Breisach and Colmar

Our first stop on the Rhine Christmas markets cruise was Breisach and Colmar.  We didn't get to see much of Breisach because we went on a bus tour into the Black Forest that morning.  Conveniently enough for the local folks, we stopped at a cuckoo clock shop run by a father-son team of craftsmen.  We were treated to a piece of Black Forest cake and got to take a look at their wares.

After perusing the selection, I chose this one and had it shipped to our home in Texas.

After lunch back on board the ship - this is how it always seems to work on river cruises, that they hustle you back there for the mid day meal - we took an optional afternoon excursion to Colmar, France, courtesy of our travel agent.

Basel's Christmas market was nice, but Colmar was really outstanding.  It seems the whole town knocked itself out to decorate for the holiday crowds. It was chocolate box cute and probably my favorite stop on the whole cruise.

I especially loved how they incorporated so much fresh greenery into the decorations.

We befriended a nice lady on the cruise ship from New Zealand and she snapped the pic below of me and my mother.

We enjoyed peering into the stalls and shop windows, checking out all of the goodies.  I thought the chocolate truffle hedgehogs were particularly cute.

We saw lots of greenery, Santas and sleighs used for decoration.  But one of my favorite decorated shops was the one with the nativity.  In a world that has become overly PC to avoid stepping on anyone's toes that doesn't celebrate Christmas, it was nice to see a beautiful little reminder of the reason for the season.

Just as it does here in England, the European sun set a bit after 4:00 pm and so we had a chance to see some of the Christmas lights before the tour bus picked us up to return to the ship.

All I Want for Christmas

This, I'll take this.  

I already have this Christmas pyramid...

but it's just small taters compared to the behemoth we saw in Heidelberg, pictured above, where they sell beer and gluhwein directly beneath it.  And there is an even bigger one in Dresden, reputed to be the tallest Christmas pyramid in the world.  Weih-nacht?!  A tabletop model is nice, but the skyscraper version would be outstanding.  

Christmas Markets Cruise - Basel

This year I gave my mother a late birthday/early Christmas present by taking her on a Christmas Markets cruise on the Rhine the week after Thanksgiving.  We kicked it off in Basel last Sunday, where we had our first experience with the Christmas markets.  It was really crowded, but great fun.

The stalls, aka chalets, were placed in the old town.  As usual, I took pics of interesting sights that caught my eye along the way.  Like the city's Rathaus below - beautiful.

And an old decorative well with fountain.

I saw the above carving on the side of a building next to the Rhine River (pictured below).  Upon closer inspection, we discovered a snail that had inched its way up about ten feet to hang out on the carving. I originally thought it was a wad of chewed gum.

The following morning, we strolled the streets of Basel a bit more, buying a watch or two... it IS Switzerland.  Plus a nice, golf sized umbrella since the forecast for our entire trip called for rain and it did, indeed, rain every danged day.

In the afternoon we boarded our ship, the Avalon Visionary. Here is a picture of my mother sitting down to enjoy the lovely and spacious amenities in our stateroom.

Favorite picture from Basel - the large Santa made from pretzel dough we spotted in a bakery window Sunday afternoon.

Oct Cruise - Dubrovnik, Croatia

On our final excursion day, the 6th grader and I had a lovely time in Dubrovnik.  We both agreed it was our favorite port of call on this cruise.  

With an early departure time, I took the breakfast loving daughter to the buffet so she could get her usual sausage and french toast before we kicked off our bus tour with a drive down the coast to Cavtat.  

We stopped at a restaurant along some river for a snack and leg stretch.  The scenery was just beautiful, so green with lots of fruit trees and gardens in bloom even though it was the third week in October.

Afterwards, we took a tour of the old walled city center of Dubrovnik. It was in excellent repair due to sprucing after the Serbian-Croatian war about 20ish years ago.  Dubrovnik sits right on the shore and it was a sight to behold.  The water was remarkably clear, a great place for kayaking in the summer.

In the two pics below, you can see these tiny little side alleys that led up and away from the main pedestrian walkways towards the imposing walls.

In the shot above, you can just make out a cable car near the center of the pic.  I imagine it was an amazing view, but I'm not a big fan of the heights you have to reach for these great vistas.

The daughter found a couple places that sold these big puffy donuts with a dollop of chocolate on the inside and just had to indulge despite the fact that she had a hearty breakfast aboard the cruise ship.

During the bus ride, an Asian couple sat across the aisle from us and I would swear the guy took at least 500 shots, the stereotypical tourist with a camera that wasn't afraid to use it.  Over the course of a couple hours it was nonstop click, click, click because he would snap them and then almost immediately scroll through to delete the ones he didn't like.  

The final shot to round out our October cruise, our last port before arriving for disembarkation in Venice, was a picture I took while standing on our balcony as we sailed out of Dubrovnik.  So long, farewell and hope to see you again at some point because Croatia was truly beautiful.