Yesterday was the beginning of our much anticipated Viking River Cruise on the Rhine from Switzerland to Amsterdam. By coincidence Mike, our cross street neighbor, was flying out of Orlando yesterday as well, and since he was only going to be gone 5 days he drove his car and parked it there. He drove us down which was awesome but it got us there 6 hours before our flight but we were able to fill the time. The flight to Frankfurt was 8 hours long and the seats were small, cramped and crowded but we survived and arrived in Frankfurt about 4 AM Eastern time (10 AM German time). The gate for the flight to Basel was quite a walk but we had plenty of time and got some Euros from an ATM. We boarded a bus to take us to our plane but then they cancelled our flight. They rebooked us through Brussels but, of course, the gate was a long walk off and was boarding in 10 minutes. So we dashed over and made the flight quite frazzled. Once in Brussels we were going to call Viking to tell them we were going to be 3 hours late for pick-up at the Basel airport but there were 4 other couples and they had called. We all arrived in Basel and were quite surprised when all of our checked baggage made it as well. Viking picked us up at the airport and took us to the ship where we checked in, cleaned up and met Steve and Lara in the lounge. The cruise director, hotel manager and head chef all gave welcoming speeches and then we ate dinner. Afterwards we went topside as the ship left port. After we left and as the ship turned around because it was facing south, the crew pointed out a 'spikey' kind of sculpture designating the common border point of Switzerland, France and Germany. They had to sink the pilot house a little into the ship as we went under a low bridge. We are sailing in the sister ship of the one intended because the Rhine is exceptionally low and the ships cannot make it across the midpoint therefore we will change ships in mid voyage. After being outside for a while we went to the lounge for drinks and music before heading to well earned bed rest.