European River Trip - sept 2012

Europe river trip Sept 1012

We fly to Amsterdam and go directly to the boat.  We have an evening to walk around Amsterdam and a boat tour of the canals the next day.  Amsterdam at night is beautiful – with the reflection of the lights in the canals.

This is our first exposure to these European river boats and was a great experience.  We were traveling with friends from California, San Antonio and Dallas – our group was 8 couples, among a total boat population of 146.  The accommodations were very nice, if somewhat compact.

Our trip was 17 days, with a 4 day post trip to Prague, Czech.  We traveled down the Rhine River, through the Main Canal to the Danube River and down to Vienna Aus.  We traveled through 62 locks, two of which were 80 ft deep or tall depending on which way you are traveling.

I have posted some photos with some brief comments
(Click on Photo to expand)

Amsterdam is a city of bicycles and canals

Storm over the Rhine as we leave
Amsterdam - with one of the larger
locks we passed through

We passed under many bridges

and each one had it's own design
and character.

One of the many doorways in

Amsterdam





Our paths crossed many
times as we wandered
the city.






Another bridge over the Rhine - in
the early morning fog


The Rhine is a major industrial waterway
and a major recreational waterway.  We
saw many serious skulling teams and
there was always a ped and bike trail
alongside the river.

Early morning fog and Aspens
along the Rhine









As we cruised the river we
disturbed flocks of wading ducks
They can indeed - walk on water.







Karl Ittig came on board the ship as we
approached Wertheim and demonstrated
glassblowing.  He studied under Dale Chihuly
in the US, and worked with Chihuly on the
glass ceiling installation
at the Bellagio in Las Vegas 

Beautiful village along the Rhine









The museum in the Melk Castle
I don't know what this was - I just
loved the colors.

Elk in Estes Park

We took a short trip to Laramie Wy. today and when we returned to Estes Park, we found the Elk doing a little shopping and strolling in the park.

Ft Collins and Old Town

Monday the 15th Aug, we went with the McKinneys to Ft Collins for lunch
in the "Old Town" section.  Wonderful food on a shaded patio.

And a great specimen of an old English track bike with wooden rims....ooooohhhh....

Don and Pat 50th Party

Sunday night the 14th we celebrated Don and Pat Brownlee's 50th wedding anniversary.
It was quite a too-doo !! - Wedding veil, huge diamond/tinfoil ring and black bow tie.
They met in high school married while attending Baylor.  Don was "All State" basketball and coached high school basketball and Pat was in music. 

Boulder

Saturday the 13th, we took a trip to Boulder for the REI garage sale and bought two garages and a small storage shed.
We also visited the Leaning Tree - a sculpture garden and art museum.  Was beautiful.  Of course I had to take a pic of a flower.

Night Hike

Fridat the 12th Aug we took a night hike to Moraine Park to do some star gazing and hopefully see some of the Perseid Meteor shower.  We saw 3 meteors but I didn't get any pics - man those little burgers are fast !!!
I did take a couple of pics.

Senior Volunteers Dinner

Thurs 11th Aug, we had the Senior dinner in the Walnut Room.  Great food was served - prime rib, crab legs, shrimp, etc.... We showed a slide show of the various activities during the summer of 2011.
We had a group of about 100 and took this pic