Riding along the famous Vogelfluglinie, The Bird Flight Line, from Lübeck to Puttgarden in the cockpit of an Inter-City Express train, David the Train Nut had one of the best experience of his lifelong train obsession.
The line got its name from the fact that it is the straightest, shortest route to Copenhagen, Denmark.
David the Train Nut is ready to go!
Leaving Lubeck, Germany with a full travel day ahead of us, one that involved more than just trains, as we had water to cross, so a boat would need to be involved.
The plan was to ride the train onto a ferry, then cross the Baltic Sea into Denmark.
Unfortunately when we boarded, the conductor explained to us that due to construction on the tracks, we would have to take a bus to get on the ferry. Not quite as fun, but hey, we still get a boat ride nonetheless.
Any residual disappointment we may have had disappeared instantly when the engineer, Thomas, invited us to ride in the cab for a while.
Nearing the ferry, we excuse ourselves to go back and gather our things, but Thomas stops us. He says we should wait until we cross the first bridge over the Baltic. Who are we to argue with the engineer?
What a great experience, some of our best training ever! (Gonna keep using training as a verb ’til we see if it catches on.)
Are we crazy? It’s possible we’ve finally gone off the rails.
When Eurail contacted us to see if we’d like to take advantage of a 15-day rail pass, David the Train Nut’s pupils got wide and his answer was a resounding YES!
Veronica was all aboard too, and started dreaming of a wintertime jaunt to sunny Spain. David, however, had other plans. He suggested Scandinavia.
Veronica was not so onboard with this. Right. Let’s head north into the cold and dark. Why, pray tell? Then David said two words: Northern Lights.
Are we crazy? It’s possible we’ve finally gone off the rails.
When Eurail contacted us to see if we’d like to take advantage of a 15-day rail pass, David the Train Nut’s pupils got wide and his answer was a resounding YES!
Veronica was all aboard too, and started dreaming of a wintertime jaunt to sunny Spain. David, however, had other plans. He suggested Scandinavia.
Veronica was not so onboard with this. Right. Let’s head north into the cold and dark. Why, pray tell? Then David said two words: Northern Lights.
That did it. Join us LIVE as we embark on a wintry expedition above the Arctic Circle… CONTINUE READING >>
Are we crazy? It’s possible we’ve finally gone off the rails.
When Eurail contacted us to see if we’d like to take advantage of a 15-day rail pass, David the Train Nut’s pupils got wide and his answer was a resounding YES!
Veronica was all aboard too, and started dreaming of a wintertime jaunt to sunny Spain. David, however, had other plans. He suggested Scandinavia.
Veronica was not so onboard with this. Right. Let’s head north into the cold and dark. Why, pray tell? Then David said two words: Northern Lights.
That did it. Join us LIVE as we embark on a wintry expedition from Amsterdam to above the Arctic Circle with stops in Luebeck, Malmo, Stockholm, Oslo, Flam (via fjords by boat), Bergen, Lonsdal, and Bodo.
Day One: Amsterdam!
Morning: Arrival and visiting Anne Frank
We begin our fifteen-day Eurail pass adventure in amazing Amsterdam.
Coming out of Centraal Station is quite an eye-opening experience!
The city is bustling with pedestrians, trams, and a crazy amount of bicycles scurrying every which way. We use our handy Iamsterdam city card to board a tram and we’re off.
This is the actual building where the Frank family, along with their friends the Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer, stayed hidden from the Nazis for two years.
The “house” was actually several upstairs rooms that were sealed off from the work space and offices below, in the business that Otto Frank owned.
Anne called it the Secret Annex in her famous diary.
The story unfolds in quotes from Anne’s diary as we walk from room to room.
Without any furnishings, we think the feeling of the small space is actually accented.
Otto, the only one of the eight to survive the war, insisted that the house be left this way, just as the Nazis left it after capturing them and removing everything. He was instrumental in preserving the house, and also in getting his daughter’s diary published.
The view from the building that housed the Secret Annex
The canal that runs in front of the building
Anne Frank’s story is heartbreaking, and made even more poignant by two facts; that the allied forces were only a matter of weeks away from liberating all of Europe when she passed away, and that she expressed the desire to be a famous author, which she accomplished only after death.
Anne Frank’s diary has been published in over 70 languages
Make sure the you have time to take this must-do, emotional tour when visiting Amsterdam – the line to enter can be hours long. An option is to get advanced tickets, but there is often a waiting list, so plan ahead. The link for tickets is here.
Late Morning: Talkin’ Tulips
On a much lighter note, the Amsterdam Tulip Museum is right across the Prinsengracht, or Prince’s canal, the outermost of the famous Canal Ring.
We walk over the bridge and into a colorful collection of all kinds of blooming bulbs.
We quickly discover that there is quite a flowery history to the tulip and its relationship with Holland.
Brought from Turkey by biologist Carolus Clusius over four hundred years ago, tulips caused such a craze that the first ever speculative commodity bubble was inflated as people began trading the bulbs with reckless abandon.
Before long a single bulb was bring prices well over the annual salary of reasonably wealthy merchants.
At the peak, ounce for ounce tulips were selling for about one hundred times the price of gold.
But what goes up must come down, and the crash of Tulipmania was spectacular.
After the fall back to earth, the flowers became reasonably priced once again and found a spot in almost every garden.
<–To ward off another crash, we run to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and take the bull by the horns.
Afternoon: Wondering around, trying to stay out of trouble (rather successfully we may add!)
The royal palace
We hop on a tram again for a look at Dam Square. This is the site of the original dam on the Amstel River, which is where the city gets its name.
Around 1170 a bridge over, and a dam across the river was built, giving the village the name Aemstelredamme.
We must say, it is a dam big square, filled with thousands of pigeons, and surrounded by the Royal Palace, the War Memorial, and the Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church (which is new because it is only 600 years old).
Not far away is the Oude Kerk, Old Church, which is not only the oldest church, but the oldest building in town.
Amsterdam has a long relationship with the world’s oldest profession, having legalized it two hundred years ago, and looking the other way for a long time before that.
In this section of town things are particularly out in the open.
<–We don’t feel comfy photographing the ladies of the red light district, so here’s more pigeon and architecture for ya!
