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 . . . . .

Bicycles

The Dutch love their bicycles. I’m sure the country has many more bicycles than cars; it sure looks that way visiting Amsterdam. During a walking tour I got to experience the Dutch bicycle culture from a pedestrian perspective, and it ain’t a pretty picture.

When we managed to make it to Amsterdam in time to catch the boat, it also gave us time to take the walking tour of Amsterdam. The ship puts on a walking tour as part of the package in every place we stop. These tours utilize local guides, and so far they have been very good. They all speak English and use an in-ear audio system that allows you to hear them clearly from quite a distance. I’ve used these systems previously, and they are not always that good, but Viking’s system works great.

Bicycle Parking

As soon as we got off the ship we were warned about the Dutch bicyclists. Our guide cautioned us, “Do not cross when bicycles are coming, even though it is a crosswalk and they are required by law to stop they will not.” Following his lead we waited for a break in the bicycle traffic, and rushed across the bike lane.

Walking through the downtown of Amsterdam bicycles are everywhere. Most streets have long bike racks and these are crammed with bicycles, sometimes with additional bikes on top of others. The official bike racks do not come close to accommodating all of Amsterdam’s bicycles and every fence, railing, post or anything solid is covered with bicycles, chained there with massive bike locks. Walking down one street bordering a popular museum, I asked for a translation of a sign posted to every window, and discovered that is was a dire warning against locking your bike to the window bars. I then noticed no bikes on this street.

An interesting note about Amsterdam’s bikes is that they are all old and shabby looking; you see no fancy 18 speed bikes or slick road racers, these are all very solid utilitarian bikes. Our guide explained that everyone owns more than one bike, and indeed everyone has a fancy bike that is used for rides where you return home immediately, but the bikes parked downtown were used to drive to work and you never left your good bike here or it would be stolen, so everyone had a “beater” that was carefully aged, rusted and battered to be used everyday.

Personalizing your Ride

We were told to notice the stickers on some of the bikes. They were put there by the city and noted how long the bike was there. Anything left for too long was cut free and trucked about 15 klm out of town to a bike compound where you had to go ransom you imprisoned bicycle to get it back; an effective deterrent to long term storage on public property, but certainly necessary judging by the massive bike jams downtown.

I noted that the Dutch have adapted to cell phone use on bikes very well. I saw  many one handed bike-texters. Apparently there is a law against “Texting while driving” in Amsterdam that applies equally to bikes, but it is universally ignored, (Sounds familiar)

Walking back to the ship, we were again warned about crossing the bike lane carefully, and our guide deliberately challenged one biker by stepping into the marked crosswalk, but the rider refused to slow down and swerved around him uttering something in Dutch that our guide declined to translate . . .

Iceland?

We are off on another of our adventures, this one to Europe for a 14 day river cruise with Viking Cruises followed by 14 days in an apartment overlooking the Danube River in Budapest. This adventure did not get off to a good start however . . .

Iceland

 

We were informed at check-in at the airport that our first flight from Halifax to Toronto was “Delayed” in St. Johns with mechanical problems. We did not have a lot of time in Toronto between flights, so this was an immediate worry made worse when we were given the “good news” that the plane had left St. Johns NFLD. This was not good news for us since our plane from Toronto was not waiting around for us. The airline kindly offered us a hotel in Toronto and rearranged our flights to Amsterdam . . . . a flight to Dallas Texas in the morning and way later in the day, a flight to Amsterdam that would get us there by Monday, when the boat would be well on it’s way to Germany.

On the Boat

We could join the cruise, but not until Tuesday in Cologne, so we debated giving up and fighting with the Travel Insurance company and the cruise company for compensation, but finally elected to go to Toronto and hope for the best.

Fortunately I found a friendly and resourceful Westjet employee, who had some imagination and instead of saying “no” said “Let’s try something else.”, and after computer searches, phone calls and queries from me, suggested “This is a bit of a complicated route but it will get you there.” He found a flight to Iceland leaving in an hour with another flight an hour after getting to Iceland that would get us to Amsterdam by noon on Sunday in plenty of time to catch the boat.

River Boats

So almost exactly 24 hours after leaving home we had added another country to our list and we were tired but comfortably settling into our cozy cabin on the Viking Baldur. And we still had time to explore Amsterdam on a walking tour.

Engines, Exhaust Pipes, and Oily drip Pans

Ok, so girls, you may not want to read this blog post. I’m afraid it is about my visit to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton Ontario, and I admit it, I love the engines, exhausts and oily drip pans. This one may not interest you.

On the way back from Niagara-on-the-lake I decided to stop at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum with my daughter’s significant other, Mark, who was really interested in visiting this attraction. It is a really nice museum featuring Canada’s aviation history with an emphasis on warplanes from the Second World War. What is interesting about this museum is that it is a working restoration and maintenance facility. As you walk around, you see the planes as they are being worked upon.

This is not a government museum, it is a charitable foundation started by two friends with a love of old planes. They started with a Fairey Firefly, that needed restoration, and now have over 40 planes in a hanger at Hamilton Airport. Their most significant airplane is a Lancaster bomber from world war two that is one of only two currently flying. Their mandate is to maintain a collection of aircraft from the second world war to the present, but a visit to their facility clearly shows that a strong emphasis has been placed on actually maintaining and flying these planes. Rather than sitting safely in a museum, the planes of the Canadian Warplanes Heritage Museum are used, the engines run, and they are flown on a regular basis.

