Hank Schrader

October 19, 2023

Best Value Travel

Quality Counts

Hank Schrader

October 19, 2023

Best Value Travel

Quality Counts

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

We just returned from a 2-week working vacation in Canada and the US. Our trip started on 30 September 2023 and ended on 13 October 2023.

We took the trip for 2 reasons—first to celebrate my 74th birthday and our 36th Wedding Anniversary, but also to learn about the vendor travel company, Uncommon Journeys.

The first week was a train trip and land package starting in NY City and visiting 4 cities in Canada.

On the second week, we boarded the Cunard Ocean Liner Queen Mary 2 in Quebec.

The entire tour was fully escorted by a professional tour manager, and Teresa, our tour manager, did an excellent job but was challenged by many last-minute changes by the tour operator.

My hope in writing this blog is to evaluate the trip in detail and see if we would recommend this company to our clients.

This blog will cover the land portion of the trip and the next blog, the cruise.

Overview

First a little background—we had originally consider a shorter train trip to see some of the National Parks out west, but on closer inspection, learned it was primarily a bus tour, which did not have as much appeal to us.

After placing a deposit on the park trip, we were able to switch to this 2-week adventure. This was handled reasonably well. The brochure of the Royal Canadian Holiday offered us a journey that “combines four of our most popular Canadian destinations—Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City—into one stylish trip complimented by a fifth stellar setting, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, on a 7-night passage from Quebec City down the St. Lawerence River and East Coast to New York City.” We liked the idea of train travel combined with the cruise and a lot of free time to explore on our own, so it sounded like a good fit for our travel style.

Our autumn adventure was called the Royal Canadian Holiday.

The First Week

We joined the trip in progress in Albany, NY instead of starting in NY City. Our first adventure was on an Amtrak train from Rensselaer. NY, where we took a 6-hour train ride in up-state NY on the Maple Leaf over the Water Level Route of the former New York Central Railroads and crossed the US-Canada border by train. I should point out that originally, we were to start in Albany, NY but it was changed to start in New York City. It was the first on many changes to the itinerary that were not provided to us in a timely manner. Our documents were late before we started the trip and we felt incomplete as compared to other vendors we have used for clients. Start and ending times were not listed on the information we received and seemed to change, so we often had to check and worry if we would be on time to leave or what time we would arrive at our new destination.

The Maple Leaf train on Amtrak was a comfortable ride, with some good fall colors but the peak colors had not arrived yet. As we had hoped for, the train ride did offer excellent views and scenery along the Mohawk River. There is one major difference between train travel in the US and Europe—Amtrak prohibits drinking your own alcoholic beverages onboard, so unlike Europe, where we often share a bottle of wine as the scenery rolls past, we had to rely on the snack car for beers, as the wine selection was less than stellar. Here are some pictures:

Anne in her seat on the Maple Leaf train

Rolling down the tracks with the Mohawk River outside

Fall is slowly change to brilliant colors

An old engine from the New York Central Train Line

Crossing the Niagara River—our first glimpse of this powerful river

After clearing Canadian customs, our group of 12 was transported by taxi to our hotel. The transfer was difficult since the taxi cars were small and there was a lot of luggage—a 2-week cruise with 2 formal nights always requires a lot of extra luggage.

In fairness to Uncommon Journeys, they did suggest we limit the amount of luggage for the train potion but allowed up to 4 pieces per person for the cruise (Cunard’s allowance). There was no sound plan to allow for these differences, which added to the chaos during transfers.

Our original itinerary stated we were going to get off in Buffalo, NY, and drive to Niagara Falls—the constant theme was changes and slight deviations during the land portion of the trip.

Niagara Falls, Canada

Upon arriving at our hotel, we found a new hotel that was substituted for the Doubletree by Hilton at the Falls. We stayed at the Crown Plaza Niagara and the rooms were adequate but not the upscale experience we were expecting. In one of the most scenic places on earth, with dramatic falls, the view from our room was a parking lot. Here are 3 pictures:

Anne couldn’t resist placing this brochure on our view window—not much of a view!

The tour the next day, after one of the poorest buffet breakfasts meals we have ever eaten, for most of our group was on the Maid of the Mist boat tour to see the falls up close and personal. This is a similar boat or may be the boat our group took.

We avoided this wet adventure and made some reservations for our clients. You might be surprised by this—we often have deadlines, new reservation requests we need to book, and clients that need help during our travels and we try to keep fully operational but sometimes are a little slow responding.

Arriving on a Saturday, with very warm temperatures and lots of tourists, made this a less than an ideal start of our tour.

The next day (Sunday) we skipped breakfast and enjoyed a day exploring the falls on our own and we had an excellent lunch at the Secret Gardens. Here is the view we had during our lunch, as we were on the outside terrace.

Somehow, maple ice cream makes everything better and a couple of local tap beers helped improve our mood. With less people, the trip improved and the powerful falls were spectacular, yet there was not much else to see or do after about an hour of walking along the river. Here are some pictures:

The American Niagara Falls and the small Bridal Veil Falls

Niagara Falls—from left to right American Falls, Bridal Falls, and Horseshoe Falls

At 1000 AM on Monday, we took a comfortable coach (bus) to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. Prior to the visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we stopped twice. The first stop was to see the whirlpool on the Niagara River and the second stop was a winery.

The whirlpool is caused by the huge volume of water rushing over Horseshoe Falls as it crashes into the narrow Niagara the narrow Niagara Gorge.

The winery stop was confusing—it was supposed to be a bathroom break but also a wine tasting, but since the winery didn’t know we were coming, they decided it was too much trouble to pull together a quick tasting for us. Here are some pictures:

Peller Estates Winery near Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake was my favorite stop on the land portion of the trip. The nickname of the town is “The Loveliest Town in Canada”. For me, it lived up to this claim. It is a charming, quaint place that has a George Bernard Shaw Festival, great restaurants, and pubs. Small boutique shops are the norm here and wineries dot most of the landscape. At a local hat shop, I bought a replica hat of the famous Indiana Jones hat—a little cheesy, but most think I looked pretty good in it. After our short visit, a good lunch at a pub, we were off to Toronto. Here are some pictures.

George Bernard Shaw statue in Niagara-on-the-Lake

While not in this stop, here is my new hat:

Toronto

We got into Toronto in the evening and stayed at the Radison Blu, right on Lake Ontario. The room was a nice upgrade from our previous poor accommodations, and the included breakfast excellent.

We also had an included dinner at the Amsterdam Brewery, food only and no drinks included. Great place, but since we didn’t know in advance our dining location, we had just grabbed a quick pizza at the brewery before the meal for a late lunch snack. Fortunately, the food was great, the beer excellent, so we didn’t feel upset about our second meal, but we really didn’t need it as much as others in the group. It does bring up a minor problem—the lack of a clear itinerary and last-minute changes, caused confusion that could have been totally avoided.

Again, we didn’t take the tour here as we worked on reservations and both of us had visited Toronto, Canada’s largest city before—I took our daughter up to the soaring CN tower on a previous trip and we all saw The Phantom of the Opera play—Toronto is often the opening for plays in North America that eventually get to Boardway in NY City.