A coffee shop with an adjoining snack bar for when
the
munchies hit. Clever – get ’em coming and going!
More recently, “coffee shops” that sell marijuana and other cannabis products have sprung up.
Beginning in the seventies, these were operating outside the law, again with the authorities tolerating it as long as things didn’t get out of hand. But now they have become registered businesses and are taxed and regulated as such.
We will not be participating in any of the offerings from either group of entrepreneurs (not that we’re judging, we’re just more comfortable with a cold beverage and each other’s company). 😉
Evening: We can’t believe we get to stay here!
The view from our porthole!
Another intriguing aspect of Amsterdam are the multitudes of boats lining the banks of the canals – there are about 2,400 of these semi-seafaring gems docked along the walls of the city.
Most now serve as homes, and we are lucky enough to be staying in one!
For an introduction to the canal system and an overview of the city often called the Venice of the North, we hop on one of the many tour boats for a guided cruise.
Once again our Iamsterdam city card comes in handy, since the cruise, as well as dozens of museums and other attractions, are included with it.
The boat takes us through the harbor, among the cargo barges and ferries crossing over to what the locals call the “opposite side.”
On our way to the Amstel River we pass the old city watchtower and many of the old warehouses from the Dutch Golden Age, including the one for the Dutch East India Company.
When we leave the river, we enter the canals in what is known as the Canal Ring.
These three waterways were dug in the early sixteen hundreds, and form a semicircle around the city center.
This allowed for expansion as Holland was entering that Golden Age. Dutch ships and merchants spanned the globe over the next century and Amsterdam grew into one of the world’s great cities.
One thing we can’t help but notice, both from the boat and while we were walking around, is the propensity for the older buildings to slant every which way.
The land is very soft, so in order to build wooden pilings had to be set deep into the soil to reach more solid ground. But these have settled over time and left some crazy crooked structures!
There is a definite style to the houses built along the canals, tall and skinny.
Since space along the waterways is limited, builders chose to make narrow, deep houses that are two or three times as long as they are wide, and stand at least three or four stories high.
The design makes it hard to get furnishings in and out, so almost every house has hoisting beams attached above the highest windows.
This way furniture or heavy repair materials can be pulled up and brought inside through a large window.
Think piano movers in an old silent movie, that’s the idea.
Of course we can never come to a new city and not dig into the local fare, so we are on the lookout for some bitterballen.
It is not a difficult search, they are everywhere.
The little deep fried balls of meat, broth, flour, and butter, with herbs and spices and wrapped in a crunchy breadcrumb coating can be found in just about every bar and cafe.
But these are just a snack, for real stick to your ribs comfort food we try a stamppot, hutspot to be exact, the most traditional of the stamppots.
This hefty mix of mashed potatoes, carrots, onion, and rookworst, a Dutch smoked sausage, dates back hundreds of years.
It became a staple during World War II because all of the vegetable ingredients could be grown underground. It’s not fancy, but it certainly fills the tummy.
For dessert we try poffertjes, little fluffy pancakes with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar.
Even after a stampot we could find room for these.
Probably couldn’t say that about the olliebollen we found yesterday though.
We expected a better bollen here in the land of their birth, and we were not disappointed.
Even though the name translates to fat ball, or perhaps grease ball, here in Holland, The Netherlands that is, they are light and fluffy, and downright delicious.
No wonder they are so often used to celebrate and ring in the New Year. Now that’s a real Dutch treat!
Day Three: Time to Hit the Road, No, Rails!
Morning: A crazy amount of bikes!
We can’t leave Amsterdam without mentioning one of the most obvious elements of the city, bikes… yes, bicycles. They are everywhere.
At first it was a little scary, street crossings felt like an adventure as bikes were flying through intersections and along the sides of every street, often with riders talking on the phone or even texting – a very talented lot.
There have been several times we came way too close to getting clipped.
But we adapted fast, and already it feels fairly normal — as normal as nearly a million bikes can feel.
That’s right, we looked it up, there are nearly one million bikes in Amsterdam, just about one for every person.
They use them too, like mailmen; neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night will keep the cyclists from pedaling.
The three-story bicycle parking lot at the Amsterdam train station! We were told that an expansion is necessary and plans are underway.
Back at Amsterdam Centraal Station and we’re off on our Eurail journey to Scandinavia.
First we will make our way across Holland and Northern Germany.
The fields and gardens along the way are surprisingly green for this late in the year.
We loved how our refreshment guy carried all of his stuff – including a tube of coffee cups and a backpack full of hot water!
The glass cubicle we are sitting in, with six seats facing each other, totally makes us feel like we are in the movie A Hard Day’s Night.
A quick change of trains in Hamburg solidifies the feeling, because we can’t help but think that The Beatles must have walked through this very spot back when they came here to perform at several clubs in the early sixties.
The view from our train window – foggy German countryside
Evening: Lübeck after dark
This last leg of today’s journey leads to our destination for the evening, Lübeck, which turns out to be a real gem.
The city is one of those lucky coincidences that sometimes happen while traveling. We chose it as a stopover mostly for its location, but inside the Holsten Gate there is a wonderful, history-filled city.
Walking under the arch, we notice the side of the gate facing the city is dated 1477, which is the year it was made. Another date, 1871, shows when the town voted to save the gate instead of tear it down with the rest of the walls.
The story is that the resolution passed by just one vote, and this is one of the last remnants of the walls that once protected the city.
The restored gate went on to become the symbol of the city, and actually became quite famous, appearing on several stamps, the old 50 Deutsche Mark bills, and now the German version of the two euro coin features it.
Walking along the pedestrian mall in the center of town, we come upon the Lübecker Rathaus. This is the town hall by which all town halls should be judged.
Construction started in 1230, and when it was completed in 1308 this incredible building served as a meeting place for the Hanseatic League, a powerful alliance of Baltic and North Sea traders that lasted for over five centuries.
LOVE the staircase
Over time additions were completed to accommodate the Supreme Court for the region and a Danzelhusand (dancehall) for community events.
Now the structure covers an entire city block.
There are a number of intriguing details about the building, the glazed bricks, vaulted ceilings inside, and the different sized doors for exiting the court (the taller one for those found innocent, shorter for the guilty)
The figures decorating the little balcony are the most eye catching to us.
