1969 VW Beetle engine with dual carbs and high flow exhaust

Colmar, France

Colmar is the home of Frederic-August Bartholdi who designed the Statue of Liberty.  We say several of his statues around the town.  It is one of the most picturesque towns I have been to in Europe.  Every street was a feast for the eyes.

Strasbourg, France

When we docked in Strasbourg, France, our boat was surrounded by swans.   At one point, I started to count them but quit at 42 when I saw I wasn't even half way there. The first photo shows just a small subset of the swans surrounding our boat.  From our boat, we actually took a canal cruise into the city.  Some of the photos below are from the cruise.

Strasbourg has a wonderful cathedral with many interesting stories.  My favorite story is about the dog carved in stone below.   This carving is on a pulpit that was carved for a priest who had very engaging sermons.  His dog would come with him and sleep on the stairs.  When the priest died, the dog still came and slept on the stairs waiting for the sermon to finish.  The pulpit is in the photo above.

Heidelberg

Rudesheim, Germany

We had a fabulous evening in Rudesheim.  The second photo is Kevin with our new friends from Kansas.  We enjoyed their antics throughout the trip.  In Rudesheim, we enjoyed Rudesheimer Kaffe with them followed by a fabulous meal "off the boat". 

The Rhine Gorge

Along the middle Rhine, there is a castle on average every 1.5 miles.  Most of the castles were destroyed or seriously damaged in 1689 by troops of the "Sun King", Louis X1V.  In the 19th Century, may of the castles were restored or rebuilt by the so called "castle romantics".  Our cruise directory described the Rhine Gorge as being like Disneyland...it is all a fantasy.