Our Uniworld Christmas Markets Cruise was on a beautiful ship called the Royal Dutchess. It was their first multigenerational river-cruise and perfect for our three generations.
We were so thankful to have Martin and Becky Ward (Nicole’s parents) join us for this part of our edventure! We hadn’t seen them since we departed in June. It was the best Christmas present EVER to see their faces, hear their voices and actually get to squeeze them in big hugs!
We had never experienced a river cruise before, but are sincerely hoping it won’t be our last. Uniworld should receive recognition for offering the multigenerational option — most river cruise lines understandably cater to Baby Boomer retirees. We wish there were more companies offering river cruises for families with young children as it is a great way to see multiple cities while only having to unpack and get used to sleeping in a new bed one time. Way to go, Uniworld! We loved the multigenerational week and can’t wait to cruise with you again!
River cruising has other perks too. Having just over 100 people on the cruise was amazing. We never felt overwhelmed by the crush of people that you often experience during an ocean-based cruise. Plus, those of us who tend to get “sea-sick” were spared this discomfort since the rivers are so smooth. Finally, the views on both sides of the ship as we cruised along were an ever-changing showcase of Germany’s beauty.
Over the course of our trip, we had to go through 40 locks! It was fun to see how the locks function!:
We met the captain of our ship, Jord Zwaal, who is a 9th generation sea captain. Our cruise manager, Ramona Kurcsics, helped to make all our activities run smoothly and was so excited to welcome and cater to families for Multi-generation cruising. Uniworld had even brought in 2 staff members to be wholly dedicated to caring for and providing programming for the children onboard. Our girls loved the game nights, movies, and especially music with “Mr. Preston” and his guitar. Uniworld even put together menu choices kids would like: Hope really enjoyed the kids menu cheese pizza!
Frankfurt, Germany – Tuesday, December 13th, 2016
On the “Taste of Christmas” walking tour, Ryan, Hope, Joy and Paula sampled Christmas markets foods including: roasted chestnuts, candied nuts, herbal candies, and hot Gluewein and Kinderpunch. The girls rode on an amazing, historic, two-story merry-go-round!
We learned that homes were taxed on the square feet of the land they set on, so in order to avoid taxes and have larger homes, the people built homes so that each floor came out a foot or more over the floor below it – it makes for a funny looking home! You can see this in the Wertheim brown and yellow half-timber house behind Nicole, Martin, Becky and Harmony:
Nicole, Harmony, Martin and Becky did the Frankfurt walking tour that touched on more of the historical aspects of WWII history. They heard just how much of the city was destroyed in bombing raids at the end of WWII and how committed Germany has been to rebuilding to authentic historic standards.
Later, Paula and Nicole ventured out Christmas shopping to find the Faber Castel shop and a yarn shop. Here is their selfie with the Frankfurt Christmas tree and town hall building.
Wertheim, Germany – Wednesday, December 14th, 2016
Despite centuries of severe flooding, a great deal of this old town remains. Harmony and I went up to the castle overlooking Wertheim:
We saw the Pointed Tower that leans toward the other buildings around it due to being built on a sandy foundation. In the 13th century it was used as a jail for drunkards — prison conditions were appalling! We tasted more Gluewein and later on the ship the girls tried their hand at rolling out and shaping pretzels.
Wurzburg, Germany – Thursday, December 15th, 2016
We visited the Wuertzburg Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This incredibly lavish 18th-century palace was created under the auspices of two prince-bishops. Over the course of 60 years, they had built a 360-room palace that contains jaw-dropping Ro o o art. The magnificent grand staircase boasts the world’s largest ceiling fresco, painted by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The spectacular Hall of Mirrors holds 600 mirrors and the imposing Imperial Hall we saw a large oval dome and 20 half columns.
Wurzberg had a beautiful Christmas Market that Joy and Papa explored while the rest of the family was on the tour:
Later in the day we visited the Franconian Village at Aschfeld. The small village of 750 people featured a fortified church that had 19 different “gaden” stores. These featured antiques that the villagers donated to turn it into a museum so you could get a feel for what life was like during the 1500’s and beyond. We met the current Mayor of Aschfeld, and were welcomed by many of the ladies of the village who had made homemade cookies and refreshments for us. We even got a visit and blessing from St. Nicholas!
Rothenburg, Germany – Friday, December 16th, 2016
We disembarked the ship to be bused to the historic and darling town of Medieval Rothenburg. (Shout out to our great guide, SunGuide Charles who jumped with us in the picture above and was our guide through three cities.)
The amazing town wall, that encompasses three-quarters of the town, was rebuilt after the war by the donations of people around the world. Harmony, Joy, Martin and Ryan walked part of the wall and saw the plaques of donors that indicated if they paid for 1m or up to 10 meters of wall reconstruction.
Many homes are built right into the old walls, and the medieval towers, bastions, parapets, and city gates are truly impressive. It was one of the first villages to be pave with cobblestones. Charles told us people said, “Wow, they must be really rich here! THe money is lying on the roads!”
On our way to the market square we sampled sausages, the world’s best apple chips (seriously), and snowballs (fried dough balls).
The Market Square featured Gothic, Renaissance and baroque architecture. In the afternoon Harmony, Joy, Martin and Ryan toured the Medieval torture museum.
In front of the museum are the original paddy-wagons used by the child catcher in the movie Chitty-Chitty-bang-bang!
Inside were “normal torture devices” like the rack, thumb screws and executioners blades. But we were also shocked at the collection of more macabre devises used to inflict pain and gather confessions. We were also surprised at the “Shame masks,” that were locked onto peoples’ heads for being gossips, blabbermouths, and adulters.
I even saw a large wooden rosary that “sinners” would wear in front of church. This was a deterrent against falling asleep in church or missing church altogether.
A gamblers necklace featured large wooden playing cards and dice for punishment – perhaps while they sat in the stocks for several days.
Ahhh… the good old days!
Bamberg, Germany – Saturday, December 17th, 2016
Bamberg is a UNESCO World Heritage city and is one of the largest intact medieval town centers – thankfully it was untouched during the bombing raids of WWII. Like Rome, the city is built on seven hills – but here a church tops each one. During the middle ages, Bamburg was split in two, divided by the Regnitz River, one side controlled by the Prince-Bishop and the other by the burghers (a formally defined class in medieval Germany). As a result of this devision, the Altes Rathaus (Old town hall) was built on a tiny island in the middle of the river to serve both sides of the town.
During the Bamberg Walking tour, Nicole, Harmony, Paula, Hope, Martin and Becky saw the beautiful town, climbed the hill to see the 1000 year old cathedral and got a view of the surroundings.
In the afternoon, Martin and Ryan went to the Klosterbrau brewery to taste three of their beers. They walked through the old town to a traditional pub and sampled the sausage and Christmas beer.
Nuremberg, Germany – Sunday, December 18th, 2016
While never officially the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, German rulers made Nuremberg their base for 500 years. They surrounded the medieval city with the best stone walls we have seen and built a castle on the hilltop. The Nuremberg Christmas Market was fantastic — it even had an area that was a children’s Christmas market with carousel and cookie decorating!
Then, just to top off everything, it began to snow! The girls were totally excited and delighted! Well played, Nuremberg. Well played!
Christmas Onboard:
To finish our Christmas celebrations together, we found a spot onboard to exchange Christmas gifts with Grandma and Grandpa. It took some serious creativity to choose gifts that would pack small, be useful, and be specifically chosen for each girl, but Grandma and Grandpa made great choices. The girls also had carefully chosen gifts for their grandparents. It was so fun!
PS. Special thanks to Ramona and Charles — you both went out of your way to make the week special for our family!
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