Long, rambling tale of our Viking Rhine Getaway on the Mani 8/26/16

[Cyber Kat]

Sorry to leave you all hanging. We've been dealing with some family stuff - you know how it is.

 

But I'm working on the next installment, and I should have something in a day or so!

[Cyber Kat]

Okay - sorry to leave you all in midstream like that - but I'm back.

 

I believe I left you all at the Windmill in Kinderdijk, so I'll pick up there.

 

This is still Saturday, August 27th ...

We were getting a little rushed, so we had to head back - of the disadvantages of being in the later groups. You want A or B if you can manage it.

 

We headed back to the ship, but we did stop for a few minutes at the second little shop. I didn't have time to shop, but I wanted 2 things Stroopwaffles and licorice. They had the stroopwaffles on the ship and they were so good. It means syrup waffles and they have a caramel "syrup" between 2 thin layers of waffle cookie. I could eat a truckload of these! And I'd heard that Dutch licorice was really good, so I wanted to try it.

 

When we got back, they greeted us with some ice tea in little glasses. There was always something - a little beverage, a hot towel, a cookie - at every port. They waste no time setting off once everyone is back aboard, so we were already moving.

 

I forgot to mention that each day, before you leave the ship for a port excursion, you pick up 2 cards at reception. One is the letter for your bus & tour group, and the other is the card that lets them know you are off the ship. When you turn them back in, they know you are back aboard. You can pick them up any time in the morning. We always got ours before breakfast to beat the rush.

 

We dropped everything in the room, and then the next thing on the agenda was the safety briefing. We retrieved the life vests from under the bed, and headed out, but they told us to stay in our cabins and wait for the alarm to sound. The instructions are easy. Follow the direct path to the Sun Deck shown on your cabin door and in the halls. If you have done a muster drill on an ocean cruise this is nothing like it. Took like 15 minutes.

 

We did have to put the life vests on. Once up on the Sun Deck we had to go to our designated "square" marked out on the deck and check in with the staff member with the clipboard. There was a brief announcement to let us know that the ship was higher than the river is deep, so that's why the Sun Deck is safe and they don't need life boats. In an actual emergency, they would let the authorities know to rescue us. No one asked about something like a fire, but I assumed that's what the life jackets were for. It was never that far from shore you could swim, paddle float easily, except for the current, and I'm sure they take that into consideration. Our Hotel Manager Camiel said, "We can even meet in the lounge and have a drink with dry feet!"

 

After that we dropped the life vests off in the cabin and headed to the Aquavit Terrace for lunch. I intended to have lunch in the restaurant one or two days, but the weather was so nice, we just headed to the buffet.

 

 

 

There was always soup - the Dutch Cheese was my favorite, several salads, a few different kinds of sandwiches or something hot. One day Fish & Chips, another day hot dogs, German sausages and hamburgers, and another fried chicken. All the food was great. Desserts were fabulous. And there was a different flavor of ice tea every day. The teas were good, but the call of the wine usually won me over! My husband was fond of the Bitburger beer that they had on tap as well. One of the waiters, Norman, would see us coming, and he would meet us with wine and beer! We're so easy and predictable. He took good care of us. We had him in our prefered section in the restaurant at dinner also.

 

 

Here are some of the views from the Aquavit Terrace as we ate lunch ...

 

The Viking Kara passing us by in the other direction

 

 

Lots of beaches on the Rhine. Either the Germans don't care about the water, or the quality is much better there than in the US. I can't imagine swimming in the Hudson these days - although I know they did at one time

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cows like to swim too apparently

 

 

 

 

 

Bridges fascinate me and I got my fill. We passed under all sorts of bridges.

 

 

 

And a random windmill here and there complete with horse ...

 

And some geese

 

After lunch there was a presentation on the Cruise Itinerary and excursions. I think we skipped this and the German lesson. Then it was teatime with Dutch treats. I don't think they had tea every day, but I liked it when they did. Some of the briefings kind of merged after awhile. I remembered them for what I needed, and then promptly forgot as new information was loaded into my brain!

 

 

 

Oh - I almost forgot. We had signed up for a Wheelhouse Tour. They did them every 15 minutes - it's not a big wheelhouse, so it doesn't take very long! It was interesting. The Captain had them retract it down into the well, so we could see how that works.