Dinner: And here, it gets a little weird (GN translation, weird=good)
View across the invading hoard-evading moat
After a day of training (our new verb for riding the rails) and exploring, we are ready to eat.
On the recommendation of our hotel desk clerk we pop in to Potter’s, a little cafe that is known for serving traditional regional fare on the banks of the Trave River. The river splits to form a natural moat around the old city center, so we feel safe having dinner without the threat of any invading hoards.
The specials on the menu are completely unknown to us, which is right up our alley.
The first, päron, bönor och bacon, is well described as pears, beans and bacon with potatoes, but also includes the quote: “What gave grandma already to pears,” “vad var där för att Mormor redan.”
Our old friend Google tells us that this is a correct translation, but not of German, it is Swedish. We ask our server to explain and get no farther in our understanding, but order it anyway. If it’s good enough for grandma…
The other special, Labskaus, seems clear enough; mashed potatoes, corned beef, onions, beets, cucumber, egg and herring fillet.
But when we ask about this, the explanation takes a turn.
Yes – we should try it, it tastes good but it looks terrible. Her exact words were, “It looks like Scheiße.” We know just enough German to know what that means, but we order it anyway… and beer, just in case.
The dishes arrive and grandma, and our server didn’t steer us wrong.
The pears, cooked with bacon and green beans is certainly different and new, but really go well together.
On the other hand, the Labskaus does fit the description given, the meat being mashed into the potatoes gives it the not-so-appetizing look.
But it tastes good, like corned beef hash with a fried egg on top. Not sure what the herring is doing alongside, or the beets and gherkins. It’s almost like these are two completely separate dishes.
We are glad, as always, to add another couple of new local favorites to our epicurean adventure list, and we certainly aren’t leaving hungry. This might be a trend developing, with the weather turning colder — and us training norther — traditional winter comfort food is bound to follow.
Today we have a full travel day ahead of us, one that involves more than just trains, we have water to cross, so a boat will be involved.
The plan is to ride the train onto a ferry, then cross the Baltic Sea into Denmark.
David the Train Nut is ready to go!
Unfortunately, the conductor explains to us that due to construction on the tracks, we will have to board a bus to get on the ferry. Not quite as fun, but hey, we still get a boat ride nonetheless.
Any residual disappointment we may have had disappears instantly when the engineer, Thomas, invites us to ride in the cab for a while.
Seriously, how cool is this?
<–10 Second video: Click the pic – and David’s glee comes to life!
We are riding along the famous Vogelfluglinie, The Bird Flight Line, from Lübeck to Puttgarden in the cockpit of an Inter-City Express train. The line got its name from the fact that it is the straightest, shortest route to Copenhagen, and our stopping place for the night, Malmo, almost as the crow flies.
Nearing the ferry, we excuse ourselves to go back and gather our things, but Thomas stops us. He says we should wait until we cross the first bridge over the Baltic. Who are we to argue with the engineer?
<–10 Second video: Click the pic – and watch us fly over the bridge!
Heading to the bus for our ride to the ferry we bid farewell to Thomas, and Germany.
Watch: David the Train Nut is downright giddy!
What a great experience, some of our best training ever! (Gonna keep using it as a verb ’til we see if it catches on.)
Afternoon: Denmark by ferry!
Climbing up out of the truck-bus-train hold of the ship, we walk into what looks more like a shopping mall than a ferry.
Brightly lit duty-free shops attract quite the crowds of border-crossing shoppers, but our interest is more focused on getting outside to get a real feel for the crossing.
We aren’t the only ones crazy enough to be out on the deck on such a blustery day, but we are definitely in a select group of hardy sailors.
The Baltic Sea looks every bit as grey and choppy as we expected for a mid November morning.
<–10 Second video: The sea was angry that day, my friend!
The ship has quite the jammin’ looking buffet, but this is a narrow point in the sea, and we don’t want to be in a hurry to snarf down the delicacies, so we opt for a couple of danishes from the snack bar to toast our impending arrival in Denmark.
Yes, we know it’s cheesy… we mean us, not the pastries.
View from our (train) window: Denmark
Evening: Tired and happy after a great day training!
Back on board the train, we are rolling across Denmark and are now the farthest north that Veronica has ever been, beyond even the northern tip of Newfoundland.
There is still quite a way to go for David to top Fairbanks, Alaska though, but it is coming soon.
Once we hit Copenhagen, we stop just in time to run outside, snap a pic and catch the train to Malmo, Sweden.
<– The Copenhagen station
Time to crash before heading onward tomorrow. Stockholm, ba-by!
Day Five: Unique Stockholm
Morning: Training to Stockholm (a look at our life on the trains)
<–David (doing his best Vanna White) is going to show us around!
Our train to Stockholm has everything we could want – comfy seats, coffee, snacks, power outlets, and fast internet, all with a view of Sweden passing by our window.
Now that’s what we call first class.
Three seats across provide roomier seats and coffee, tea, fruit, and brownies (!) are included in first class
Good food (including seafood!) for purchase and free wifi (so we can post this!). And, yes, we couldn’t resist “Du surfar med full fart”
In order to get a quick taste of Stockholm we opt to walk from the train station over the Vasabron Bridge to Gamla Stan.
This small island is where Stockholm began, and we soon realize we are in a place like no other.
The old town has been preserved here, and our hotel is in one of the buildings that date back to the sixteen hundreds.
Evening: Spending the night with the captain!
The lobby
Every now and then we happen upon accommodations that are far above and beyond anything we could ever expect. The Victory Hotel is most definitely one of those places.
The collector is the hotel’s founder — and namesake — Gunnar Bengtsson, who over many years gathered an amazing amalgamation of artifacts, mostly focused on the torrid love story of Admiral Lord Nelson and his scandalous squeeze, Lady Hamilton.
Spoiled much? This was in our room when we arrived!
An authentic letter to Lady Hamilton from Admiral Nelson
Our host and Gunnar’s son, Mats, explained how, while he was growing up, the collection began to overtake the house.
Ship’s mastheads, antiques, and other assorted marine memorabilia was stuffed under the beds, in the closets, and almost every other nook and cranny.
His father’s solution was to start a hotel and decorate it with his treasures, so the Lord Nelson Hotel was born. But one hotel couldn’t contain the collection, and soon the Lady Hamilton and the Victory, named after Captain Nelson’s ship, were added to the family.