We enjoyed the Amsterdam Brewery so much; we ate al fresco the next night with great views of Lake Ontario. Here are some pictures:

Lake Ontario viewed from the Amsterdam Terrace

Hank with his traditional beer picture in the Amsterdam Terrace

plane flying out of Toronto Airport over Lake Ontario

Montreal

We went to Montreal by train aboard Via Rail Canada. The transfer to the train station was by some large Uber sedans, and as seemed the norm, the transfer was chaotic. Because there was no central drop off point at the large train station, we had to scramble to get the group together, and find our train car. We found out later, the tickets were bought only the day of the departure instead of buying them earlier, as Uncommon Journey’s should have done.

The train was a good experience, comfortable and still great patches of color, but still not peak conditions. A good point of reference here—the peak fall colors seem to be later and later recently but as we often say, Mother Nature decides the weather and climate conditions, not us.

In Montreal, we stayed at the Omni, and it was a nice hotel and easy walking distance to great restaurants, bistros, and Brasseries. The Omni Mount Royal Hotel is located on Sherbrooke Street—this is the most exclusive and wealthiest area in all of Canada before WW II, and it was fun exploring this part of the city.

I really enjoyed the stay here—Montreal is very walkable as we stayed near McGill University, and it was fun and lively. We love wandering and finding great eating places. There was an included meal on the second night of our stay, but we skipped it and ate on our own, as we just enjoyed wandering so much and had a late lunch at a great Brasserie with a brew pub.

Quebec City

Our transfer from Montreal to Quebec could not have gotten any more confusing, as two groups joined our band of 12—4 in one group and 13 in another, all set to cruise on the Queen Mary 2 with luggage everywhere. Anne bravely jumped in to help load the luggage compartment of the coach. Ultimately, we got it all in and took a 4-hour ride into Quebec. Apparently, another tour group guide from Uncommon Journey’s had a personal emergency, so Teresa now had 2 extra groups to deal with for our final day of the land tour. The first part of the coach ride was colorful, as you can see by this picture.

There we did a bus tour of Quebec City and arrived at the port on 6 October, my birthday. The coach tour included seeing the old town, the Plains of Abraham (a large outdoor park), and the Citadel. We were supposed to have lunch, but that didn’t happen as most of us just wanted to board the Queen Mary 2 and eat onboard.

A good picture of Quebec City port area. In the far right is the Citadel and the large hotel on the left is the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Quebec is the only fortified city in North America

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac is the most famous landmark in Quebec City. This luxury hotel was designed to fit in with the old town Quebec surroundings as a prestigious place to stay during a visit to Quebec City.

A panoramic view of the Port of Quebec City

Boarding the Queen Mary 2 was very efficient, but that may be because many were on a 14-day cruise that started in NY City, so less folks had to board in Quebec City.

Our Final Thoughts

Uncommon Journeys had a great trip planned for us, but it just wasn’t executed properly. There were just too many last-minute changes and a lack of timely information. That being said, it still was a good trip. Having seen how other luxury tour operators handle their trips, we found them lacking—quality counts! This tour may be right for some, but I think most of our clients were prefer a smoother operation.

You can make your own judgments, but at $15,418 for both of us for the two weeks’ vacation, it just did not deliver the quality and attention to detail we expect from a luxury trip.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

September 28, 2023

River Cruise Advice

The Problem with Best Lists for Europe River Cruises

Hank Schrader

September 28, 2023

River Cruise Advice

The Problem with Best Lists for Europe River Cruises

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

I think we have a big problem about travel writers selecting the best cruise for different cruise guests based on the reason or circumstances the cruiser has taking a wonderful river cruise vacation—one size never fits all cruisers.

Often these are short on facts or in-depth comparisons. As we always say, all river cruises are probably the best vacation you will take, so many of my comments are rather picky, but when you are spending between $15,000 and $25,000 for a vacation, the differences matter.

A Recent Article to Emphasize Why In-Depth Analysis is a Better Approach

I recently read an article in Cruise Critic UK (published on 22 September 2023) that advised folks about which cruise lines they should take for 10 cruising situations. The title of the article was “The 10 Best River Cruise Lines in Europe for Every Traveler”. The article was designed to help you “decide the best river line in Europe, depending upon your travel style.”

I am not bold enough to say her choices are wrong, but rather they are not in-depth enough to make good decisions for our clients. I will provide you with our thoughts about 3 of her recommendations and how we would approach 3 of the categories cited in the article.

Category 1—Best River Cruise for First Timers: Viking River Cruises

The authors defend her selection by stating that Viking’s “well-tested river cruise recipe of the world’s largest river cruise line” includes one excursion in each port” and “offers a wider variety of river cruises than others.” They have 70 river cruise ships sailing in Europe and a total fleet of 100 ships.

Most of these statements are correct but a little misleading. Viking does offer 19 different cruise route itineraries in Europe in their brochure (this doesn’t count the Christmas Market season cruises, which I have not included in any of these numbers).

By my count, Avalon offers 36 itineraries in their brochure; AmaWaterways offers 29 itineraries and a 7-Rivers Journey in their brochure; Emerald with only 7 ships has 18 itineraries in their brochure; Scenic offers 17 itineraries in their brochure with only 11 ships; Tauck offers 21 itineraries in their brochure with only 9 ships; and Uniworld offers 16 itineraries by their fleet and 2 cruise & rail in their brochure.

Maybe the fact that Viking is one of the 2 lines that sails on the Elbe increases their variety in her judgement, but we would never recommend sailing on the Elbe, the Loire or the Po as these rivers often have conditions that cause them to cancel or modify the cruise with bus tours substituted for a port stop.

Viking longships have space for 190 passengers. I have been in the lounge with about 190 other travel agents, and it was crowded and felt cramped during a presentation about Viking River Cruises.

A Viking Longship Lounge—felt crowded to me.

To accommodate the 190 passengers, many of the staterooms are quite small. There are 90 staterooms on their signature longships. 50 staterooms are very small compared to other cruise lines. 25 fixed windows staterooms on the first deck at the water line are 150 sq feet and 25 French Balcony staterooms are 135 square feet. Neither of these are acceptable for the majority of our clients.

135 square feet French Balcony stateroom—very tiny.

Balcony Staterooms on a Viking long ships. The tiny windows on the first deck at the waterline are the 150 square foot staterooms.

The final reason I would not pick Viking as the best for first time cruisers is the lack of excursions included in the fare. On a normal 7-day cruise, there are only 6 excursions included in the fare. Sometimes as many as 6 different options are offered at an extra cost and often these are capacity controlled or quite expensive. It is also difficult to determine the exact cost for these options or to learn about them, as the costs change, are not published before the cruise. It is not uncommon for a guest to pay an extra $500 to $1,500. Almost every other lines offers more included choices.

I have told this is a huge money-maker for Viking but not very client friendly for our clients.

So, I will not be so bold to tell which line to pick for first time cruisers—we match you to your style with in-depth knowledge about the river cruise industry—one size does not fit all!