 

 

 

I kept thinking of that each time I read about the poor Freya. There had to have been something mechanically wrong for that wheelhouse not to have been lowered when they went under that bridge. Captain Scheller seemed a bit uncomfortable being in the spotlight, but he explained everything and answered all the questions while one of the other crewmembers handled the steering.

 

This evening was the Welcome Aboard dinner. Each evening the Chef came out and offered his suggestions. Sometimes I followed them, other times something different caught my eye and tickled my taste buds. I really wish that I'd at least thought to take pics of the menus. The food was so good, and we got to chatting with our table mates, and I just forgot - sorry.

 

The entertainment that evening was Tricky Trivia and music and dancing with Buddy, the resident piano player. He was pretty good and the Program Director, Dominique was good at doing the MC duties. We were tired at this point. I think everything was catching up to us and we had another busy day in Cologne with a fairly early arrival.

 

 

Going to leave you here and pick up with Cologne

[H2Otstr]

Kath, you said that you wished you had taken photos of the menus. On the last Grand Circle trip that we did the lunch and dinner menus were printed on our Daily Program. I thought that was a nice touch.

 

When we first started river cruising, in 2006, dinner menus were handed out and we could take them with us. Things are really different now.

 

Also, not sure if people are aware that half portions of meals can be ordered. Often a full meal is just too much food with all the courses offered. Half portions are not really half but more like 2/3 of a full portion.

[suspaul]

Thanks H2Otstr, good to know.

 

 

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[dodger1964]

Great review. Thanks for taking time to do it.

 

A couple of observations/hints:

 

We did Budapest to Nuremberg on Viking in July this year, our first river cruise.

 

Our ship (Gullveig) was about 2/3 full, so we had plenty of room to roam, never were all the tables full for meals.

 

We used miles for flights. A good option for what class of service to chose (at least it worked for us) is to do business class on the flight to europe (overnight) and then do coach (or coach plus...or whatever your airline calls it) on the way back since usually the flight back to US is during the day. That "bed" on the way over makes a huge difference...on way back, not so much.

 

And the socks are intended (or at least what we have witnessed) to be worn over your regular socks and then discarded before getting off the plane...(have u seen bathroom floor on plane:eek: and even just the normal wear and tear on carpeting).

 

Looking forward to more of your review.

 

We did a MSC cruise that stopped in Amsterdam overnight last month. Busy city, and I agree 100% about your bike comments.

Edited October 11, 2016 by dodger1964
can't spell!

[Cyber Kat]

Kath, you said that you wished you had taken photos of the menus. On the last Grand Circle trip that we did the lunch and dinner menus were printed on our Daily Program. I thought that was a nice touch.

 

When we first started river cruising, in 2006, dinner menus were handed out and we could take them with us. Things are really different now.

 

Also, not sure if people are aware that half portions of meals can be ordered. Often a full meal is just too much food with all the courses offered. Half portions are not really half but more like 2/3 of a full portion.

 

I wish they had done that for ours! We had those leather-bound book menus they have in nice restaurants. They had the menu outside of the restaurant every day. We always looked at it but I never thought to snap a pic.

 

I didn't know that about the 1/2 portions. The food was just enough for me with the 3 courses. I wanted to also get the cheese platter each night but I could never find anyone to share!

[Cyber Kat]

Sunday, August 28

From the Viking Daily ...

Today's Weather: Chance of rain 60-89° F

Café Breakfast: 6:00-11:00 AM at the coffee stations

Continental Breakfast: 6:00-11:00 AM A selection of beverages & breakfast items on the Aquavit Terrace.

Restaurant Breakfast: 7:00-9:30 AM a few more items on a buffet than on the Aquavit Terrace, plus some dishes cooked to order.

 

9:00AM: Welcome to Zonz

This is where we docked for the buses to Cologne. We didn't have great docking in Cologne. We had to take the bus in, and back to where the Mani had moved while we were touring. It was within the Cologne limits but on the north side of the city. We might have been able to walk back to the ship, but it was a ways and we'd done a lot of walking already. More on that in a bit.

 

 

We had a great guide. His name was Peter Weller and he is Dutch. He had lots of stories about so many things we saw. I wished I'd taken notes. But it was photos or notes so I went with the photos. I do remember bits and pieces of the stories he told, and I've looked them up. Some were true, others probably folklore. I'll include some bits as we go along.

