Antwerp, Belgium

Our ship was docked about 15 minutes from the city center, making it easy to tour the major squares as well as the side alleys in town. Antwerp is a major shipping port in Europe, second only to Rotterdam. An interesting feature next to our ship was the world's oldest escalator made of wood and leading to a pedestrian tunnel underneath the river. We saw lots of chocolate stores, liquor stores featuring some of Belgium's 1000 beers, and snack shops featuring Belgian Fries and sausages. The Belgians are proud of their fries which are fried twice.

Grote Square and Brabo Fountain

Our first square was the Grote Market with the guild houses lining the square and an interesting Brabo Fountain in the center featuring a figure holding a cut off hand. This represents the legend of the giant Druon Antigoon, who cut off a hand of all ship captains who refused to pay the toll. But then was surprised by Brabo, a captain of the Roman Army, who cut of Druon’s hand and his handless body lies bleeding at the base of the fountain. This story is celebrated by chocolate shaped like a hand (which of course we sampled).

Raising of the Cross by Reuben

The Cathedral of Our Lady is quite unique. Inside are four Reubens paintings as well as some interesting woodwork in the choir telling Mary’s story. Nearby is a bar filled with many of the old statues from the church. Quite a few of us ended up enjoying some Belgian beers and food there.

Church Bar

Belgium itself is a rather young country, founded in 1830 and set up as a monarchy republic to provide a buffer between France and Germany, who were always having wars. The first king, Leopold I, is well thought of because of his investments in infrastructure. Unfortunately, Leopold II felt they needed an African colony, so they were given the Congo by the European powers, again to separate German and French colonies. Belgium exploited the riches of the country, particularly diamonds, rubber, and chocolate, and in the process killed over 10 million Africans. Belgium has a unique political structure, each language group (Flemish, French, and German) has their own parliament as well as the national parliament.

In the afternoon, we got to watch an Argentine Navy Trainer Tall ship ceremoniously set sail right in front of us. We ended our day with a great Captain's dinner and went to bed early for the early start to the airport.

Euthanasia Discussion

Our afternoon speaker introduced us to the fact that Euthanasia is legal in Belgium (as well as the Netherlands and Luxembourg). They consider it a way to have a dignified death when dealing with unbearable or unending pain. The individual is the decision maker and the doctor has the right to not participate. After signing a paper, that you desire to be euthanized, the doctor must review your options for the future and ask for a 2^nd opinion. In Belgium, it is not necessary for you to be terminally ill to ask, but you must have a physical or mental problem. There is no age restriction, but for minors, the parents must agree. But you must be able to make a decision when the chemicals are given to you, so this is a problem for people with dementia.  Legally, euthanasia is a form of natural death for insurance and criminal law purposes. About 2% of Belgium’s deaths are via euthanasia.

Of course, there are many people opposed to euthanasia. The primary cons are:

·         Religious reasons, that this is suicide

·         Fear of forced euthanasia

·         No recourse “what is done, is done”

·         Pressure from family “I’m a burden to them”

Trip Summary

A 23 minutes video of this trip is available on youtube.

Overall, this has been a relaxing cruise. Each day started with a walking tour of a new town, followed by time to explore further on your own or just relax on the ship. We met some great people on the ship, and had fun joking around with each other. Jörn our program manager had a story or joke for every occasion as well as sharing the facts about each location. Finally, Captain Richard was always available, welcoming us every time we returned to the ship.

Windmills and Dams

Kinderdijk Wind Mills in the Fog

This morning we had the choice of walking and a boat ride, or biking among the 19 windmills of Kinderdijk. We're on a 250 square km. Waard or island between the rivers. In 1100 this was all swamp. Then they started digging canals to channel the water to the rivers and create arable land. In 1400 they put dikes along the rivers to prevent flooding and windmills to pump the water up about 5 feet to a higher canal or the river. This area has preserved its windmills, 17 of which are still occupied by families and two as museums. The one we toured was from 1630 with a large, heavy square structure on top. Most were built in 1738-40 and have smaller, lighter round tops. If the wind is light, you pull down two or four canvases to catch the wind. “Three sheets to the wind" is unstable. What was striking was the measuring pole which shows the various water levels: low tide on the nearby river was about 3 feet higher than the canal, yellow high tide about 9 feet higher and the worst flood seen in this area was about 12 feet above the canal and 9 feet above the land. 

