Cruise of the Rhine & Mosel, June 2022

With a few days in Switzerland

Monday May 30, 2022; Uneventful flight aboard Swiss Air Boeing 777 from LA to Zurich. Airplane was filled as travel picks up after a couple years of covid pandemic reticence.

Wednesday June 1, 2022; A boat ride across Lake Lucerne followed by cable car ascent to Riga Kaltbad. Nice scenery, an alpenhorn serenade and lunch. We have about 30 travelers on this OAT (or GCCL) pre-trip. Cruise Photo Album

Thursday June 2, 2022; Today we followed a tour south and up to the mountain pass Kleine Scheidegg at about 6,700 ft. elevation from which we view The Eiger North Face, 13,015 ft., Monch and Jungfrau left to right. For perspective the highest peak in Switzerland is Monte Rosa, 15,203 ft., while Whitney, highest peak in lower 48 of the US is 14,400 ft. Kleine Scheidegg is approximately at the Swiss tree line, while the tree line in the Sierras is about 11,000 ft., the difference dictated by Swiss latitude of near 47° while Whitney is 37°. We travel first by bus, then by cog railway. Typically trains in the US can negotiate only very moderate hills due lack of traction of the smooth rails with the smooth wheels. In the mountains of Europe and elsewhere traction is achieved by running a round gear on a linear gear on the railway grade. Alternately smaller trains are pulled by a cable, frequently one car (cable car, or funicular). We were fortunate to have perfect weather free of rain and clouds to view the peaks around Kleine Scheidegg and travel to and from. The return was a different route through Grindelwald.

The implication in conversation of guides and ambiance is that rural Switzerland is a pastoral land of dairy farmers. The most impressive aspect of this tour for me is steep foothills that are luxuriant green with healthy looking grass and flowers, dotted with ancient country wood structures, though many appear abandoned. Despite this they are not collapsing like an old barn might be in Ohio or Wyoming, but structurally quite intact. We are told that dairy herds graze the lower valleys in winter and move to the high slopes in summer. It’s not clear how this can happen. A guide intimates that the cattle free range and are identified by each farmer by unique cow bells. That they are largely dairy herds and so twice-daily milking is part of the ritual. These must be small family only dairy operations. Commercial dairy farming requires significant milking facilities. Imagine a farmer going out to this free range dairy twice a day and identifying his 25 – 50 cows with his unique bell, rounding them up and separating from the other herds of 50, and driving them to the milking facility twice a day. Further, this farmer must have such a milking, storage, and transportation to market facilities both in the summer highlands and in the winter lowlands. This make so little sense that I can only conclude that dairy farming means a farmer has 4 or 5 cows that are largely handled by early 20^th century techniques. This also makes no sense so I conclude that I have learned almost nothing about Swiss rural farming life.

As an afterthought, perhaps these are not milking cows at all, but beef. Then all the problems of milking, storage, transportation are solved by spring suckling calves. And the herd only have to be separated once or twice a year at slaughter or breeding time! Frankly, I believe this whole cow bell story may have been true a century ago but today is only propagated for the tourists. In Lucerne at a shop called CasaGrande I saw cow bells for sale at up to around 950 CHF (~$950).

Switzerland is super neat, clean, free of graffiti, so much so as to compete with Japan. I had to look for two days to find an item of discarded trash. Further, the paced streets seem in unusually good repair, though at Lucerne elevation of 1,500 ft. they get only a few inches of snow and have mild temperatures in winter, avoiding the freezing that destroys pavement. Don’t miss the lion sculpture and the Lucerne wall.

In every city there were bicycles, pedal and e-bike, galore and lots of e-scooters as well. Always a complex mix if cars, bikes, scooters and pedestrians on city squares with few rules, just be courteous and careful. Perhaps not so much away from the tourist squares where the real residents live.

Saturday June 4, 2022; Today drive by bus to our ship, River Harmony, at Basel. The ship has capacity of 140 however we have about three groups of 30 each with a separate tour manager. Fortunately I am sticking with the pre-trip leader Rebecca, who grew up in US so with little trace of European accent is easy to follow when speaking. She’s working out to be an excellent guide and organizer. Upon arrival the Rhine was 74°F and many folks floating, swimming, and enjoying some tiny beaches riverside. We visited the Basel Marktplatz and colorful city hall and Münster Cathedral with its ornate multi-colored slate roof.

Monday June 6, 2022; Over 6, 7, 8, 9 we sail sequentially to Strasbourg, France and Speyer, Boppard, and Bernkastel, Germany, along the Rhine and turning went into the Mosel at Koblenz on the last evening – and with a side bus trip to Riquewihr from Strasbourg. The map. Cathedral Notre-Dame at Strasbourg is home of reputedly home of the world’s largest astronomical clock. The vineyard scenery and many castles in good repair provided spectacular viewing between Speyer and Koblentz. Some, myself included, visited Marksburg Castle from our stop at Boppard. Early on I learned the ship had a few e-bikes and from then forward many days would be a bus and/or walking tour with our group of 30 and guide to visit the highlights to today’s town, then later a sometimes long e-bike ride in afternoon. At Strasbourg, where we docked late afternoon, I crossed the river on a modern arch suspension train and pedestrian bridge and searched, but didn’t find the Notre-Dame. At Speyer Teknik Museum they have a 747 in flight, mounted on a pedestal, as well as a Soviet Antonov billed as the largest propeller aircraft ever built - they apparently haven’t heard of Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose. We visited Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel twice, one night on each side of a visit to Trier. On both visits I had long e-bike rides, getting high on the vineyards covered hills on both sides of the river. At all of our Mosel visits on my bike rides I searched for an English-speaking viticulturist to learn more about planting and care of the vineyards with zero success. Why are the in rows up and down the steep hills for example, rather than around the contour which is better from the stand point of soil erosion? What kind of machinery, if any, is used in the care and harvesting? I did find a few contour plantings near Cochem and a couple “vineyard tractors” that have a narrow wheel spread to fit between the rows of vines. Many vineyards are on such steep hill it would be frightening enough to drive a tractor up or down, much less be possible to drive around the contour of the hill.

