Hello faithful followers,
We spent almost the entire day docked today. We went through a couple of locks during the early morning. After going through the locks it is like being on a long, narrow lake. There is was no wind and the water was perfectly calm. We couldn't help but think of you Adam. This would be an ideal location to water ski.
Something we have seen more of as we go further upstream, but have seen all along the way are swans. There are a lot of swans in groups of 2 to 6 every mile or so. Also, although there is still a lot of boat traffic, we noticied there are quite as many self-propelled barges after we got past Speyer, Germany. There also hasn't been as much industrial activity along the river and there are long stretches of woods with no houses or any sign of human activity. However, when we do encounter something, whether it be a village or business, it is always densely packed. You never see something sitting by itself.
We actually docked in the town of Kehl, Germany across the river from Strasbourg, France. This is the park we docked next to in Kehl.
Mary in our cabin as the boat is docked next to the park in Kehl, Germany.
The view of the park from our cabin. It was very tranquil and quiet here. Just beyond the park was a residential district of very nice one family homes.
This is a picture taken from the sun deck looking behind the boat while we are docked in Kehl. If you look closely you will see a pedestrian bridge over the Rhine River. Germany is on the right and France is on the left. Strasbourg is one of the three cities in Europe that is home to the European Union government. The European Union parliment meets one week a month in Strasbourg. At some point in the last couple of years they had the heads of state of several European Union countries and President Obama in Strasbourg for a meeting and they took a picture of all the heads of state on this bridge. They waited for 20 minutes for Silvia Berlusconi from Italy but he was on a phone call, so they took the picture without him. Apparently that created quite a "scandal" here in Europe. The German head of state is the one that said to take the picture without him.
Mary in our cabin just before our shore excursion into Strasbourg, France.
Strasbourg is located in the Alsace region of France. The Romans established Strasbourg as a military base on the border of the Roman Empire along the Rhine. In the 6th century this area was controled by Clovis I, the first French king. Since that time this area has changed hands between France and Germany many times. So the city and the culture have been influenced by both the French and the Germans.
Flowers along our walk through "Petit France," an older part of Strasbourg.
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