Rita Speaks

Rita on the Upper Observation Deck of the Seabourn Quest as we leave Sweden heading to Estonia 


Another fantastic trip has come to an end. A trip combined and filled with great family memories and new adventures. While away I haven't had much opportunity to write about my thoughts, experiences and feelings. We left Vancouver in early May and started off our trip with a pleasant surprise at the Airport.  Our names were called at the gate and we were given new boarding passes for Condor Comfort Class since economy class was oversold. The seats were very comfortable, the food excellent and it came with champagne, great start to our trip. The first nine days we spent with my parents in Kassel. We had come up with a few chores around the house and garden that we wanted to help my parents with. We cleared out the attic, painted the fence and the gazebo in the garden. Unfortunately due to cool and rainy weather, we couldn’t do any gardening but I was able to help my Mom planting some flower pots, which I love to do. In the evenings we played cards or when I got myself immersed in my favorite German TV shows, Geoff would very patiently work on finishing the Photobook of our previous trip to Africa – we feel very lucky that we are able to travel and explore so many different places. Our timing was great, I was able to share Mother’s Day with my Mom this year – a rare occasion, we had lunch at their favorite local restaurant. When it was time to move on, it wasn’t a Good-by for long, we would meet up again before we flew back to Vancouver. Now we got excited to fly to London to participate in Geoff’s cousins son’s wedding, which we were very much looking forward to. The weather changed to being warm and sunny for the wedding at a beautiful venue, just perfect. After the wedding, we visited Geoff’s former Landlady who now lives in Wales and spent a day in London spending most our time at  the Tower of London. Funnily while Geoff lived in London, he had never been inside, strange for my “history buff”. After doing laundry on our last day, we got ready and packed up for our very exiting trip to Stockholm and the much awaited Cruise. Stockholm turned out to be a lovely, walkable city and we fell in love right away. It helped that the weather was absolutely perfect, sunny skies and very warm, makes a city with lots of water stunning. We walked and walked and walked, took little boat cruises and walked some more – we truly enjoyed Stockholm.