Category 2 Best River Cruise Line for Active Travelers: Avalon Waterways

The author picks Avalon for its Active & Discovery options as her reason to select them as the best line for active cruisers. Of the 36 offerings by Avalon, 8 itineraries are Active & Discovery in their brochure. Most require an extra fee.

While this is a very good selection, it does not consider the AmaWaterways program, which has a dedicated wellness host on-board with a master’s degree in physical education. All 29 AmaWaterways itineraries offer active options.

A group from an AmaWaterways cruise riding in the Wachau Valley on the Danube

I will tell you the AmaWaterways program is better—I have a master’s degree in physical education and the AmaWaterways program is excellent, age appropriate, and offers good variety for guests.

Len and Jane, our clients ready for a bike ride along the Moselle River

Wellness Host in yellow jacket—highly professional staff

I would place Avalon’s program second to AmaWaterways for these reasons but either line offers better options than most other cruise lines.

Category 9 Best European River Cruise Line for Unique Destinations: CroisiEurope

She cites cruise on the Loire, the Elbe, the Guadalquivir and the Vltava Rivers sailings as her evidence to sail on this line for unique destinations, but I have already pointed out the problem with water conditions on 2 of the rivers and you can add the Vltava to the list. The Guadalquivir is quite large and can even accommodate larger ships, as we have sailed on this river with an Azamara Ocean cruise. So, again it is unique but for our guests, probably not their best option—we would recommend visiting areas of the Elbe, Loire and Vltava Rivers on a land based extension.

This is probably a good selection for some but ignores some difficulties for most of our clients for some other reasons. First, the language on-board is French, and they provide an English translator to their English-speaking guests, but this is very awkward at best.

Two other factors here—all guests are served the same meal unless earlier arrangements are made, requiring constant vigilance for lunch and diner meals to not get a meal you wouldn’t like. Also, the staterooms are functional but not really luxury—they are rather sparse.

Our clients would not like this—for most good food and wine are important factors and this line just doesn’t match their desired travel style.

Our Final Thoughts

Our advice—just do not accept best cruise line lists—for most of you they are opinion at best or poorly researched and perhaps even biased. Just remember, most folks who search for river cruise information add the word best to their search, because we all want the best. Please read these list critically—look for facts and try to distinguish what is fact and what is opinion.

My hope in writing this blog is not to criticize river cruise lines, or criticize the authors, it is to educate you that an in-depth knowledge of the river cruise industry is required for an advisor the truly help their clients. We have that knowledge and only worry about the best match for you on your vacation, not a blanket statement about which line is best for you.

We hope you enjoyed this blog.

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

September 21, 2023

Danube River Cruise Ports

3 Great Land Extensions for an Upper Danube Cruise

Hank Schrader

September 21, 2023

Danube River Cruise Ports

3 Great Land Extensions for an Upper Danube Cruise

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

The Upper Danube is the most popular route in European River Cruises for North Americans—about 31% sail on this route each year. The next most popular route is the Rhine River with about 29% who sail on this route.

With airfare expense part of the cost to go on these awesome vacations, I thought I’d provide a little advice about 3 capital cities you should consider to extend your trip to help maximize your investment.

So, let’s explore Budapest, Prague, and Vienna as good places to visit and enhance your river cruise experience.

Budapest

Perhaps the most stunning city on any river cruise, Budapest is actually 2 cities rolled into one. By far the most impressive city on the Danube, Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a town we love to visit.

Hungary is a landlocked country with no access to an ocean or sea, so the Danube River is a vital part of the country, and many important cities grew up along this key waterway.

It is really two towns—the high town of Buda that overlooks the banks of the Danube and Pest on the flat land. They are united by several bridges, but the Chain Bridge is the most important and is a symbol of the city. Both sides have some awesome structures—among them Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion (Buda side) and the Parliament building (Pest side).

Once you visit, you will want to come back. We have led tours here, but the most important sights are around the Danube River area—anything that requires a longer distance than the river area is difficult to see on your own without transportation.

Some History of Budapest and Hungary

Perhaps the best place to start is with the Magyars who started settling the area around Budapest in 896. The Magyars were nomadic tribes constantly on the move around the Caucasus and Káma River areas. In 1000 the first king of Hungary, Stephen I began consolidating power. Then came a series of conquests of this area—first the Mongols in 1241 who sacked and almost completely destroyed the city.

The next invaders were the Ottomans who took Pest in 1526 and 15 years later conquered Buda. The Ottomans were driven out by the Hapsburgs around 1780. Hungary and Budapest then became part of the Austria-Hungary Empire who rule the country until 1918. After a short attempt at democracy, in 1919 Hungary had a revolution which brought a communist regime to power and the country became known as Hungarian Soviet Republic.

WW II first resulted in German control of the city, then the Soviets after WW II until 1989.

What are Some of the Key Sights to See in Budapest?

I have tried to organize the sights into the way river cruise companies typically visit them on their tours in Budapest. There are two common tours—a bus ride up to the Castle District and then a walking tour and a panoramic bus tour of the sights on Andrassy Avenue. There are often onsite visits to St, Stephen’s Cathedral, perhaps the opera house, or the Central Market.

The Castle District

Buda Castle Hill--Elevated 168 meters (551 feet) above sea level, this striking area of Buda--the historic area of Buda--offers visitors the medieval Buda Castle, the Vienna Gate, the Magdalen Tower, and visits to two good museums.

The two best museums in the Buda Castle complex are the Hungarian National Gallery Museum and the Castle Museum.

If you are not on a river cruise tour, the easiest and most scenic way to the Buda Castle is to ride the Buda hill funicular to the top.

Fisherman’s Bastion--the cobblestone streets of the Fisherman's Bastion (the name of the bastion comes from Guild of Fishermen, who were responsible for defending that stretch of the city walls during the Middle Ages) on the Buda side, lead to-a series of seven neo-Gothic towers. The seven towers of the Bastion represent the seven Magyar tribes that helped to settle the Magyar people in the Carpathian Basin. The structure provides an awesome panorama of the) Danube River, the Parliament building and the Pest side of Budapest. Take bus 16 or 16A to Castle Hill if you are not on a river cruise tour.

Matthias Church—was founded in the 13th century. It is an impressive structure and was rebuilt several times during the tumultuous history of battles for control of this area. Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the roof that is covered with the famous Zsolnay ceramic tiles, manufactured in the Hungarian town of Pecs.

Gellert Hill and the Citadel--For the best panorama of Budapest, Gellért Hill definitely is worth a visit. The old fortress and the statue of Liberty can be seen from a great distance. They are an important part of the cityscape. It is on the Buda side. Take bus #27 to get to this location.

Typical Driving Tour Sights Offered by River Cruise Companies

Most river cruise companies like to drive on Andrassy Avenue to get a good overview of sights not near the Danube River. Andrassy Avenue is a broad promenade of breathtaking neo-Renaissance architecture and home to many of Budapest’s must-see sites. Most pass by Heroes’ Square, the Franz Liszt Memorial House, the House of Terror, the Szechenyi Baths, and the City Park.