Model of the Delta Works

We sailed on to Willemstad and then took a bus to the Delta Works. A flood here in 1953, from a 30-hour storm on the North Sea broke the existing dikes and killed 1800 people. A new series of dams and storm surge barriers was designed to shorten the Dutch coastline, reducing the number of dikes that had to be raised. The original plan was a series of dikes that would turn the water behind the dikes into a large freshwater lake, useful for farming behind the dikes. But work was stopped in 1973 because of the ecological concerns for turning this large sea water estuary into a fresh water lake. The plan was changed to build the Delta Works, which would leave this an estuary, but by closing the gates under extreme weather conditions, protect the people and land from flooding. It took 8 years of construction and was completed in 1986. As part of the project they had to stabilize  the sandy bottom below the water by creating a carpet of cloth and rocks for an area of 6 miles in length by 1 mile. Then build a permanent structure of pylon islands with gates 6 to 12 meters high. The gates have been closed 27 times in 33 years.

The Surge Gate we visited

We ended our day with the crew show, which had us all laughing. Jörn read a passenger's diary. 

Nijmegen, Netherlands

The name of Netherlands came from the Roman commentary about this being low country or swamp. It became part of the Holy Roman Empire until William of Orange, a German Protestant,  was granted the Netherlands and Belgium by the King of Spain after William had become Catholic. He declared that the Netherlands would have religious freedom. The Dutch national anthem still has lines about having German blood and giving honor to the king of Spain. The Dutch founded the East India Company, which shipped spices from the East to Europe, making the Netherlands the richest in the world, having 12% of the world's wealth. Today, the country has a large social welfare system. Everyone has housing, health insurance, and free schooling. The public housing, we saw was nice and well maintained. If you can't work the state will provide you with a minimum monthly income. Tax rates vary from 18 to 58% to support this system.

Weigh Station now a restaurant

We landed at Nijmegen in the fog and rain. After a lecture on Operation Market Garden. We walked the town. We passed a tax station and a weigh station for collecting shipping taxes. Then came upon a plaque commemorating the names of the Jews who died in concentration camps. World War II was a dark period in the Netherlands' history, 92% of the Jews were terminated. The old town has St. Steven's church, an ecumenical church. We tried some of the local delicacies: pickled herring (not to my taste) and gouda cheese (the aged cheese was great).

Cheese Anyone?

In the afternoon, I walked to the Belvedere watchtower and Valkhof. Originally, Charlemagne built a wooden palace on this hill. In 1155, the Emperor replaced it with a stone stronghold. Most of the castle has been torn down except for the remains of two chapels. 

St. Nicholas Chapel

Operation Market Garden

 Captured Bridge

Our speaker was six years old in September 1944. He came to know General Gaven and several of the soldiers over time. Operation Market Garden was a plan from General Montgoery to circumvent the Ziegfield line protecting Germany by liberating northern Netherlands and going around it to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine. It involved taking a key 100-mile-long road in less than two days before reinforcements could arrive. Three airborne troops landed at various points along the road to secure nine bridges with Nijmegen being the central city. Here the Americans managed to take the town before the railroad bridge could be destroyed. Unfortunately, the British paratroopers north of here dropped on top of two divisions of SS troops and were defeated. From here the Americans tried to cross the Rhine with small boats but were turned back by the Germans. The town of Nijmegen was the farthest north point held by the Allies until after the battle of the Bulge. The attempted crossing is memorialized at sunset every night.

Bonn

University at Bonn

We woke up to another cloudy day with intermittent rain, now our fourth or fifth day. Bonn is not a tourist town, since it was completely bombed out during the war. It did serve as the home of the bishops and prince electors from 1597 to 1794. The University buildings are built from their palace. Bonn is the birthplace of Konrad Adenauer and served as the West German capital after 1946. St. Martin’s is the cathedral here, but it was undergoing major renovation. The Rathaus was the most interesting building. Here President Kennedy gave a speech to the Germans praising them for becoming a center of the free world. On the plaza in front are brass pieces with the name of books burned in this square by the Nazis.