Saturday June 11, 2022; Seems like we just picked an opportune spot by the riverside to moor and launch a visit to Trier by bus a few miles away. Trier has a couple remarkable cathedrals and a Roman basilica from AD 310 behind the huge Roman Black Gate from about AD 200. On a Saturday of some German holiday the street behind the gate was filled temporary tented beer ‘halls,’ band stands and the like. From this river mooring a large group of our River Harmony travelers made a day trip to Luxemburg, which I skipped, having had weeks long visits on spacecraft consulting trips at SES Astra in 2001 – 02. During the Luxemburg tour we on the ship moved back to Bernkastel and a traveler, Gene, and I took a long partially off-road e-bike ride above the vineyards north-west of the mooring. Next day we moved to Cochem, site of the most elaborate castle we were to visit on the cruise and another exploratory e-bike excursion for me. June 14, we docked at Bonn, city that was the German capital through the Cold War. My e-bike excursion took me to the Bonn Botanical Garden. Probably the least interesting stop on our entire cruise. There were many locks in the river, someone said 30 – 40, and cargo barge traffic passing every few minutes. As with the viticulturist, I was equally unsuccessful learning what most were carrying.

Particularly at the Trier holiday, but elsewhere on our city stops, we saw a variety of purpose built ‘food trucks.’ These were mostly trailers with slide or fold out sections to become semi-outdoor restaurants or beer bars at their temporary location with tables or benches for patrons.. Unlike food trucks in the US that often appear to be salvaged from an old throw-away vehicle, these appear to be new vehicles, mostly trailers, designed for the job. Also, rather than the crassness of putting a good draught beer in a paper cup, they put it in a real glass, charge €1, and refund it when you return the glass. In the recent covid pandemic times, on Maui where I live much of the time, there are city lots populated with 10 – 12 food trucks that never move, competing with the indoor restaurants with limited help and serving capacity.

As we moved from port to port along the rivers we had three great meals in the ship’s dining room every day and nearly every evening some presentation or entertainment in the lounge nearly every evening. One night a female acapella singing group, another something billed as a mandolin concert but with a small orchestra with several instruments. Maybe best one evening a series of skits and performances by the ship’s crew members. At the more northern Europe latitudes we typically had daylight well past 9 pm.

Wednesday June 15, 2022; First stop in The Netherlands, Nijmegen. Following out Rebecca escorted walking tour around the Old Town section, with a couple other travelers, I visited a river side bicycle museum with three floors of dozens of old bikes, and later the Market Garden National Museum. Operation Market Garden was a failed allied airborne operation to secure the Rhine On my now routine afternoon e-bike ride, crossing the Waal River bridge, the Rhine splits into several waterways in the low lands of The Netherlands, were dozens of bikes parked without locks belonging bathers far below on the river bank beach. In Valkhof Park, site of some Roman ruins, I found a crew setting a transient amusement park Drop Tower by what seemed the tallest free-standing crane I have ever seen. The crane, almost vertical, seemed to have perilously little outrigger support prompting me to watch for a half hour for it to topple. When you blow up this photo you can see the rigger waiting on top, and note that the top section, suspended on the crane did make it successfully to the top, and better, the rigger later climbed to the top to detach the crane. Wow!

Next we were off to Kinderdijk to explore real windmills. Lots of aspects that were not previously clear from the don Quixote legends. They are sturdy brick structures that the caretaker family lives in, have very large wood drive gears inside, and have to be steered into the wind by a huge exterior lever and gear mechanism. However, currently at the Kinderdijk location the major water pumping seems to be done by three 6 ft. diameter “water augers.” Dock space is prime near the Kinderdijk windmills, so we moved nearby to Willemstadt for the afternoon – sometimes River Harmany parties have to bus to the back to the windmill location.

Last day, June 17 was spent at Antwerp, Belgium. My last long e-bike trip of the cruise went through two walking-bike tunnels under the Scheldt River, to the fantastic train station, past the modernist court building, Palace of Justice, and the unique port authority building where a very modernistic building, appropriately a diamond!, for the diamond cutting and trading capital of the world is built on top of the much older original Antwerp-Burges Port Authority.

Saturday June 18, 2022; About 20 of our 90 travelers go on to Bruges, Belgium for the post-trip, the remainder head home. A late departure from Brussels got me a missed connection to the US from Frankfurt. Next day the 11 hour flight from Frankfurt (FRA, EDDF) to LA (KLAX) at ~35,000 ft. where looking out my window seat usually shows you the top of clouds – the noon departure meant we were following the sun and the entire flight in daylight. However, looking out at one point revealed an interesting sight of land and water. Mysteriously, the phone GPS usually doesn’t function above about 18,000 ft. but in this rare case it did lock up briefly to show, observe the small grey disk, we had just passed the Hudson Straight over Canada on the Great Circle route that skirts the southern tip of Greenland.