Heroes Square--The monumental square at the end of Andrássy Avenue sums up the history of Hungary by displaying statues that honor Hungary’s heroes. This iconic monument features depictions of the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars, who are believed to have led the Hungarian people from central Asia to the Carpathian basin. The millennium memorial commemorates the 1000th anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin.

The Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Fine Arts are also located on this square. It is the entrance to the City Park. It is on the Pest side. To get there take Metro to Hosok tere (yellow line)

City Park--The largest green area of Budapest conceals the Castle of Vajdahunyad (a castle with 21 types of architecture, it was created for an exhibition), the Széchenyi thermal bath (one of the largest and most famous thermal baths in the world), and the Zoo and the Amusement Park. It is a beloved corner of the city for walking and relaxing. It is on the Pest side. Metro Széchenyi furdo (yellow line)

House of Terror—you need a strong stomach to visit this museum. This is the former headquarters of the ÁVH secret police. This building is witness to some of the darkest days of 20th-century Hungary. Exhibits have English signs. Metro stop Okyogon (Yellow line).

Dohány Synagogue Built in 1859, this is the second-largest working synagogue in the world (the largest is in New York City), and the second-oldest large building of those still standing. The synagogue has a rich, but tragic history; it was one of many detention areas for Jews during the Holocaust. A Jewish Museum next door traces the origins of Hungarian Judaism and features exhibits of ceremonial Judaica throughout the centuries. The museum periodically puts on excellent temporary exhibitions. The Holocaust Memorial and Heroes' Temple in the courtyard are well worth visiting.

Walking Tours and Sight Visits in Pest

St. Stephen’s Basilica--The largest Catholic Church in Budapest, where the most important relic of the Hungarian Catholicism, the Holy Right Hand of King St. Steven is kept. The panorama terrace offers a great view of the city if you are willing to climb the 142 steps to the top. It is on the Pest side.

The interior of the cathedral is a masterpiece of dramatic arches, marble, and liberally applied gilding. Inside is one of Hungary’s most sacred artifacts, the Szent Jobb—meaning “Holy Right Hand”—is the mummified right hand of St. Stephen.

Central Market Hall--the Central Market Hall is like a large treasure trove of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, and culinary delicacies. The spacious market at the Pest end of Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) however is famous for its architecture too. Built at the turn of the 19-20. Centuries, it was one of the most modern indoor markets not only in Budapest but in the whole world. It is on the Pest side.

Hungarian Parliament--the monumental building of the Parliament is one of the biggest attractions of Budapest. The parliament building is the largest building in Budapest and the third largest parliament building in the world. Here are some facts about the size of this building—it has 691 rooms, 10 courtyards, and 12.5miles worth of stairs.

It hosts the diet and the crown jewels. Guided tours are organized 4 times a day. It is on the Pest side.

Vaci Street and Danube Promenade--The bustling walking areas of the downtown offer famous cafés, terraces, elegant shops, boutiques, and theatres. There are great views of the Castle from the Danube Promenade. It is on the Pest side.

Chain Bridge--This was the first permanent bridge built across the Danube in Budapest. It was built between 1840 to 1849. It is 375m long and 16m wide. This bridge connected the towns of Buda and Pest and was a major reason the two towns became Budapest. In 1989, it was a site of protest for freedom and independence from communist rule. Today, the bridge is a symbol of Hungarian liberty.

Chain Bridge with Buda Castle in the Background

Opera House--the Opera House has a fantastically ornate interior featuring frescoes by two of the best-known Hungarian artists of the day, Bertalan Székely and Károly Lotz. Outside of the building, you can see statues to Ferenc Erkel (composer of the Hungarian National Anthem) and Ferenc Liszt (Hungarian composer).

Guided tours are given daily at 3pm and 4pm (these can be arranged in English) are the only way to see the interiors unless you buy a ticket to a performance. Metro stop Opera (Yellow line).

Have a dessert in Gerbeaud Cafe—famous for their handmade deserts. It opened in 1858 and has been a favorite of Budapest ever since then.

Try Strudel at the First Strudel House of Budapest—located in an old building, this establishment is part theater and great strudel. The chefs make the strudel behind a display kitchen area. The strudel is excellent—we try to stop by each time we visit Budapest.

Eat in Karpatia restaurant—the motto here is “the only king here is you”—great Hungarian food. A city landmark since 1877, you will experience traditional and contemporary Hungarian food, with a spirited gypsy band playing amidst historic walls.

Shopping--Just off exclusive Váci Utca Boulevard there are courtyards studded with boutiques and shops selling handmade leather gloves, intricate Halas lace and Herend porcelain. Pricey antique shops and galleries cluster along Falk Miksa Utica near the neo-Gothic Parliament and just steps from Katti Zoób, Hungary's leading design diva. Taste Hungary's finest wines at laid-back Bortarsaság near the Castle District.

Prague

City Overview

A former member of the Warsaw Pact countries of the Iron Curtain, this vibrant city thrived after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. It has historic roots that are really interesting to learn about, but it is also just a fun place to explore its mixture of historic sights, great shops and hearty food.

The town center has most of the interesting sites and the good news is it is relatively compact, and easily walkable except for the steep walk up to the Castle Quarter (not to worry we have done it several times!).

The key sights are divided into zones. They are the Castle Quarter and the Little Quarter on the west side of the Vltava River. On the east side of the river is the Old Town, Jewish Quarter, and the New Town.

They are linked by several bridges, but one the most important and interesting bridges in Prague and all of Europe, the Charles Bridge, is bustling with activity and serves as a monument to 30 Saint Statues on this pedestrian only crossway.

For centuries, this bridge was the only link between Lesser Town on the left bank of the Vltava River and Old Town on the opposite side.

The Castle Quarter

Situated on the high ground above the west bank of the Vltava River, the Castle complex dominates all of Prague.

Here are the key sites:

St. Vitus Cathedral--The largest and most important church in the Czech Republic, the magnificent St. Vitus Cathedral stands within the confines of the Prague Castle and is one of Eastern Europe's finest examples of Gothic architecture.

Prague Castle--In spite of many wars and fires, the Prague Castle has grown into a unique architectural complex. It contains the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, a convent, several towers and many palace wings. It includes the only privately owned building, Lobkowicz Palace, with its highly acclaimed museum (art works, porcelain, firearms and musical instruments). There is an admission charge to visit some of the sights.

Golden Lane--a small, picturesque street with colorful wooden houses. The legend is that alchemists attempted to turn metal into gold here, but in fact the alchemists lived elsewhere at the castle. It was actually goldsmiths living here in the 17th century who gave the street its captivating name. There is also an admission fee here to visit this small lane.

The Little Quarter

This area below the castle complex is where merchants and the wealthy lived. This neighborhood has a wonderful High Baroque church—the Church of St. Nicolas.

The other really interesting site is the Nerudova Street—the step, cobblestoned roadway, lined with interesting doorway signs, shops, and foreign embassies.

The Old Town

The commerce center of Prague in times past is now one of the most visited sites in Europe.