Jorn, not Kennedy at Rathaus

We also toured Beethoven's house, which is now a museum. The highlights were listening to some of his works that I wasn't familiar with and seeing some of the original scores. I'm not sure how they figured out what notes he actually wrote with all the cross-outs in the music. 

That evening we were entertained by the "Mandolin Orchestra of Troisdorf" 

University Education Presentation

We heard from a female student from Jordan who had completed her Master’s degree at the University of Bonn in American studies. She was attracted here because of the low cost, free tuition and dorm costs of about 250 euros/month. All her courses were in English, but she also took classes to learn German. A foreign student can also work up to 20 hours/week for 700 Euros/month. The major restriction for studying in Germany was to have 10000 euros in a bank account to insure you could pay for rent and health insurance (100 euros per month). After graduation you can try to find a permanent job here for 18 months and if you find one after studying for German proficiency and 6 years you can gain citizenship.

Germany, a Nation of Immigrants Discussion

Since World War Two, Germany has accepted many immigrants. It began when the border with Poland was moved 300 km. Many German speakers ended up in Poland and moved to West Germany between 1947 and 1952. Because the Marshall plan was so successful, the German economy boomed in the 50s and ‘temporary' workers came from Turkey, Italy, and Spain. The original plan was they would return to their country after 10 or more years. But of course, they stayed but were never well integrated into Germany. In the 60s many Cubans and North Koreans came to East Germany for education. In the 70s the boat people from South Vietnam came. These were well integrated. In the 90s the European Union set a European policy about refugees that they should stay in the country of entry. This has placed a huge burden on Italy and Greece in recent years. In 2015 Merkle let in 700K asylum seekers. This resulted in quite a lot of controversy and the founding of the ADP, a right-wing, white supremacist organization. There is now a discussion around who are Germans? Legally you can be German if you were born here, or you can show that you came from German ancestors, or you have lived and worked here. For this latter method you must be fluent in German and pass an integration test (which 60% of Germans fail).

Our speaker ended with distinguishing the terms of integration, where we learn from each other, and assimilation where they must become like us. The German experience is that only integration works.

Cochem

Reichsberg

The highlight of Cochem is the Reichsberg built in 1053, destroyed in 1699 by Ludwig XIV, and then rebuilt by Louis Ravené beginning in 1868. The castle was almost storybook because of the flowers, hand painted rooms, and picturesque balconies and towers. There was some interesting furnishing like the wild boar in the hunters room, the windows with their flattened blown glass, the 7 foot 11inch suit of armor and the lion with a helmet, that makes him look like a frog.

Reichsberg

Cochem itself is a town of 5000 people. The streets and restaurants were filled with people on this Saturday, shopping day for most since the stores are closed on Sunday. In the afternoon I went up the chair lift for a beautiful view of the town, castle, and the Mosel river.

View of Cochem from above

Luxembourg

Luxembourg Fortress on a rock

It was a 30-minute drive to reach the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and then about 20 minutes to reach the old town area of Luxembourg city. 160,000 of the country's 600,000 live here. The city of Luxembourg was founded in 963 when Count Ziegfried built his castle on the rock. The city wall defended this community for 1000 years. The views are spectacular on this 44-meter-high rock island in the sky.  We visited the Jesuit church and school which is now the Cathedral as well as the palace of Duke Henri. Across the valley we saw the newest part of the city, which hold the EU offices as well as the Court of Justice.

Grand Ducal Palace 1562

In the afternoon, we visited the Luxembourg American Cemetery. The Battle of the Bulge was fought just north of here. This was Hitler's carefully planned attack to split the American and British forces. The Germans outnumbered American forces by 6 to one. The Americans were pushed back for two weeks but held long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The battle continued for another three weeks with 80,000 casualties. Then the battle to reach the Rhine continued. Forces had to cross multiple rivers and the Siegfried line of 18000 fortifications. They reached the Rhine in 2 months and Germany surrendered six weeks later. There some 5000 Americans buried here as well as General George Patton. He used to have an ordinary grave, but it was constantly a muddy mess because of so many visitors. They moved the grave to protect it and he now faces his troops.

