Bruges,Belgium

 

Jane and Carol learning from Stephanie

Today, we made Belgian chocolates with Stephanie at Chocolate by Me. We started with an understanding of chocolate. There are 80 varieties of cocoa. The price of a ton of cocoa has varied from 3200 to 4200 Euros for the last 20 years. Last year the price rose by 10X “because of a failed harvest”. But there are multiple harvests per year in multiple countries.. Stephanie gets her Cocoa from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. We tasted chocolate without and without sugar. Sugar intensifies the taste to us. Dark chocolate has from 55 to 90 percent cocoa, which has about 30% fat from Cacao butter, and 45 to 10% sugar. Milk chocolate is 50% sugar, 30% to 50% Cacao (still 30% fat) and 20% milk powder. White chocolate uses Cacao butter, but not Cacao powder. Belgium chocolate requires that all the fat comes from Cacao butter. Most commercial chocolates have other fats added. The Cacao powder and butter are separated in processing. It took Stephanie two years of study to learn how to make Belgium Chocolate.

Cindy and Bob with chocolates

We then proceeded to make two chocolate recipes per couple. It was clearly a case for us of clearly reading the recipe. We missed the cocoa butter in our first attempt, but Stephanie helped us to recover for our praline chocolate. Our second chocolate was more successful; we made a Baileys and caramel filled chocolate. It was a great time as we learned the secret of chocolates. In the end, we got two large boxes of chocolates, samples from all 14 of us, plus some extras from Stephanie.

Madonna and Child 

In the afternoon, I explored more of Brugge, Stopping at the Church of our Lady, famous for its Madonna and Child carved by Michelangelo. Then exploring the Beguinage Houses and the Lake of Love. That evening the group gathered together to share the experience of the entire cruise. We really enjoyed traveling with our expanded family. We shared a lot of time, dinners, and beer together. We had not spent much time with Carolyn or Jane before this trip, it was great to get to know them. And, of course, there was a lot of beautiful architecture, interesting history, and fun throughout the trip.

The video of this trip is available on youtube. 

Lake of Love, Bruges

Bruges and Flanders Fields

 

Bruges along the canals

Bruges was first settled by the Celts, then the Romans. It was a seaport and traded with the Hanseatic cities selling them wool, fabrics, and lace goods. Our hotel, the Casselbergh, was a royal residence and is near the Town Hall, the Count’s Chapel, and the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The Market Square, the commercial center, is just steps the way. In the mid-18^th century, Brugge lost its channel to the sea. The town was encouraged to preserve their buildings and become a tourist destination. We did a canal cruise to get a good view of all the historic buildings. 

In the afternoon we did the tour of Flanders Fields starting at the museum in the town of Ypres. France had fortified the boundaries between Germany and France, so the Germans planned to attack in World War I through Belgium. They expected to reach Paris in six weeks. North of here, the land was flooded, so Ypres became the direct path to Paris. The Germans at first captured the town, but the Belgian and French forces retook the town, while the Germans retreated to higher ground. The British and Canadians arrived to help hold the town. In total there were 4 major battles here. The second battle introduced the use of chlorine gas.

World War I Museum

The British set the policy that any soldier killed in Belgium would be buried here. The Essex Farm cemetery was where Doctor John McCrae worked as a surgeon in a medical bunker. Upon seeing his friend die here in 1915, he wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields. The cemetery has 1100 headstones.

We continued to the Yorkshire Trench and dugout. This trench formed part of the Frontline. There were several dugouts for the officers and various operations. But the average soldier was exposed to the elements and shrapnel for 4 days periodically. The trenches would fill with mud, so eventually they built planks over an inverted A frame to keep your boots out of the mud.

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Next, we went to the Tyne Cot Cemetery where the third battle occurred. Here the Germans had built blockhouses with machine guns to plow down any attackers. Several soldiers risked their lives throwing grenades to take out the blockhouses. There are 12000 gravestones at this cemetery and over 3000 names of the missing. It is the largest Commonwealth cemetery for any war. Overall, this region saw 500,000 soldiers killed during World War I.

