Dreaming of a White Christmas

Dreaming of a White Christmas - Day 14

December 14, 2023

Dordrecht

I have finally succumbed and become the 4^th member of our little group of 7 to become unwell, so I confined myself to barracks this morning, Wallsy plying backwards and forwards down the corridor to bring me coffee and croissants on demand. He also organised my own special meal for lunch as the Asian-themed cuisine on offer was not at all suitable. I had taken to my bed again, when he arrived with a specially prepared meal of chicken and rice … the only thing that could entice me out from under the covers.

We pulled up in a town called Dordrecht after lunch, so I showered, masked up and ventured out to join a two-hour walking tour of the city, which promised to be in both German and English. The guide, who seemed to be proficient in many languages, managed to translate some of her spiel into English for us, although she often forget, or became distracted by questions from the German contingent – Wallsy and I being the only English speakers on the walk. Nevertheless, it was a pretty city, the first in the Netherlands to receive city status, and the dates on the buildings (many being built in the 1500s) would indicate it also has had a long and interesting history. There were certainly some unique buildings and beautiful boat harbours surrounded by houses and crossed by unique opening bridges to allow for the passage of boats.

Towards the end of our tour, as we were traversing the longest shopping strip in the Netherlands, we accidentally picked up a stray guide who seemed to have lost his tour group to beers and pancakes. They had been from one of the two resplendent Viking cruise ships moored beside our humble arosa Silva, and as he was returning to the ship on his own, he came along with us. Discovering there were a couple of English speakers on the tour, he took us under his wing and regaled us with much information and many interesting stories, for the last half hour of our walking tour.

Although the theme of this trip was to be Christmas Markets, finding ourselves in the Netherlands has meant that the focus has changed, as they are not the thing here that they are in Germany. I read however, that Dordrecht had the biggest Christmas Market in the Netherlands pre COVID, but it did not survive the pandemic. Unfortunate, but at least we have already had both the snow and the Christmas Market experience on arosa Bella, as well as in Prague, Nuremburg and Cologne. I don’t feel we have missed out at all, but some who only had this one cruise on the Rhine, may be disappointed.

We are yet to leave our mooring, so I am going to put my head on the pillow and hope for healing sleep, before we move off. The trip last night was quite rough and the water lapping part way up our cabin windows was slightly disconcerting, to say the least.

Tomorrow is another day in the Netherlands and there is plenty of new territory to discover, I just hope I am up to the task.

No Castles on the Northern Rhine ...