 

Of course the first thing we saw was the Dom - Cologne Cathedral. It is MASSIVE. Pictures really do not show the impressive size of this - especially considering it was begun in 1248. Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings

 

 

This was our first view of it through the bus windows

 

It's really is enormous ... this is from the plaza

 

It's very difficult to get it all in. I should have done a panorama shot, but I didn't think of it. I don't know if I can do a vertical one.

 

 

Cologne Cathedral was hit by 14 bombs during World War II, but the building did not fall. It is believed that the Cathedral was not completely destroyed by bombs because it served as an easily recognizable landmark for pilots.

 

The stone was blackened by the coal fires of the City, and a decision was made to leave it that way. Kind of gives it a menacing look, which I suppose is good if you are preaching Hellfire and Brimstone from the pulpit.

 

This is one of the towers

 

 

 

 

 

I love architectural details so I had to get the Flying Buttresses in

 

 

Just fascinates me how they were able to figure this all out.

 

Loved the Gargoyles

 

 

 

 

We were there on a Sunday, so we had limited access to the inside. but we had a break between masses, so I did get some shots. My pics of the stained glass windows didn't come out well. I mastered the art in Switzerland. We'll just have to go again!

 

 

 

I'm going to leave you for a bit, but stay tuned. I have tales of Stumble Stones, the sad tale of Jan & Griet, the "Platzjabbeck" and some Kölsh bier.

[ea6b5]

To give you a idea of what it looked like then.

Edited October 13, 2016 by ea6b5

[Got2Cruise]

Thanks Kat, still following along. Even though we did the same itinerary, I'm learning new and interesting information. Love it. Also, ea6b5, love the old authentic photos. I'm simply fascinated by such things and an in constant awe learning how Europeans in various countries were able to reconstruct landmarks back to original integrity.

[ParrotheadG]

These pictures from after the bombings are amazing, considering what Cologne looks like today. We also had a great guide in Cologne, Rokko. He was the best guide we've had so far! He also did the beer culture tour- made me wish I liked beer!

 

 

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[cruisinskier]

Hey Kath, Sorry for not finding your review earlier. So far it looks like you had a great trip. I look forward to seeing more! It is always fun to see different perspectives and learn of other sites such as the museums you visited in Amsterdam. Thanks for taking the time to post this review, I know these take a lot more time than people think to put together! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Jerry

[ea6b5]

So how did you get them pictures in you quote field?

Edited October 14, 2016 by ea6b5

[Cyber Kat]

To give you a idea of what it looked like then.

 

Wow - amazing so much destruction and yet the Dom stands!

[Cyber Kat]

Hey Kath, Sorry for not finding your review earlier. So far it looks like you had a great trip. I look forward to seeing more! It is always fun to see different perspectives and learn of other sites such as the museums you visited in Amsterdam. Thanks for taking the time to post this review, I know these take a lot more time than people think to put together! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Jerry

 

I can't tell you how much your review helped us. We found things that we might not have found otherwise, and your advice to do the Mt Pilatus tour with the cable car first was spot on. We had no lines and when we got down on the cog railway the line to go up was way long!

[Cyber Kat]

Once again - sorry this is taking so long. There was a lot I had to look up for Cologne because our guide gave us so much information. I only remembered bits and pieces. I wanted to share as much as could, in case your guide wasn't as chatty!

 

Sunday, August 28 Cologne

One of the things our guide, Peter told us about was the Stumble or Stumbling Stones. He told us that as the ****s were preparing to launch their horrendous "Final Solution" they ran a few experiments with Gypsies or the Romany people. They rounded up a 1000 of them from Cologne and shipped them off to one of the Concentration/Extermination camps. I did some research and I couldn't find the bit about them running experiments, but it sounded like It might have been true. The part about the Gypsies/Roma is true.

 

On the 50th anniversary of this event, the town of Cologne put a small plaque in the Dom Square. I thought I had a photo of it, but I don't. The Artist Gunter Demnig thought the plaque was not a fitting one for this at all. He came up with the idea for these Stumble Stones. The ****s kept very detailed records of everything they did, so the names and addresses of all these poor people were available. Demnig made a stone for each person and put them in the sidewalk in front of the homes or buildings where they lived. There was all sorts of ruckus over this. Some people and businesses did not want the stones in front of their buildings. Cologne began removing them and insisted that he stop, but Demnig persisted and got the council to allow him to continue. He has expanded the project across Europe. He and his group have placed over 27,000 so far.

