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Bontaks Travels

We're Nic and John - two travel-addicted teachers who enjoy every opportunity to get out in the world.

15/10/2024

An impromptu visit to the Rijksmuseum was a great way to spend a couple of hours on the last day of our holiday.

15/10/2024

Our final day of the holidays was spent in Amsterdam - such a gorgeous city! This has been an amazing trip with Scenic, and I can’t wait to cruise with them again!

15/10/2024

Saturday in Cologne was bloody cold. A walking tour does not involve any brisk activity, but rather a lot of standing around and ambling about, so the blood circulation through active movement was not happening. I thought I was prepared with my two pairs of socks, two merino t-shirts, merino jumper, cashmere jumper, gloves, scarf and puffy jacket, but no.

The tour we did was a ‘Past and Present’ look at the city, which was a perfect title for all the things we saw that had contemporary as part of or next to the old, which apparently pi**ed off a lot of traditionalists. Things like a magnificent abstract stained glass window in Cologne Cathedral, contemporary, creative architecture next to old buildings, that sort of thing. Unless you’re a location scout for a period movie, not sure why people object so much. I guess our relationship with change is a complicated one. Right next to the Cologne Cathedral is a musical theatre venue (Moulin Rouge is playing), several contemporary museums and the gigantic central railway station.

Our guide told us that Cologne has the first record of Jewish citizens in Germany that dates back to 321 AD. There are small memorial ‘cobblestones’ peppered throughout the city which are also controversial - walking over the memorials, cause they are on the ground, could be disrespectful, but when walking on cobblestones one has to watch foot placement so as not to trip, so you DO see these commemorative stones and for a moment, remember.

Pics include the Moulin Rouge venue, Gross Sandkt Martin Church (Grand St Martin), Cologne Cathedral and some pretzel dough ‘men’ trapped in a glass box.

14/10/2024

Cable car, Rüdesheim and a concert at La Redoute.

14/10/2024

Friday afternoon was a relaxing afternoon of sailing before our enrichment evening in Bonn. This was a classical concert in the Beethoven Room of La Redoute while dining on a three-course meal. Living the dream.

14/10/2024

After our wondrous experience at the mechanical musical instrument museum (see previous post) we headed up the hill in Rüdesheim by way of cable car. The views of the Rhine, town and vineyards below were lovely and the sun was shining.

14/10/2024

Some of the glorious mechanical musical instruments in Siegfrieds Musikkabinett in Rüdesheim, Germany.

13/10/2024

Friday’s port of call was Rüdesheim in the German state of Hessen (in fact our only stop in this state). We boarded a little tourist train that took us through the cobbled streets of this town to Siegfrieds Musikkabinett (a museum of mechanical musical instruments).

We went into this tour pretty clueless, thinking it would be a quaint little collection of music boxes and pianolas, but it was 400 instruments housed in 15th century knight’s residence. In our 45 minute guided tour we only saw a handful of instruments, but they were magnificent! The most extraordinary was the 100 year old Phonoliszt Violina, which was dubbed the “eighth wonder of the world” when it was revealed at the 1910 Brussels International Exhibition. You think it’s just a fancy pianola, but then the cabinets open and it has violins in it!

We also enjoyed the little interlude where our guide sat down a baby grand piano and filled some time by playing for us while waiting for our less agile group members to catch up. He then stood and revealed it was another pianola. The Liszt that we then heard had been played by a man who had died 94 years ago and had been a student of Liszt’s. I found that quite moving.

11/10/2024

After our farm visit on Thursday we bussed our way to Miltenberg, our last port of call in Bavaria. The rain was sporadic but we managed to explore the town and also climb to the top of the hill to Mildenburg Castle (no, I haven’t made a typo, they weirdly have different names). Highlight was walking back to the town through the forest where we spotted a deer (a doe, in fact). Heard a noise behind us and turned to see her bounding across the narrow road we were walking on. I was too slow for a pic. Kept walking and she darted back across the road in front of us again. Still too slow! But it was a lovely moment in the woods.

The town of Miltenberg is yet another (surely we have to run out sometime?!) charming, gorgeous medieval town in Germany. Enjoy the half-timbered buildings all over the place.

11/10/2024

We docked in Wertheim on an overcast Thursday morning. Rain was forecast so we were glad we changed our morning excursion from a 36km bike ride (destination, the next town of Miltenberg) to a farm visit, instead.

Hofmetzgerei Birkholz is a family owned and run farm that also has a holiday rental onsite (nature holidays are big in Germany). They have chickens, rabbits, ponies, sheep, cows and Clydesdales (which they breed). It was the Clydesdales that I couldn’t get away from - such sweet-tempered beasts. All of the animals born on the farm are raised to be comfortable with humans, and expect pats and scratches from them, not just food!