Here are some of the most important sights in the old town:

Old Town Square--Famous for its historical monuments, Old Town Square is a Prague must-visit. Climb to the top of the 660-year-old Old Town Hall Tower for spectacular views of the Baroque-style St. Nicholas Church (north corner of the square, it has a fine interior), Gothic-style Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (twin towers) and the Old Town itself.

Church of St. Nicholas--There are plenty of impressive Baroque churches in Prague, but the St. Nicholas church at the Old Town Square is one of the most beautiful thanks to the colorful frescoes, intricate ironwork and stucco that decorate the interior.

Old Town Hall--Prague's old Town Hall was built in 1364. The astronomical clock in the town hall's tower is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. Originally the building served only as the city hall of the old town, but later became the city hall for all of Prague. It is now only used for ceremonial functions.

The Astronomical Clock (Orloj)--on the side of the Town Hall--consists of an astronomical dial embellished with zodiac symbols, a calendar dial and colorful, moving sculptures. As the clock chimes, biblical figurines come out, and spectators may watch the "Walk of the Apostles." An hourly bell toll features a figurine representing death. The clock comes to life from 0900 to 2100.

In the center of the square is the Jan Hus Monument, the first to rebel against the total authority of the Catholic Church.

From Old Town Square, a walk along the posh Parizska Street with it’s over the top shops will lead to a somber sight—the Jewish Quarter.

In part of the Old Town is the Jewish Quarter—the Jews were pushed into a small marshy area near the bend of the Vltava River—it is one of the best-preserved areas of Jewish life in all of Europe.

Josefov, also known as the Jewish Quarter or the Prague Jewish Ghetto, dates back to the 13th century and presents visitors with the opportunity to see a little of what life was like for Jews of that era. This small 3 block area was once walled in by order of the pope who declared that Christians and Jews should not live together with 6 exit gates.

But things changed in 1897 with the destruction of the walls and new buildings—now this area is primarily Art Nouveau buildings.

With its much more pleasant look of today, it still is somber to remember the 120,000 or so Jews living in Prague in 1939 in the start of WW II were reduced to only 10,000 by the 1945 liberation of the city.

The New Town

This area surrounds the old town area and follows the outer walls that protected the city but have been destroyed.

The most important sight here is Wenceslas Square--Wenceslas Square was originally conceived in the 14th century as a horse market. The large square, measuring 750 by 60m (2500x200 ft), evolved into Prague's central boulevard.

Vienna

Vienna’s is a true treasure—the importance of this city cannot be overstated—it once was the capital city of the Hapsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary. Palaces, great museums, a vibrant music culture, great shopping and good food make this an easy choice for an extension.

Here are some of the best sights:

St. Stephens Cathedral—the Gothic towers and tiled roof of St. Stephen’s Cathedral still dominates the skyline of old Vienna. Visitors can climb to the top of the south tower for a splendid view of the city. The north tower has a 22-ton bell nicknamed the Boomer (Die Pummerin)

Hofburg Palace—the imperial palace and former residence of Franz Joseph and other members of the Habsburg dynasty is a complex of buildings that house a number of Vienna’s most impressive sights. You can tour some rooms.

National Library--The Austrian National Library is the largest library in Austria with 7.4 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna.

The Spanish Riding School—completed in 1735, the elaborate riding hall of the Spanish Riding School is a part of the Hofburg. Here the art of classical dressage is practiced by white Lipizzaner horses. Training sessions are open to the public daily except November to March.

Museum of National History—great collection of minerals, precious stones, meteorites, fossils, skeletons of animals, displays of various insects and mammals and even some taxidermy of extinct species.

Anne outside the Museum of Natural History

Naschmark--The Naschmarkt is held on the Wienzeile Street and stretches for around 1.5km, full of stalls selling anything from fresh fruit and vegetables to herbs, cheese, and seafood.

Graben—famous shopping street

Karntnerstrasse—pedestrian zone with great shops. It leads from the Opera house to St. Stephen’s Cathedral

Opera House in Vienna on Karntnerstrasse

Museum of Fine Arts—this is one of the most impressive collections in Europe, including works by Brueghel, Rubens, Titian, Rembrandt, and Vermeer.

Ringstrasse—a broad tree-lined boulevard was built on the ramparts of the medieval city.

Belvedere Palace—in a suburb of Vienna, the Belvedere is the former summer residence of the Prince of Savoy. Two palaces grace the grounds, one that houses the Museum of Medieval Art and the Museum of Austrian Baroque; the second that houses the Austrian Gallery.

Schönbrunn Palace—this palace of almost 1,200 rooms was the summer residence of the Habsburgs. Several of the rooms and their furnishings are open to the public. There are also lavish gardens.

Our Final Thoughts

It is pretty easy to see why you should extend your trip with the help of the river cruise lines or perhaps on your own for the more adventurous. Please reach out to us for help—we love helping folks get the best value for their vacations dollars.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

September 14, 2023

River Cruise Advice

The Top 6 Reasons People Sail on River Cruises

Hank Schrader

September 14, 2023

River Cruise Advice

The Top 6 Reasons People Sail on River Cruises

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

We almost exclusively specialize in European River Cruises and European travel. It often has us researching every aspect of river cruising but since 2009 our clients have almost selected river cruising for the same 6 reasons.

Interestingly, the first top 5 reasons listed in this blog were cited in the 2022 Travel Market Report Survey of River Cruise Trends by travel agents who sell or specialize in river cruise vacations, but we also find another important factor is to celebrate a milestone event.

I should also point out that it often is a combination of these reasons, so I tried to list then in the order of importance to our clients but realize each of us is different and one reason may be more important to one client than another.

So, I thought I’d share with you the top 6 reasons our friends and clients pick river cruising for a vacation.

# 1 Destination and Itinerary of the Cruise

With good route options available to our clients, the most important factor we find is what they will see and experience during their river cruise.

River cruising is all about the destinations. Even though I have been traveling to Europe for over 52 years and we have led several group tours, I could not do what the river cruise companies do in one week—these folks are experts in showing you the best sights in the least amount of time.

It is truly a unique way to see the interior of a country. It is different from a land-based tour and different from an ocean cruise.

You usually dock very near or right at the destination of the day and there is a tour or place to see every day—no sea days like on a big ocean cruise ship. Being near or in the center of the city, town, or village you are about to explore is a big advantage. In five minutes, all guests are off the boat and seeing the sights.

Cochem, Germany—an easy walk to the old walled city after a van ride to the castle or for the more active, a hike up to the castle for a tour

Bratislava Castle—your river ship docks in easy walking distance to the old town or a more active hike up to the castle

Most lines also offer different groups during the tours—regular, active walkers or gentle walkers, so your desired way to see the destination is matched with your tour.

# 2 Combined Land Vacations of Pre or Post Land Excursions

The option of adding to their vacation with either a pre- or post-excursion is also a key motivating factor for our clients.

We find that most of our clients want a more in-depth look at some destinations and the land excursions options provide just that. There are some great places to extend the river cruise experience and it often makes sense to stay for at least a week either before or after a 7-day cruise or both, which most of our clients choose to do. Long haul flights and flying expenses make a longer stay a better overall value to most of our clients.

