Tag: rhine

Once a Viking…

A moment from our Amsterdam to Basel cruise in 2022. A shipboard view of Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, built in 1327 as a toll-booth on the Rhine.

As we’re on our way to the starting point of our next cruise with Viking, let’s take a look back at a moment on a prior cruise. In 2022, we took a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel with Viking, which was our first cruise experience. It was amazing! From the guided tours to the service, everything was perfection, even when things went wrong.

Here’s a view from the ship as we travel up the Rhine…

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle

This picturesque castle was in essence a toll-booth on the Rhine river. King Ludwig had the castle builtin in 1326/7 to increase his toll revenue. After all, all that water doesn’t flow without the king’s permission! And yes, that means it is coming up on its 700th anniversary soon!

How did they ensure toll collection you ask? Massive chain booms were raised across the rather narrow river passage by the castle. Upon payment the chain was lowered. Otherwise the ship and cargo were seized and the crew thrown into the dungeon. Those were tougher times!

Breakfast Serendipity

A bird in the window!

Do you ever have one of those moments when something happens that leads you to believe the Universe isn’t such a bad place after all? For some unfathomable reason this tends to happen to me on a regular, although unpredictable, basis.

During our recent vacation cruise with Viking from Amsterdam to Basel, there was such a moment. Imagine being moored (Kehl, Germany) and sitting down for breakfast on a lovely morning, when you’ve decided to just take it easy (it’s a vacation, after all). As breakfast is served you look out the window to see this…

Grey Heron

Clearly there’s good fishing (or frogging) when there’s a boat next to the bank of the river, as this grey heron knows what they are doing. He stood there for several minutes, moving just a bit from time to time looking for a meal.

I felt lucky to capture this moment, as a number of coincidences had to coalesce to create this part of space-time. The heron had to pick the spot on the river bank right next to our window. As we were facing easterly, the morning sun reflected off the window to create reflected lighting that most photographers have to learn to create with often expensive equipment. I appreciate moments such as these!

This photo was captured with an iPhone 13 Pro Max and processed using Skylum’s Luminar AI software and Adobe Photoshop.