![\"Rhine](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rhine-map.gif\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s get the itinerary out of the way first, because rather than focus on the places, which you can look up on the Internet if you’re so inclined, I\u2019ll focus on the people \u2013 the crew of the ship, the people cruising with us and the people we met at our ports of call.\u00a0 After leaving Amsterdam . . .<\/p>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 First port: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kinderdijk \u2013 Lots of windmills<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cologne \u2013 Gothic Cathedral<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port: \u00a0 Koblenz \u2013 Marksburg Castle<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rudesheim \u2013 Quaint German town<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Heidelberg \u2013 Famous castle and university<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Speyer \u2013 Another quaint German town<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Strasbourg \u2013 Quaint French town<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Next port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Breisach \u2013 Quaint German town in the Black Forest<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 Last port:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Basal \u2013 probably a quaint Swiss town, we only saw the airport<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I must admit that when I first went aboard the Jarl and saw my shipmates, I had the same reaction as when I arrived at my 50th<\/sup> high school class reunion \u2013 \u201cWhat are all these old people doing here?\u201d\u00a0 I wondered if I had mistakenly stumbled onto a \u2018Prunes for the Prostate\u2019<\/strong> <\/i>cruise?\u201d \u00a0However, like the high school reunion, it didn\u2019t take long for me to realize that I was \u2018one of them\u2019.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As we introduced ourselves to our new shipmates, I found that the first three men I met were two engineers, and a research scientist and the first three women I met were two authors and a Stanford graduate.\u00a0 I then met a group of 18 Filipinos \u2013 all doctors from Chicago.\u00a0 I was wondering if we\u2019d mistakenly been booked on a Mensa<\/strong> Cruise \u2013 talk about miscasting!<\/p>\n Me, Linda, Liz, Cathy, Gary, Kathy, Mark, Bill<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We then met Gary and Cathy<\/strong> and realized that this was no Mensa cruise.\u00a0 I promised them that I\u2019d mention them in my blog so there you are!\u00a0 Just kidding, they were delightful people that we hung with for the entire trip and laughed our way up the Rhine.\u00a0 They are from Tennessee<\/strong> by way of Michigan<\/strong> and Buffalo<\/strong> and said if we ever wanted an NFL<\/strong> team to have a losing record that they would just need to move there.\u00a0 We also met and hung with a father and daughter, Bill and Liz<\/strong>, traveling together \u2013 both cigar smokers.\u00a0 He looked hauntingly like my late best friend, Don Klapperich<\/strong> and she looked like . . . well, she just looked drop-dead gorgeous.\u00a0 And we also hung with three ladies from San Antonio<\/strong>, the Stanford grad, Krista<\/strong>, also a cigar smoker, and her friends, Carla<\/strong> and Dez<\/strong>.\u00a0 We met a lot of other very nice people, all from the US<\/strong> or Canada<\/strong> (Viking separates their cruises by language so they don\u2019t\u2019 have to translate everything into 5 different languages throughout the cruise), but these three groups helped us close down the piano bar every night.<\/p>\n No, I’m just standing in front of a fountain!<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019d publicly embarrassed myself and it wouldn\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n Thursday’s post: Viking Rhine River Cruise \u2013 Part 3 \u00a0 \u00a0More Rhine Ramblings\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s get the itinerary out of the way first, because rather than focus on the places, which you can look up on the Internet if you’re so inclined, I\u2019ll focus on the people \u2013 the crew … read more<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our ship was the Viking River Cruise Ship, Jarl<\/strong>.\u00a0Jarl was a mythical Norse god who was the grandson of Odin and a symbol of strength and intelligence \u2013 characteristics with which I am unfamiliar. \u00a0We had a full ship at 186 passengers and 52 crew members<\/strong>.\u00a0 River cruising provides a much smoother ride than ocean cruising, provided the water level isn\u2019t so high you can\u2019t get under the bridges or so low you can\u2019t move at all, or you don\u2019t run into all the other traffic on the river, and you are able to negotiate the tight walls of the many locks along the way.\u00a0 So on the surface, while river cruising may seem rather benign compared to ocean cruising, it is actually filled with a lot more variables.\u00a0 However the Captain did reassure us that if the boat sank and was sitting on the bottom of the river we could all stand on the top deck and be higher than the water level.\u00a0 So we had that going for us.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We became good friends with\u00a0Lazlo<\/strong>, our delightful Hungarian piano player, who encouraged people to get up and dance as well as come up and sing.\u00a0 We were told that one of the doctors from Chicago was a contestant on the Filipino version of American Idol<\/i><\/strong>, I guess that would be Filipino Idol<\/i><\/strong>, and he was very good.\u00a0 One of the female Filipino doctors, specializing in internal medicine, wanted to do a traditional German dance, the hula, and asked if anyone knew how to sing \u2018The Hawaiian Wedding Song\u2019<\/strong><\/i>. \u00a0Having had enough rum to cause the ship to stop in the first port and on-load another couple of cases, I lied and said, \u201cAs a matter of fact I do.\u201d\u00a0 In retrospect I knew of<\/i> the song and vaguely remember Elvis<\/strong> singing it back in the 60s.\u00a0 Undaunted, I got up to sing as the \u2018Dancing Doctor\u2019<\/strong> performed a quite authentic version of the hula<\/strong>.\u00a0 In my enthusiasm I even included a verse in the Hawaiian language \u2013 or at least my interpretation of the Hawaiian<\/strong> language, which included a few swear words and several unmentionable (in English) body parts.\u00a0 Little did I know that there was a native Hawaiian in the audience, so when I was finished and walked past him he looked at me and slowly shook his head in disgust and said, \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>