Maybe Paris, Budapest, Prague, Lucerne, Zurich, Lake Como, or the Lorie Valley—already you can see the great options directly added by including a tour extension with the river cruise lines or we can help tailor a trip for the more adventurous.

Prague Castle—a very popular pre or post land excursions extension is the city of Prague, Czech Republic

The wooden covered bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland—great alpine post or pre tour land based excursion add on to a river cruise

Stunning Budapest Parliament Building at night—a great extension option.

# 3 Cultural Experience with Locals

Since you often port near smaller towns, it is easy to meet and learn about how others live.

Most lines provide local cultural events with food preparations, wine tastings, music and performances or just sampling local cuisine during the voyage. Some come on-board, others are offered on site.

Wine Tasting on a France river cruise—this is one of Anne’s favorite picture of us.

How about truffle hunting? Or maybe a more active bike ride to stop and see a smaller village or tavern?

# 4 River Cruises Are a Good Alternative to Escorted/Guided Tours

Perhaps the best part of experiencing a destination is not having to pack and unpack often—the typical river cruise of 7 days helps you see more with less hassle.

Often the biggest surprise to new cruisers is how compact and well organized a rivership is—somehow putting 130-200 folks on a vessel that generally must meet size limitations to fit through the various locks with luxury accommodations and venues is hard to fathom even from pictures or videos.

Before I went on my first Europe River cruise in 2009, even after studying river cruising, I had no real concept of the overall experience. It was even better than I had imagined and still is after 24 river cruises in Europe.

Think about this—would you rather be crammed in a bus, or wandering the decks of a riverboat with a glass of wine in your hand, or better yet, lounging in a small pool in the summer watching the world go by as you are propelled to your next exciting port? You don’t have to ask my choice—where’s my wine glass?

Well not in a hot tub, but still better than a bus tour!

# 5 Luxury Experience as Part of Their River Cruise

How you travel is important—most of our clients tell us they want a well-appointed stateroom and an excellent dining experience with well prepared food and good wines.

The best ship sailing in Europe—the AmaMagna—here is a SB category suite—awesome space to relax!

Excursions, all meals, and accommodations are included on all river cruise lines. On most lines, the meals are great and there are enough choices that even the pickiest eaters will find something they enjoy. They also handle dietary restrictions well, which makes your trip easier and more enjoyable.

On river cruise lines, your food, meals with wine or beer at lunch and dinner, your stateroom and even occasional entertainment is included in the fare. There is even champagne or sparkling wine at breakfast on many lines.

The clear, upfront pricing helps make it easier to budget for your vacation. River boats are small (only 100 to 197 passengers), friendly and comfortable. The food is generally very good to excellent, but some lines are better than others.

# 6 Celebrate Milestone Events

Many of our clients tell us they want to do something special to mark an anniversary or birthday or retirement. The reward of celebrating life’s moments is noteworthy and adds meaning to the hard work or partnership of our lives.

Life is too short, and it is easy to let our everyday challenges of living stop us from appreciating how well we have faced living. Clearly celebrating success and the passage of time is important.

An Anniversary Celebration for Irene and John

One of our river cruise groups celebrating life after our 2019 D Day 75th Anniversary Tour on an AmaWaterways cruise

Birthday Celebration on an AmaWaterways Cruise 2018

Our Final Thoughts

All of this makes sense to us—they mirror our experiences with clients and are often the exact reasons we enjoy European river cruising so much.

We hope you enjoyed this report, and it helps you to understand why we enjoy helping folks experience river cruising—it packs so much in so little time yet in a relaxed and fun trip that is hassle free.

Don’t you think it is time you went on a river cruise—we would love to help you get the trip you desire!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 31, 2023

Danube River Cruise Ports

The Best 2 Excursions Worth the Long Coach Ride on the Upper Danube

Hank Schrader

August 31, 2023

Danube River Cruise Ports

The Best 2 Excursions Worth the Coach Ride on the Upper Danube Route

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of the true joys of river cruising is sailing on the ship and then taking a very short coach (bus) rides to see some amazing sights, or just to be able to walk off the ship to see your destination stop. However, some destinations require a longer coach ride, and we are often asked is it worth the extra time to spend on the bus to see these sights.

There are 2 towns, in my opinion, that are well worth a longer bus ride since they are gems that will delight you.

So, let’s explore together the 2 best long coach rides of sights near the Danube-- Český Krumlov and Salzburg on an Upper Danube Cruise.

Český Krumlov, Czech Republic

Český Krumlov, roughly translated means “Czech Bend in the River”.

From Passau, or Linz, you will journey via coach to the Czech town of Cesky Krumlov. This delightful World Heritage-listed town is brimming with charm.

Located on the banks of the Vltava River which form a loop around the town, Cesky Krumlov is considered one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe with its vast array of well-preserved Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

The dominant feature of the town is the castle. The 16th century moated castle is huge—it has over 40 buildings. The large castle complex requires a tour to see the interior, which usually is not available on the river cruise company’s tours. It features the living and dining spaces of the royals who resided in the palace. You can visit the bear pits and outside courtyards for free and these are often included in the guided tours offered by the river cruise companies.

Perhaps the most unique tour is the Baroque Theater tour—only 2 remain that can be seen in Europe that are in reasonably good shape (most of the others burned down from the extensive use of candles and fireworks for special effects).

There is a strict limit of 25 per tour and it is often sold out in advance and of limited value if you can’t get one of the tours in English but still it is a rare chance to see a historical entertainment venue and learn about their use of their use of special effects during the plays.

The best thing to do here is wander—the castle, the old town area, and cobblestone streets are just fun to view. It really looks like the town is in a time warp.

It also has a pretty good puppet museum that allows children to try and pull the attached strings on puppets.

Here are some pictures of my visit of the rest of this town:

The narrow, cobblestone streets of the town

Here on the town hall are the coat of arms of the Eggenberg and Schwarzenberg royals who lived in the castle

A festive shop during the Christmas Markets season

Salzburg, Austria

To reach Salzburg, guests will disembark from either Passau, Germany or Linz, Austria depending on which river cruise line visits this city. Salzburg is 100 km (62 miles). south of Linz

Surrounded by alpine peaks and on the banks of the Salzach River, Salzburg is best known as the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music movie.

The Baroque architecture lends itself to comparisons of Venice or Florence. It has narrow streets that open up to large squares, and the buildings are often 4 or 5 stories high in the old town area.

This storybook city has a thriving art scene, music and concert halls filled with classical music. It is quite common to find recitals and concerts during a visit.

Perhaps in the Baroque old town, the most famous building is Mozart’s birthplace. Looming over the whole old town area is Hohensalzburg, Central Europe’s largest intact fortress, which sits high above the rooftops with panoramic views of the city.

Here are some pictures from our visits:

The Altstadt (Old City) is a compact area between the jutting outcrop of the Mönchsberg and the Salzach River. The cathedral and interconnecting squares surrounding it form what used to be the religious center, around which the major churches and the old archbishops' residence are arranged (note that entrance into all Salzburg churches is free).

