The Water is Too Low

Casa Grande, AZ

We had a change in our itinerary due to the low water levels on the river.  





All of the streets in these towns are all made of cobblestones.  It's amazing how old they are but in perfect shape.  Of course, nearly everyone walks everywhere so there's little automobile traffic.

Jorn took our group on a tour of  Bernkastel.  He also pointed out all the restaurants in the town and told us their specialties.  The reason Jorn did this was we were all given 160 Euro to  cover our lunch for the next few days.  The tour includes all beer and wine they must have thought we were heavy drinkers. 

Jorn led our group into this tunnel for a wine tasting tour.  The wine was very good and available through Costco.

Here's a shot of the vineyards.  I'd be rolling down the hill if I had to pick those grapes with or without drinking the wine.

Here's the door to the tunnel of the winery,  I'm sorry I didn't remember the dates on it.





After our wine tour we had some time to walk through town and to stop at a restaurant for lunch.  We were told there just wasn't a restaurant big enough to accomodate the 115 passengers that departed the ship.  

After a nice lunch along the river we said good-bye to our ship and boarded a bus.  Our bus took us directly to Luxembourg to the Hilton Hotel.   Originally, the trip to Luxembourg was going to be an optional tour that lasted all day.  Now we are going to spend two days in Luxembourg without the long bus ride from Trier.  The optional tour charge was also waived.  

Our luggage was in our room when we arrived. I was happy to see a huge bathtub in our room in the Hilton.  Dinner wasn't bad, but nothing like the food and service on the ship.  They made sure our private dining room had plenty of waiters to keep the wine glasses full.  Grand Circle couldn't have done more to make up for the low water and the deviation in the itinerary.  



The following morning the buses took us to the American Military cemetery.







A local guide told us about the Battle of the Bulge and helped us understand this area of World War II on the map.

This grave is where Patton wanted to be buried, with his troops. 
   

I would have been very disappointed if we hadn't visited the American Military Cemetery.  Here's a different picture of Patton's grave.








After the cemetery tour, we went into Luxembourg for a guided tour of the city. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in the world and encompasses less than 1,000 square miles.  We learned why such a small country is such a good ally to the United States.  

It had an old world look as well as a very modern look.

Our local guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the country as well as the capital city.

This was the government building but since it was Sunday it was closed.

Here's some views of the city we saw.  We enjoyed lunch in town and then we took the first bus back to the hotel.  You could stay longer in town as the bus made several trips to the city center from the hotel.  

Turtle Safely.......