We woke up docked in Strasbourg with three planned tours, mine being a culinary tour of the city. After a very light breakfast, we set out on the tours. Our first stop was a bakery, with sampling of a local sweet bread which all except the gluten-free folks tried. It was delightful and made a dent in the hole in my stomach from not eating breakfast. We next stopped at a sweet shop and tried macaroons, both the traditional kind and ones that were a specialty of the city. We stopped for an early lunch with another local specialty, something much like a pizza only on very thin crust covered with various cheeses, ham, onions, or anything one wants to put on it. I have the recipe, but the guide corrected the instructions, which said to bake for 20 minutes; no, the guide said, only about 2 minutes in a very hot over (which is consistent with what we ate). With lunch, we also had a glass of beer or wine. After lunch, we tried two other local specialties: the local cheeses (Munster and Emmental like) and a pretzel. I enjoyed the cheese; the pretzel was a bit salty to my taste.
One of the highlights of this walking tour was a visit to the “Minister” a Cathedral begun in 1176 and completed in 1439. In it is a horological masterpiece. Completed in about 1548, this clock tracks time, the days of the week, the months of the year, the phases of the moon, the position of the (at that time) known planets, and astrological signs. In addition, every hour (and we were there for one of these) an angel rings a bell, a male (of different ages) walks my death and rings a bell: if death does not respond, he continues on. All the symbolism and calculations that went into this clock movement is a wonder.
The temperature was over 95 by the time we completed the walk, so we were all hot and tired. But we made it back to the bus and then back to the boat. The crew had a very special program arranged for us after lunch and tea at the usual times. At 6:00 pm there was a cocktail party with drinks and snacks, then a sit-down dinner of six or seven courses, ending with baked Alaska. We were introduced to all the crew members, not just the wait staff and the AHI folks, the housekeeping crew and sailors also marched in, were introduced, and marched out. I heard tales later about how they suffered during covid, since most were unable to work.
Nothing on the agenda except disembarking in the morning. We woke up in Breisach, about 50 kilometers from Basil because the water we too low for us to make it into the city. For us not leaving on a flight or planned tour that followed the boat trip, we were dropped of at the train station.
Wonderful cruise.