 

I found this story very touching, and I think it's wonderful that Demnig persisted and continues with this fantastic project. It's a never forget kind of thing.

 

 

 

This is one set of the stones he showed us

 

 

After the Dom, our guide took us over to see some of these stones, and then he turned 180 degrees and told us about perfume.

 

He said that people didn't smell so great back in the 16th century, so in 1709 Italian-born Johann Maria Farina concocted the first scent and named his fragrance Eau de Cologne, in honor of his new hometown. "I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain," he wrote to his brother. They sell this fragrance today in a shop in the spot Farina had his home. Peter Weller had a deal going with the shop, and he had a sample sprayer so we could check it out. I thought about getting a bottle - it was a nice scent, but I didn't.

 

 

He also had us smell the 4711 - a traditional German Eau de Cologne by Mäurer & Wirtz. Because it has been produced in Cologne since at least 1799, it is allowed to use the geographical indication Original Eau de Cologne. Their flagship store is located in the Dom Square near the Farina store.

 

 

We then moved on to the Roman-German Museum where we could view a floor of a Roman house that had been uncovered. We went back and visited this museum and I'll cover that later.

 

 

Peter had a ton of stories. He told us of the history of Cologne in Roman Times where in In 50 AD the Cologne-born Agrippina the Younger, wife of the Emperor Claudius, asked for her home village to be raised to the status of a city under Roman law.

 

There are lots of Roman ruin bits throughout the city and many finds in the museum.

 

Part of the original wall

 

 

 

That's 6 pics so I'm moving to a new post

[Cyber Kat]

Sunday, August 28 Cologne

Our guide Peter told us of their famous Carnival like Mardi Gras as we walked along. He stopped in the Johann von Werth (a German general of cavalry in the Thirty Years' War) memorial and he told us the story of Jan and Griet a popular legend loosely based on von Werth, in the Rhineland and Cologne that is frequently reenacted at Karneval time.

 

 

 

The poor peasant Jan fell in love with Griet but she wanted a wealthier partner and declined his offer of marriage. Devastated by her rejection he came upon an army recruiter and signed up to go to war. Through hard work and good fortune he rose to become a general, celebrating several victories. After taking the fort at Hermannstein he was leading his triumphant troops into Cologne through St. Severin's Gate, when he saw his former love Griet selling fruit at a market. Griet was filled with regret at turning down such a successful person and exclaimed "Jan, who would have thought it?" to which he replied "Griet, the person who should have done it!" and turns away. Poor Griet.

 

From there we went to view the old town hall which is famous for it's loggia, the Renaissance façade built by the Kalkar master builder Wilhelm Vernukken between 1569 and 1573. This loggia is considered one of the most typical buildings of the Renaissance era. The late Gothic style tower with three tetragonal lower floors and two octagonal upper floors boasts an impressive 130 stone statues and the famous "Platzjabbeck", a wooden grotesque face sculpture which opens its mouth and sticks out its tongue when the tower clock strikes the hour.

 

The tower

 

If you can see the clock - the "Platzjabbeck" is right below it

 

 

There was construction in front of the Loggia so I only got a side view - and Peter was moving on!

 

 

From the Town Hall we walked around a bit more as Peter Weller regaled us with his many stories. He talked about the Kölsh beer - a specialty beer brewed only Cologne. In the "Brauhaus" (the traditional German pub where the beer is brewed), the "Köbes" (these are not waiters, but actual brewers) serves the beer in special tall, but small glasses (stange) from a tray (Kranz) made just to fit the glasses. The glasses are small so the beer stays cold and doesn't get flat before you finish. They will keep serving, and tallying the number you've had on the beer pad. When you've had enough, you put the beer pad on your glass.

 

This was the one we went back to later for some lunch and the one we were standing by when Peter told us about the beer and the brauhauses

 

 

He also stopped in front of this fountain and told us a tale the Heinzelmännchen, little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during the night, so that the inhabitants of Cologne could be very lazy during the day.

 

According to the legend, this went on until a tailor's wife got so curious to see the gnomes that she scattered peas onto the floor of the workshop to make the gnomes slip and fall. The gnomes, being infuriated, disappeared and never returned. From that time on, the citizens of Cologne had to do all their work by themselves.

