Reflections on Our First Rhine River Cruise

In Strasbourg, France

The jet lag seems to have been conquered by now and I want to share some of our trip with you all. As you probably all know, my husband and I took a vacation to Europe via a Rhine River cruise. This was the first time either of us had been on a cruise, let alone in a different country. The time leading up to the trip was filled with excitement and a little fear. We had flown over the ocean before on our flight to Hawaii but this 8-9 hour flight over the Atlantic was longer and confusing with the time change. As we were sitting at the airport gate waiting to board, a feeling of calm came over me and I realized I wasn't nervous about flying. It's hard to explain but I just let go of it somehow and the anxiety about flying turned into excitement. FYI-the flying excitement ended at the Amsterdam airport after 7 hours of no sleep and realizing we had what seemed like miles to walk to our connecting flight and still had to go through passport control. We were a little crabby.

Someone had asked me before the trip what I was most looking forward to and my reply was "not having to decide what to cook for 10 days!" This was said tongue-in-cheek but it was more than just cooking meals. What I was looking forward to was all the day-to-day responsibilities being given to someone else so we could just enjoy life. We used the Viking cruise company and to say they took care of us is an understatement. They take care of your luggage, transportation, meals, activity, housecleaning...anything you need. From the arrival airport to the departing airport, you really don't need to think too much about anything except having fun.

We started the trip in Basel, Switzerland and cruised north stopping at several ports along the way: Breisbach, Cologne, Heidelburg, Weisbaden (Germany), Strasbourg (France), and Nijmegen, Amsterdam (Netherlands). We had excursions at each stop which were led by fantastic guides and we saw beautiful buildings, mountains, hillside wineries and castles as we walked along cobblestone streets. Afterward we could go back to the ship or stay in town and explore on our own.

I was a bit nervous about the being "on our own" part because one of us is more anxious about not knowing where we are than the other. One of us is more able to "go with the flow" and keep walking even if we don't know exactly where the road leads. (I'll let you guess who is who.) Adding the foreign country aspect to this clash made it a bit more challenging but we did OK. In fact, I am proud of us for navigating strange cities and people as well as we did. I'm not saying we didn't have some interesting conversations but we did talk it out much better than we usually do. Yay us!

All in all, this was a great trip to reconnect without distractions and our usual routines getting in our way. Spending fun time with each other is a great way to actually talk about what's important to you both and maybe find some new ideas to share. Clearing the clutter of everyday responsibilities leaves much more room for meaningful conversations. It also made me realize that I do not need to travel to Europe to have those conversations. Just sayin'.

So what is Europe like? In one word, it's beautiful. The architecture of buildings is amazing, we saw two huge cathedrals that had us asking "how did they build those?" We sat inside the Cologne Cathedral and I felt the most spiritual energy I've ever experienced. It literally brought me to tears just by sitting there. I can't describe it better than that.

If you plan to travel to Europe and are worried that you need to speak a foreign language, don't be. Most Europeans have learned English, especially the people who work in the shops, so there really isn't a language barrier. In fact, I was a little disappointed that I didn't use my German as much as I planned to but I did use it a bit.

You'll have to trust me that there were raspberry croissants in the bag.

We both drink coffee and European coffee is not the same as ours in America. It just isn't. I would describe the coffees I had as having a richer taste, not stronger. Dave would probably disagree as he ordered the espresso version and he said his was stronger. It also is not as acidic as ours here because I noticed my stomach tolerated it better. One thing I wanted to do was sit outside at a cafe and drink coffee and eat pastry and that was accomplished.

All of our meals were included on the ship and each night the chef would offer the regional selections from whatever port we were in at the time. It was fun to try different foods and I'm sure we gained a pound or two. Each meal included a starter, main course and dessert. They were presented in such beautiful ways too, a dish of ice cream was not just a scoop in a bowl, you had a garnish of fruit and cookie with it too.

We ended the trip in Amsterdam and took an excursion along the canals in the morning. That afternoon we had tickets to the Anne Frank House and Museum so we walked back into town (another Yay Us! moment) and spent time there. I will write about that experience in a future blog because it deserves it's own space.

I have so much more to write and so many more photos but I will save both for another day.

Until next time-take care of your beautiful self!

~Kim~