The evening before boarding our cruise ship, I started to become a bit nervous. We are not “cruisers” and had only experienced an Alaska cruise on a small ship before. Although we travel quite a bit, we are used to taking planes, checking into hotels, renting cars and booking private accommodation  - I felt a bit intimidated. Would we have to share each meal with other people and make “conversation”? Do I have enough and more important the appropriate clothes? Will I get sea sick? We took a cab to the port and were surprised by the size of the ship. It was much bigger than we had thought. The check in process was very un-intimidating and done in less than 10 min. and we were shown to our cabin. Flowers, fruit, champagne, wine, scotch – all waiting for us and the cabin was spacious. A huge king size bed, the bathroom had a double sink, a big shower and Molton Brown amenities – I was impressed AND was wearing my anti seasickness ear-patch, I was ready to go. We enjoyed our first outdoor lunch and started to get a feeling of what was to come – fantastic food, any drink you wanted and very nice staff. We don’t have much cruise experience and for whatever reason we did not realize, although there were several announcements, that it was time for the general security assembly which took place in the main restaurant. Instead we were making “a home” in our cabin. When the phone rang and the officer very nicely asked us to “join” this exercise, we were the last people to arrive – how embarrassing. Once that was done, we went to the upper outside deck for the “setting sail” party with live music, champagne and  spectacular scenery. Departing from Stockholm out to the Baltic Sea means sailing through thousands of little islands, some of them so small they are only big enough to hold one little cabin. It was very picturesque and we spent a few hours enjoying it before getting ready for our first dinner. A table for two was not a problem, we realized that if we don’t want company it was perfectly fine to dine alone – phew! We had a good nights sleep and were ready for our first Port – Tallinn. It’s a relatively small city and our guide (Rick Steves) helped us navigate it all by ourselves. It’s a little jewel, nicely restored buildings and very walkable. Back on the ship, just before departing Tallinn, we were lounging on the outside upper deck enjoying the 26c sunshine and being pampered by the staff when the captain announced the weather forecast for the next day – we all thought it was a joke, he announced it to be 8C. It was no joke. We came prepared as we had packed some warm clothing and umbrellas.  Also, most of the sights we were seeing in St. Petersburg were indoors. To enter Russia a visa is required and getting it on your own is quite costly and takes some time. We also realized that with so much to see and not being able to read or speak Russian it would be better to be part of an organized,  prearranged tour. Geoff did some research on local companies, we didn’t want to sign up for the overpriced excursions organized by the cruise. We preferred a private tour or a very small group. Geoff found the right company, we liked their quote for a 3-day Deluxe Tour which included all the major sights that we wanted to see. They informed us there was another couple interested in joining our group and if we were OK with it. Hmmm, Geoff was not so OK, really. He was concerned about their fitness level, if they would be able to “keep up the pace”. The company provided Geoff with the e-mail address to communicate with them directly – very diplomatic! Geoff doesn’t seem to have a problem asking uncomfortable questions. He got in touch and we found out it was a lady from Hong Kong, 54 years old with her 19 year old daughter who was born in Vancouver - in “good health and fit”. This whole scenario repeated itself with a group of four people, also interested in this tour. When we all met for the first time and Geoff was out of earshot, I kind of apologized for Geoff’s “bluntness”. It turned out we had a nice, little group, everyone was is great spirits and by the end of the tour the topic of the “fitness level” was a great joke. We all agreed that a small group versus a whole busload of people, some with mobility issues, is the way to go. The three days in St.Petersburg were packed with incredible history, amazing buildings, beautiful art and gold – so much gold. Geoff and I were very happy that we could make this trip - it had been on our “must see list” for a while. Next stop Helsinki, we took it a lot easier, walked the city but came back to the ship early to relax and, yes enjoy some food and wine followed by a nap before dinner, lovely!  Helsinki was our last stop before docking in Copenhagen and we would spend a day at sea. Good time to catch up with writing the blog for Geoff and doing laundry for me. The final day also included an amazing lunch buffet, something I have never seen before. The variety, the quality, the presentation it was truly a spectacle and needless to say, a nap was much needed before starting the packing process. We had booked an early pick up and had our last en-suite breakfast, what a treat. Off came the sea sickness patch, oh I was so happy I never felt dizzy or sick at all, will I become a “cruiser” now? Next stop – Munich. Once we made it to the city, we connected with our landlady who met us at a coffee shop close to the apartment where we would be spending the next six nights. We loved the apartment, it was spacious, modern and had everything we needed, except internet connection. When I asked her about the password, she looked at me and said, I don’t have internet connection and I told you so. My two main criteria when renting are internet availability and a washer, so I was a bit stunned at her reaction. We solved the issue the next day by buying a mobile Telekom stick which allowed us internet access, crisis averted. It was a perfect location, two minute walk to the Underground station, only two stops to the Main Train station, which we used on a daily basis to get to all the sights we wanted to see. Every morning I would go out to shop for fresh bread rolls and croissants and never hit the same bakery twice, oh I was HOME!! The weather turned out just great, as the week went on it became sunnier and warmer every day and we enjoyed exploring and sightseeing in and around this beautiful city as well as the culinary offerings, again, I was HOME! Our last stop was two nights in Frankfurt. We met up with my parents, shared a lunch with my aunt at her house outside of Frankfurt (poor Geoff) and had a lovely BBQ with our friend Martin. Now we were ready to come back home, we missed our family and friends and are ready to enjoy a beautiful summer in Vancouver. For the last time we packed our bags and made our way to the Airport. Upon check in we found out that Condor had a “special offer” that day, a 2 for 1 if we wanted to upgrade to their Comfort Class. Geoff and I looked at each other and decided – yes, let’s finish the trip as it started, we are spoiled, we know it and we love it! Fantastic trip, happy to be home but ……what’s next?                   

Rita in the rain at Peterhof, Peter the Great's Summer Palace

A Home Fit for a King

Our last full day in Munich and again it's hot and sunny.  Perfect conditions for our 60km train trip to  Bavaria's largest lake Chiemsee and visit the famous Herrenchiemsee Palace of King Ludwig 11 of Bavaria.  The palace is situated on the lakes largest island, Herreninsel (mans island) which is a 20 minute boat ride from the mainland.  The palace was never finished and the King only spent 10 nights here before he died mysteriously at the age of 40.  King Ludwig purchased the island in 1873 with construction of the palace starting in 1878 and stopping after his death in 1886 with only 20 of the 70 rooms completed.  The cost of construction when it stopped in 2013 US dollars was an astonishing $250,100,000.00.

A passenger boat on Chiemsee (Chiem Lake) with the Austrian Alps in the background

 

The park, modelled on Versailles, was only partially finished due to the death of King Ludwig.  Only the splendid fountains and canal to the lake were carried out.  Above is a copy of Versailles Frog Fountain and the orinmental gardens with the canal to the lake in the centre 

The palace is a replica of the Palace of Versailles in Paris, built as a "Temple of Fame" in honor of the Sun King Louis X1V of France and was intended purely as a monument to absolute monarchy and had no practical function



The Grand Entrance to the Palace is called the Ambassadors Staricase and was created from old paintings of  Versailles as it had been destroyed long ago

Replica of Versailles Hall of Mirrors is 98 m long, which is slightly longer than the original, and contains 17 mirrors, 33 chandeliers and 44 candelabra, holding 1,848 candles
 

