December 14

 Dordrecht & Rhine River Sailing

We awoke in Dordrecht, The Netherlands - the oldest city in the country - and were outside by 9am for a two hour walking tour.  To be fair, there wasn't much for the guide to work with....while there were SOME medieval homes/buildings, there wasn't a historic district; there wasn't a Christmas Market; and shops didn't open until 11 am and we were back to the ship at about that time.  And so there wasn't a lot of significant sites to see on the walk, and she didn't have many stories to tell.  But with that said.....it was a good morning walk - VERY cold when we started and finished (in the open by the river), just cold on the walk - and it was a new place to add to my list of places I've been!

Khloe is a bit chilly to start

One of the few remaining medieval city gates (front-left & back-right)

What's with the sheep?  Sooo....apparently the legend goes that in medieval times some peasants were trying to smuggle sheep into the city.  Got caught and had to pay the penalty.  And ever since, residents of Dordrecht have been nicknamed "sheep heads" - so sheep are displayed all over the city....like these.  Go figure!

An example of the architecture we saw several times - built in the 1500's

Much like in Bruges, the city of Dordrecht is covered with canals

Another example of the canals

The "required" daily selfie

We met up with Mike and LuAnn for lunch and afterwards the ship pulled away and we spent the rest of the day sailing along the river - one of my FAVORITE things to don on a river cruise.  Here are some of the pics from our afternoon of sailing - which, while a bit chilly on the "Sun Deck" (or as referred to in tonight's talk as the "Ice Deck") I still enjoyed watching Europe pass by while sailing.....

Today was the longest stretch of sailing that we'll do on the adventure

Our "floating hotel" - the Viking Skirnir

Stateroom #203 - while you can see the panoramic view we have, you can't really see the space from the far bed to the window.....on ALL other river cruises this space is hardly wide enough for an adult to stand unless standing sideways.  But in THIS stateroom there's a good 3-4 feet of room AND we have the veranda.  Very nice.

Our departure

Flying the Viking flag

Windmill sighting!

Enjoying the brisk weather and the scenic sailing

Look - at chateau!  Not anything like the castles we'll see day after tomorrow

Another windmill

Sunset on the Rhine River

Cheers!

Cruising Down The Rhine - Highlights in less than 2 min

I'll leave you with some photos of the holiday decorations around the ship.  With that in mind, side story.....a couple was walking by our stateroom as I entered after lunch and the girl said to the guy, "So why do THEY get to have a Christmas door?"  Because, duh.....wer're the COOL ones on the ship :)