Ooh la la, Strasbourg

This morning we awoke at 4:30 to find ourselves docked in Strasbourg.  It was bitterly cold, but there were swans swimming around the AmaCello, and frost on the upper deck.  Mind you, it wasn’t nearly as cold as Heidelberg, but it was indeed cold.

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of Alsace, and is the seat of several European institutions.  These include the European Court of Human Rights, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines, the European Audiovisual Observatory, the Eurocorps, the European Union Parliament, and the European Ombudsman of the European Union.  The city is an iprtant center of manufacturing and engineering, as well as road, rail, and river communications.  I believe this last part greatly, as the GPS on the iPhone reset today to actually reflect where we were!!!  It had us in the Netherlands for the majority of this past week.

The city center, also known as the Grande Ile, was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.  The possession of this city has fluctuated back and forth between France and Germany (four times in 75 years, although it has been French since the end of WWII) for centuries, which is reflected in its culture, the meals, and the street signs.  There is also a small minority in the country that speak Alsatian language, but the official language is French - despite passing several bilingual schools on our canal ride.

One of the most unpleasant memories for Strasbourg is that of Little France (Petit France), where the soldiers who contracted syphilis were sent to either be cured or die.  They tended to be left there, and forgotten, living in their little piece of France during their ending days.

Wayne and  I spent a little time on deck this morning, although we had to tread lightly, as there was a significant layer of frost.  That being said, it was not as bitterly cold as Heidelberg.  After breakfast, we went into town and had a canal ride (my third in my lifetime), and then visited the Notre Dame of Strasbourg (my fifth time), and the astronomical clock.  Following that, we walked around the shops of the city (all the big names) and saw a few more sights.  Lunch was baguette sandwiches at a local cafe with Ivan and Sue, and then we headed our separate ways.  They shopped, we walked back to the boat through a central residential area surrounding the Orange place, which was filled with greenhouses.  We did a little more walking (9 miles in total for me today) after returning to the AmaCello, ton include a visit to a local pub that had free high-speed wifi, but abandoned thoughts of bicycling, as it was still cold and windy.  And dry.  That’s the one thing I do not miss about Europe, the dry winters that crack your skin if you are not careful.

One amusing thing the guide told us, crosswalks in France are merely for decoration, drivers do not care to follow the rules!

Dinner was the gala farewell (although we don’t leave for another 2 days), after which I received notice of my practicum interview, which will be Friday morning, 3 am Switzerland time.  Luckily our flight doesn’t leave until 2 pm Friday, so I will get a little more rest before flying for over 15 hours.

Bonne nuit, tout le monde!

Yes Virginia, you can go home again

Happy birthday, Grandma.  We miss you.

This morning we docked around the 6 am hour in Mannheim.  We breakfasted early, picked up our boarding cards, and got ready for the trip to Heidelberg, one of my old stomping grounds.  We were headed to the center of the old city for sight seeing and shopping.  The air was bitterly cold, and I was extremely glad for the hat I had in my pocket, thank you Maria!  Our tour guide was French, and he made interesting and fun conversation about the history of Heidelberg, particularly from a French slant.  Loved it!

Heidelberg is The fifth-largest city in the state of Baden Wurrtemberg, Heidelberg is part of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, with over 145,000 people in the city. It is bordered by the Neckar river in Odenwald (Oden forest).

Heidelberg is the location of the well known Unviersity of Heidelberg, with many students coming from outside the city, as well as the country.  The city is dominated by the ruins of its extensive castle, and is filled with Baroque architecture, which is visually very pleasing, and as mentioned before, is renowned for for its state university, the oldest in Germany.  Originally free to Germans and foreign students, there is now a cost of approximately 500 Euros per semester.  This includes graduate and medical students!  The university ws founded in 1386, and was the fourth university established in the Holy Roman Empire -- and it’s been co-ed since 1899!

The castle is a mix of styles from Gothic to Renaissance. Prince Elector Ruprecht III erected the first building in the inner courtyard as a royal residence. The building was divided into a ground floor made of stone and framework upper levels. Another royal building is located opposite the Ruprecht Building: the Fountain Hall. Prince Elector Philipp is said to have arranged the transfer of the hall's columns from a decayed palace of  Charlemagne from Ingelheim to Heidelberg.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Prince Electors added two palace buildings and turned the fortress into a castle. The two dominant buildings at the eastern and northern side of the courtyard were erected during the rule of Ottheinrich and Friedrich IV. Under Friedrich V, the main building of the west side was erected, the so called "English Building".

