I am now humming “4 Seasons in 1 Day” by Crowded House and it just about sums up our travels this week. We began our day in Basel, Switzerland and in the afternoon met our the late comers in our tour group for the bus trip to Strasbourg, France.
We arrived at our hotel in Strasbourg with just enough time to freshen up before meeting our whole group for dinner and an overview of the next day. Luggage had to be out in the hall by 7 am, breakfast and checkout by 8:15 to get on the bus and meet our guides for our tour of “l’lIle” – the island that became the old city of Strasbourg. What a fascinating place it was. The history of the area, the houses, bridges and canals, the influences from the wars between the German and French – all of it made for a very interesting and colourful tour. I’m definitely interested in coming back here to explore further.
We ended at the cathedral of Notre Dame.
From there, we walked quickly through the ancient streets to meet our bus and begin our trip to Hasselt, Belgium where we were embarking on our cruise.
On our way, we made a short stop in Luxembourg where we learned a few facts about the Duchy, enjoyed the views from the Adolphe Bridge and had a quick lunch overlooking the main square. Our servers had a very leisurely approach that at any other time would have been just fine, but we found ourselves speed walking back to our bus in order to make our departure on time!
We cruised on through the countryside, enjoying views of rolling hills, windmills and shallow rivers, soon crossing into Belgium. After a long day of travel we arrived at Hasselt where our ship, the Verity awaited. After boarding, we were soon registered and shown to our stateroom. It was great to unpack and settle into our floating hotel. We were soon in the lounge and meeting our fellow travellers before our welcome dinner. It was a delicious ending to a long day of travel!
We had a walking tour of Hasselt on Thursday.
We saw some of the very old buildings …
… and enjoyed a quiet moment in the sun with some of the locals.
And best of all, we discovered a lovely little shop.
After a night on the boat, our next stop was Dordrecht on Friday. There seems to be a thing with sheep here.
And of course, many interesting buildings.
Today we arrived in Rotterdam about 7 this morning, and had a walking tour this morning. One of the very interesting items was the Cube House.
Sharon and I walked back in after lunch and walked through the outdoor market. It wasn’t as big as the one in Rome, but still lots of food and assorted stuff.
And now, Sharon and I are sitting in the lounge on the boat, having some Hungarian fizz.
