles. The river cruise through Europe was perfect, one day is spent cruising the Middle Rhine, and the brochures claim that “There is a castle around every corner!” is not really that far from the truth.

Castle Overlooking the Town

The day started with a tour of Marksburg Castle. This spectacular castle sits right on top of a hill overlooking the Rhine. This castle is unique, because it was never destroyed and so although sections are “restored”, it remains basically as it was in the 13^th century. The castles on the Rhine were mostly built to allow someone to control a section of the river and collect “tolls” from ships using the essential waterway, so they are built on the rocky hillsides looking down on the river. As a result, the castles are built to fit the hillside and come in many shapes and configurations, rather than your “regular” square castle with four ramparts and a central building protecting the lords and ladies. Marksburg castle wanders up and down over the hilltop with the actual rock it is built on serving as the floor in sections (Not real comfortable . . . ). It was a wonderful tour visiting the chapel, kitchen, armory, living areas, and the torture chamber.

Castle Ruin

Once leaving Marksburg, there literally seemed to be a castle around every corner. This of course makes sense. The castle sitting on the hillside could only control the section of river they could see, so as soon as one castle as out of sight another greedy robber baron could build another castle and start collecting tolls. It must have been a nuisance for the boats using the river, and indeed in time, as the central government became strong enough the practice was stopped.

Wake me at the next Castle

Unfortunately most of the rest of the castles were torn down at least once if not multiple times. The King, to prevent the collection of tolls, destroyed some. Apparently the French came in during the 1600’s and destroyed most of the castles to establish their control of the region. Some have remained as ruins, but many have been rebuilt. Our guide on the boat giving a running commentary as we cruised past these castles used the expression “Restored in the  . . . style”; in other words they were sometimes not restored, but rebuilt to suit the new owner. Some are private homes, some museums, one is a hotel, and a number are youth hostels (you sleep in bunk beds but have the BEST view). This entire section of the river has World Heritage Site designation, so most of the castles are now somewhat protected, but it really is a spectacular section of the river.

We spent the afternoon, sitting up on deck chairs on the sundeck, waiting for the boat to round the next corner and the next spectacular castle to appear. We got to the point that even Regis was saying “Oh no, not another bloody castle!”

Love Locks

Cruising on a river is different in many ways from ocean cruising. One of the biggest advantages is that since rivers are such important transportation routes, they usually run through the central core of the cities. Cruising on the river means you dock right downtown, and avoid that ocean cruise essential, the taxi ride to get downtown. This was true in Cologne Germany, where we docked under one of the central bridges over the river and stepping off the boat we could walk to all the local attractions.

Love Locks in Cologne Germany

The next bridge down from the one we were under had an interesting story involved with it. A number of years ago, someone began a story that if lovers took a padlock up onto the bridge and securely locked it to the bridge and threw the key into the Rhine River, their love would last as long as the lock remained on the bridge. This has become a popular thing to do ever since, and even from afar, the bridge sparkles with the multi-coloured padlocks covering the walkway across the bridge.

After our guided walking tour of Cologne, we decided to walk across one bridge, along the other side of the river, and back across the Hohenzollernbruke where these ‘love locks’ were. It really is an amazing sight. There are thousands of padlocks adorning the fence separating the pedestrian/bike pedway/walkway from the train bridge. Although it started as simply attaching a padlock, it has now become a serious phenomena, with everyone competing to lock the best padlock to the bridge as if somehow the quality of the padlock improved your chances of a lasting relationship. Most are engraved with the lover’s names and there are many similar shiny coloured locks (I suspect some enterprising business will provide you with these custom engraved locks), but many are interesting antique locks, and some are huge, some tiny, some heart shaped some adorned with decorations. The fence is completely covered, and there is really room for no more locks, so now locks are attached to other locks, and they have started using chains to attach them higher up on the bridge supports, and these chains in turn are now becoming covered.

No Room Left

I know that something similar was started up in Ottawa Canada, but the Public Works there cuts the locks off, so I’m not sure what the message is there. Here in Cologne, it looks to me that all the locks have been left on the bridge.

Our guide claimed that some couples started using combination locks, so that if their love did not last they were able to go remove the now inappropriate lock. I’m not sure if he was joking or not . . . . .