Each room is much more than just a place to stay for the night, this is lodging with a story to tell. They are all named for a captain, and feature paintings of his ship, family heirlooms, and pictures.
Our suite, honoring Captain Johansson, is filled with fantastic 18th century furnishings, wedding pictures, and original paintings dated 1642.
This doesn’t mean modern amenities are missing, flat screen TV, wifi, a stereo system, and best of all, a fully functional, absolutely phenomenal jacuzzi tub.
Day Five: Storming Stockholm (and an incredible amount of delicious seafood)
Morning: Royal shenanigans
For a whirlwind overview of Stockholm we meet up with our guide Marco, a font of Swedish knowledge, and set out on an early morning tour of the city.
Beginning by walking through the old town, we catch up on the history of not only the city, but also the country.
As with its Scandinavian neighbors, Denmark and Norway, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. Kings have ruled here for at least a thousand years, but these days the actual political power is in the hands of parliament.
As we near the Kungliga Slottet, which is the Royal Palace, we get to see some of that royal presence when mounted guards escort dignitaries in horse drawn carriages inside for a meeting with the king.
There is a definite level of old-fashioned pomp and circumstance involved, as well as a surprisingly low key approach to security. Marco explains that the royal family regularly goes out in public without causing too much of a stir.
From the small island that contains the old, original city, we take a ferry to see an unbelievably preserved piece of Swedish history, the Vasa.
The two hundred-foot ship sank while still in Stockholm’s harbor, just a mile into its maiden voyage in 1628.
Incredibly, it sat submerged and undisturbed for over 300 years.
King Gustavus Adolphus’ desire to have the biggest, baddest ship on the sea was the vessel’s undoing.
By adding an additional deck of canons without offsetting the weight below the water line, the design was badly flawed and the top-heavy ship rolled over and sank within a few minutes of launch.
In 1961, salvage efforts were undertaken, and now the remarkably undamaged ship stands almost entirely intact in the Vasa Museum. The only parts to suffer much from the centuries under water were the nails, so they have mostly been replaced.
Afternoon: An amazing time capsule and seafood to die for!
From the Vasa Museum, we hop on a tram using our Stockholm Card and enter into another time capsule of sorts, a perfectly preserved mansion from the gilded age of the 1890s.
Built for the Count Walther von Hallwyl and his wife, Wilhelmina, everything has remained virtually untouched.
This was completely intentional; the countess had a system of cataloguing every household item that she employed almost immediately upon moving into the home in 1898.
We aren’t talking about just the valuable stuff either, Wilhelmina had volume after volume filled with details numbering, photographing and identifying every single thing in the house.
Her eccentric obsession, possibly what we would call OCD today, makes for a remarkable glimpse into life of the aristocracy over a century ago.
She even left the rooms “as is” and covered many of the tables and desks in glass cases so that nothing would be disturbed.
For a look at how Swedes shopped and ate back in that same era, and for a quick bite of lunch, we walk over to the nearby Östermalm Food Hall.
This covered market served as the supermarket for the city back at the end of the 1800s, with farmers and fishermen bringing in their products fresh every day.
For some inside scoop we met with Johan, from the shop and restaurant Lisa Elmqvist.
Lisa began selling seafood here nearly one hundred years ago, and for four generations her family has continued.
He shows us all of the fresh fish offerings and gives us an idea of the logistics behind the scenes.
After looking over all of the offerings, Johan suggests we try a couple – he didn’t have to ask twice.
We start with a sample their signature dish, Toast Skagen with bleak roe, which is high on the list of the best things we have ever put in our mouths.
Wow, this combination of shrimp, dill, and caviar, well, let’s just say we see why the king himself is a frequent customer.
We follow up with mouth-watering, salt-cured salmon and a creamy fish soup with trout roe, which are certainly not shabby themselves, but the shrimp on the toasted bread has spoiled us forever.
We may never be the same. It will haunt our dreams.
OK, OK, so that’s a little over the top, but seriously… royally good.
One thing we learn while walking around Stockholm is that it is a world leader in high tech development and cutting edge companies.
Spotify, Skype, IKEA, H&M, and Ericsson all began here.
So we decided to step into the modern and take a ride to the top of the world’s largest spherical building.
That would be the Ericsson Globe, an amazing arena that has a couple of much smaller glass globes that travel over four hundred feet up to the top of it known as SkyView.
We step inside one and it climbs right up the side of the sphere.
We are immune to any queasy feelings about the ride up, being mostly mesmerized by the view, and when we reach the top we have a 360 degree panorama of the entire city.
But the trip down is a different story.
When we head over the edge it feels something like a slow motion roller coaster.
We must not have been looking down much on the ride up so we didn’t notice, but being suspended on the side of the globe, nothing but air beneath us feels pretty darn unnerving.
But hey, that’s part of the fun, everybody likes a little scare now and then, and soworth it for the view.
It is hard to comprehend how much we have seen and done in one day in fabulous Stockholm, but we still have one big event on our schedule.
One thing we had been looking forward to since we first looked into visiting Stockholm was trying a real traditional Swedish smörgåsbord.
By all accounts, the place to partake is the renowned Grand Hôtel.
It’s a very extravagant setting for what originally was not particularly fancy fare.
The idea behind a smörgåsbord has a more humble background. The name is a combination of the words smörgås, meaning sandwich, and bord, which means table, but in practice there is a whole lot more than sandwiches going down.
In fact, there is an entire method to properly approach the smörgåsbord which our server kindly walks us through before we take our first bite.
Most important, we were told not to pile too much on the plate at one time. Using many plates is not being piggy; it is expected, perhaps even mandatory.
Each group of delicious delicacies requires separate attention — and china. We begin with the cold dishes, first a section of herring prepared several different ways, each with a sauce as a sidekick.
YOUR TURN: HAVE we gone completely off the rails? Would you embark on a journey like this? How much trouble is David going to be in if Veronica doesn’t get to see the Northern Lights?
One of many interesting aspects of Amsterdam that we noticed upon
arriving were the colorful houseboats lining the canals – there are
about 2,400 of these semi-seafaring gems docked along the walls of the
city.
