European Adventure

We're back from our trip, which included a Rhine River Cruise.

The Viking Sun was our ship. Crew and staff were outstanding, and we had a great time.

My fears that we would be sleeping in hammocks in the engine room proved to be ungrounded.

We saw some great old castles.

Walking around some really neat towns and cities provided plenty of exercise, but we also climbed all 509 (I think) steps up the steeple of the great cathedral in Köln (Cologne).

The trip was not entirely devoid of fiber fun. In one castle, Marksburg, we saw this great old loom, along with spinning wheels, and carding and combing equipment. 

The visits in various towns yielded some great quilt shops, like this one in Koblenz.

A member of the Viking staff found me this great yarn shop in Cologne. The yarn was much less expensive than for the same brand in the U.S. They seem to be an outlet for Lana Grosse.

In Amsterdam, this yarn-bombed bicycle caught my eye, which then drifted into the store, taking me with it with DH following close behind. 

This place gave me goosebumps! In the middle of old Amsterdam, with real estate at a premium, I was delighted to find a very nice classroom space upstairs and lots more yarn, including some lovely Zauberballs at a good price.

I got less knitting done than I expected, because we were so busy, but the occasional bus ride and sitting with morning coffee aboard ship provided some time for knitting, and sometimes an occasional chat with fellow knitters. My Coral Reef Shawl is coming down the home stretch. I'm now on the last pattern repeat before the border. Whoo-hoo!

The first Fair Isle Flower sock is moving down the foot. This is the last photo I've taken of it, but the foot is further along.

I also CO the Monkey socks in Stroll "Dogwood Heather" because I wanted something entertaining to work on for the plane trip home. I'm about halfway down the ankle.

I get a lot of teasing for being an elderly iPad nerd, but this nice lady aboard our ship is ten years older than I am. She was out on deck during the day we sailed through the valley with all the castles using her iPad to take photos.

We had a nice visit with relatives in Finland before coming home to get ready for visits from the kids and the grands. In Finland we enjoyed some relaxing time at various relatives' summer cottages, which included sauna and lake swimming.

Now our children and grandchildren are visiting. Bedlam.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.