Patton reviewing his troops

We then had a flower laying ceremony with the veterans among us as they played taps. Nearby was a German cemetery, a headstone for one to four soldiers among the oak trees.

The German Cemetery

That evening, Mariya, a member of the crew, gave her first concert. She had been encouraged by the President of Grand Circle after he heard her during karaoke.

Trier

Porta Negra

Trier was founded by the Roman’s in 16 BC and had a bridge across the Mosel making it an important town. It later became the capital of the western Roman Empire with a population of 60,000. One of four gates into the town was the Porta Negra, built in the 2^nd century and still standing because it was incorporated into a church, later destroyed by Napoleon. The gate consists of 7200 sandstone blocks held together by iron clamps.

Electoral Palace

The Roman’s built an Imperial Hall here in 400 AD which also remains standing. 220 ft by 100 and 130 ft high. It was incorporated into a church, then during the time of the Bishop/electors, it was the electoral hall, then part of a palace, and today a protestant church. During Roman times, it had windows and underfloor and wall heating. Next to the Hall is the Electoral Palace, home of the Bishop and Electors from the 16^th to 18^th century.

Dom Cathedral

After lunch, I visited the 13th century gothic style Church of our Lady as well as the 4th century Dom Cathedral. In the crypt of the cathedral was the roll of bishops from 250 till today. Behind the altar is the Chapel of the Seamless Robe, said to be worn by Jesus before his crucifixion.

Altar from the Dom

The Museum of the Dom has a model of the four Trier basilicas as they were in 380, a 3D model of some of the excavations around the basilica as well as Roman ceilings and other artifacts found in Trier. There also many of the original carvings and statues from the two churches. Quite an interesting collection!

European Union discussion

The European Union today is 28 countries with 500 million people and 24 official languages (out of about 200). There is an annual income difference of 15X between Luxemburg and Bulgaria. In 1951, the Union began with six members. Robert Schuman who was born in Luxemburg, but lived in Mainz under both German and French rule, proposed the Coal and Steel Community as a way to stop the never ending European wars. The EU has 3 capitals: Strasburg, Brussels, and Luxemburg. The Senate consisting of the leaders of each country sets the budget for a 5-year period, based on each country paying a set fee per person (currently 86 euros).  The Court of Justice adjudicates between states or between individuals and states. There are three countries Switzerland, Norway and Iceland that are members of the common market, but not the EU.

What happens with Brexit? (which is supposed to happen at the end of the month) Short term there will be huge slowdowns of the 9000 trucks per day that go between the EU and the UK. Some restaurants and stores in Britain have large storage reserves to reduce the effect. Ireland has built Brexit Buster ships to ship directly to France instead of going through the UK. It will be difficult without any trade agreement!

The Mosel

Last night we passed the Kaiser Wilhem I monument and entered the Mosel river. This is a tributary of the Rhine and everything seems closer, the hills rise right next to us. This is a Riesling growing area and as we cruised we could see workers on the steep slopes picking the last of the grapes.

We started our day with a glass blowing demonstration by Karl from Wertheim, a town with a thousand glass blowers. He is the sixth generation to blow glass. Karl holds the glass with his bare hands because of its heat insulation properties. For example, fiberglass has replaced asbestos as insulation, and you can even buy glass fiber wallpaper. Karl met Dale Chihuly in Vienna by accident when Chihuly was quite young. Twenty-one years later Karl was asked to be a teacher in Chihuly's school. This was his conversion from scientific glass blowing to artistic glass. Karl gave us an interesting and funny presentation on artistic and industrial uses for glass. Margaret was recruited from the audience to help. 

In the afternoon, we walked the town of Bernkastel. It had a beautiful market square with timbered buildings and slate roofs. There are several strangely shaped houses with small foundations because taxes used to be based on the size of your foundation.

Upside down house

The vineyards surround the town and we marveled that workers could pick the grapes on such steep slopes. We ended our tour with a wine tasting of four local vintages from dry to sweet wines. Their highest grade was called Doctor wine because legend has it that it removed the pain from the actions of a past prince/bishop.

