Our Little Corner of the World...visiting Miltenburg, Germany!!!

One of the things I just love about Europe are the flowers in the windows!!!!

 

And then there are the cool signs...

...and of course, the cool church at the end of the road!

But get a load of this cool building!!!  

Just look at the intricacy of the wood and plaster designs in the wall... 

Miltenburg is a small German village on the Rhine...

it's absolutely charming...

houses and buildings with intricate designs on the wall surface...

 Our guide told us that years ago these intricate designs were covered over by plaster...

then it became fashionable to restore the buildings back to their original design...

Can you believe it???

I can't even imagine covering up these designs with plaster!!!

So here's the group!!!  At least what you can see of us!!!

TheChief and I are on the left with Linda,

on the right it's Sean, with Veronica peeking out by Sean, then Debra, who wasn't in the 

earlier group photo, and Doug is peeking over the heads of Veronica and Sean!

Art is taking the photo...

An interesting store...never could quite figure it out...

I think it was an art store...

"Guntram's painter's Ark
Center of time and
Draftsmanship of Miltenberg"

TheChief thought it was pretty macho... 

Perhaps this was a pretzel shoppe???

Another cool sign...

...and another...

Wait!!!  A Mexican restaurant in Germany???

 I remember when we had to send my sister care packages of 

Ortega chiles, refried beans, tortillas etc.,

because in Michigan and Kentucky the closest thing to a Mexican

restaurant was a Taco Bell!!!

Now they're all over the world!!!

A quintessential European walkway...

Then a walk behind the village, up to the castle...

 with everybody waiting for the shutter bug to hurry up and catch up...

 

 Quite a view up there!!!

 

This is the back of the castle...it looks like it's been converted to something else...

but we weren't sure what.  Possibly a hotel...or a restaurant?

 TheChief and I posing for a possible Christmas card photo!!!

Then that beautiful walk back down to the village...

 

 

 

Ach!!!  I just can't pass up beautiful flowers!!!!

...or another another cool sign...

...and more window flowers!!!

 

On our way back to the ship...

TheChief found where their Rotary Club meets!!!

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Oooops!!! Our Little Corner of the World forgot to post one of the more unique aspects of Amsterdam!!! X-RATED!!!

How could I forget this???

 

As evening set in...

 

...yes...we had to stroll down the red light district...

...along with every other tourist in Amsterdam!!! 

X-RATED!!!

It's true...the brothels have windows displaying their "goods"...

and according to our friends who had been there before, about 30 years ago...

the "goods" have changed!!!

Most of the gals were quite attractive...many with the "school girl" or librarian look

with glasses and braids or bun...

a few gyrations to get your attention...

then checking Facebook on their cell phones!!!

On our walk along the district, TheChief spotted the Museum of Prostitution!
In the window there was a Trip Advisor posting of comments...
Instead of 5 stars...the comments had 5 ........  well... consider it X-rated!!!
 We passed...and walked on.

And of course...you don't want to miss the tattoo convention...do you???

Not far from this sign we passed a tattoo parlour...
the quintessential drunk guy was in the doorway discussing the tattoo he wanted...
again...X-rated!!!

I must say that our stroll through the district was quite an education...

In all seriousness...yes...prostitution is legal in Amsterdam...

what we found interesting is that contrary to what we thought, drugs are not.

While we smelled a fair amount of marijuana (enough to think "contact high"!)

we were told by several guides, that in fact, marijuana and other drugs are not legal...

they are merely tolerated. 

Well...enough is enough!!!

Gotta capture the real beauty of the city!!!

Our Little Corner of the World...Rollin' Along the River...

One thing they don't tell you in the literature about the

Viking Amsterdam-Budapest cruise....

...is how much time you'll spend, on the front deck, 

watching, as the ship passes through lock, after lock, after lock, after lock...

well over 60 locks in total!!!

The first one was pretty fascinating...

...watching as the lock filled and raised the ship to the height of the next step... 

...fascinating to say the least!

Then of course, you start to notice the little things...

...like the bedraggled swan on the side of the lock, as you first enter...

Then the opening of the gates is pretty incredible...

and we're all of a sudden at the next level...

Then on to the next one...

and the next...

and the next...

until you're saying to yourself...

A-B-L...

ANOTHER  BLOODY  LOCK!!!

...and meeting new friends along the way...

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Our Little Corner of the World...Expanded to the Middle Rhine!!!

Leaving Koblenz and Marksburg castle,
we headed up the Rhine...
with one last glimpse of the castle...

Did you know that just sailing on the Middle Rhine puts you into
a UNESCO World Heritage site?

 

I don't think it's because there are goats on the hillsides along the 

banks of the river...

Look!!!  There's a castle!!!

...and a cool house...

...and another castle!!!

...and another castle...

...and another castle...

 ...Oh!!!  And look at the cool patterns the fields make on the hillside!!!

 ...and another castle...

...and a cool church...

 

Look!!!  Another castle and a cool church!!!

...and another castle...

...and another castle...

 ...and another cool church...

...and another castle...

...and another castle...

...and another castle...

 

...and what did the Brit say to us as she crossed the upper deck of the ship?

...A-B-C...

...ANOTHER  BLOODY  CASTLE!!!

It was a beautiful afternoon...
beautiful scenery...towns...churches...and all the bloody castles you could want!!!




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