Uniworld, SS Antoinette – Basel to Amsterdam 3/30/14 on Tape Delay

[notamermaid]

Hello princessjag,

 

as your question is about a sight in a port I suggest you post it in the river ports forum. I assume you mean the **** prison documentary centre? If so, I am sure others are interested in this sight, so why not start a thread.

 

I will then give you a rough idea how far it is from the ship, others might even have been to the prison.

 

notamermaid

[eyeu]

Not sure what prison place she referred to , but one of big destinations in Cologne is the old Gestapo HQ in Cologne, located not that far from the cathedral.

Going on the Basel-Amerstadam Castles on the Rhine Aug 17th and would like to know if anyone has been to that place? How far is it from the ship?

thanks..

Rick

[notamermaid]

Hello Rick,

 

a quick search on CC did not reveal much. The website for the documentation centre/prison is this one:

 

http://www.museenkoeln.de/ns-dokumentationszentrum/default.aspx?s=315

 

It is a walkable distance, but more comfortable by underground depending on the landing stage in Cologne. The ships are spread out over quite a distance.

 

notamermaid

[eyeu]

Thank you!!!

When you mean the underground..is that a walking passage underground...?

or the subway?

Guess will have to wait to see where the ship docks for more details...

Rick

[carefreecruise]

Not sure if this is where to post my question. We are going on the SS Antoinette on July 27th. One of our stops is Cologne. I understand there is an old prison museum there. How do I find out where the ship docks so I will know if it is walkable from the ship.

 

We will be there in two weeks. But best and easiest way is just to ask the shore director or excursion director. They will fiix you up in two minutes and set-up a cab or car to take you there. No worries it should just fall in th place for you. I will ask for you when I'm that town and find out how far it is from where uniword ties up at*.

[notamermaid]

@ eyeu,

 

a classic case of mixed up British and American English. :D

 

It is a maximum of three stops on the underground train, the exit of the U-Bahn (i.e. the U for underground in German) is right in front of the documentation centre. It is in the town centre not far from the main shops

 

From the river - according to google maps - it is no more than 40 minutes walking distance.

 

@carefreecruise,

 

for those with limited time or who do want to wonder around, a cab is a great idea.

 

Thank you for wanting to enquire on your cruise, looking forward to your feedback. I know that area of Cologne from my shopping trips, but I have not been to the museum.

 

If you can walk lots of steps, I recommend the tower of the Cathredral (see jpalbny' review). Fantastic view.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

notamermaid

[AttilaTheFun]

FYI, in December last year, the SS Antoinette docked very close to the train station. If you look at a map, it's about where Machabaerstrasse meets the Rhine River. However, I don't know if that's where they always dock. If you look at the Satellite View on GoogleMaps, you can see all the places where river ships are docked along the Rhine there.

[jpalbny]

Well, for those who were asking, Lucerne is beautiful! We just left this morning after an overnight there.

 

We walked the city using a Rick Steves walking tour, then walked to the lion statue. Had an obscenely expensive dinner by the river and the Rathaus, but that's Switzerland... :rolleyes:

 

We did not visit Mt. Pilatus, but instead took a gondola ride up to the Titlis Glacier in Engelberg. Awesome...

 

Pictures later once we are home and organized. In the Black Forest tonight, then the Romantic Road tomorrow.

 

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[banditoo]

Well, for those who were asking, Lucerne is beautiful! We just left this morning after an overnight there.

 

We walked the city using a Rick Steves walking tour, then walked to the lion statue. Had an obscenely expensive dinner by the river and the Rathaus, but that's Switzerland... :rolleyes:

 

We did not visit Mt. Pilatus, but instead took a gondola ride up to the Titlis Glacier in Engelberg. Awesome...

 

Pictures later once we are home and organized. In the Black Forest tonight, then the Romantic Road tomorrow.

 

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Looking forward to your Lucerne and Black Forest pictures! I am wondering how Mt. Pilatus and Titlis differ and if one is more recommended than the other for a day trip from Basel?

[amd1234]

We are staying two nights post cruise in Lucerne. We are booking through Uniworld I didn't want the hassle of planning on my own. We are still debating about taking the optional Mt Pilatis excursion. Not great with heights. Any must sees in Lucerne? We are also cruising on the SS Antoinette leaving June 29.. We are really getting excited and you did a superb job on your review. :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

Looking forward to your Lucerne and Black Forest pictures! I am wondering how Mt. Pilatus and Titlis differ and if one is more recommended than the other for a day trip from Basel?

 

Pilatus is more easily accessible from downtown Lucerne. You can get a combo pass at the train station that takes you by train (or by boat) to the cog railway, up the mountain, down by gondola/cable car and back to town by bus. The views are great if the weather is clear, and if not you have great views of the weather (unless totally socked in)!