After dinner, we joined a crowd to experience the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial. It is over a hundred years since the end of the Great War, but every night the local fire brigade and representatives from Great Britain come together to remember their sacrifice here.

Ghent,Belgium

 

Pulpit in St. Bavo's Cathedral

We drove most of the morning to reach Ghent, Belgium. Mary got off the bus and immediately needed oxygen. While we walked the historic city, she found a convenient bench near St. Bavo’s Cathedral. Later many of us would visit the Cathedral to see the Ghent altar piece, famously recovered from the Nazis in the movie “the Monument Men”. The exterior of the church is gothic, while the interior is Renaissance and Baroque because the original interior was destroyed during the Protestant Revolution. Opposite the Cathedral was the Wool Hall with its bell tower. A dragon protects the city, and soldiers at each corner watch for fire. We went on to the house of the Von Stickle family. They were traders and had a tower to see approaching ships. The houses were built in 1000, 1100, and 1300.

Ghent Altarpiece

The Gravensteen Castle in the center of the city is similar to one built in Syria. The family lived here for 300 years. It later became a courthouse and the nearby square was both a fish market and the execution Square. Then we came to the inner harbor with its guild houses: shippers, grain weighing, the little blue tax house and then grain storage. They charged 20% of the grain for the right to pass. This grain was then sold to the brewers, bakeries, and individuals.

We continued on to Bruges to the Casselbergh Hotel, about 2 blocks from the market square.  We had an orientation walk around the center of the city on our way to dinner.

Bruges City Hall

Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

Overnight we sailed into the Netherlands, where over 50% of the land is at or below sea level. About half the land is used for agriculture. The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural goods in the world.

Dam Square with some protestors

In 1275, Amsterdam was a small village in a swamp, then they built a dam on the Amstel river, now Dam Square. The city became very rich, when the Dutch East India company was heavily engaged in world trade. They even created a stock exchange to allow the merchants to invest in several voyages rather than risk their investment on just one ship. We cruised the canals. There are now 2500 house boats on the canals, used since the 1950s when there was a housing shortage. Each is connected to city water, sewer, and electricity. Amsterdam has 1269 bridges.

Bridges on the canals

Our tickets to the Van Gogh Museum had been canceled because they were expecting thousands of protestors supporting the Palestinians to show up there. So, instead I did a walking tour of the city, starting at Dam Square. There were just a few protestors here. In the afternoon, I did a walking tour of the city starting at Dam square. I continued on to the Ann Frank House, where some of our group were touring. My find for the day was the Church in the Attic Museum. When William of Orange defeated the Spanish Hapsburgs in 1578, all the Catholic Churches were closed in favor of the Dutch Reformed Church. They tolerated other religions, if they weren’t public about it. Three homes were combined in the 17^th century, and the top 3 floors were converted into a Catholic Church. We climbed steep stairs up, stopping to see a kitchen, living room, and several bedrooms until we reached the church in the attic.

The Church in the Attic

That night Brooke and Tristan, Richard’s daughter and son-in-law joined us from London for the Captain’s Farewell Dinner.

Tristan, Brooke, Char, Richard in Amsterdam

Cologne, Germany

 

Cologne Cathedral before the rain

Cologne was first settled by the Romans. Today, over 50% of the city are immigrants. It is also popular with gays. There are twelve churches in the city center.

We started our tour with a huge traffic jam, because many streets were closed for tomorrow’s marathon. We reached the Cathedral, and then we had stiff winds and pouring rain. We immediately headed for shelter and then when the cathedral opened, we rushed in there, but had to stay in the back because there was a special service that day. Most of us gave up on the tour but we ended up waiting over an hour for the buses to return. Some of our group continued the tour, the wiser decision.

