Beneath me flows the Rhine, and, like the stream of Time, it flows amid the ruins of the Past. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I've never been good on the open water. I am afflicted with motion sickness that can only be assuaged by strong medication that puts me to sleep. Therefore open water cruises are not my thang (apart from an Alaskan cruise which sailed within the Inside Passage... only the first day was icky).
We've often talked about taking a river cruise. The downside is that, as they are smaller boats, they have a smaller capacity for passengers, and are therefore more expensive. But we decided late last year that, if not now, then when? We booked a five-day cruise on the river Rhine, leaving from Frankfurt, Germany and ending up in Basel, Switzerland.
After being in the hubbub of London, I was very much looking forward to gliding along on the boat with no need to navigate public transport or large crowds. And while it took a train ride, a plane ride, and a long walk dragging our suitcases through Frankfurt (I will never again try to use public transport in Germany), we got onto the boat, had a little lunch, and then set sail that night.
It was soooooo smooth. Indeed: I fell asleep before the boat set off, and when I woke in the middle of the night, I peered through the window and was shocked to see that we were moving. There wasn't even the slightest sway in the water.
The next day was so relaxing. The entire day was devoted to just gliding along the river. I literally stayed in my pyjamas for most of the day, lying in bed and watching the world go by. I did get up a few times to get dressed to go and get meals, but I was extremely content to just rest and recharge the whole day.
The next day, we were in Strasbourg, France. I confess, I knew very little about Strasbourg, but I learned a lot on the shuttle from the boat into the city: about how it has changed from being German to French to German to French... indeed, some people who have lived in Strasbourg have changed nationalities several times due to occupation, war, parliament... all mostly within the last couple of centuries. It's currently French, but when you look around, there are definitely German and Prussian influences:
We took a short walking tour, which basically took us from the shuttle drop-off to the cathedral, and after that, we were free to wander around and explore. I did do a tiny bit of research before we arrived to see if there was anything textile-related to visit there. I noticed that a shop called La Droguerie was not far from the centre, so I marked it on my map in the hopes that I would have time to visit.
I was delighted as soon as I entered:
This is a family business which has been open since 1975 and has several locations throughout France. On their website, they say, "We wanted a unique place to share our desires and our creations with another way of selling retail and full of original colours." As I looked around, I could see they'd definitely achieved that goal:
I stood and admired the yarn displayed hanging on wooden rails throughout the shop. They sold it by weight, priced per 10 grams. Cognizant of my luggage space, I decided to take a small sample of the cotton DK yarn in a collection of reds, oranges, and fuschia, 50 grams each. I have a plan to do something small in a mosaic knit to show off the vibrancy of each colour:
While the sales person was busy winding and weighing my yarn, I couldn't help my look at the fabric bundles all stacked in display boxes around the shop. I decided to give in and take some of these home as well. They're basically fat quarters in cotton and rayon. I think I could combine them with other bits in my stash to make interesting tops:
The next day, we awoke in Breisach, Germany. We went on a day-long excursion to the Black Forest to visit an open air museum and a workshop. I wasn't so sure about being out for the whole day, but the bus ride to the museum was narrated by a very interesting tour guide who told us a lot about the crops we saw on the way, as well as some history about the Black Forest itself.
The open air museum has several houses which were either originally there or brought in from other areas to show a sampling of how homes have changed in the area over the past four hundred years. They were all open and had fires going and you could explore through the houses into the lofts and down into the farmyards:
But my favourite part was the animals:
After lunch, we visited a clock workshop, where the elderly father has been carving clocks well into his eighties. Cuckoo clocks have been made in the Black Forest region for hundreds of years, a cottage industry that built up alongside the farming done in the area. They did a short presentation showing us how the cuckoo clocks worked and the different ways they could operate, and then they let us wander around to see all the different types of clocks they had for sale. Did I need a cuckoo clock? No. Did I buy one? Of course I did. And these people were smart: they had a whole shipping program in place so that I didn't have to worry about wrecking it on the way home:
I am (and have always been) fascinated by the mechanics of a clock. This one runs with weights that have to be pulled up to "wind" the clock every day. No, it's not high-tech, but the genius is in the mechanics, if you ask me.
We enjoyed one more night on the boat before arriving in Basel, Switzerland. We awoke to a sunny morning, ate breakfast, and then took a taxi to the airport to return to England to visit one more place: the ancient town of Rye.
More next time!
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