Wine on the Rhine...Viking Cruise 2023

Another cute town! How many churches can we see in each town, you ask? It turns out, quite a few. I’m making fun but most are pretty spectacular, especially the ones built before the year 1000! Obviously some restoration has taken place but the main walls and parts of the city walls we’re seeing remain intact.  Here are today’s churches: This is St. Stephen’s Church; 15th century. The wood ceiling is quite unique. Also unique because when the Calvinist’s took over they turned this into a Protestant church. The pipe organs in these churches are amazing.   The infographic on this wall tells a story about finding a rich princess to marry Otto the 1st’s son Otto the 2nd…when they were 12! They had several kids and finally had a boy in 980, Otto the 3rd, but Otto 2 died 3 years after he was born. Too young to ascend to the throne, his Mom ruled as Regent Empress until she died in 991. Long story to show that Otto 3 built the chapel below in honor of his mother. This and the ruins o...

On our journey we passed this spot that marks where 3 countries intersect: Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.  Maastricht Today in Maastricht in the Netherlands (the oldest city in the Netherlands …) The first city to be liberated on D Day. In the Netherlands American Cemetery, 8301 soldiers are buried, mostly Americans and Canadians who liberated Maastricht.  This is reportedly the oldest bridge in The Netherlands (our guide told us we might hear that about more than one bridge). Like many other cities, Maastricht is built around the original city walls. This is said to be the oldest city gate in The Netherlands.  Also like many other European cities, this place is crawling with old churches.  This one (below) is said to be the oldest. Tower was built in 1000; the chapel in 1500. The words above the chapel door loosely translate to: Do not enter without praising Holy Mary (saying Ave Maria). There are so many churches that they have repurposed many of them. This ...

  If you are following along, refer back to previous posts occasionally  I’m adding more info when I get it! In Antwerp, like Brussels, there are sections of the original fortification walls are still around the city.  This statue is in the main square. A legend about cutting off a giant’s hand yada yada. This statue is of the guy throwing or “twerping” the hand. So Antwerp translates to Hand-throwing.  Speaking of hands….  This museum MAS (Museum on the Stream) offers a hand emblem on the wall in exchange for donors giving the museum a “helping hand”. No real explanation for the figures climbing the building, but they were fun.  And there was this : There are 163 statues of the Virgin Mary around the city of Antwerp. By contrast, there are 3 streets in the Red light district (2 are shown below), featuring 270 “windows”. Prostitution is illegal here, but it is allowed. The sex workers are considered self-employed, pay taxes, and are subject to health regula...

More from Brussels:   A gas station. One at a time please…. This is Manneken Pis, a famous statue in Brussels. Here he is relieving himself. (Nice.) They change his outfit every day. Today, a football (soccer) jersey.  Yesterday we had a bit of a scavenger hunt for a place to buy a curling iron for Deb. She felt that hers was feeling too hot, even with the converter. After a few false directions we found the right store and…success! Scroggs said it was too bad that Deb spent her whole souvenir budget before she even boarded the ship…. (probably only Laura Scroggie will relate to this!) Our hotel, Radisson City Center. The courtyard where we ate breakfast in the morning and drank at the bar in the evening. And an atrium with walking path. We did not walk there but we hit 16,000 steps anyway.  Our guide says most Belgians are Catholic but are bad Catholics. They only go to church 3 times in their lives, and they don’t know about 2 of them: baptism, funeral and wedding....