Picking Grapes on the steep hilside

I decided to scale the hill to Burg Landshut which dominates the town. The views of the town, river, and vineyards were striking, and the climb warmed me up significantly.

View from Burg Landshut

Middle Rhine

This morning we cruised the castle section of the Rhine. We had a mixture of sun and clouds with fall colors on the hills. The castles were built primarily by prince/bishops to collect tolls from ships plying the river. Most were built before the 15^th century, many were either destroyed by the armies of King Ludwig or Louie the 14^th as the wars between the French and Germans occurred. Some remain in ruins, but most have been rebuilt into residences or hotels. Many have legends associated with them, usually a story of rivalry over a girl. We passed by several hazardous sections, including Lorelei rock, where the shipping channel narrows.The story is that an attractive woman would lure the sailors onto the rocks.

Lorelei and her rock

Then we walked the town of Boppard, Germany. Population 15000. This where the bentwood chair was invented. There are Roman ruins from a third century fortress as well as a cute church of St. Severus with lots of wood, roman arches, and a beautiful organ with a rose window behind it.

Church of St. Severus

In the afternoon I toured Marksburg castle, built beginning in the 11^th century and never destroyed. It had 4 levels of walls to protect against invasion. The bedroom here was heated, so it also served as the day room for the women. The toilet was off the dining room. It was a seat with a hole, the waste dropped straight down from the wall. The lock on the door was to prevent invaders from using it to get inside, rather than provide a person privacy. In fact, it was common to converse with those in the dining room while you were in the toilet. The torture room had a shame mask called a pig mask with a long nose piece with a weight at the end, forcing the person to drag their face near the ground.

Pig Mask

A castle legend

Many of the castles have legends associated with them:

Sir Diethelm of Burg Rheinstein was not rich but he found consolation by thinking of his beautiful daughter, Gerda. Once Gerda reached marrying age, her father often daydreamed of a rich suitor who would share his fortune with him upon marriage to his daughter.

Chapel and Reichenstein Castle

Helmbrecht, eldest son of the old Knight of Sternberg Castle, lacked neither looks nor youth, but did lack riches and family fortune. However, this did not prevent him from wooing Gerda. Helmbrecht went to his uncle, Gunzelin of Burg Reichenstein, and asked him to speak to Gerda's father on his behalf. Gunzelin was a grey haired giant possessing a vast fortune. Due to the close proximity of Burg Reichenstein and Burg Rheinstein, Gunzelin was well aware of Sir Diethelm's desire regarding a wealthy son-in-law. At their first meeting, Gunzelin found Gerda so beautiful he asked for her hand in marriage.  Blinded by Gunzelin's wealth and stately appearance, Gerda's father agreed to their marriage. The ceremony was scheduled for a few days later in St. Clement's Chapel  which lies on the banks of the Rhine between Burg Reichenstein and Burg Rheinstein. However, Gerda became quite distraught upon discovering the name of her future husband, she cried aloud with anguish, and broke into tears. As everyone knows water creatures are attracted to tears from near and afar. The water-nymph who heard Gerda's sadness, knew what needed to be done.

Rheinstein Castle

On the day of the wedding, the bride and groom began their journey to St. Clement's Chapel. This route included a hornet's nest firmly entrenched
at the side of the road. As the couple approached it, the water-nymph threw a jagged rock right into the hornet's nest. As a result, the hornets swarmed and began stinging the horse, which was transporting the couple to the chapel. The horse stood on his hind legs and threw Gunzelin over a cliff to his death. Gerda was rescued by Helmbrecht who was wallowing in his sorrow near the chapel.

A week later, Gerda von Rheinstein married Helmbrecht in the same St. Clement's Chapel where, after a lifelong happy marriage, they were both laid to rest.

Speyer, Germany

Rathaus and Cathedral

Our first German city, Speyer was founded by the Romans in 80 BC as a military camp. In 980 AD it became part of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire lasted for 1000 years until the time of Napoleon. In the city is the largest Romanesque church in the world, capable of holding 15000 people. This cathedral was host to the first and second diets of Speyer. These diets decided that the followers of Luther and other protestants could co-exist with Catholics, allowing multiple religions within the Empire.  Inside the crypt of the cathedral are the graves of several kings and emperors from the first Salian emperor Conrad II 1039 to King Rudolf, the first Hapsburg king in 1291.