Replica of King Louis XIV's bedroom in Versailles is the most expensively appointed room from the 19th century.  The partially built palace used 5kg (11lbs) of gold to decorate the rooms in gold leaf 

 

A Hike for Heavenly Beer

Another hot and sunny day so we are heading out of town on a 40 minute train ride to Herrsching am Ammersee to hike up to the top of Heilig Berg (Holy Mountain) to view the Benedictine Abbey and sample the delights of its brewery.  The Holy Mountain has been a place of pilgramage for Christians since 1138 and continues to this day due to Holy Relics housed in the Abbey.  We left the train station and followed the signs to the forest and began our 5km (3mi) hike to the Benedictine Abbey of Andechs.  Brewing is thought to have started here with the arrival of seven Benedictine monks who were sent to the newly built Andech Monestary in 1455.  Today the brewery is a state of the art operation that distributes its beers throughout Europe and the US.

The view of the small village of Andechs, the lovely countryside and the Ausrian Alps from the courtyard of the Benedictine Monestary 

There has been a church here since 1423.  The onion domed towers were built in 1669 and the church was rebuilt in Baroque style in 1712

 

The interior of the church showing the Gothic Hall built in 1427 with its 1755 redesigned Roccoco interior nave, walls and dome 

After the hike and a tour of the church we split a delicious lunch that included a litre of Andechs Weissbier (wheat beer) and Bavarian specialty grilled Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) with potato salad before heading back down to catch our train for Munich

Dachau Concentration Camp

Today was a very sobering experience as we spent the afternoon at Dachau Concentration Camp.  A bit of the history.  On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, a concentration camp for political prisoners was set up on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau.  This was the first concentration camp and served as a model for all later concentration camps and as a "school of violence" for the SS men who would command these camps.  In 1938 the camps prison population expanded to include Jews, criminals, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, mixed races and anti social persons from Germany, Austria and conquered territories. Also starting in 1938, arriving prisoners were to hand over their clothing and all possessions (money, rings, watches, etc.) and were given prison garb and a colored badge that categorized them (white for mentally impaired, red for communists/socialists, green for criminals, pink for homosexuals, etc. Jews wore yellow badges plus other colors if they were also criminals, homosexuals, etc.).  The camp had 30 barracks that were meant to hold 200 prisoners each but after 1938 up to 2,000 prisoners were held in each of these barracks creating massive overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and starvation. During the twelve years of its existence over 200,000 people were imprisoned here and there were 31,951 documented deaths (thousands more were undocumented).  On April 29, 1945, American troops liberated the survivors.

The Memorial Site was established in 1965 on the grounds of the concentration camp due to the initiative of the surviving prisoners who had joined together to form the International Committee of Dachau

The prisoners were marched from the train station and through this etrance gate to be processed

The sign on the entrance gate says Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Will Make You Free).  This reflected Nazi propaganda which trivialized concentration camps as labor and re-education camps, when in fact forced labor was used as a method of torture

 

 Looking at the parade grounds, the two rows of barracks and one of the guard towers as you entered Dachau.  The parade grounds was where all prisoners had to come and stand at attention for the twce daily roll call, which could take hours and where public punishments were administered

 A view at the electrified barbed wire fence, ditch, one of the seven guard towers and some of the 30 rows of raised gravel beds where the prison barracks once stood

The original crematorium with its two overns was built in 1940 to handle the disposal of the ever increasing number of dead and murdered prisoners   

In 1942 this crematorium was built to handle four times the capacity of the original one as well as having rooms that looked like communal showers but were in fact gas chambers that could hold 150 prisinors at a time

 A 1955 memorial to the prisoners that depicts all the badge color catagories.  There are four badges that have no colors in them which represent homosexuals, criminals,  mentally impared and the anti-social (gypsies, homeless, unemployed, etc.).  At the time the memorial was created it was felt that these people were not worthy of recognition  

A Summer Palace, An English Garden and More Old Town

Rita went out early this morning to do a very German thing, go the local bakery to purchase our fresh croissants and buns for breakfast.  We would need a hearty breakfast as we will be doing a lot of exploring and walking today.  First stop was a trolley ride to Nymphenburg Castle, the summer residence of the Whittelsbach family, the rulers of Bavaria for over 700 years.  The original castle was completed in 1674 with other pavilions added by later Electors (Kings).  The Castle is under renovations and is far from being fully restored but it was very informative to see parts of the castle that had yet to be renovated and to comprehend what a huge amount of time and talent is required to put these historic properties back to their original condition.