 

Mount Rigi requires a boat ride across part of Lake Lucerne (which is a good thing in itself), then a cog railway up the mountain and a cable car down, and the boat back. It is not as high as Pilatus, but the owners claim it has better views. It may also be less crowded since they don't encourage tour groups. [edit: sorry, I thought this was the other option you were asking about. I don't know anything about Titlis.]

 

We did Pilatus on our own (with the train package). The only glitch was that AMA had apparently reserved the cog railway for its tour group so we had to wait at the scenic lakeshore for half an hour before riding up. But we were then able to spend as much (or little) time as we wanted on top.

 

I would only do one of these, as the views are going to be similar. But be sure to schedule time to walk around the old town area (Rick Steves has a good walking tour), and if you don't go to Rigi take a boat ride on your own because Lake Lucerne is very beautiful. And don't miss the Lion -- even though it sounds like a tourist cliche, it is very moving.

Edited May 24, 2014 by Host Jazzbeau

[KarBear910]

JP, thanks for all the pictures and the time you took out of your vacation to post.

 

We will be on the same voyage, first week of June. Hope the weather will be as nice as what your pictures show.

 

Is there optional excursions we shouldn't miss? Or just selective excursions to not miss?

 

JP thanks for this awesome travelogue. I still need to read the last 3 pages. We are taking the same cruise leaving Basel on June 8, in a week and a half. Is that the cruise you are on, Carefreecruise??

 

Any tips on packing? Shorts? Jeans? Dresses for dinner? Looked like your weather was perfect.

[carefreecruise]

Karbear

Yes we will also be on the same voyage June 8th. They sent a booklet and it describes dress for diner. But we understand it is resort casual all the time. No shorts or jeans unless you want to dress nicer.

[jpalbny]

Thanks and happy cruising to those of you who have this great itinerary to look forward to!

 

I'll add a few pictures of Lucerne and the Black Forest for those interested; you can do optional excursions to these places from SS Antoinette Castles on the Rhine.

 

it's definitely worth spending time in Lucerne. The lake is gorgeous, with majestic snow-covered mountains surrounding it. There are several nearby places to visit if you want to get up into the mountains - we did not do Pilatus or Mt. Rigi though we saw tours offered from the boat launch right by the Bahnhofplatz in Lucerne, so it should be easy enough.

 

We drove from the Bodensee area (where Germany, Austria, and Switzerland converge) so we went southwest from there, through some of the Alpine passes, and approached Lucerne from the south. On the way, we passed near Engelberg which has several gondola options, one of which is to ascend to the Titlis glacier - 10,000 feet up. Since our weather was excellent, we decided to do this which was pretty fun. It's about 30 minutes out of Lucerne.

 

You ascend in 3 stages - first, a gondola with ~4 per car, then a larger gondola, then a rotating gondola to the very top. Here is the view from the lower car, which is only a taste of what is to come:

 

 

Here is the larger gondola (middle stage):

 

 

Up top there is a LOT of snow...

 

 

But the views are incredible!

 

 

There is also a cool suspension bridge that was swaying in the breeze, and a little scary to walk on...

 

 

 

All in all, highly recommended despite costing about CHF 80 per person.

[banditoo]

JP and Chris

Your review (pictures and narration) has been so helpful for my own planning for next year. It is the best kind of appetizer! We will definitely plan for at least a day trip to Lucerne and mountains when our cruise ends in Basel and hope for clear conditions such as you had in your photos.

Looking forward to your photos of the Black Forest.

[eyeu]

Love those pics from Lucerne!! And Black Forest! Since we are on an August Uniworld Rhine cruise,the more the better...thank you!

Rick

[Jswen]

Thank you so much for the informative review. We will be on a similar Uniworld cruise (Legendary Rhine & Moselle) in late Aug. Looking forward to your Blackforest segment as it is one of the tours we are considering.

[jpalbny]

After seeing the glacier and the mountains, we headed north to Lucerne which was about a half-hour away. Finding our hotel was a bit of a pain, as the entrance was hidden on a side street; there was an inconspicuous sign pointing the way. Eventually we got unpacked, then found a nearby parking garage, and set out to explore.

 

We were a few blocks from the Bahnhof which was a good location. If you want to shop, there's a big mall attached to the building. The Bahnhof has a nice fountain, though the people sitting next to it are too busy on their smart phones to notice the majestic Alpine peaks in the background...