We were overjoyed to have the opportunity to stay on one of them during…CONTINUE READING >>
Thanks to I Amsterdam and and Amsterdam Book Now for hosting us on our beautiful houseboat on the Amstel River! As always, all opinions are our own.
The view from our porthole!
One of many interesting aspects of Amsterdam that we noticed upon arriving were the colorful houseboats lining the canals – there are about 2,400 of these semi-seafaring gems docked along the walls of the city.
We were overjoyed to have the opportunity to stay on one of them during our visit.
Our hostess, the affable Myra, explained that boats have been used to ferry goods throughout the canals since Amsterdam’s conception, but it wasn’t until the 1960s and 70s that utilizing boats exclusively for a residence really caught on.
“It was a bit freer back then, more of a hippy culture. People just brought their boats into the city and lived, sometimes communally, on them – often simply bathing in the canals. These days, the city has gotten involved and it is more regulated.”
This regulation means a limit to the amount of boats in the canals, and the houseboats are charged by the meter for docking space.
The upside is that for these fees, Amsterdam houseboat owners have access to city water and sewage – and a place to have mail delivered.
As the lifestyle became trendy, money followed, and soon the “WaterYuppies” moved in, though Myra takes issue with the nickname.
“Most of the people living on the houseboats still appreciate the freer, more bohemian lifestyle. Many of my friends are artist and entrepreneurs – and enjoy working on their vessels themselves. There is quite a bit of work to do on a daily basis when living on a steel ship.”
This is evident in the way Myra lives herself.
She resides in the front part of her 28-meter, circa 1910 historic tjalk (a cargo ship traditionally used on the canals) while renting out the aft as a bed and breakfast.
Since purchasing her tjalk, she has renovated and beautifully redesigned the entire interior herself.
Sitting out on our private aft deck, we had breathtaking views of Amsterdam. Flanked on one side by the Opera House…
…and on the other the famous Skinny Bridge, named — not for its present width — but for the original bridge built in 1691 by two sisters who lived on opposite sides of the river.
Wanting to visit each other, but not having the means to build a proper bridge, it was said to be too skinny for people to pass one another while crossing.
And lit up at night, it’s one of the most romantic spots in the world.
The houseboat served us well during our short stay. If you are in the city for longer and want to check other accommodation options, go to HousingAnywhere.com!
Veronica: I feel like we’re sideways, are we sideways? Pilot George: No. We are fine. We are going in very slow. Veronica: What? It doesn’t feel slow. (petrified laugh) No. Ayhhhhhh… CONTINUE READING or enlarge video >>
It was amazing. Lima spread out before me in a way that could only be seen by paraglider. Or seagull, I suppose.
We awake to a surprise — we’re docked in the heart of one of Germany’s largest and most important cities, Frankfurt. Hmmm, this was not on the itinerary.
Inverted Collar and Tie is a massive sculpture in the
banking district of Frankfurt; a nod to the “suits”<
During the night we had turned off of the Rhine and onto the Main River, but a bridge under construction had collapsed upstream, halting our progress.
Two things happen because of this curveball, first the entire Viking crew has sprung into action to make arrangements that keep all of the plans for our shore excursion to Heidelberg intact, and second, we get to see Frankfurt on the way.
We bus through the financial district of the banking center for not only Germany, but all of Europe.
The city is home to the European Central Bank and the continent’s largest stock exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Quite a contrast to the ancient castles and medieval villages we have been visiting.
Our plans proceed uninterrupted as we begin our day in Heidelberg at the Heidelberger Schloss.
Schloss is another way of saying castle or palace, and a fine way of avoiding our previous redundancy.
We start getting schlossed by crossing over the moat, through the imposing gate, and into the large central courtyard.
Through the years this castle found itself in the middle of much of European history, having been occupied by kings and emperors of Germany, Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Empire.
As with the rest of our journey so far, this is also a renowned wine region, so we have a look down in the castle’s wine cellar.
The world’s largest wine barrel is kept down here, about the size of a small house.
It’s massive, holds 56,000 gallons, and sports a dance floor on top.
Once we descend into the town we find the best vantage point for a view of the entire castle is from the old Heidelberg bridge, Alte Brücke.
In addition to this photo-op, the famous vanity monkey sits at the base of the medieval Bridge Gate, which is part of the former city wall.
This peculiar simian statue of a monkey holding a mirror was erected in 1979, but the tradition of a Heidelberg bridge monkey dates back five or six hundred years. Stories from back then tell of a monkey that served to symbolize the equality between the city dwellers and their country cousins crossing the bridge.
Afternoon: Going to jail and getting a kiss
Heidelberg is also home to the oldest university in Germany. Students from all over the world come to study, as they have been doing since 1386. Up until the time of World War I the university also dealt out its own form of justice.
Since students were not subject to the jurisdiction of the town, the school prosecuted and punished unruly behavior in its own studentenkarzer, or student prison.
As time went by, doing time in the jail became a badge of honor for the students.
They began to decorate their cells with elaborate graffiti, at first using soot from the heaters, and later by smuggling in paint.
By the time the incarcerations ended, in 1914, many of the young scholars were intentionally breaking rules in efforts to get tossed in the pokey.
Many of those little law breakers had no doubt indulged in a Heidelberg Student’s Kiss, so we must too.
The little shop off the main square is still making the delicious confections by the same family recipe that became legendary centuries ago and is run by fifth generation members.
The university in those days was exclusively attended by young men, who’s minds would frequently wander off on to thoughts of young women.
Many of the ladies attending Heidelberg´s finishing schools frequented Café Knösel, which of course attracted the boys, but watchful governesses were never far away.
So Fridolin Knösel, an enterprising chocolatier and master confectioner, invented the Heidelberg Student´s Kiss as a clandestine way for the boys to show their interest in a girl. Simply purchase one of the chocolate covered cookie treats and deliver it to the girl of your choice. Problem solved, and profit made.
Five generations later they are as popular as ever.
While we enjoyed our stress-free day in Heidelberg, our Viking crew was consumed with constructing contingency plans.
There was no way the ship could make it to our originally planned port due to the collasped bridge, so a hasty alternative had to be found.
This is how we came to discover the tiny town of Mainflingen.
Everyone involved performs above and beyond the call of duty.