 

This is the fountain

 

The tour ended shortly after that. Peter had to get back to the Mani with the people who were going on one of the optional tours - UNESCO palaces tour. We weren't doing that one, and we had until 6pm to explore Cologne.

 

Since the ship was not docked near the center of Cologne there were shuttle buses going back and forth and we were given schedules.

 

I'd heard that the Roman-German museum was worth seeing, and I wanted to check out the Farina 1709 shop which was close by, so we headed back to the Dom Square. And I'll continue because I've got 6 pics - such a pain!

[Cyber Kat]

Sunday, August 28 Cologne

I have to warn you about this museum. There is lots to see, but they are very strict about bags, cameras, water bottles and they take cash only. We made several trips between the checkroom and the entrance before we were good to go. I don't know why they couldn't just tell us all the info at once!

 

We were allowed to take our cameras if they could have the flash turned off. I had no problem with that - many museums have that same policy. So I did get quite a few photos. Many of the exhibit descriptions were in German only, so I didn't know what we were looking at sometimes, but mostly the items were self-explanatory and some did have English descriptions.

 

 

They have an extensive collection of glassware - which is amazing considering that much had been buried.

 

This was in the glassware section and it explained about different colors of the glass and how they were achieved. I just thought it looked cool

 

 

There were a lot of tombs and burial vaults. Some were huge, like this one in the same room as the floor in my last post

 

 

This was for a gladiator - they seemed to get the grandest tomb markers.

 

This is a close up of one of the floor details

 

 

They found this arch

 

 

 

And this is where it would have come from

 

 

 

This is a Roman coach

 

 

 

And that's 6 so we move on once again

[Cyber Kat]

Sunday, August 28 Cologne

And more of the Roman-German museum

 

Another arch

 

 

This was a whole room with walls and a floor. I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture

 

 

This was a display of pottery and household goods

 

There were displays of jewelry and many other things. We really didn't have time for it all. I wanted to get to that perfume shop and we thought we were catching a 1:00 pm bus.

 

I didn't get the perfume. I just decided that while I liked it, I wasn't wild about it and I have others I like better. They did have some cute cat figurines and I got one for me and one for my cat sitter, so it wasn't a total loss.

 

We walked back to where we were supposed to meet the buses. It was kind of weird because there was no one else there. After waiting a bit, we took another look at the schedule. Duh - we were looking at the side with the buses coming from the ship into town. We had until 2:30 pm. So when in Cologne, we went for Kölsh!

 

I'd heard from Cruizinskier that the Früh brauhaus was a good one to check out, so we headed back there.

 

My husband was thrilled because they had liverwurst on the menu and it's one of his favorites. He said it was fabulous. I had a selection of cheeses and of course, we drank Kölsh - which I enjoyed very much.

 

I'm not really good at selfies, but here we are with our Kölsh

 

 

I have no idea what this was, but it was on top of the corner of the building.

 

 

After lunch we walked back to the bus meeting place, and were glad to see that there were buses waiting.

 

We could have walked, but it would have been quite a hike and we'd done enough walking for one day.

 

And here's the Mani waiting for us

 

 

And I'm going to leave you for a bit. Hopefully I'll get back to this sooner than I've been doing

 

Our next stop is Koblenz and the Marksburg Castle tour. I don't have to do as much research for this one.

[cassie cruiser]

Thank you so much for your detailed review! And I love all the pictures. We are booked on this cruise in December 2017, going in the other direction. I'll stay tuned in here for the rest of your review.

 

 

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[pully8]

fabulous review and pictures of around cologne. so much to see there and so much history. thanks.

 

http://www.4711.com/index.php/en/id-4711-house-of-fragrances.html#duftseminare. the flagship store is worth a visit too lots of other of their newer products as well as the original.

[mimmy52]

So glad you are continuing with your report. Your guide in Cologne certainly gave you a lot of information. Thanks for sharing it.

[Cyber Kat]

It was still lunch time when we got back aboard, so we managed to sneak in another included wine and beer, then we went up to the sun deck to relax a bit.

The groups of people who were doing the optional Beer Culture dinner left at 7:00pm. Those of us who were not doing this excursion went to the restaurant on the ship. The people who did this reported that it was a lot of fun, so we would consider it on another trip!

