Day 1: Basel, Switzerland

We boarded the ship and were taken to our room. After our minimal hiking and camping adventures, and Mitch and Gloria having a truck camper, we certainly found the room adequate in size and amenities.

After travelling to Montreal and having supper at Archibauld, we made it in time for final boarding for our overnight flight to Frankfurt. The flight was quite turbulent, but seemed to pass quickly with each of us getting little sleep. The Frankfurt airport provided some early morning exercise with about 3000 steps to our gate. However, our sleepiness was put to the test with a vigorous security check, with a thorough check of our bags and a pat down for a few! With the sun shining, we waited for our next flight to Basel. In our stupor, we realized just in time that our flight was boarding and took a bus to our plane…Frankfurt airport is huge. We were excited to be given a Kit Kat bar each on boarding and decided it was just what we needed. An hour and a half later, we landed in Basel and we thrilled to collect our luggage and board the bus to our ship…the Viking Hlin.

After having a lunch on board, we set out on a 1.5 hr walking tour of Basel with a guide. The combined gothic and renaissance architecture, with modern highlights was very interesting, with over 40 museums in the city. The electronic, public, self cleaning toilet was interesting! We bused back to the ship and enjoyed a wine and cheese tasting on the Aquavita deck in the sun, how lovely.

After having a refreshing shower, we went to the lounge for drinks and the introductory port talk. Supper was shared with father/daughter duo from Pittsburg and made for interesting conversations. Wine and overwhelming fatigue led to a deep sleep, but Jody managed to be up looking out the window as we passed through several locks overnight.