From the ship’s crew finding and docking the vessel at this remote pier, to the bus drivers navigating the tiny back roads while frantically searching Google Maps for Mainflingen, to the passengers relentlessly finding the humor in the situation.
When our new friend, Bruce, announces as we pull the bus past a no-vehicles-allowed sign onto a bike path along the river, “Look, the Flingers are coming out to see us!” the entire bus roars with laughter.
The passengers’ jocularity continues over dinner, and we will be, no doubt, spending the night forging full steam ahead.
We shall see what tomorrow will bring, but we’ll bet the Odin‘s crew will make everything work out fine, all the while with a smile on their faces.
Day Eight: An Amazing Walled City, Some Unexpected Opulence and a-Noodlin’
Morning: Germany’s best preserved medieval town
One of the many great things about a Viking cruise is that shore excursions are included, but today we decide to join an optional, extra side trip to the amazing village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Our journey begins along the Romantic Road, taking us through farmland, forest, and orchards before arriving at what is known as Germany’s best preserved medieval town.
The name means Red Fortress above the Tauber, but we’re not talking castles today.
The town is one big fortress, with the city wall intact all the way around it.
Getting up on top of the wall to walk the perimeter of the town is our prime objective.
From high on the ramparts we have an excellent, and ever-changing, view of the entire town while we walk – checking out every angle of the rooftops, church spires, and defensive towers along the way.
We also have miniature views of the valley through the tiny window slits made in the wall for firing down on any advancing enemies.
These are known as arrow loops, or loopholes, and yes, they are where the term for usurping a rule or law originated – as in a way though the wall without actually breaking it.
The main square is dominated by the Rathaus, or town hall, and the tavern where the council did their drinking, the Ratstrinkstube.
The tower on the tavern is semi-famous for its Meistertrunk clock that depicts a popular legend about the town every hour on the hour.
We parked it at an outside table with a couple of Glühwein at about ten till to wait for the show.
The clock recreates a story that goes back to the early 1600s and the Thirty Years’ War, when Count Tilly and his Catholic troops were laying siege to the town.
As a joke, the count promised to spare the town – if one of its councillors could quaff a full three-and-a-quarter liter tankard of wine in one gulp. Mayor Nusch took the challenge and downed the whole thing nonstop, becoming an instant hero.
We’ve got to say that the clock show doesn’t quite live up to the legend. Two windows open, one with the count, the other with the mayor. While the mayor drinks, very slowly we might add, the count turns to look out over the square.
Afternoon: Unexpected opulence and some bangin’ street food!
We head back to meet the ship in the bigger city of Würzburg, and have some time to explore before boarding.
The main attraction is the Würzburg Residenz, an over-the-top opulent palace commissioned by two prince-bishops, the brothers Johann Philipp Franz and Friedrich Karl von Schönborn who truly knew how to crush any semblance of separation of church and state. These guys were not going to be outdone by any kings or emperors; they went for a cozy three-hundred room, three-wing circus to rival Versailles.
In the square we find a market reminiscent of the Christmas markets we visited cruising the Danube last year with Viking.
Even with the availability of half-meter sausages, we go for a steaming bowl of schtupf-nodlen, a delicious, rib-sticking mixture of noodles, sauerkraut, onions, and pork belly.
We walk back to the bus while schtupf-ing ourselves silly, pausing only to chew and snap a shot or two off the five-hundred-year-old Alte Mainbrücke, Old Main Bridge.
Back on Odin, we are greeted by this guy…
…before we dress up for the Captain’s Dinner.
Day Nine: Morning on Odin, Smoky Beer, and Bamberg
Morning: Rest and Roaming the Ship
We don’t have an excursion until later today, so we’re hanging out enjoying our stateroom.
There’s nothing quite like opening the balcony curtains and turning on the bow cam on the TV set – so relaxing, in fact, that we end up having to go to the roof to stop falling asleep every couple of minutes.
Odin’s kitchen garden
Not that it’s not relaxing here, too – it’s just kind of embarrassing to be snoozing in public areas of the ship!
We discover that the pilothouse lowers to duck under low bridges – and that David needs to duck at times too!
Afternoon: BAM-berg
We enter the city of Bamberg by crossing two bridges.
Uniquely,the Old Town Hall, the Rathaus, sits between the bridges, built in 1386 — right in the middle of the Regnitz River.
An archway through the center of the structure serves as a gate into the town.
On the way up to the Bamberg Cathedral we pass through the Jewish Quarter and our guide shows us a Stumbling Stone.
These markers are to remember victims of concentration camps, but rather than place them in the sad surroundings of those camps, the remembrance is placed outside the homes where they lived before the atrocities occurred.
The Neue Residenz, sports the best backyard in Bamburg.
The magnificent Rosengarten, where the rose blooms have an absolutely amazing view of the city, and of the castle, Bamberg Altenburg.
The cathedral is quite special itself, since it is the final resting place of both an emperor and a pope.
The tomb of Pope Clement II, the only pope to be buried north of the Alps, is hidden away behind the alter; while emperor Henry II lays prominently displayed in the back of the church with his wife Cunigunde beside him.
Evening: The speciality of the house – beer-wise
Below the cathedral, in the old part of Bamberg, we find the historic tavern and brewery Schlenkerla.
Known to exist since at least 1405, this is the home of the original Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. The brew is widely known as Bamberg’s specialty, smoke beer.
Walking in, we find a classic beer hall where everyone grabs a seat at large communal tables underneath a high concentration of antler-based decorations.
After watching a while, David figures out the brew delivery process.
There is a small window in the wall near the front door. He simply pops my head in, order zwie, and plop down at a table full of other Viking adventurers, local Bambergers, and a few international ex-pat wanderers with a couple half-liters that smell like a campfire.
Inside the tiny service porthole, two barrels of brew are being drained at an impressive rate.
According to tradition, the bräu must be drawn from a wooden barrel. No doubt this adds in preserving the intense smoky character.
There was most likely a time when most beer had this bacon-y fresh-from-the-smokehouse aroma, because drying the hops was usually done over an open fire, but these days the fiery flavor is pretty rare.
At least in our experience, which is hardly limited when it comes to sampling varieties of malted beverages around the world, this is the only smoke beer we have run across. Let’s call it unique and bold, but not a new favorite… but just to make sure, we order another.