The castle and its garden were destroyed several times during the 30 Years’ War and the Palatine War of Succession. As Prince Elector Karl Theodor tried to restore the castle, lightning struck in 1764, and ended all attempts at rebuilding. Later on, the castle was misused as a quarry; castle stones were taken to build new houses in Heidelberg. This was stopped in 1800 by Count Charles de Graimberg, who then began the preservation of the Heidelberg Castle.

There’s a new visitor’s center (new since my last trip here in 1999) at the entry to the castle, and you can no longer go down into the main courtyard to see the wells and the cannons, but it was still beautiful.  The weather was bitterly cold, so I was extremely grateful for the hat Maria had made during our time in San Diego in January.  It has been used several times!  We made our way through the main square in the castle, and then went down into the wine storage cellar, where we got to see the enormous wine cask.

We went on the Hauptstrasse after taking a walk on the Alte Brucke, the old bridge.  It is the oldest entryway across the Neckar River into Heidelberg, and is marked with the flood levels dating back hundreds and hundreds of years.  An amazing piece of architecture, I remember being there watching a reenactment of the burning of the Neckar River during the 30 years’ war back when I was a baby lieutenant.  

This is one  of the longest shopping streets in all of Germany, and is a pedestrian only area (in theory, in practice, they have to get goods to the shop somehow...).  It is over 1K in length, and is filled with little shops and cafes.  It was a nice stroll, and I managed to get distracted by a shop or two before our hour was up and we had to go back to the buses.  My first purchase, conducted entirely in German, was for a pair of gloves (Handschuhe).  I think that from now on, the Maria hat and the Heidelberg gloves will remain a matched set.

The afternoon was Mac classes on iWork, iPhoto, and iMovie, followed by a class on how to speed up your Mac, which Wayne and I already do very well!  Well, we did all of those things very well, but the new iPad functionality of iPhoto is nice.

Tomorrow we spend the entire day in Strasbourg, and Wayne gets to use his French.  We are thinking of getting bicycles from the ship and tooling around in the afternoon during our free time.

Gute nacht, alle!

Cruising the Rhine

Today we cruised down the most most famous stretch of the Rhine River towards Rüdesheim, passing through the Loreley region, and seeing literally dozens of castles.  The Gorge stretches about 41 miles between Koblenz and Bingen.  It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 for its unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial factors. The Gorge itself was carved out of sedimentary rock, mostly slate, leaving the Rhine within surrounding walls of up to 660 feet.

The slopes of the Gorge have been terraced for agriculture, particularly cultivating wine grapes, for many years since the soil and weather conditions were favorable.  Many small settlements grew along the river due to its use for a trade route, and the cities have remained constrained in size, and maintain their original look and feel -- a mishmash of styles ranging from northern Europe to Bavarian to Rococo.  As wealth increased in the settlements, castles and surrounding town walls began to spring up.  This wealth made the towns prime targets for overtaking and destruction by the Holy Roman Empire, and during the 30 Years War, a good number of the castles were destroyed.  The castles were first destroyed by Rudolf of Hapsburg and the League of Rhenish Cities in the 13th century and then again during the 30 years war from 1618-1648.  Louis XIV’s troops hit again in 1689, Napoleon’s in the 1790s, after which they were restored by the Prussians after reunification battles against France were successful.

We started the morning with our first MacGeek seminar, which was good, but we could see lots of wonderful scenery behind us through the one open window.  We were chafing to get outside into the cold to take pictures.  Blessedly, they gave us an hour between classes so that we could see the majority of the castles in the Gorge.  It was beautiful, and it was cold.  During that time, they brought us Rüdesheimer coffee (laced with Asbach Uralt), and played Loreley, both in German and in English.  Then it was to the photography class, which was nice - learn how to disobey the rule of thirds and take pictures that are meaningful, playful, and thought evoking.  A lot seemed intuitive, but it was nice for concrete examples.

Lunch came and went, and we made it to Rüdesheim.  We docked, and at 2:30, caught the “toy train” up to Siegfried’s Kabinett, where we saw lots and lots of musical devices run by wind up key, punch tape, and rolls of little wires.  Amazing.  We’ll have more pictures after we finish editing!                                                                

The big attraction of Rüdesheim is wine.  There have been numerous conflicts here since its beginning, but this is now the home of German Riesling wine.  We went out on the first leg of the wine tasting tour, where we had a Riesling/Cabernet blend, quite surprising.  Ivan, Sue, Wayne and I then ditched the group to go on the Seilbahn (sky tram, sort of) up the vineyards.  At the top of the vineyards is a monument to Germania, from the 1800s, dedicated to defeating the French as part of the unification of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm, who dedicated the monument.  There was a spectacular view of Rüdesheim as well as neighboring Bingen, and much of the Rhine river.  We took the sky tram back down the vineyards and walked back through the town to our boat, where there was a pre-dinner cocktail party.

