A little bit about the boat. We are on an Avalon river cruise, which began in Amsterdam, detoured through Volendam and Edam and is now proceeding down the Rhine toward Trier where we will board a bullet train for Paris. After three days in Amsterdam we made our way to the meeting place for the cruise ship, checked in, waited for what seemed like an endless time (although luckily we inquired of a local and found a really cool place for lunch), and finally boarded the ship, found our way to our staterooms where the luggage was magically in place, and had about an hour to get organized. The kids have the room next to us and assured us they would be fine and I resisted the temptation to organize their lives for the week. Now a couple of days later, we are all managing fine and the rooms are amazingly navigable with mostly a place for everything and space to function. The food has been surprisingly good, and Maile has her own private Gluten Free Consultant who seeks her out at every meal and tells her which dishes might be secretly harboring some gluten. We were in the lounge yesterday during teatime and when there was nothing to eat but sandwiches, croissants and cakes, I asked the waiter if he could provide something gluten free for Maile and he delivered a lovely cheese and veggie sandwich that he said the chef himself had prepared. All the staff has been very kind, and as you can imagine, the kids are a hit, being the youngest aboard by many decades. There is one cute young Indonesian waitress in the restaurant who can hardly keep her hands off of Holland, she thinks he is so cute. And a Filipino waiter always greets him and calls him "My Man" as in, "How is your day going, my man?"
The river is quite crowded with river cruising becoming so popular of late. There are lines we have never heard of, as well as Viking, AMA or own Avalon and of course numerous freight ships and day sightseeing boats. The director told us that even though the Rhein looks very calm and benign, it is actually a dangerous river and quite a few certifications are required before a captain is allowed to navigate it. The river is dotted with islands, some visible and some just below the surface, and so the captain has a very important job avoiding a collision.
We have visited some beautiful and interesting ports. Cologne has its magnificent cathedral which took about 800 years to complete and was miraculously spared from allied bombing during the war. Our guide told us that it is widely believed that it was spared on purpose, but that is probably not true since bomb targets were not nearly so precise then as they are now. An act of God maybe?
Yesterday we went to a lovely little town called Rudesheim and visited a mechanical musical instrument museum. The gent explained how the music was transferred to scrolls which contain thousands of tiny holes that emulate the different instruments. Musical cuckoo clocks, elaborate carved furniture which opened up to contain moving figures and every manner of music box, some hundreds of years old and all in working order were demonstrated for us. Afterwards we were treated to coffee in a typical German Brauhaus with waitresses in costume and a small oompah band. Corny, but lots of fun. Then we walked around the charming town and poked our heads into the shops where every variety of souvenir, music box, or Hummel figure could be found. Unhappily, there are no bargains to be had like in the old days.
