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Viking Rhine Getaway - Our photo intensive review on the Viking Ingvi, Summer 2014

cruisinskier

By cruisinskier,
in River Cruising

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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So this is THE DAY that anyone booking this river cruise looks forward to. The day of seeing all the Rhine Castles! And what was our weather forecast....

 

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Lightning!! Apparently all day Lightning! So we look outside....see this guy going by (apparently the barges are privately owned and they travel with their personal cars aboard). Weather looks OK so far...

 

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And lots of campers along the Rhine

 

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We were just arriving in Koblenz

 

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Time for breakfast....this is the daily menu if you want to order breakfast instead of the buffet.

 

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Edited by cruisinskier
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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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Viking has their own buses which met us at each port. They were new, clean and comfortable (and we also were not on them longer than scheduled).

 

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And we were off....

 

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To Marksburg Castle. While they drive up as far as they can, there is still an uphill climb to get to the castle. They do stress that you must be fully mobile to do this tour.

 

This gives you an idea of the switchbacks on the walk up...

 

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And looking down at the next group walking up...

 

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We made it!

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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After our tour, we had time for one of these before the buses headed back down...

 

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And the Ingvi was sailing down the Rhine to come and get us!

 

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The Captain was there to greet us when we returned

 

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Marksburg....and so far no Lightning!!

 

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

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Host jazzbeau, attending mass is definitely a bonus of arriving on a Sunday. But even to attend the mass, you would have to not take the included shore excursion. My in-laws did go to mass and skipped the tour.

 

My point was that the bonus (on our cruise) was being able to do BOTH and not miss anything. But it sounded from your description that you could have done both, since you arrived at the Cathedral as Mass was about to begin.

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cormike1

cormike1

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Loving your review and especially the pictures....they are bringing back a lot of memories as we did this river cruise quite a few years ago. I was really moved seeing all your "memorial" places...some are very beautiful spots for a final resting place for our Canadian troops. That is nice to see. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

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schub229

schub229

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What a wonderful creative eye you have with the camera!! Even those with a super expensive DSL camera couldn't compete with many of these shots, cruisin skier!!! Many people never see the great shots of the war fields, Leiden, Ypre, etc etc etc that you have included on this post. Thank you so much for your generous postings!! We're doing the Rhine in mid October on AMA, but are enjoying your travelogue so much. I feel lucky to have found this Forum.

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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My point was that the bonus (on our cruise) was being able to do BOTH and not miss anything. But it sounded from your description that you could have done both, since you arrived at the Cathedral as Mass was about to begin.

 

Host jazzbeau, I may not have been clear enough in my original comments. Our tour arrived at the Cathedral in the middle of our tour, the guide did a bit of talking about it and then sent us in for 15 minutes. After we came back out our guide continued with the tour telling us more about the Cathedral and the square and then took us on a tour of old town. Yes we could have attended the mass had we dropped off mid-tour....it was our decision not to. My in-laws did not do the tour and went to mass at St Martin Church as it was closer to where the Ingvi docked.

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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Loving your review and especially the pictures....they are bringing back a lot of memories as we did this river cruise quite a few years ago. I was really moved seeing all your "memorial" places...some are very beautiful spots for a final resting place for our Canadian troops. That is nice to see. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Hi cormike1, glad to bring back memories and yes it was very moving to visit the sites where our commonwealth troops fought for inches. I agree they did a good job in how they are memorialized. there are numerous other WW1 in the Ypres area, some specific to Britain, some to Australia, etc. May we never forget the sacrifices made for our freedom!

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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What a wonderful creative eye you have with the camera!! Even those with a super expensive DSL camera couldn't compete with many of these shots, cruisin skier!!! Many people never see the great shots of the war fields, Leiden, Ypre, etc etc etc that you have included on this post. Thank you so much for your generous postings!! We're doing the Rhine in mid October on AMA, but are enjoying your travelogue so much. I feel lucky to have found this Forum.

 

Pat, thanks for your kind comments and glad you are enjoying the photos. I do have a bit of a passion for taking photos, especially when I travel (I guess that is kind of obvious by now :rolleyes:). Enjoy your trip down the Rhine and happy planning!

Jerry

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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OK, if you are all ready, what do you say we cruise on down the middle Rhine....

 

This area is well known for wine, especially Reisling

 

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This looked fun.....and crazy!

 

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Boppard

 

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Everyone is ready for Castle's!! And the weather is holding off for us!!

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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This was the map given out on-board to track the castles. The numbers are the mile markers along the river.

 

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First castle sighting....actually two if you look close. Brothers, who ended up fighting and building a wall between their castles to separate them. Family squabbles go way back....folklore indicates there may have been a woman involved.

 

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Sterrenberg Castle

 

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Liebenstein Castel

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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The only way into this church is through the bar in front of it!!!

 

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Speaking of bars....We haven't really talked about it but the main beer being served on Viking was Bitburger which had a bit of an aftertaste. And then we found out they also had a Kolsch beer which was included. We enjoyed it much better!

 

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And then the castles started more frequently....

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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And the castles keep coming!

 

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And then the rain started.....but we were not going to let a little rain ruin our day. While some folks headed inside, we stayed up top (although may have eventually ducked under the sun shade....which is also a rain shade!)

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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And then we arrived in Rudesheim, where we docked beside the Viking Gullveig. This was the only time that we were double docked. The Ingvi was on the outside and our balcony was facing out. And the weather was overcast but not currently raining...

 

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cruisinskier

cruisinskier

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Oh no all the pictures are blocked :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Are they blocked for others as well? :confused:

I can see them....but I know if I look at work they are blocked as we have filters to ensure employees like me don't spend all day on these and similar boards :D

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