What a trip!

This was the first time I allowed a company to make all the arrangements for a rather expensive trip so I was a bit nervous about it. All I had to get our airline tickets with was just a reservation number but low and behold we got to the airport, they asked for our passports and she looked us up and printed out ONE ticket for the entire trip over. Wow, have never had that before. We flew from Phoenix, Az. to Minneapolis (3 hr.) then from Minneapolis to Amsterdam (8hr) and then from Amsterdam to Nuremberg Germany (1 hour) and just as promised we were met there and taken to a bus which in turn took us to the ship...Viking Njord. I really can't say enough about this ship and crew. We were treated like kings and queens every step of the way. Here are a few pictures:

bed with a towel arrangement

 

Hubby on our balcony

 

 Library

 

Computer center

 

The terrace on the bow and the enclosed terrace

 

Two of many sitting areas

 

 

 

The pianist that entertained us nightly

 

Fresh flowers everywhere and a close up of the pink one:)

The bar

 

and our favorite bartender

Boyana 

She was so much fun and we had a ball as you can tell

 

Our first tour was in Nuremberg and of course I took a ton of pictures but will just post a few but I want to give you a little history of this town first. The city is nearly 1,000 years old and still has a intact city wall more than three miles long and a mote that also guards the Imperial Castle which was an imperial residence for 500 years and for nearly 400 years, the Crown Jewels were kept within it's walls.

 

In this picture you can see one of the castle towers, the wall and the wall of the mote that surrounds it.

 

 

This picture gives you and idea of the size of it all.

 

This city was heavily bombed during World War ll but fortunately there was not a huge amount of damage on the castle and they were able to make the needed repairs.

You can see the date and we were asked if we could tell the new blocks from the old ones. The old ones have the holes in them due to how they lifted them into place way back then.

 

The entrance into this fortress

 

 

the view of the city below

 

The roof was made with this copper...what workmanship!

 

A quaint little restaurant we went by:)

 

A picture of the ruins in this city after the bombing

 

 

We bombed this city to defeat Hitler and indeed we did. The trials for them were held in this building

 There were 10 tried and they all were sentenced to death. Their remains were cremated and dropped into the sea so there would be no memorials resurrected to them. There are still a few Nazi's there today. 

 

 

This is the famous Christmas Market area but of course it is summertime now.

 

One of several churches

 

and lastly a glimpse down one of the streets.

 

Next stop...Old town Regensburg, -Germany