Monday December 16th, 2024

Today is the last day of the cruise. Now I remember why we don’t do 7 day cruises much anymore. Just about the time you are getting into the swing of things it is time to get off. Today was a 1 port day and our last Christmas market. Today was also the day that the sun came out and stayed out all day. It is also getting warmer and our guide this am told us that this part of Germany is the warmest part and can get up to 110 degrees in the summer. I was surprised by that since we were technically in the black forest and close to mountains. We had about a 40 minute bus ride to the town of Freiburg which has a Christmas market and of course a giant cathedral. The tour was of the Christmas market and then a 20 minute organ recital inside the Cathedral.

The moon was setting when we left on our excursion.

The Cathedral in Freiburg and you can see that finally the sky is a clear blue. The cathedral was started in the 1200 and took over 300 years to build. It is in the gothic style and has over 71 gargoyles.

There were tons of intricate carvings all around the building.

All of the streets were cobblestoned and there were lots of cool patterns on the streets identifying what type of business the building was.

The entrance to the Cathedral. I confess we did not make it inside and we skipped the organ concert.

They had a very nice market all around the Cathedral. It is a daily market and while there was some Christmas stuff there they mainly sell produce.

Some of the produce for sale.

We thought this was a unique usage of pine branches. Also an example of a very German building right across from the Cathedral.

The one thing we have not talked much about at the markets is the Gluhwein which is warm mulled wine with spices in it. It is served from the time the market opens in the morning until closing. Several vendors sell it and when you get your first cup, which is about 3 euros, you put a deposit down on a mug. The deposit is one time and you can refill at 3 euros as many times as you like. When you are done drinking you turn the mug in and get your deposit back. Most of the mugs say the name of the Christmas market and several have very nice designs on them. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of any of those and this was all they had at the last market. The cups are designed for people to keep as souvenirs. Technically your deposit is the price of the mug and if you don’t return the mug you have a nice memento. One of the couples we had dinner with had collected 4 sets of mugs and were quite happy with their souvenirs. We did Gluhvein years ago and gig not feel the need to have it again. The same principal applies to beer glasses but there were definitely not as many vendors of beer as there was of Gluhvein.

The town of Freiburg was very nice and the Christmas market was about the same stuff as we have seen. We made no purchases and went back to the boat for lunch at 1pm. We had a nice lunch on board and then decided to explore the medieval town of Breisach. Breisach dates back to the 11th century and is a fortress built up on a hill with of course a cathedral.

View of Breisach from the river boat. It was an east walk up to the fortress. We did not see an entrance to the Cathedral but we heard later that there was a side door you could enter from. There were some great views from the top.

A Roman castle on the left and views of lower Breisach from the top. You can see snow on the mountain in the background which is the German black forest.

Me and some weird statue and the Cathedral.

We wandered around town for several hours since it was such a beautiful day.

Me being artistic with my photos.

My personal favorite which we had to wait for several minutes until the path was clear.

We headed back to the boat around 4pm and I was able to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game before the farewell cocktail party at 6:30.

There were several visitors to the boat including the swan and the mallard.

These guys all made themselves at home on our upper deck. we did have a sunset and even caught the moonrise.

The Cathedral lit up at night and the moon right next to the tree on the right.

After the cocktail party we had dinner and then back to the room to pack. Since we are doing our won thing in the am we don’t disembark until 8am. Some folks have early morning flight in Basel and will be getting off at 4:15am. We have ordered a taxi to meet us at the pier to get a ride to the airport and then off to London for 1 night.

As to the Christmas market cruise we are glad to say we have done it but feel no need to do it again. It definitely gets you in the holiday spirit but 2 would have been plenty. It got pretty repetitious and most of the things being sold were the same.