This morning came way too quickly! We weren’t sure we were going to make it to our included highlights tour this morning, but we persevered. Our ship was in Kehl, Germany, across the river from Strasbourg, France. The first part of our tour that started at 8:45 a.m. was by bus and then we had a walking tour around Strasbourg, including the Petite France section which was very pretty with its half-timbered houses and quiet canals.
We walked across the guard bridge (picture above) into the Petite France area (pictured below).
Strasbourg Cathedral (below) is officially called the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. The spire of the church alone is 466 feet tall, so this is the world’s sixth-tallest church. Until 1874, it was the tallest building in the world. We didn’t get to go inside since it was a Sunday and masses were going on so you couldn’t get in until this afternoon when we had another tour. The church was just too big to get in one shot! They had a miniature model beside the church that looked ideal for showing the entire church.
After another great lunch on board, we joined our afternoon tour for Alsatian Wine Tasting. A bus took us to the Achillee winery, where we tasted five different kinds of wine (and liked four of them). We also had a tour of the operations of the winery and went out along the vineyards. It was very nice although everyone is so tired from almost a week of cruising and tours that our guide offered to stay quiet for part of the ride there and back (rather than giving us information about the Alsace area) so we could all take cat naps.
As soon as we got back from that tour, Kathy attended the Port Talk which included our disembarkation details (how sad!) while Jack edited these photos. Then we all met for dinner in the restaurant, which was a “Taste of Germany” buffet featuring lots of German food and desserts. We decided to head back to our room immediately after dinner to finish this blog so we can get to bed early. We are glad we did because currently our boat is in a lock, ready to be raised up to the level on the other side of the dam. We have all been out on our balconies to watch the progress and could easily touch the wall of the lock. Tomorrow is Briesach with a morning tour of Colmar and an afternoon excursion to the Black Forest.