Back on board, we are treated to fabulous appys before dinner!
Day Ten: Goodbye Odin, Nuremberg and our First Glimpse of Prague
Sadly, today we disembark from the Odin for good, but the news is not all bad, we still have a few more days left on the tour as we make our way to Prague by motorcoach. We will stop along the way in Nürnberg for a look at some twentieth century history, as well as a glance at one of the Holy Roman Empire’s most important cities.
Morning: The dark side of Nuremberg
Most of us know the name Nürnberg, or Nuremberg, because of the trials held after World War II, and we get a look at the courthouse and prison behind it as we drive through the town but, as home to six huge Nazi Party conventions, the city was important to the Nazi propaganda machine well before the war.
The Nürnberg rallies were held at an enormous open stadium known as the Zeppelinfeld.
As we drove in it was obviously big enough to hold several blimps, but the name is actually slightly deceiving, the only zeppelin to ever land here was back in 1909 when Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin landed one.
This was actually used as a parade ground and demonstration area to show off the troops to the public.
It became best known to those of us outside of Germany when American troops blew up the huge swastika that stood on top of the grandstands after taking the city in 1945.
Right next to the field Hitler had started what was planned to be the biggest indoor hall ever.
Once the war broke out work was halted, and obviously never resumed, but even just over half finished the place is huge.
We can’t help but notice the cosmetic similarity to the Coliseum in Rome, but on closer inspection it is only skin deep.
The structure lacks any of the classic nature of the original, and so comes off as a weak copy. Still it is impressive just for its sheer size, and parts of it have been put to good use as home to an educational museum.
A big part of why Hitler chose Nürnberg was because of his obsession with Roman and more so the Holy Roman Empire. In his vision he was creating something comparable, and Nürnberg was very important in the empire. Charles IV decreed in 1356 that every new Emperor would spend his first day in office in Nürnberg.
Our first stop in the old town commemorates that event as it is reenacted every day at noon on the clock tower of The Frauenkirche, Church of Our Lady, in the main square.
We stake out a spot right in front just before the bells ring, trumpeters raise their horns (even if only slightly, but they might be tired, they are over 500 years old after all), drummers drum, doors open, and seven guys come out to do a little circling around the king.
The Männleinlaufen, which means running men, depict the seven electors who choose the new emperor.
After three laps the doors close and the show’s over. Although it might seem a bit cheesy to our twenty-first century eyes, it does contain a little history lesson.
Plus, we couldn’t help but think just how amazing the performance must have been to folks back in the fifteen hundreds.
Just one of life’s little pleasures — back in the Middle Ages — and we discover another while wandering through the city market.
There among the stands of great looking fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats, and breads, we see a sign for “3 im Weckla.”
Meanwhile people are getting served three little sausages on a sliced role.
It doesn’t take too much deducing to figure out what David will be biting into real soon.
While he was more than happy to participate in this local tradition of three small sausages on a roll, we felt the need to look into the story a little deeper.
Since the European Union has seen fit to protect the “original Nuremberg bratwurst,” and about a billion brats are produced each year, we figured this just may be a serious subject. They do take sausage seriously, and strict rules must be followed during production.
But as so often seems to be the case, there is a legend about the Nürnberger Rostbratwürst.
Centuries ago, a man named Hans Stromer was sentenced to life in prison. He accepted his fate, asking only that he be allowed one brat a day.
So the local sausage makers began to make sausages small enough to fit through the keyhole of the jail. Hans went on to live long enough to consume 28,000 of the little links.
We make a quick stop at the Czech border to drink a welcome home toast with our new favorite — and unmatched — Program Director, Radim, on his return to his homeland.
We raise a glass of Becherovka, a wildly popular libation flavored with a secret recipe of herbs.
The nectar has a spicy, yet sweet zing that we understand warms the cockles of any Czech heart.
Cheers! Na zdravi!
Our first glimpse of Prague!
Draft beer comes in two sizes. Veronica’s small version is what
our waiter jokingly referred to as “for children”
After checking in, or should we say Czeching in, to our hotel, we hit the streets in search of a light meal.
It doesn’t take us long to find potato pancakes, goulash, and dumplings.
None of these are hard to find in Prague; pretty much every corner café will be serving them, along with the world’s first Pilsner beer, Pilsner Urquell.
Morning: The largest castle in the world and weird babies
Our tour of Prague begins at the castle, a complex of palaces and churches so huge that it holds the title of largest castle in the world.
It is also one of the few fortresses still in use as an official seat of government, just as it has been for Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, and presidents of both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic for over a thousand years.
The two huge cathedrals, The Basilica of Saint George and the Basilica of St. Vitus, are also still in use. St. Vitus is the more impressive of the two, with its incredibly ornate Gothic exterior.
One of the highlights for us are the detailed, and finely preserved gargoyles all the way around the cathedral. These water-spouting works of art go way beyond any gargoyles we have ever encountered.
From the castle we make our way down the hill into the city below.
As we near the famous Charles Bridge we encounter some strange, giant babies in Kampa Park.
These are the work of acclaimed Czech artist David Černý, who originally put ten of the odd infants on the Zizkov Television Tower across town. They were so popular that he made three more tower tykes here, so people could have a closer look.
The bridge is often referred to as an outdoor gallery, and the description is accurate, but it is also a theater and a concert stage. Street performers, and artists, are a huge part of the charm of this oldest bridge in Prague.
Afternoon: Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock and being hams
From the bridge it is just a short walk to the Old Town Square, and we enter this bustling center of the city’s activity just in time for the amazing Astronomical Clock to do its hourly thing.
This is the animated clock tower by which all other clocks should be judged. It is the undisputed heavy weight champion.
After the show, we stop by the stands that line the square for a not-so-light lunch of Prague ham and Halušky.
Classic Prague ham is rotisserie cooked over an open fire, and carved right off the bone onto the plate.
Pretty basic stuff, simply served with a couple of slices of bread, and that’s all that is needed for a real treat.
Just in case the ham might not be enough to stuff us like a turkey, we order a nice big bowl of Halušky on the side. Yeah baby, nothing like potato dumplings with onions, sauerkraut, and yet more ham to top things off. Gobble, gobble!