German night was good eating!  Spaetzle (thank you Sue) and duck leg for me, lots of good stuff all around.  Spirited debate ensued, followed by the AmaCello departing for Mannheim (and Heidelberg) tomorrow.  So looking forward to returning to the old stomping grounds.

Schlaf gut!

Köln and Koblenz

This morning, during breakfast, we came into Köln, mooring at about 8 am. After breakfast, or “breckee,” as our cruise director (Aussie) likes to call it, we picked up our tour cards and our boarding cards and got ready for the day.  We were broken into groups of 25, and herded by a guide who was using (as were we) the NASA developed QuietVox system.  Ingenious, really, your guide has a unique frequency, your sets tune to it, and then you follow, either closely or lolly gagging as the case might be.

Köln is Germany’s fourth largest city, and has a population of just over 1 million.  It was founded by the romans in 50AD because of its harbor capabilities, and then was overtaken by Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Frederick I during German unification.  The Cathedral, which used to be the tallest building in Europe, housed the relics of the Magi (aka the Three Kings of Orient).  The Cathedral is a magnificent piece of architecture, whose building spanned 632 years.  It is gothic of ethic proportions, and was extremely expensive to build.  The work began in 1248, and then continued for 300 years until the city ran out of money.  No work was done until 300 years later, when Frederick I agreed to fund half of the remaining costs, and donations from the city dwellers closed the gap.  Thanks to changes in technology, it only took another 32 years to build.

Our tour started along the Rhine, and we got to see the Maritime hotel, which is designed in the shape of a ship, to include porthole windows.  Our guide also pointed out to us that which they call the “lock bridge,” where lovers/spouses go onto the bridge with their names on a lock, which is fastened to a special board, and then the keys are flung into the Rhine.  From there it was on to 4711 Eau de Cologne, the store which sells the cologne created by Johann Maria Farina to help combat the body odor of yore.  Very, very expensive, and a bit overpowering.  I guess it helped with the body odor!  We also walked through the Jewish center, which was being excavated, and was located next to the Rathaus, where many couples were in the process of getting married in the obligatory civil service.                                         

The cathedral was next, and it was magnificent and overpowering both.  The opulence inside was coupled with building scaffolds.  Apparently, the day the scaffolding disappears and work is finished is believed to be judgment day!  The cathedral was one of the only buildings left standing after the bombings of WWII.  Most of the stained glass was preserved by the monks removing it from the windows and storing it. 

Wayne and I departed the church, and headed out on a mission - to find my wurzsalz!  Nine years ago I was given about 10 containers, and we are down now to the last one.  Our guide gave us direction, and we had success!!  I’m good for another 9 years!  Following that search, we hit the mustard museum, and reboarded the AmaCello.

After returning on board, we took off, headed for Koblenz, and the boat passed Remagen bridge as we moved towards the city, site of a  horrendous loss of life during WWII.  The afternoon was filled with three Mac classes, two of which we attended, one on the Lion operating system (didn’t need to), and one on photography post-processing (nicely done).  During the middle class, we slept!  The staff did manage to have the room set up appropriately, and made sure that it was MacMania attendees only, so there were no problems getting a seat.  Unfortunately, the rest of the problems with the space remain.  Neil Baumann, the man I wrote to yesterday, wrote me back to ask if things were getting better.  I gave him my honest opinion that control over the room was better, but that the space was totally inadequate for symposia.  I outlined the problems, and told him he ought to come and participate and see what we are going through this week as a group.  I also told him that thus far, I couldn’t see this conference meeting even half my expectations, and that I felt that none of us will get our money’s worth.  We’ll see what happens.

We arrived in Koblenz shortly after dinner, and geared up for a one hour walking tour of the city.  It was cold!  Koblenz is actually located where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet, known as the Deutsches Eck (German Corner). Overlooking the Eck is the second largest fortress in the EU, Ehrenbreitstein fortress.  Our nighttime tour took us through Florinsmark Square, the Church of Our Lady, the Four Towers that served as guard posts city center, Jesuitenplatz Square, and the execution square.  The city was almost completely destroyed in WWII, but largely rebuilt with post WWII allied reparation funding.  It is lovely to look at and walk through, and the architecture reminded me of being stationed further south in Ettlingen years ago.                                           

Post walk, I was too tired to blog, so it is coming out Sunday morning instead of Saturday night!

Guten Tag, alle!

