GERMANY IS FULL OF SURPRISES
Part Owner of Texas GERMANY IS FULL OF SURPRISES
Everywhere we went in Germany people apologized for what the Nazis did. It started with the cruise director on the ship as we cruised along the Rhine last March. He praised the American forces for the victory in World War Two. It continued with every tour guide we encountered. They emphasized the fact that the holocaust was being taught in schools to help prevent it from happening again.
The war left a strong imprint on Germany. So many towns we visited had been nearly 90 percent destroyed during the conflict. Germans talk about the war like it was more recent than 80 years ago.
It’s difficult to think of Germany as a modern country. People in tourism there still push castles and cathedrals as the main things to see.
Our weeklong cruise started in Amsterdam. Soon after we got settled on the ship we were offered a walking tour of the city. My heart picked up a beat as we walked around because I love the city so much. It was my 5th visit there. We walked along the canals, down narrow dark streets, watching out for bicycles, the main type of transportation in the city. It’s flat so bicycle riders seldom have to stand up and pedal. They glide along as a group and it’s like a flowing river to watch the coordination the riders have. I saw a woman riding a bicycle with her 2 children in a carriage in front of her. People haul giant packages on bicycles. It’s just the way they do things in Holland.
We toured a windmill where a miller lived with his family and saw a statue of the story, THE CAT AND THE CRADLE. We heard about dikes and life in an area that’s below sea level. In Cologne we saw the third largest cathedral in the world and the place where the famous German perfume, 4711 is manufactured. We visited Koblenz, Rudesheim, Speyer, Strasbourg, France, Breisach and disembarked in Basel, Switzerland.
One of the most relaxing afternoons I have ever spent was when we cruised the middle Rhine where there’s a castle about every 5 minutes. The weather was perfect and we went to different decks to get the best views. On the upper deck we played shuffleboard for about 3 minutes.
In Speyer we were fortunate to be there during one of the city’s largest festivals. It’s called Burning the Snowman to signal the end of winter. Thousands of people wee in a park and a parade featuring a giant snowman made of wood, paper and cloth went through the town. When it got to the park, firemen put the flames to it. On our way to the Black Forest we passed beautiful scenery including dark trees, homes in pastoral settings and water cascading down mountains. It was a fun trip. We met some fabulous people.