They also have a butcher shop onsite that sells their own butchered meat and cheeses as well as other local products. Some years ago they also built an abattoir on the property because they didn’t like how distressed their cattle became going offsite. They work with the local vet to ensure that ethical and human practices are maintained in the slaughter of the cattle. We were all offered a sample of the farm’s produce - we stuck with the cheese.

10/10/2024

Our Wednesday afternoon excursion to Residenz Würzburg was surprising and overwhelming. “Residence” gives you no idea of the scale - we certainly didn’t expect to see a mini-Versailles. And it’s in the middle of the town, with the front square a huge parking lot. It is opulent, garish and gorgeous all at once, and it was built for one man, the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, and his 300 servants. Almost 400 rooms! One room in particular was very sparkly - our guide called it the OMG Room! You’ll know it when you see it (and there’s a video, just don’t get dizzy). Forgive the daggy and somewhat incompetent old fashioned selfie - no idea where to look!
If Baroque/Rococo architecture and art hurts your eyes, look away now!!

10/10/2024

Wednesday morning we arrived earlier than planned in the town of Würzburg. That was a gift on such a sunny, happy day, and we were off the ship before lunch to have our own exploration before our scheduled excursion with our local guide.

Our meanderings took us to the Main Bridge, the old Rathaus (Town Hall), the cathedral, Neumünster, the marketplace, an amazing cheese shop and a huge Lindt shop. The fun thing about Main Bridge (pronounced ‘mine’) is that there is a wine bar on it - people buy their glass of wine and just hang out on the cobblestoned walkway looking at the view and chatting.

09/10/2024

Bamberg Part 2. The only ‘shopping’ done was buying a beer. But not just any beer, a Schlenkerla - the original smoked beer from Bamberg. Our guide said people’s comments on the taste ranged from “a smokey Guinness” to “licking and ashtray”! I found it was neither of these, I didn’t mind it (and I’m not a fan of Guinness or ashtrays!).

09/10/2024

Bamberg Part 1. Another charming and beautiful German town that escaped the bombing so is still intact - medieval architecture through to contemporary in all its gobsmacking gorgeousness!

08/10/2024

A day of food indulgence - pre tour snacks in the Lounge and then a 6 course degustation at Table La Rive.

08/10/2024

The Rally Grounds and Congress Hall in Nuremberg.

08/10/2024

The first stop on our WWII tour of Nuremberg was the Rally Grounds, the size of which had all of our jaws on the floor. Our guide showed us a photo from the time and asked what we thought the small black dots were in the wide shot. There were assertive comments from the group: “people”. Nope - tanks. We were silent.

There are weeds growing up through the steps and only one section of the stadium seating at the far end of the grounds is not completely covered by foliage. But the Germans tread a fine line - they want to keep this place structurally sound but do not want it turned into a memorial. They do use the road in front of Hi**er’s balconied podium as a racetrack. Maybe having hoons burn rubber in that place is a way of giving the dead fascist the finger.

The Congress Hall is a gargantuan structure inspired by the Roman Colosseum…or half a colosseum (really more like an omega). The core of this thing is brick and glad in granite (the country was broke - illusions, yeah?). This building was never finished, construction was halted when the war started. The only thing that was actually completed in the vast plans Hi**er had for Nuremberg becoming the capital of his Third Reich was the Rally Grounds.

The last place we visited on this excursion was the Memorium Nuremberg Trials, which included Courtroom 600 where the trials took place.

07/10/2024

A lazy start to Sunday with a sleep in and a morning of sailing. Fog was set in for most of this, which made for atmospheric landscapes, particularly as we glided past the Neoclassical Walhalla Temple (one of the most important German national monuments of the 19th century).

The shore excursion we chose was a tour of Thurn und Taxis Castle in Regensburg, the largest privately owned palace in Germany - 500 rooms. We had a group of four on this private tour so got to ask lots of questions (bloody teachers!). Before we began, we were standing in the gigantic courtyard (more like a city square!) and the guide mentioned that she was unable to indicate where in the four surrounding buildings the princely family resides. I reckon it was the corner of the complex that had the big-arse gold crown on the roof! We weren’t able to take any pics inside, but there are a couple of the courtyard.

On the walks to and from the castle, our guide gave us a tour of the town. Even on a Sunday it has the vibe of a party town - young people everywhere and a lot of bars, asleep until nightfall, awaiting the young partygoers.

BTW - the pink window dressing is at a pawn shop! So glamorous!

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