Dreaming of a White Christmas - Day 13
Cruise #2
Well, where to begin ... The good news is we are on our second cruise …
the bad news is we are travelling in the wrong direction … but let’s begin at
the beginning…
We all had a leisurely morning in Cologne. Check out from the Hotel Excelsior
was not until 1300, so we left our bags and set off after breakfast, to visit
the last few sights that we wanted to fit in before our departure. The
Cathedral was high on most people’s lists, but having visited it yesterday, Wallsy
and I walked back along the river to the Chocolate Museum and swing bridge.
Although we didn’t actually want to visit the museum, we enjoyed exploring
the precinct and some different markets
with more local produce, with some Christmas themed stalls, but also others,
like the woollen products stall, where I purchased some lovely fur-lined gloves
for myself, having found my polar fleece gloves lacking when we were in the thick
of the snow. While I am confident we have left the snow behind for the rest of
this trip, there’s always next time!
After a light lunch in a French café (makes a change from Italian), we rendezvoused
back at the hotel at the agreed time of 2:15,
as we were expected at the Railway Station at 2:30 for our transfer to a-rosa
Silva – our home for the next 5 nights on the glorious Rhine River. Here,
however, things didn’t quite go according to plan. We were broken into two
groups outside the Cologne station – one who would be travelling to a-rosa
Silva and the other to a-rosa Sena. Eventually, after much waiting, those of us
travelling on Silva were checked off on a list and sent in the direction of the
white GLOBUS bus around the corner.
As we stood waiting at said bus, another staff member came and told us
no, we had to go back to the green FLIX bus that had pulled up in the next block.
We dutifully dragged our luggage to that bus only to be told that there was
room for our cases, but not for the remaining small group of people, so we left
our precious bags with some trepidation, and walked back to our original
meeting point outside the station. It was now about an hour since we had assembled
here, and while the passing locals were at times quite entertaining, it must be
said we were beginning to tire of waiting.
Finally we were told our bus was back and ready for us, so we set off to
the dock on the other side of the river, where our ship awaited us. The
excursions manager who had met us provided us with briefings in English and
seemed happy to accommodate the Australians in their matching Christmas
jumpers. We were finally boarded, and settled into our cabins and everything
was finally looking up … that was until the news filtered through that the
captain needed to brief everyone about some changes to our itinerary!
It became apparent that areas of the southern Rhine region where we were
meant to be travelling are experiencing very high-water levels and it is not
safe for us to travel there. So, no Rudesheim, Germersheim, Strasbourg, Mainz
or Koblenz. None of those classic scenes with majestic castles overlooking the
river as we gently float by, wine in hand. Instead, we are to travel the
alternative route on the northern Rhine, a more industrial route, taking in
Dordrecht in the Netherlands, then Amsterdam, Nijmegen and Dusseldorf before
returning to Cologne.
Once again the weather has intervened and flexed its muscles, and impacted
on our holiday.
On a positive note, the people seem to be a friendlier bunch than they
were on a-rosa Bella; all briefings are given in both German and English, and
not as an afterthought; and there was food at dinner that I could eat. I didn’t
trouble the chef with enquiries about suitable dishes, as directed prior to
boarding, as the poor staff had quite enough going on, trying to pivot, alter
the itinerary for the next few days, and deal with unhappy passengers, some of
whom apparently opted to disembark. I’ll have a chat to him tomorrow when everything
has settled down.
Onwards and upwards - tomorrow is another day.
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