We walked to the trolley station to catch a ride back to Old Town to explore the 1,400 acre Englischer Garten (English Garden), a wonderful park that was created in 1789.  The name refers to the style of informal landscape gardening which was popular in Britain in the mid 18th century. Rita and I spent a good 3 hours walking through the parks trails thoroughly enjoying the green space, man-made lake and small creeks.  As it was such a lovely warm and sunny afternoon we continued our walkabout into Old Town to explore more of it's historical sights before ending up at a small Italian restaurant and enjoying a wonderful meal.

The original Nymphenburg Castle is in the centre and was completed in 1674.  The many outer buildings were added by later rulers  

The castle is still being refurbished but the baroque Stone Hall has been brought back to it's 17th century guilded brilliance

Looking at the back of the Nymphenburg Castle which overlooks its English style gardens

The appearance of the park has mostly remained unchanged since 1803.  At the start of our walk through the English Garden we watched a cyclist stop and caually take off all his clothes to bask in the sunshine.  Apparently this is quite a common occurrence in the summer months here. 

 

Rita on one of the many bridges that crossover fast flowing creeks and streams throughout the park

The English Garden, like Stanley Park is also overrun with local geese that do not leave, quickly multiply and poop all over the grounds.  However, as with Stanley Park, they do not deter you from enjoying the beauty of the place

In the heart of the pedestrian zone in Old Town is St. Michael's, a Jesuit Church built in Renaissance style during the 16th century

The interior of St, Michael's Church with it's massive gold leaf High Alter. The Royal Crypt containing the remians of kings and princess of the Wittelsbach family is located in this Church  

 

The Hofbrauhaus, the world's most famous beer house was founded as a brewery in 1589

 

The interior of the Hofbrauhaus is massive and serves an estimated 4 million people a year.  It also goes down in history as the venue for the first Nazi demonstration held in 1920 

After all this touring we needed to quench our thirst and headed for the Old Town Market to have a beer at the worlds smallest pub where you line up to pick up your beer before sitting down at one of the long tables under the trees.  Very refreshing and oh so civilized

     

A Taste of Munich

We landed at Munich airport at 12:30, picked up our bags and headed for the train station for our 30 minute ride into downtown Munich where we caught the U-Bahn (underground) for a 10 minute journey to meet our landlady who walked us to our new home for the next six days.  After getting briefed on how everything worked in the apartment we unpacked, had a shower and headed out to stretch our legs around Old Town Munich.  The day was sunny and warm (20c) which was a much more pleasant experience that being in cloudy and cool St. Petersburg.  We ended the evening sitting at the outside patio of a traditional Munich bierstube and enjoying a dinner of suckling pig, knoedle (dumpling) with gravy and cabbage salad which we washed down with a local weizen  (wheat) bier before walking back home ready for a good night’s sleep.

Munich's magnificent New Town Hall took 42 years to build from 1867-1909 and is located in Marienplatz Square which is the centre and heart of the city

Munich's Old Town Hall at the edge of Marienplatz Square was built in the late 15th century is a perfect example of German Gothic design.  It has been completely restored after being seriously damaged during WW11 

The inner courtyard of the magnificent medieval building called the "Old Court" which is the residence of the Wittelsbach family, the rulers of Bavaria from 1180 - 1918

 

Window display of 28 Haxen (pork knuckle) being grilled.  A traditional Bavarian delicacy that is made up of bone, crackling (crispy skin) and pork.  I have tried it and it is very tasty but you will definitely not find it on the healthy eating menu      

 

 

 

Ship To Shore

The end of the cruise came much too fast.  This was only our second cruise, the first being a trip to Alaska with Cruise West.  We were very happy with our on-board Seabourn experience as the staff were very friendly and efficient, the food choices varied every day and were delicious, the price of the cruise was all-inclusive (food, booze, gratuities) so you did not feel like you were constantly spending money, but best of all we did not feel overwhelmed by a crush of passengers as there were less than 450 of us on board.  If we wanted to be by ourselves it was not a problem and we found plenty of quiet areas on the ship.  If we wanted to join others, there was obviously lots of opportunities.  We would definitely book a Seabourn cruise again.  We had a wonderful last day as the ship created a lavish lunch buffet that sent us through the main kitchen to choose a myriad of cuisine choices.  Of course their was lots of champagne to toast the end of a successful voyage.  It was all too much for Rita and I as we ended up having an afternoon nap before getting ready for our last dinner at sea.  The alarm went off way too early (06:00) but we needed to get ready, do our final packing and check-out before our 07:30 shuttle took us to Copenhagen airport for our flight to Munich.

Rita making her way past the pasta station and heading straight to the suckling pig

 Getting ready to sample the some of the sushi and sashimi

 You can always find Rita at her favorite Champagne station
 

 Rita found me at my favorite place, the dessert station

Wonderful way to end our final night onboard the Seabourn Quest as it makes its way across the Baltic Sea on its way to Copenhagen