Leaving Amsterdam

Before this blog even starts, I need to thank Ivan Samuels for sharing his bandwidth on his MiFi with us -- Wayne had a teleconference this  morning at 2 am, and I couldn’t upload the blog on the ship’s connection.  Ivan gave us access to some high speed bandwidth, and we were both successful.  Without Ivan, no blog.  Thank you!!!!

While we really enjoyed Amsterdam, it was time to get on board a boat and head towards Germany.  I do still swear there was a ghost in the room, as none of the problems that plagued me the previous two nights happened at all.  In fact, I slept until 6:30 am.  There’s something about being on a boat that is soothing. 

This morning, at 8:00 sharp, we cast lines from our tender and headed towards the Amsterdam-Rhine River Canal.  During the process, we went through several locks.  Based upon the view from our stateroom window, you get pretty darn close to the side of the lock.  The process itself is pretty amazing, you enter the lock if there is a green light.  Sometimes you wait for several boats to get in with  you before the rear lock closes.  As it closes, you are lowered in the water so that the top of your boat will make it under the lock.  Then a green light goes on at the forward lock, it raises, and the boats are slowly allowed to proceed.  We wound up going through two locks today on our way to the Rhine, and made it into Germany somewhere near the 6:00 hour.

Since we were at sea for the entire day, it was (theoretically) filled with Mac classes.  There were two classes on digital photography today.  One was the basics, nice review, and the other got into the more technical aspects like depth of field, exposure, aperture settings, focal length, and light metering.  Chris Marquardt, who hosts the Photography Tips From the Top Floor podcast, was our speaker.  I got to practice my German with him, and felt my confidence raising quite a bit!  The second session (Chris’ second session was actually session number 4) was with Josimar King, who led a discussion on the migration from MobileMe to iCloud, which was quite lively.  Our third lecture should have been on the basics of the iPad, but we (who paid) were turned away because too many who had NOT paid were let in.  But that’s another story.  The final session of the day belonged to Dr. Wally Cherwinski, a great human being, and he went over the basics of video, how to get started, tools to use, and habits to develop.  We had been part of this on our last cruise, so Wayne took a nap, I went to the excursion briefing for tomorrow, and then I crashed for about 40 minutes before dinner time.

We met Ivan and Sue for dinner, which was fabulous.  The crew here on the AmaCello has been spectacular, as has the food, and it’s only been a little over 24 hours since we boarded.  After dinner, we went to hear some violinists play, I believe they were Romanian, and they were wonderful as well.  :)

Now for the disappointments of the day.  They center around the InSight Cruises staff.  As I mentioned before, Wayne and I (along with several others) wound up unable to get into the second session.  We were turned away because the room was filled with people who had not signed up for the MacMania conference. And, to add insult to injury, the conference coordinator, while looking at my badge, asked if we had signed up for the session.  I didn’t shout out the obvious, “We paid for this session,” I just showed him my badge.  They ran to get another two chairs, but we would have been smashed against a wall and very, very uncomfortable. We are sharing the ship with Bright Horizons, a group of scientists, and a large number of them came to the iPad session because InSight determined that it would be fine for all of us to move between sessions.  Unfortunately, Bright Horizons comprises 2/3 of the participants, and MacMania 1/3.  They have the very large forward lounge for their sessions, and we have the aft lounge, which only seats 38, for our sessions.  The MM participants alone are greater than that number.

Starting with the first session of the day, and continuing through the entire day, there were not enough seats set up, and extras needed to be brought in for all of us to be seated, making the room very cramped.  We are also seated over the engines, which are not quiet, and the noise echoed through the room.  Very distracting.  As was the noise and the light from the workout room, which juts into the lounge.  All in all, extremely unpleasant conditions. It is extremely obvious that the InSight staff did absolutely no pre-trip coordination or testing.  I realize that it is expensive to send someone ahead to do this kind of work, but the overall quality of this conference has diminished, and we are not happy.  I sent a note to the CEO of InSight tonight (had it proofread for accuracy and lack of snarkiness)  expressing my displeasure.  Thank goodness for the company of friends, the crew, the boat, and the fact that I am back in Germany for the first time since 1999.  If not for them, I’d want to be home right now.

Tomorrow we are off to Koln (needs and umlaut, aka Cologne), where we will spend all morning, and then to Koblenz, where we will have a night time walking tour of the city, and be given some free time the next morning.  I am looking forward to this, as I have never been to either city! 

The InSight staff here has said they will be addressing issues tomorrow, I will hold out some hope, but I have been less than impressed with them this trip.

Gute Nacht, schlafen alle fest.