From the church we walked down the main street seeing the first Rathaus, the mint house of the empire, and the clock tower of the city walls. From the tower I had a beautiful view of the city. I returned to the Cathedral to see the interior and the crypt, lucky me also had an organ concert.

Altar and Baptismal Font in the Crypt

In the afternoon was our home hosted visit with Regina. We had coffee, cake, and wine, discussing a variety of topics like the school system, children, and traveling. After her children left, she started taking English lessons and hosting is one of the ways to improve her English. We were appreciative, since none of our group of six spoke German.

That night we were entertained by a local acapella group "Stimmalarm".

Strasbourg

The canals of Strasbourg

We took the streetcar into the city is Strasbourg, the central part of the city is almost an island with canals and the river surrounding the city. In fact, its historic name is Grande Île. Many of the buildings here are built with a rose-colored sandstone, a unique feature. The German section built when Alsace was part of Germany, consists of grey stone because it was cut from a German quarry. We started our walk at St. Pierre-le-Vieux, which is a split church Catholic on one side and Protestant on the other with a wall between. In 2012, in the spirit of ecumenism a door was put in the wall, but it is always locked. We walked along the canal in Petite France (or Tanner's Quarter), once home to the various tradesmen like fisherman, bakers and especially tanners. Strasbourg is where Gutenberg invented a new alloy that would hold its shape as it cooled, allowing him to later invent the printing press.

Petite France

The highlight of the city center is Notre Dame de Strasbourg. Coming around the corner, you see this glorious pink sandstone façade. The spire on the church is magnificent. This was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874. The sandstone is easy to carve, and the façade is covered with bible scenes, saints, and kings. Inside the cathedral are stained glass windows that glow in the sunlight. There is also a floor to ceiling celestial clock. Many people were anticipating the clock to strike 3, and what we got was a single ‘ting’.  

Mary and I also visited the nearby Musée de L’oeurvre Notre-Dame, which has many of the original statues and windows from the church. There were also many unusual artworks from the middle ages like St.  Ursula and maidens in a boat being shot by archers or the deceased lovers. A unique discovery was the 13^th century architectural drawings for the towers and facades.

Samuel and Singers from the Cathedral

That evening our three program directors, Jörn, Simone, and Amir, prepared us to enter Germany with a "Fun German Evening" including what tourists should know about the German language and customs as well as a "Bill and Betty" skit about American tourists in Germany.

Autonomous Alsace

We learned the history of Alsace from a local. In 1648 France annexed this region from the Holy Roman Empire. France lost this region to Germany after the Franco Prussian war. Back to France in 1918, lost to Germany in 1940, back to France in 1944. Strasbourg became the home of the European Parliament in 1949 as part of the European Coal and Steel Community. The Community was the first effort at eliminating war between France and Germany by making these countries mutually dependent upon each other in the Community. As the European Union came into being, Strasbourg is one of three capital cities in the Union.

France has promised that Alsace will gain some more local control in 2021, because of its unique situation, some 25% actually work in Germany or Switzerland creating a need for more German classes and better infrastructure.

Alsace, France

Vineyards in Alsace

We're going to explore several small villages in the Alsace region of France. This region has been contested between Germany and France for several centuries. The grapes have been picked already and the vines were turning yellow, adding color to the countryside. We first drove to Colmar and drove the bus around the traffic circle several times to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty. The artist came from this town. Our bus wound its way through the villages of Scherwiller, Châtenoix, Keintzheim, Orschwiller, Saint Hippolyte, and Beblenheim on the Way of the Wine. 

White Storks

We stopped in Ribeauvillé at a nature center, which played a key role in restoring the white stork population to the area. In 1975 only ten storks remained in this area, historically known for its storks and the legend of storks delivering babies. 80% of storks had died of electrocution as they migrated to and from Northern Africa. Here they raised a generation of storks where they caged them until they were 3 years old and fully mature. That generation didn't migrate. Today there are 950 storks that do migrate, many of the electric lines are now buried. The park also had some ducks, river otters, swans, coypu, and racoons.