One of our favorite stories about the Jewish Quarter is the legend of the Golem.
In the tale, a 16th century rabbi known as the Maharal brought to life a golem he had made out of clay to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks.
The rabbi had the ability to turn off the golem, but somehow things went awry.
Even though the golem was trying to help, he made a mess of things, but the rabbi managed to stop him and kept the body in the attic of the synagogue just in case he should ever be needed again.
Little clay models are available at all of the stands in Josefov, so we get a pocket sized version. Doesn’t seem like he could go on much of a rampage.
As we venture out after dark, we find that the street performers are still going strong.
The ongoing show that graces the streets of Prague certainly doesn’t slow down just because the sun goes down.
Earlier in the day we saw full bands set up on corners, and a favorite from our last trip, Vladimir Pinta, singer, sax, and trombone player extraordinaire.
Our night time stroll finds some new blood in the square, a great keyboard player and singer performing under the watchful eye of the Astronomical Clock, and for a nightcap in front of the opera house, an astounding musician using water filled brandy snifters as his instrument. He played with the skill of a concert pianist… perhaps he should be inside the hall.
Watch: The incredibly talented (and hysterically funny) Peter! He even performs a special serenade to Veronica!
On that beautiful note, we end another Viking Cruise. If it is possible, we had an even better time on this one than on last year’s Christmas Market tour along the Danube. No, come to think of it, it is not possible. Let’s just call it a draw, both were absolutely outstanding. We met some great people and the crew on The Odin was exceptional. Even under a few difficult circumstances they made sure that everything ran smoothly, we didn’t miss a thing and had the time of our lives.
In front of the opera house in Prague, an astounding musician using water filled brandy snifters as his instrument. He played with the skill of a concert pianist… perhaps he should be inside the hall.
Watch: The incredibly talented (and hysterically funny) Peter! He even performs a special serenade to Veronica!.. See more
What is middle aged? I suppose we are implying the middle of our lifespan. So let’s say eighty years. That makes forty, give or take a few years, middle aged. Ninety is certainly a possibility, so, forty-five. Some of us might even live to be 100, so I can even go as high as fifty.
After that it gets a little curious. Fifty-five? Well, people have lived to 110, so let’s call the late fifties the absolute top side of middle age.
If someone sixty-plus is going around claiming to be middle aged, basically they are declaring… CONTINUE READING >>
What is middle aged? I suppose we are implying the middle of our lifespan. So let’s say eighty years. That makes forty, give or take a few years, middle aged.
Ninety is certainly a possibility, so, forty-five. Some of us might even live to be 100, so I can even go as high as fifty.
After that it gets a little curious. Fifty-five? Well, people have lived to 110, so let’s call the late fifties the absolute top side of middle age.
If someone sixty-plus is going around claiming to be middle aged, basically they are declaring that they intend to live to be the oldest human ever in the history of the world. I’m not buying it.
The fact is that only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older, so we’ve got to draw the line somewhere.
Personally, I have absolutely no desire to live past 100. No thanks, that’s just more time than I need. But wait — I could get Willard Scott to announce my birthday on the Today Show. Of course ol’ Willie would be 257 by then, so… it might be worth it just to see that.
Perhaps I’m looking at this the wrong way. Maybe middle age isn’t so much about chronology, but more about functionality. Like the way a car’s age is more about mileage than model year.
One thing’s for sure, I rolled my odometer over a long time ago. My vision started going at twenty-nine and shows no signs of magically returning to the eagle-eyed sharpness of my youth. A dozen new lenses later, I’m about half blind now, so… middle age.
I’m certainly at least half deaf. The predictable outcome from decades of playing in some pretty loud bands. I have several drummers to personally thank. Nothing like a few good cymbal crashes right at ear level to take the edge off of that pesky ability to hear. What did you say?
I am also ridiculously forgetful, but I always have been. So either I was senile at eighteen or it’s just the way I am. I’m not talking about not being able to find my keys — I literally drive along the freeway, miles past my exit, and come to my senses wondering What in the world am I doing here?
I have shown up at concerts without my guitar, not just once or twice, many times. I pick up cell phones and listen for a dial tone… every time. I pay for gas but don’t remember to put it in the tank. Do me a favor, next time a car goes by with a coffee cup, laptop, book or a bag of groceries on the roof, give me a little wave.
I’m going to make the smoothest transition into dementia ever, I won’t even notice it. It’s all a matter of getting the supply of brain cells down to a manageable number.
So I guess the middle means half of the expected life of our bodily functions. The warranty must be running out on a bunch of my parts. When they’re halfway worn out, then that must be middle age. Because when they’re all the way spent, well… bucket, meet foot.
Still, I can’t decide if I feel old or young. Maybe THAT’s what middle age is all about. There are times I think, I don’t feel much different than I did thirty years ago. Other times I think I might keel over any minute. Depends on the day — or even more so — the time of day.
Mornings? I’m not exactly springing up like Jack from his box these days. Snap, Crackle, Pop — I sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies getting out of bed. But I figure if I wake up looking no worse than my driver’s license picture I’m off to a pretty good start. No worries, it’s nothing a gallon or two of strong coffee can’t bring around.
Afternoons? They’re usually OK, as long as the weather isn’t doing something squirrelly. Several of those cereal-sounding joints can put the National Weather Service to shame. I wonder why they don’t just call me for the forecast, because I am regularly kicking their butts in the accuracy department. Of course they’d have to catch me before I get into some of Granny Clampett’s rheumatiz medicine.
Speaking of hooch, evenings can be pretty groovy after a couple cold fellahs. Of course timing is important, because it’s pretty easy for happy hour to turn into nap time. Then I’d have to go back to square one and the driver’s license photo test and, well, might as well just stay in bed. It’s terribly grueling.
Bottom line? It’s getting to the point where it’s hard for me to claim to be middle aged anymore. I don’t buy this fifty-is-the-new forty horse hockey — the old dirt nap is the new big sleep.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’ve got one foot in the grave, that would certainly not be middle aged. I guess that would be old age. That’s a whole ‘nother discussion, and I’m not ready for that.
I haven’t even made it to the point where I can start bragging about my age yet.
The three-story bicycle parking lot at the Amsterdam train station! We were told that an expansion is necessary and plans are underway.