 

 

Lucerne is built on the banks of the Reuss River, at the point where it flows from Lake Lucerne. The Kappelbrücke and Wasserturm, spanning the river, used to be part of the town's defensive fortifications. The bridge is from the 14th century; it's the oldest "surviving" wooden covered bridge in Europe:

 

 

I say "surviving" because it was largely restored in 1993 after a devastating fire - there are several versions of what happened, but a plaque there says that a boat caught on fire and started the blaze. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapellbr%C3%BCcke

 

Further down the river - the lake would be a little behind the bridge in this view:

 

 

 

We took a walk around the lake, wandering slowly, amazed at the scenery - the lake and the mountains make an incredible scene:

 

 

 

And of course, we visited the lion monument; despite the tourists milling about and striking poses in front of it for their souvenir shots, the monument is moving - even if you don't really know the story behind it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Monument

 

 

There were probably many more neat things to see, but we had skipped lunch today, and it was dinner time! We sat along the river bank at a nice restaurant by the Rathaus and enjoyed some (expensive) food and drinks. Don't know how our quick visit would compare with Uniworld's guided tour but we sure had a great time here!

[eyeu]

Great photos...like I was there...in fact, in a few months, will be!!!

thank you!!

BTW, what camera are you using? (just a camera nut)

 

Rick

[carefreecruise]

JP, thanks for the heads-up.

Leaving for the airport this morning and staying two nights in Lucerne prior to picking up the Uniworld ship. I noticed a heat wave with temperatures in the high 80 degrees for the next four days, not looking forward to that.... Called the hotel and they have NO AC. yuck...

[jpalbny]

carefreecruise, safe travels! It was pretty warm when we were there, probably mid to high 70s. We were very comfortable. Enjoy all of the interesting paintings on the covered bridges - they are really neat.

 

If Hildegard is your CD, please say Hi to her from us. Wish we were going back with you... Have a great cruise!

 

eyeu, we're using point and shoot cameras. Chris has a Sony HX50V and I have a Nikon AW120 (the waterproof one). I've had 2 DSLRs and loved them, but my last one got ruined in the Darien Jungle and I have not gotten around to finding a suitable replacement. In the meantime, I am enjoying my pocket-sized replacement.

[carefreecruise]

JP

I checked and no Hildegard. It is a guy named Peter and the hotel director is named Cecilia. Weather is unusually hot with temperatures in the low to mid 90's. Ship is hot also with their chiller working overtime to keep guests cool. Mostly top deck passengers are the ones getting all the heat.

 

http://media501.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100429.jpg

Luzern was so clear you could see all the tops of the mountains with no clouds.

Edited June 9, 2014 by carefreecruise

[banditoo]

JP

I checked and no Hildegard. It is a guy named Peter and the hotel director is named Cecilia. Weather is unusually hot with temperatures in the low to mid 90's. Ship is hot also with their chiller working overtime to keep guests cool. Mostly top deck passengers are the ones getting all the heat.

 

http://media501.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100429.jpg

Luzern was so clear you could see all the tops of the mountains with no clouds.

Gorgeous photo!

[jpalbny]

Sure is! What a beautiful view!

 

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[jpalbny]

Here are a few Black Forest pictures! We spent the better part of a day driving through on our way from Lucerne to Baden-Baden.

 

We drove from Lucerne to Schaffhausen to see the Rheinfall, which is beautiful, but not as impressive as Niagara Falls. From here, we went back Northwest through the Black Forest to Freiburg. This is a neat University town, with a Munster whose tower needed to be climbed... I love how the forest and the hills totally enclose this town:

 

 

Afterwards we had a leisurely lunch and then a wander around the city. Nice architecture and lots to see, but time to move on. Would definitely visit again; in fact, we had debated staying here but decided to spend the night outside Baden-Baden instead. So we have to get a move on!

 

From here we visited Triberg which has some (supposedly) nice waterfalls, but we forgot that you have to pay to hike on the trail. I had run out of Euros, and I couldn't find the ATMs in the town, because there was a huge festival going on in the town and it was a nightmare to drive there. So we gave up and visited another waterfall near an abandoned monastery in Allerheiligen - these were free!

 

Here is some crazy tourist running up the stairs to see if there's another waterfall at the top...

 

 

And there was!

 

 

The trail eventually leads to the ruins of a monastery, but we didn't take it all the way. On to the "Schwarzwaldhochstraße" or Black Forest High Road. First stop was the Mummelsee, a scenic lake with a nice hotel:

 

 

There were numerous pullouts along the Hochstraße; this view is typical. In the afternoon light, the mountains seemed to go on forever:

 

 

We arrived at our hotel outside Baden-Baden and settled in on our balcony - we were looking west, towards the Rhine Valley and the Vosges Mountains beyond. We enjoyed the last rays of sun, and the surrounding vineyards, while sipping a local Riesling:

 

 

The southern part of the Rhine, and the surrounding area, is gorgeous! We can't wait to visit again. Maybe next year, if we are lucky...

 

Thanks to everyone who followed along. It's been fun sharing our trip with you!