The first adventure of 2022 started with a handful of travel wins. Flight one, no seat buddy. Toronto Pearson, way more stuff open in the international terminal than the last time I came through and a short line at Starbucks. Flight two, two people in a bank of three. Uneventful flight of watching movies through the night, including a couple I actually wanted to see. Arrival in Amsterdam – customs line was longish if you weren’t from the EU, but it is what it is. Luggage arrived, driver was waiting, and my hotel (Holiday Inn City Hall) room was ready when I arrived – always the biggest win of all when arriving hours before check-in after an overnight flight.
Took an hour to starfish on the bed and stretch, freshened up, and then I was off to explore Amsterdam. It’s been nearly a decade since I was there and there was plenty more I wanted to see. First stop, Lexi’s Coffee and Bakery for some actual food. Then some coffee. And then I felt like a human again. An incredibly joyful human who was happy to be out in public, around lots of other people, most of whom were not wearing masks (mask mandates were finished in Amsterdam). I walked around some, basked in the sun like a lizard, chatted with some other tourists, and met up with a free walking tour. I love doing these – the price is right (you tip what you feel it was worth) and the guides are generally very entertaining. Spent a couple of hours walking around Amsterdam in beautiful weather with lovely people. Hit a grocery store on the way back for snacks (because times zones cause eating time confusion) to the hotel and called it a night. Puttered a bit to make it to past 9pm and then finally it was time for some sleeping.
The real day 1, which also happened to be King’s Day in Amsterdam. So instead of hanging out in Amsterdam with a million drunken friends in orange, making my way through random acts of flea market, I opted to spend my morning in Lisse at Keukenhof. Fresh air and millions of beautiful flowers – definitely the right choice. This place is absolutely stunning. You MUST go there during tulip season – a flower lover’s or photographer’s dream. And it’s huge, so even when it’s busy, there’s still plenty of room.
When I walked to the train station in the morning, they were setting up barricades all over the place for King’s Day. By the time I got back mid-afternoon, the central core of the city (where I was staying) was a sea of orange. Back to the hotel for a bit, a quick hello with Erika and Chris, and then off to explore the festivities. The flea market aspect had mostly wound down by then (leaving much garbage in its wake), but there was lots of live music, random street vendors, and more. Found some food, wandered around, King’s day – check.
Day 2 – Friends, footsteps, and food tour, oh my! It was time for my awesome friend Erika to send her family and friends home and come hang out with me. There was much walking (in a much cleaner city than I expected, given the day before), including a food tour of the Jordaan area. Eats and drinks (on the tour and not specifically mine) included apple pie, coffee, beer, cheese, bread, bitterballen, veggie rolls, fish, and more. We even met some people that would be joining our river cruise the next day.
Day 3 – Time to take to the river! Part of the purpose of our trip was trying out another river cruise supplier and it was time to give Uniworld a try. But first, we were off to meet up with Vincent! The morning started with coffee at a cafe in the museum area and then it was time to finally go visit the Van Gogh Museum. One happy little art nerd. It was amazing! Expert tip – go right to the top floor and work your way back down (it’s the opposite of what nearly everyone does). An added highlight is that they had an extra exhibition of many of Van Gogh’s olive grove paintings. Next up, the last remaining thing I wanted to do in Amsterdam for this trip – visit Vegan Junk Food Bar. I’m so glad I waited until Erica was with me to do this – it’s easier to justify trying a bunch of things with a friend, and also just more fun. Even if you aren’t a plant-based eater, the food here is delicious. The place was packed within minutes of opening for lunch on a week day and it did not disappoint. I would go back for sure.
With stuffed bellies, we grabbed our bags and an Uber over to the dock to meet the Uniworld River Princess and also new friend Dave. Check-in on a river ship is a much different process than an ocean ship and it took about 2 minutes. River Princess has a maximum capacity of 128 and we had right around 100 passengers on board for our sailing. We headed off to Germany very soon after we boarded, as we had nearly a day of sailing to get to Cologne. Met some of the lovely crew, had some eats and drinks, did some exploring of the ship, and there was much watching the world as we sailed by.
Day 4 – We didn’t arrive to Cologne until early afternoon, so the morning was spent attending the info session for the week with cruise director Tomas and mostly just enjoying the outdoor spaces on the ship as we cruised down the Rhine. Uniworld includes excursion options in every port, but we opted out of the provided walking tour to go and explore on our own here. Highlights included a visit to Cologne Cathedral, the best vegan donut I’ve ever had (from Royal Donuts), a Kölsch beer hall, and the gift shop of the chocolate museum.
Day 5 – Castles, castles, and more castles! This morning was spent sailing down the Middle Rhine Valley, enjoying beautiful weather (though a bit overcast), beautiful scenery, and even more beautiful company from the top deck of the ship. If you want to sail along enjoying beautiful, historical architecture – this route is a great option. We were en route to Rüdesheim, so they even served their take on the famous Rüdesheimer coffee (local brandy and sugar lit to burn off some of the alcohol and then fresh coffee and cream are added to it). We arrived to our destination around noon and I did an included walking tour that showed us around the town a bit, with stops for chocolate and coffee. I went off on my own after that so I could walk further up the hill for the view and to explore some other areas. This is an area where you can easily explore on your own and the ship is docked within walking distance.
Day 6 – After a morning sailing now on the Main river, we arrived in Miltenburg – home of Faust beer. For our afternoon there, we walked around and enjoyed some pretzels and beer in lovely weather. We also got talked into joining our ship mates on a quick trip to Eichenbuehl for more beer, eats, and live music. Miltenburg is quite lovely and you can easily entertain yourself for a few hours here.