Let’s start with Alter Markt or the Old Marketplace. In the center of the square is St. Florian Fountain. Here are some photos:

St Florian Fountain in the Old Marketplace Square

The St. Florian Fountain has the Salzburg Coat of Arms proudly displayed on the intricate wrought iron grill surrounding the fountain

The Mozartplaz and Mozart Monument that was erected in 1841 to honor its most famous citizen

This is the new Residenz Palace and Glockenspiel in Mozart Square

Residenzplatz Square and the Residence Fountain

Hohensalzburg Fortress, built in 1077 by Archbishop Gebhard, considerably enlarged by Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (1495-1519), is the largest, fully-preserved fortress in central Europe. The medieval princes' apartments and the Fortress Museum are of particular interest. The fortress can easily be reached by funicular railway departing from the Festungsgasse. You probably won’t get to see the fortress on a river cruise tour unless you try during your free time.

The Mozart family lived on the third floor of the "Hagenauer House" at Getreidegasse 9 for twenty-six years, from 1747 to 1773. The celebrated composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was born here on January 27, 1756.

It is now a museum devoted to Mozart. Visitors can see the original Mozart rooms at Mozart's Birthplace containing historic instruments, documents, memorabilia and most of the portraits painted during his lifetime, including the unfinished oil painting "Mozart at the Piano" painted by Mozart's brother-in-law, Joseph Lange, in 1789.

The famous exhibits include Mozart's child violin, his concert violin, his clavichord, the harpsichord, portraits and letters from the Mozart family.

One of the most interesting streets to visit is Getreidegasse, which has great shops and traditional inns. The doors of the buildings often have the names and dates of the former owners displayed on plaques. The homes were often “through houses” were the front and back led to different streets.

An example of the former owner plaques displayed on a building

The best part of this street for me are the elaborate and ornamental guild signs. Here are some good pictures:

A lion guards the building and wards off evil spirits.

Even the weather station clock is ornate.

A place we missed was the Mirabell Palace and its gardens and these are included on almost every river cruise tour of Salzburg.

There are at least 4 entrances to the Mirabell Gardens—from the Makartplatz (framed by the statues of Roman gods), the Schwarzstrasse, Mirabell Square and Rainerstrasse.

Most guides will have you to enter from the Rainerstrasse and head for the Rosenhügel (Rosebush Hill) so you can see where Julie Andrews and the 7 children sang during The Sound of Music film. The hill allows you to admire the formal gardens and is one of the best views of Salzburg, as it shows how harmoniously architects of the Baroque period laid out the city.

The center of the garden is dominated by four large groups of statues representing the elements water, fire, air, and earth. A bronze version of the horse Pegasus stands in front of the south facade of the palace in the center of a circular water basin.

The most famous part of the Mirabell Gardens is the Zwerglgarten (Dwarfs' Garden), which can be found opposite the Pegasus fountain. Here you'll find 12 statues of "Danubian" dwarves sculpted in marble.

We will be sure to get some pictures on our next visit.

River Cruise Companies that visit these 2 Gems

As always, this list may not be complete but is accurate to my knowledge at present.

AmaWaterways has the most routes that include the option to see these 2 great places. You can have the option to see both on these 5 cruises: Grand Danube Cruise, Celebration of Classical Music: the Danube, The Melodies of the Danube, Romantic Danube, Magna on the Danube and Salzburg only on the Blue Danube Discovery.

Emerald offers the chance for an extra expense to choose one of these visits on its 15 Day Splendors of Europe route.

Scenic has these 2 included in their Jewels of Europe and Gems of the Danube routes

Tauck offers this option on its Blue Danube route for both and Salzburg only on its 15 day Amsterdam to Budapest by Riverboat and Musical Magic Along the Blue Danube routes. It also offers only Cesky Krumlov on its Heart of the Danube route

Viking has this option on its European Sojourn and Grand Europe Tour for Salzburg only at an extra cost.

Our Final Thoughts

Wow—what a report! Both are worth the long ride but also may warrant a visit after your cruise or during a different visit to Europe, as you can’t see it all on a river cruise tour.

We hope you enjoyed this report and perhaps it will help you chose which town to visit on your river cruise..

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com or hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 24, 2023

River Cruise Comparisons

Rhine and Moselle Castles You Can Tour While on a River Cruise

Hank Schrader

August 24, 2023

River Cruise Comparisons

Rhine and Moselle Castles You Can Tour While on A River Cruise

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

One of the questions often asked us is: “Can I tour inside a castle on a river cruise on the Rhine?”

There are 5 good castles you can visit near Koblenz Germany and this report will identify which river cruise companies provide tour excursions to the castles as part of their itinerary.

One of the reasons you may want to consider using a river cruise instead of trying to visit on your own is the ease of getting to the castles. We used public transportation (trains and buses) to explore on our own to 3 of these castles. When combined with sometimes a long hike or steep climb up a hillside, which 10 years ago was quite fun and adventurous but required a lot of planning on our part and active hiking to visit these castles, this may not be the best option for you.

Koblenz is located at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. It is a great base to explore parts of nearby castles and quaint towns—we used it as a base of operations and enjoyed it very much during a trip in 2013 to three of these castles on a land tour we organized for ourselves. We visited the other two while on a river cruise.

It is one of the oldest towns in Germany and its strategic location had two different influences upon its history—it was a great place to collect tolls from river traffic and both Germany and France wanted to control these valuable waterways and the land near it.

So, castles and fortresses were built to defend these waterways by the Germans. Later France attacked and destroyed and burned most of these defensive positions and structures as they vied for control of the area.

I decided to organize this blog by listing the strongpoints alphabetically, so not to show any favoritism towards any line and describe the castle or stronghold first and then the river cruise line that best allows you see them. A word of caution—routes change and we may have missed a route change that would present another opportunity, so please use this as a good starting point only.

So, let’s explore together and learn about 5 great castles and 1 fortress in this area and how you can tour inside these strong points while on a river cruise.

Burg Eltz is located in Moselkern, near Cochem: Its multiple turrets and towers, which rise amid a thick forest near the Mosel River, evoke the chivalry and poetry of the Middle Ages. This is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Germany.

Burg Eltz is a beautifully preserved castle, with towers, half-timbered walls, and it is seemingly in the middle of nowhere—Anne and I hiked 3 miles from the Mosel River in early March one year to visit. The family who owns this castle still lives here and has done so for 850 years in their ancestral home.

There are 2 places to visit here—the Treasury (pictures allowed) with a great display of precious items and tour of select rooms (no pictures) which takes about an hour or less. 3 families owned this castle, and each has built separate wings.

The tour includes an entrance way decorated with weapons, various gathering rooms, bedrooms, and the kitchen—all very authentic and used by the families for over 33 generations.

Perhaps the most famous room of the castle is the Knight’s room, where the 3 different families met to celebrate and work out any conflicts that might arise. It is famous for the wall decorations, which served as a reminder to the 3 families about cooperation—a jester mask (representing freedom of speech) and a large rose (representing a code of silence—items discussed in the room need to stay there).

How to Tour on a River Cruise—to my knowledge only Scenic includes this castle. It is on their “Charming Castles & Vineyards of the Rhine & Moselle” route which is available as a 7-day cruise or a 12-day version with tours of Switzerland.

