Food and Rhine

My first ever travel piece for the Flight Centre blog - about Uniworld's Castles Along the Rhine River Cruise that I did last year - was published this week (click here to read).

Amazing Amsterdam

My story on this remarkable city is published in the July issue of NEXT Magazine (click here to read).

Amsterdam was, you may recall, the jumping off point for our media cruise with Uniworld last November.

The equally astounding photos are, of course, by the Animator. Even the author photo which was, I seem to recall, taken in a hotel in Seville during a heatwave (which we could do with some of now - the weather has turned polar in Welli!)

  

Oh Waterway to Travel

Back in November, The Animator and I joined another Kiwi journo and her hubbie on a Uniworld boutique river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel in Switzerland.

NEXT Magazine published the piece in this month's issue (click here to read).

 

Have you met my butlers?

For the seven days and seven nights we spent floating down the Rhine, we had the services of these two incredible butlers, Valentina and Emil.

For two poor kids from the Hutt, it was a slightly surreal experience having a butler, letalone two. Even weirder was getting back to our stateroom at night and finding the cheap and nasty t-shirt I sleep in delicately draped across my pillow by a woman wearing white gloves. And having our laundry done (again, much angsting about getting Valentina to press a chain store dress for the Captain's Dinner - would she notice the label?!)

But we adjusted with indecent haste and, if I'm honest, every time I have to do something like unload the dishwasher or make a cuppa, I long for Valentina or Emil to appear and make these turgid domestic tasks disappear as though by magic.

Oh that my surname was Branson or Zuckerberg....

  

This is the life

The Animator has started the long and tedious process of sorting the 1100 pics he took in Amsterdam, during the Uniworld Castles of the Rhine cruise and in London to accompany the five stories I now have to write from this latest media famil.

These photos especially made me smile - they're of ourselves and the other Kiwi journo, Nicky, and her hubbie Carne, on our last day of the cruise as we made our way to Switzerland through about a million locks. It was getting cooler, hence the warm blankies, but being waited on as you watch beautiful villages slip silently by, isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon.

     

Rudesheim

I can't seem to convince the laptop we are in Europe and therefore 12 hours behind NZ; so I am actually posting this on Thursday evening.

And, just to confuse matters further, I am posting yesterday's images, which are of the charming wine-making town of Rudesheim, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site. The Rhine Valley well and truly has its winter coat on and we braved chilly temperatures to catch the gondola up the hill for breath-taking views across the valley.

Sadly, we were too early for the Christmas Markets, which were just being set up, but we did manage to scoff a special Rudesheim coffee (pics below), a frothy confection of sugar cubes and brandy, which are set alight, before strong coffee enters the equation. The whole calorific carnival is topped off with a hunk of cream and chocolate sprinkles.

Despite being a good little camper and visiting the ship's gym each day, the waistband on my jeans feels tight. I must remember to write a letter of complaint to the manufacturer when I get home.

Is this the most beautiful city in the world?

Quite possibly. The Animator, a man used to expressing himself through pictures rather than words, summed it up perfectly when he said: "The last time I was in Amsterdam, I spent a week getting wasted. I didn't see the city at all. Now I'm older and wiser, I'm amazed at how much beauty I missed".

Jet lag has wrapped itself around us both like a comfy cardi, so yesterday we rose early and wandered the city, slack-jawed at how effortlessly stunning it is.

Later, we set sail on Uniworld's SS Antoinette for the Castles Along the Rhine boutique river cruise. And, as luck would have it, ourselves and the other journo/photographer couple were upgraded to the premiere suites. Which means we have our own butler! Doing laps of the gratitude pool right now.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it's good to be me...

Today's visuals are of lovely, lovely Amsterdam.

   

Currently girding my loins

for the horrifically long flight to Amsterdam tomorrow.

But I have three stories to write and movies to watch and meals to eat. And sleeping tablets to gobble down in the vain hope they may give me some respite from the madness.

The Animator flies a day after me, but I'm on the same flight as the other Kiwi journo and her hubbie so at least that gives us a chance to catch up before the Uniworld river cruise starts on Sunday.

See you on the other side...

(Pic credit: Google Images)

Europe twice in one year? Yes please!

The God of good fortune hasn't buggered off yet  - he/she paid me a visit today to confirm another media trip to Europe in November!

And yes, it's another river cruise (what is it about me that says I love cruising?!), this time with Uniworld, from Amsterdam to Basel in Switzerland, along the mighty Rhine. Best of all, the Animator is coming too. I am one very happy (and grateful) girl.

Btw, if you were in the vicinity of Wellington's Gryphon Theatre last night, that hollering you heard was me. Neil's play is the bomb and if you are in Welli, I would certainly recommend it.

Off to scull cough syrup now and dream of castles along the Rhine...

(Pic credit: Uniworld)