Day 7 – One of my faves of this trip – Würzburg! With some delays expected going through the locks, we hopped on a bus at an earlier town so we would arrive in Würzburg on time, and the ship carried on to meet us there later in the day. Torn between offered excursions to visit a palace or hike up to a fortress, we opted for the palace. Luckily, with plenty of time there, we ended up doing both. First up – Würzburg Residence, home of the world’s largest ceiling fresco, painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. It’s a lovely spot for a quick visit (you cannot take photos inside and the tour is fairly quick) and the gardens are quite lovely as well. After that, the ship’s tour was going to continue as a walking tour through the city, so we set off on our own to explore. Past churches, through pedestrian streets, into a cute farmers market, and across a lovely bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) modeled after the Charles Bridge in Prague (and where it’s a thing to just stand around drinking wine or beer with friends). Quite by accident, we found ourselves on the way to the fortress, so we just keep chugging along up the hill. I’m so glad we did because the fortress (Festung Marienberg) was pretty cool and the views of the river and the city from up there are amazing. After dinner, we stayed out and enjoyed the beautiful views from the ship for a while.
Day 8 – Wine, chocolate, and a trip back in time! This morning’s tour was a trip to visit a small winery (Galena) in Franconian wine country, as well as a chocolate and wine tasting (at GWF). I don’t like wine, but I wanted to see what the experience would be like and to compare it to another I’ve done. Much to my surprise, I do like wine produced in this region and I even bought some of it to bring home. This has never happened before, and I’ve tried to like wine in many wine regions of the world – so I’m taking the win. Maybe it’s because I seem to do everything the hard way, and the hills they plant these vines on are definitely the hard way!
Back to the ship for lunch and then we were off again – this time on the bus to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a town I saw a picture of many years ago and have always wanted to visit. Honestly, I probably would not recommend this excursion in this format. This was the only excursion I paid for during my trip (the only option that could be paid for on our sailing from their Masterpiece Collection), and 2/3 of it was actually spent on the bus. The scenery on the drive is lovely, but you don’t really have enough time to visit the town. We had Dave with us, who has been many times before, so he showed us the highlights – we tried the snowballs (pastry shaped into a ball and covered or dipped in various things), visited the giant Christmas shop, admired the gorgeous architecture, and took in as much as we could during a brief time there. We did not do the guided do and just met the bus back when it was time to leave. It was also the only bad weather we had the whole time, with it raining for about half of our visit there. I’m so glad I’ve been, but I would have liked to have had more time and I think I need to go back. I love Germany, so I’m ok with that.
Day 9 – Hello from Bamburg! One last ship excursion to round out the trip (well part of one anyways). We did a walking tour of Bamburg’s old town, including the old palace and new residence. We had a great guide for this one – she was quirky and fun, so I actually paid attention a lot of the time when she was talking. The tour included a stop for beer, where you could try a smoked beer they are known for, but I opted out of this part to explore some more on my own. I went and visited the farmers market and some lovely shops instead, and got a coffee and relaxed and drank it sitting along the side of the river. We weren’t really docked in easy walking distance to Bamburg, so Uniworld was running shuttles back and forth all day. I went back to the ship, changed, and grabbed Erica and gave her an afternoon tour of Bamburg. And we tried beer and a pizza made on a pretzel at Spezial. Yum.
Day 10 – So long River Princess, hello beautiful city of Nuremburg. I’m so glad we opted to stay a couple of extra days at the end of our river cruise because Nuremburg is outstanding. We were off the ship, to our hotel (Holiday Inn Nürnberg City Centre), and checked in before 9am – and thankfully yet again, hotel room was ready well before check-in time. Bags were dumped and off we went to explore. We found coffee, and churches, and chocolate, and more – all before we were meeting our walking tour at noon. Again, a free walking tour here to get a lay of the land, which included the castle, several churches, and more. Found some eats and beverages, definitely got our steps in, took a break back at the hotel for a bit, and then went out to explore Nuremburg by night.
Day 11 – More fun in Nuremburg. My awesome friend Marjam came down from Munich to spend the day with us, so we walked around, went to a vegan cat café for lunch, found some delicious gelato, stopped for drinks, and just enjoyed the day. It had been far too long since I’d seen her and it was amazing to get to spend the day with her. For the evening, we just happened to be there for Nuremburg’s Die Blaue Nacht (Blue Night), where there’s amazing light shows on some of the major buildings, as well as in some galleries, museums, etc. We opted just for the free ‘what you can see from outdoors’ option, but it didn’t disappoint. Lots of food trucks and vendors around, huge crowds (which admittedly was pretty nice after the past couple of years), and some pretty cool works of light. It was a great way to wrap up a trip. I could definitely find more to do in Nuremburg and would happily return.
Day 12 – Sadly, time to head back to Canada. Flight one, Nuremburg to Frankfurt was uneventful. Transit through Frankfurt airport made sure I got my steps in, but was otherwise also completely uneventful. Frankfurt to Toronto was long and uneventful, and was made much more enjoyable when the tall, smelly man in the middle seat beside me with the very pointy elbows went and found another seat once we were up in the air. Customs was a breeze in Toronto and my bags and I made it back to Fredericton with only a bit of a delay.
For those wondering about food (and those who complain I never post enough food pictures), it’s incredibly easy to eat plant-based in Amsterdam and through Germany. Uniworld made a valiant effort to bring me vegan options for every meal as well (but I did eat a couple of dry salads the first two days while they got the hang of it). My friends seemed to enjoy most of their non-plant-based meals as well. Uniworld – two thumbs up! Europe – still my happy place.
Ange out.
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