Rhine Cruise Day Seven

I back-blipped this at Basel Airport, but didn't realise it had gone in on the 13th. (Thanks to Seascapes for pointing it out). So I've rectified the situation, sorry to those who have already commented. But the 13th is reserved for YOU KNOW WHO!

Last night's activity was a real delight. We were taken to Rastatt, which was about half an hour's drive away. The venue was a huge pink over-the-top Baroque palace. We had a drinks reception, then a short tour of the palace. We were told to bring a jacket, as it can be quite cool inside the palace in the evenings. I didn't, and it was a wee bit chilly...

However, I soon warmed up... in fact, I totally overheated, when the opera singer, during his 'Don Giovani' aria, sashayed over to me in the front seat, held my hand, and sang to me!!

Actually, they two opera singers and pianist were wonderful - it was a very special evening.

On our last day we had three choices of activities - a walking tour of Strasbourg, a trip to a wee farm in the Black Forest for gateau and schnapps tasting, or a trip to a small winery in a cute village for wine tasting. Everyone enjoyed their trips. So really, you could turn around and do the cruise back down the Rhine and do different activities each day.

We chose to visit Strasbourg, with the lovely Lionel as our guide. Both the other tours mentioned walks up hills, and 'hikes' which my knees wanted to avoid. We passed all the official European Union buildings on the bus, then we had a walking tour of the old town - half timbered rickety old houses, canals, cobbled streets, huge cathedral. Very picturesque. A very scrumptious apple pie was eaten.

Back in time for lunch and an afternoon's cruising. We had a tour of the galley, which was interesting - everything is made on board except ice cream (which I ate quite a lot of).

We passed through many huge locks, so it was always good to be up on board to watch the operation. We got to pop into the Bridge and see the control room while we were in a narrow lock - 10 cm clearance on each side!! While I was sitting in the captain's chair the boat had quite a solid bump into the side of the lock but I was completely innocent. I did not touch anything!

The Gala dinner was fun - the crew in their white jackets, though they changed into civvies for the after dinner show. What was a nice touch was that all the staff came out for a mention, even the dishwashers. The crew were fantastic.

But we could not persuade Zulpilka, our personal butler, to come home with us...