This morning, Viking Eistla is docked at Kehl, Germany, for excursions to Strasbourg, France.

Having visited Strasbourg many times in the past on Christmas Markets cruises, we decided to take it easy this morning and remain on board. We sat in the Lounge for lunch today and enjoyed a leisurely meal.

I tried the Cauliflower Curry Soup today and it was delicious. This was the best soup of the cruise. I ordered another Cheeseburger for lunch today, my third so far. That should tell you how I feel about the cheeseburgers. Ironically, I think the cheeseburgers are better on Viking River than on the Viking Ocean cruises.

After lunch, we disembark for our optional excursion to Gengenbach, Germany. This will be our first visit to Gengenbach.

We board one of the Viking motor coaches for the 30-minute drive to Gengenbach.

Our local guide, Anna, does an excellent job of educating everyone on the history of Gengenbach.

Gengenback is a quaint and peaceful little German town with lots of charm. This place is definitely worth a visit.

The Christmas Market here is spread around several of the shopping streets, but is very easy to navigate.

There are plenty of stalls selling Glühwein, sausages, cheeses as well as handicrafts. Most of the local stores are also open for souvenirs, clothing and other products.

The main attraction in Gengenbach is the Rathaus (city hall) which claims to have the largest Advent calendar in the world. Each of the windows is decorated for each day counting down the days until the nativity of Christ. Each day of the Advent, another window decoration is revealed and lit. We were able to witness the reveal of one of the windows after watching a brief stage performance put on by local children.

Rickee decided she needed yet another Glühwein mug for her collection. I think she actually enjoys the drink.

*One more Glühwein mug for the collection*

This was the best excursion we have done so far on this cruise because it gave us enough time to fully explore the Christmas Market, shop for souvenirs and even stop into a local cafe for coffee and hot chocolate. We had nearly two hours of “free” time on our own, which we really enjoyed.

When we returned to Viking Eistla, we caught the end of the daily port talk then headed to the Restaurant for the German-themed dinner buffet. The galley put on quite a spread for tonight’s dinner with sausages, roasted pork knuckle, chicken schnitzel, and sauerbraten. There were two types of Sauerkraut, potato salad, Spätzle. I tried a taste of everthing and everything I tried was very good. There were also fresh pretzels on each table along with a variety of salami and cheeses. The pickled pearl onions were really tasty.

After dinner, we are invited back to the Lounge for the disembarkation talk where Program Director Emma explained all of the various disembarkation times and procedures.

After the disembarkation talk, Emma and the staff led the guests is a sing-along of traditional Christmas songs.

*Emma leads a Christmas song sing-a-long*

This was another great day aboard Viking Eistla. Sadly, tomorrow we will begin packing for the trip home. We have to be off the ship by 4:20am the day after tomorrow. But, the trip is not over. Tomorrow we will be in Breisach, Germany, for another excursion to Freiburg and one last Christmas Market.

Day 6 - Strasbourg & Gengenbach

Day 7 - Freiburg, Germany

Day 5 - Mannheim and Speyer, Germany