As I walked around the museum, it was fascinating to see these planes being restored and maintained. One side of the museum is a working restoration facility, and you can see the planes in various stages of completion, and you can read about the trials and tribulations of the process. As I walked around, the huge Lancaster bomber was sitting in the middle of the hanger surrounded by people actively working on it. I watched as new tires and brakes were installed and the four massive Rolls Royce/Packard engines were exposed and being worked upon.

A closer look at the group of people working on the planes shows a mixed group of mostly older grey-haired airplane technicians, because although the foundation does have paid employees, 100% of the work done on these amazing planes is performed by volunteers doing it out of a love of Canada’s avation history. As I toured the facility I asked one gentleman who was cleaning a B25 Mitchell Bomber if the engines worked. He explained that any plane that had an oily drip tray under the engine could be started and flown. As I continued my tour I discovered that most of the planes had a dented oil stained metal tray under the engines. I was told that the Lancaster Bomber was being maintained for a transatlantic fright to England for a tour.

 

Interested in taking a flight? One way the foundation raises money to maintain the planes is to take people up for flights. The price varies depending on the plane, but I was told that someone had given over $200,000.00 to be on the Lancaster’s upcoming flight to England.

Wine Tasting

Waiting to ripen

The area around Niagara-on-the-Lake is rapidly being taken over by vineyards. Where they used to grow peaches and other fruit, the wine industry is encouraging the planting of grapes. The last peach canning plant closed years ago, and many farmers have cut down the peach trees and planted grapes. Everywhere you look there are neat rows of tidy grape vines, and all these grapes are being processed into wine by the many wineries in the area. Spending three days in the area tasting wine, we found at least two new wineries that had only opened in the past few years. The production of wine and the popular tourist wine tasting tours is becoming a major industry in the area.

Sit with a glass

Visiting some of the wineries in the area and tasting the wine has been very entertaining, and I have learned a lot about wine and wine tasting. One thing I have learned is that the person guiding the tasting makes a huge difference. On Saturday the wineries were very busy, and although we did taste many glasses of wine and bought some good bottles, it wasn’t until Sunday when we actually found some good hosts and did some real wine tasting.

The difference is subtle but important. All the wineries have someone behind a bar who will pour wine into a glass and let you taste it; the good ones have a person who pours you wine, talks to you about it, decides what you like and dislike and guides your tasting based on what he and you learn. Some have a list of wines you can taste and start at the top and work their way through allowing you to decide what you like, and hopefully want to buy. The good guides (I actually have no idea what these folk are called), start by asking you what your preferences are in wine. Then instead of just working through the list, they tailor the wine you taste to your preferences. They also ask you about the wine and based on what you liked or disliked suggest different options. I found that servers who expressed their own preferences and opinions ended up being very helpful. “Oh, I really like that one too, and I really like this other bottle, would you like to try that?”

Hmmmmmm. . . .

I enjoyed the knowledgeable servers who instead of just pouring a little wine in your glass, and stand back waiting for you reaction, add comments such as telling you what grapes are in the wine, and even food pairings for the wine. The very best servers had stories about the wine and how it was developed or how the wine maker developed the wine.

On Saturday I had wine poured for me, but on Sunday I had at least three servers who actively engaged me in the tasting and from these people I learned something about the wine and about how to taste wine. I discovered that I actually have pretty subtle and distinctive taste for certain wine, and those servers who worked with that were able to sell me some very nice wine.

Back To Portsmouth

Last year, during a trip to New England we stopped in Portsmouth over night. I searched Google Maps for places to eat, and discovered that Portsmouth has an amazing number of really good restaurants. However, they must also have a lot of hungry restaurant patrons, because every place I choose had waits of over an hour. One place I was interested in told me it would be at least two hours. We ended up having a decent meal in a chain restaurant in a huge mall out near the Interstate – BORING!

The Hotel Portsmouth

This year while going through New England on our way to Niagara On The Lake for another Wine Tour with the Children (We believe in demonstrating a positive parental attitude towards alcohol . . . . .), we decided to return to Portsmouth and give it another try. We booked a room at The Hotel Portsmouth, right downtown within walking distance of all the best eating establishments - really beautiful old hotel with reasonable rates, comfortable rooms and a wonderfully helpful desk clerk.

Wall Art In Portsmouth

We left early and walked downtown to Jumping Jay’s Fish Café, and had no problem getting a nice table at the window. This place had amazing reviews and it lived up to all of them. I literally have never seen such fast and efficient service. Someone here knows how to work a kitchen. We had our drinks and our shared appetizer arrived, thoughtfully served on two plates. We finished our appetizer and had barely time to chat when our mains arrived. Both dinners were cooked to perfection and delicious.

Good Seafood!

Now although we were pretty busy enjoying our meals, I did have time to spend some time “People Watching”. Sitting beside us was the oddest group. Two couples were enjoying a meal, but it was interesting to listen and observe them. They obviously were “old friends” who had gone their separate ways but got together on a fairly regular basis. Although “friends”, these two couples could not have been more different. One couple was fashionably thin, trim and stylish, the other were overweight, over dressed and out of their league. One couple ordered a bottle of chardonnay, asking the server for a recommendation; the other ordered a beer and an over ordered cocktail  - something with Southern Comfort and extra cherries . . . . . Huh?. In fact everything she ordered was a “special” order  -  “Could you blacken the fish and give me different vegetables?”. I had the meal she “changed” and in my opinion she ruined a delicious dish; man those roasted beets with balsamic reduction were “to die for”. . . . . .

Fun in Portsmouth

I am very glad I went back to Portsmouth . . . . .