Dolder Tower in Riquewihr

We continued on to the village of Riquewihr, built behind medieval walls and filled with colorful timbered buildings. This is a tourist town, filled with wine tasting shops, restaurants, bakeries, and souvenir shops. We enjoyed ourselves walking the streets and taking pictures.

Taking pictures of people walking the streets

Basil

Basil is Switzerland’s third largest city with 195,000 people. Our ship is docked just inside Switzerland- the monument for the border with France and Germany is a 15 minute walk down the canal. The town was founded by the Kells in 400 BC. The Romans incorporated the area in 200 BC, using the Rhine river as a border to their empire. It later became part of the Holy Roman Empire until the Swiss fought for independence in 1291. At that time, it was a loose confederation of Cantons. Always a trading center, today Basil is also a pharmaceutical center. The Swiss constitution is from 1848 and is modeled after the US constitution, but changes to the constitution require a citizen initiative with 120,000 signatures and then a vote of the people. It took three votes to give women the vote in 1971.

Munster Stained Glass Windows

Today we had a short walking tour of the city. The Munster is the reformed church and is built in Gothic style. One of 12 European churches built by Henry II and Cunigunde. We saw another one in Bamberg this year. The city hall or Rathaus isn't built next to the church, but is several blocks away, symbolizing the separation of church and state.

Switzerland Today Discussion

In the afternoon we had a talk about Switzerland today. Our speaker is currently a teacher with a 4-year-old son. A high school teacher here requires a master’s degree as well as a 2 year teaching credential. He had bicycled from his home to France for produce and to Germany for other groceries to save money today.

The school system sounds very similar to Germany's. Non-compulsory kindergarten at age 5 or 6, Elementary school for five years and then at age 12 you attend one of three high schools. The low-end school results in learning a trade, the mid-level is for office workers, and the high end for those going to university. For trades or office work you apprentice during the last two years, working 3 days per week and schooling 2 days per week.

He summarized his income and expenses:

• So that one parent is always home with their 4-year-old, he works three days a week earning $5400/mo and she works 2 days/week earning $2600/mo.
• Rent is $500/mo.
• Insurance costs them $1000/mo. with a 2000 deductible.
• One car costs $1000/mo.
• Groceries $1500/mo.
• $350/mo. for retirement savings
• Income tax can vary but typically 5-8%

Boy bobbing bubbles

River Harmony

Today we drove to our ship, the River Harmony, in Basel. After our first delicious lunch on board, I went into town to the History Museum. 

Watch built in 1680

This museum had an interesting mixture of exhibits. The most interesting was on clocks and watches, most from the 17^th century. Here descriptions in English were lacking except for some videos. Less interesting were the rooms decorated with furniture from various periods in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Here they had guide books in English. In the attic, they had a display of doll houses, toys, and games. I had expected an exhibit on Einstein, but discovered that was in the history museum in Bern, not Basil.

19th Century Doll House Kitchen

The Transport Museum (Verkenhrshaus der Schweiz)

A child enjoying an exhibit on gliders (first built in 1892)

Today is our free day in Lucerne, but we woke up to pouring rain. We decided to join Manuela in the morning for a bus ride along the shoreline in some residential neighborhoods. It was a chance to get out of the hotel without getting very wet. On the way back, we visited the transport museum, which explains how we get around from stage coaches to Mars rovers. This museum was the best I've seen for having activities that keep the children entertained and learning, while also having interesting adult exhibits. The schools were out, so it was packed with kids. 

Model of Gotthard Tunnel

My personal highlights included:

·         The steam and electric train engines especially the explanations around the cog railways.

·         The exhibit about building the Gotthard tunnel, 57 km. long between Switzerland and Italy at a cost of $12 billion.

·         The model ships and the science of Hydroplanes.

·         Submarines and deep-water exploration.

·         The exhibit on gas and hot air balloons.

·         Some of the early gliders and planes.

·         And finally some of the Mars lander’s including the planned 2020 mission.

Cog Railway car for Mt. Pilatus Railway outside Lucerne

We were exhausted after 2 ½ hours and headed back to the hotel to relax.