I18 April 2019
We woke as usual and Peter went to make Earl Grey tea to take back to our stateroom. It was another sunny day in Breisach and promised to be warm, so another shorts day for Peter ( and one or two other guests).
We joined Chris and Ruth in the dining room for breakfast, and while we were having our cups of tea and coffee, an announcement came over the PA from Boyan advising us that our sister ship had been delayed, so we were taking over their trip to Colmar, which meant that we would now be leaving at 8:30 rather than 8:45, so could we please collect our landing cards and be ready to depart as soon as possible!
So it was quickly back to our rooms to get ready and out into reception. As he was getting on the coach, Peter realised that he had forgotten his wallet and Alison had forgotten her walking pole.
So it would be a cheap trip out.
Arriving at Colmar, we passed a replica statue of Liberty on a roundabout as we were heading towards the coach park. Once there we decided to board Le Petit Train, rather then walk into the village ( or rather the city) centre.
The train ride took us all around the tiny streets, which were all decorated for Easter, and our guide told us lots of stories about the history and culture of the area. It was very amusing but frustrating for Peter and Chris as photographers, because at every photo opportunity it was either too bumpy, the view was onscured by the glass side of the train, or there was a car in the way!
After the train ride our guide took us for a short walk around some of the streets that had been closed on account of the Easter market. Our tour ended at a meeting point after which we had some free time to admire the views and take some steady photos.
We visited the cathedral and managed to find a cafe for refreshments before returning to our meeting point and the short walk back to the coach.
Arriving back at the ship we went straight to the restaurant for lunch, as we had to be out early again to catch the coach for our afternoon excursion to the Black Forest. The first two coaches had a staggered departure with the earlier group at 13:55, the second ones ten minutes later.
After a short while on the autobahn, the outward journey passed along a winding mountain road that ascended the forest and afforded some stunning views of the countryside and some areas where there was still small sheltered patches of residual snow.
We arrived at the visitor centre just in time to see the giant cuckoo clock perform its 3:30 ritual before the groups split up into the optional tours: a short hike up the wooded valley, experiencing a glass blowing demonstration, the construction of cuckoo clocks or the baking of black forest gateau. We were asked to be back at the coach in an hours time.
We chose the adventurous walk up the hillside and duly set off up a track beside a fast flowing stream under the only heated railway bridge in Germany upwards via a stony path and occasionally up wooden steps. After about 15 minutes Alison and Ruth decided to head back down the path to be in time for the end of the cookery class. The rest of us went further upstream until our guide decided that the noise of the waterfalls drowned out his speech, so switched off his microphone.
We waited for a few stragglers who had gone further up and then headed back down the track again, arriving just in time for some more photos and to see the clock perform its 4:30 ritual, but there was no sign of the ladies. We eventually found them enjoying a cup of tea, so persuaded them to join us back on the coach as it would be a long walk back.
The journey back was intended to be more direct and quicker, but started down a steep road the passed through a narrow gorge ( the Stag’s leap, or hell’s gorge) which lived up to its name as we crawled down all the way into and through Freiburg, until we again reached the autobahn, which also had a traffic jam, presumably on account of the extended Easter holiday weekend.
We arrived back to the ship about half an hour late, which meant a delayed departure. As it was our last night, it was Captain’s cocktail party, with speeches from the senior officers thanking us all for being such a good group of passengers and detailing all our departure arrangements. We were treated to a very accomplished rendition of “memories” by one of the reception staff, after which one of the guests proposed a vote of thanks to the crew.
We changed tables again for dinner, so met some more guests. After a short trip up to the sun deck for some fresh air, we went back to our rooms for the sombre task of packing.
The internet was problematic again so blogging was suspended for the night, and, as our TV was now back to normal, we did not have a photo session, but filled in our cruise questionnaires .