 

The onboard entertainment for the even was "A journey in Classical Music" I don't know how we missed this, because it's something we would have participated in. I must have just missed it in the Viking Daily.

 

The ship cast off for Koblenz around 11:30pm when everyone got back aboard.

 

Monday, August 29

From the Viking Daily ...

Today's Weather: Partly Cloudy 56-73° F

Café Breakfast: 6:00-11:00 AM at the coffee stations

Continental Breakfast: 6:00-10:30 AM A selection of beverages & breakfast items on the Aquavit Terrace.

Restaurant Breakfast: 6:45-9:30 AM a few more items on a buffet than on the Aquavit Terrace, plus some dishes cooked to order.

 

8:30AM: Welcome to Koblenz

 

This was our first experience with rafting and we got to watch them do it! The Viking Gefjon was in the process of docking when we arrived, so we went up on the Sun Deck to watch. We're both fascinated by this sort of thing, so this was a treat!

 

 

 

 

The cable car you see on the left side is the one that goes up to Ehrehbreitstein Fortress.

 

 

 

 

Captain Scheller a study in concentration as he steers the Mani into position

 

 

Getting closer

 

That will just about do it!

 

 

I don't think you could get any closer! This is looking down from the Sund Deck between the 2 ships

 

 

We were on the outside because we were leaving first. The Mani was just dropping off those of us who were doing the 2 excursions. The Mani left Koblenz at 10:00 AM for Braubach where we would all return to the ship for that much anticipated Rhine Gorge journey!

 

This is 6 pics, so I'm moving on ...

[Cyber Kat]

Monday, August 29 continued

 

 

We went back to our cabin to get our stuff for the excursion - we did Marksburg Castle. This is what it looked like from our balcony.

 

 

 

You have to turn your head to see this one - sorry. I uploaded it 4 times, deleted, copied - I give up - it's correct on the Zenfolio site

Another view

 

 

http://cyberkatkreations.zenfolio.com/img/s9/v18/p198268530-3.jpg - if you don't want to strain your neck!

 

This is what it looked like going through the Gefjon lobby

 

 

And the 2 ships rafted!

 

 

These are some pics I shot from the Sun Deck before we docked. Koblenz is where the Rhine and the Mosel meet. It's called the German Corner and the statue is of German Emperor William I of Germany, mounted on a 14-metre-high horse, was inaugurated there by his grandson William II.

 

 

And this is a shot of the area around the dock

 

And once again we have hit 6

[Cyber Kat]

Monday, August 29 continued

 

Just some random shots I took from the Sun Deck of the area as we were docking.

 

 

 

I belive this is Ehrenbreitstein Fortress - it's where the cable cars were going, anyway.

 

 

 

 

We had a little bit of a walk to the bus - not far. I shot some photos on the way to Marksburg Castle through the bus window. Some came out okay - others, not so much! Sure wish I'd known about the through glass filter, though

 

There are castles and castle ruins everywhere in this section of the Rhine. I just took the photos I don't have the info. Some people stayed on the ship and sailed up to Braubach. I guess they'd done the cruise before or were intimidated by tales of how difficult the climb up to Marksburg was. The other excursion was NOT included,

 

I think the castle in the distance in this shot is Stolzenfels

 

 

And this was our first view of Marksburg Castle

 

They let us off the buses on the road up to the Castle. I'd heard all kinds of horror stories about how difficult this is. If you are in reasonably decent shape and get some exercise regularly (we walk 2.5 miles each day) you'll be okay. Wear good sturdy shoes though, because once you are inside - there are rough stone areas.

 

We were not in the slow walkers group, but I think we had some of them sneak into ours!

 

This is looking down into the first zig of the 3 zigs and zags.

 

 

 

And once again we are at 6 (such a pain)

[Cyber Kat]

Monday, August 29 continued Marksburg Castle

 

We were in the last group once again so we got to visit the little gift shop. There is a little café there and we were kind of monopolizing the chairs and tables. No one said anything so I guess it was okay. There were bathrooms close by so you could take a break if you needed one. And the views were spectacular. So I'm going to stop "talking" for a minute and let you take them in!

 

1

 

I know I said I was going to stop talking, but I believe the grey bump out with the channel leading from it is the garderobe - more about that later! And I took this from the last of the zig zags

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

6

 

And moving along

Edited October 26, 2016 by Cyber Kat
Hit submit too soon!