Shrine of the Three Kings

Later that day the sun came out. I headed to the Cathedral for pictures of the interior, especially the Shrine of the Three Kings (holding relics of the Magi).  The Cathedral took over 600 years to build, because the city ran out of money when trade routes no longer came to the city. The coming of the railroad brought trade back to the city. The cathedral looks black because of the lichen in the sandstone. It has over 1200 statues. I took the opportunity to climb 512 stairs to see the bells and the views from the top of the tower.

From the top looking to the railroad bridge

I made it back to see the rainbow over the River Aria before the rain began once more.

Returning to the River Aria

Cruising the Rhine to Koblenz

 

Pfalz Castle

This morning we cruised the Castle section of the Rhine, a World Heritage site. We began at the Germania Monument and headed down river, occasionally seeing people harvesting grapes. Highlights included Reichenstein Castle, Pfalz Castle right in the middle of the river, and the Cathedral on the river.

Spitting Fountain

In the afternoon, we walked Koblenz built by the Romans. The fun part was seeing the image of Johann Juter, who was tried for six years, but never convicted. He sticks his tongue out in defiance. The church in town was destroyed several times, so it has Roman and Gothic elements and is finished with onion towers. As we walked the town, bras were strung above the streets – it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We ended at the Schängel Fountain.

Wehy Winery

In the afternoon, we visited Weyh winery. This year they have completed 80% of the harvest, almost a month earlier than usual. Their highest quality grapes come from the steepest slopes and the oldest vines (70-100 years). It typically takes 3 to 5 vines for a bottle of wine. They primarily make Reisling wines. We sampled four of them. As usual my preferred wine was a mid-priced wine. Unfortunately, many family vineyards are being sold, the kids don’t want to farm them. Many of our party took the cable car across the river.

Our jester and minstrel

That evening we went to Marksburg Castle for a medieval dinner. Our entertainment was a man who was a jester using volunteers for his jokes, and playing a minstrel, and a woman who juggled and some acrobatics. The meal was delicious, but the service was slow. We were surprised to learn that we ate goose with stuffing.

Heidelberg, Germany

 

Rene, our Program Director

Our Program Director, Rene, spent his childhood in East Germany. As a 6 year old, their school lessons talked about the enemy next door, the West German capitalist society. Yet his father had a soldier friend in West Germany who would send Levi and sweatshirt hand me downs to him. One shirt promoted Lidl grocery and his teacher said he shouldn’t promote capitalism. The Berlin Wall came down when he was ten in the weeks before there were protests shouting, “we are the people, we want to be free”. The people danced in the streets when the wall came down.  Afterward, they opened the secret police files, and you could read your record and find out who had reported you. In 1990, a 1.9% tax was begun to help rebuild East Germany. Today there remains some resentment towards the East Germans, but their living standards are still lower than West Germany.

Heidelberg Castle

We started our tour in Heidelberg Castle. This was the home of the Prince Elector for centuries, one of seven electors for the Holy Roman Empire. There are numerous architectural styles. The Ruprect wing was built in 1401 and served as a throne hall. The angels above the door are the builder’s children. Most of the Castle was built in the Renaissance style in the 16^th and 17^th centuries.  On one wall Frederick IV traces a false lineage back to Charlemagne. A second wall has biblical figures. Below we can see the Neckar River. We visited the big cask which holds 5000 liters of wine from the taxes paid in wine. The pharmacy museum shows the various drugs used through the ages. Finally, we went to the gardens where we could see the destroyed tower that once held gun powder.

Toppled Gunpowder Tower

We continued in the town of 150K, of which 30K are students attending Germany’s oldest University. Here we saw the Church of the Holy Spirit, once shared by the Lutherans and Catholics with a wall splitting the church. The central market square was filled with people enjoying the day.

Heidelberg Central Square

We rejoined our ship in the port of Ruedeshiem, where we were entertained by a local group of women named Stimmalarm.