Fortress Ehrenbreitstein--The Fortress rises 118 meters above the Rhine and dates back to the year 1000. Over the centuries the building was extended by the Electors of Trier. After its destruction through the French, the Prussians rebuilt the fortifications and the result, one of Germany's strongest fortresses, is today open to the public. It is the second largest fortress in Europe (Gibraltar is larger). It is directly across the Rhine from Koblenz.

To reach the fortress, make the one-way passage across the river from the main Rhine dock. Ferries operate mid-March to late November daily 9am to 5:15pm.

You can also take the Koblenz Cable Car and get a ride that takes you 367 feet above the Rhine and the ride is about 3000 feet. The more adventurous might want a car with a glass bottom. The chairlift operates daily from April to October from 9:30am to 4:30pm. Most river cruise companies use the cable car system, which for many is a plus with amazing views, but for others, not so fun an experience.

How to Tour on a River Cruise—several river cruise companies have tours to the fortress.

AmaWaterways visits the fortress on the Rhine & Moselle Fairytales

Avalon visits the fortress on its Active & Discovery on the Rhine

Emerald visits on its Jewels of the Rhine; the Legendary Rhine & Mosel and on The Majestic Rhine

Lahneck Castle

This is a great castle to tour, as combines medieval fortifications, and great interiors. It was built in 1244 and destroyed in the Thirty Years War (1633). In 1852, it was rebuilt and finally fully restored in 1937.

It is a very interesting and pretty residential castle. The stained-glass windows of the chapel date to the 1400s.

There is even a portrait of Queen Victoria, painted in 1840.

It is full of fine furniture, porcelain, ceramics, a 15th century kitchen complex and a fully furnished 3-story doll house.

How to Tour on a River Cruise—This is an exclusive tour from AmaWaterways. There are 2 routes: The Enchanting Rhine; Vineyards of the Rhine & Moselle; Rhine & Moselle Fairytales and The Treasures of the Main & Rhine routes, that include an exclusive Lahneck Castle tour.

Marksburg Castle is the only castle that never was sacked or ruined among the 40 some odd castles along the Rhine Gorge stretch from Koblenz to Rüdesheim. It is above the town of Braubach. Marksburg was built and served as primarily a fort and often these countryside castles lacked the grandeur of royal palaces. The white pained castle with red trim is distinctive and has a butter-churn keep tower, as the lower parts of the tower are wider than the upper parts and it resembles a butter-churn devise.

The construction of Marksburg was intended to defend the town and after entering the castle the first area in the Great Battery with its firing positions designed to protect the Rhine and town from enemies.

The gothic Hall was the kitchen area of the castle fort.

The next area on the tour is the wine cellar.

The next area was the sleeping area.

Next is the Chapel

Now the Armory Museum, called the Gimbel collection, uses life-sized figurines to show the changes in armor and weaponry through the ages.

Finally, the Horse Stables, which also was used as a prison complete with torture devices.

How to Tour on a River Cruise—here are the companies we found that tour Marksburg.

Scenic offers tours of Marksburg on the following routes: Jewels of Europe; Romantic Rhine & Moselle; and on 3 Christmas Markets Cruises on the Rhine.

Viking offers this as an included tour on these routes: Grand European Tour; European Sojourn but charges extra on some of the other Rhine cruises.

Reichsburg (also known as Cochem Castle) also deserves a tour. Standing on a hill 300 feet above the town of Cochem, this elaborately restored castle (it was destroyed by the French in 1689 by the Soldiers of King Louis XIV). It is a fun and interesting visit. It is the largest castle on the Moselle.

Many river cruise companies visit this castle. The original castle, whose first purpose like many others on the rivers of Germany was to collect tolls, was rebuilt from 1868 to 1890.

While not authentic, it is still cool—great vistas, interesting rooms, perhaps most importantly, at first glance, it is an impressive structure and I enjoyed visiting it. My favorite rooms were the Dining Hall, the Knight’s Room, and the Trophy Room.

How to Tour on a River Cruise—this is the one castle that has the best options among river cruise lines that either port in Koblenz or sail on the Moselle.

AmaWaterways tours this castle on its Europe’s Rivers & Castles; Rhine & Moselle Splendors; Rhine & Moselle Delights; Rhine & Moselle Fairytales; and Vineyards of the Rhine & Moselle.

Avalon tours the castle on its Active & Discovery on the Moselle; The Rhine & Moselle route.

Emerald tours the castle for an extra charge on the Jewels of the Rhine and The Majestic Rhine as optional tours but it is included on the Legendary Rhine & Moselle and the Tulips & the Rhine routes.

Scenic offers the tour on these routes: Romantic Rhine and Moselle; Charming Castles & Vineyards of the Rhine & Moselle; Rhine Highlights and on their Christmas Markets cruises.

Tauck offers this tour on its Rhine & Moselle route.

Uniworld offers this tour on its Magnificent Moselle & Rhine route.

Viking offers this tour on its Cities of Light; and Paris to the Swiss Alps.

Schloss Stolzenfels—the castle is located approx. 5 km to the south of Koblenz, which was originally built as a customs fortress and was destroyed by the French in 1689 in the Palatine War of Succession. It was rebuilt according to the plans of the Berlin master builder Schinkel and is now open to the public. It houses a number of valuable furniture pieces and a collection of armor and weapons. Here are some pictures:

How to Tour on a River Cruise

Avalon used to do a guided walk here but I was unable to find the exact cruise route in their Active & Discovery cruises.

Our Final Thoughts

I have always loved castles and like to see how these stark defensive structures were transformed into more comfortable living spaces. They offer a unique look into the past.

We hope you have enjoyed this report. Perhaps now you see the added value we bring to helping you match your desired experiences with the offerings of the various cruise lines we follow. I am certain our research into the available options is very unique, as I am unable to find as detailed a report as is contained in this blog post.

When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 17, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us!

Hank Schrader

August 17, 2023

Best Value Travel

Come Sail with Us!

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Today’s Blog is about an excellent opportunity for you to sail with Anne and Hank on the Seine River in May of 2024. But before I explain this option, here are 2 important announcements:

Important Announcements

First, we are having some technical issues with our emails from hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. Although you may be getting error messages about not being sent or received, we are getting all messages and it appears that you are also getting them. For now, while we sort this out, we also will text you and include an alternate email address of hschrader@visitdd.com. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Second, almost all river cruise lines have opened up their 2025 schedules and they are ready for booking. There are some strong incentives for early bookings, so if a river cruise is in your plans for 2025, please reach out to us.

Our Seine River Cruise and a Possible 2 Day D Day Tour in Bayeux.

Our cruise is on AmaWaterways, sailing from Paris on 11 May 2024 and returning to Paris on 18 May 2024. The route is the Paris & Normandy itinerary on the AmaDante. The AmaDante has a max of 144 guests, has 73 staterooms and is perfect for the Seine River as a 110 m ship.

Sailing in May is an ideal time—the weather traditionally has been mild, not too hot, or too cold. While we have not sailed this route yet, most of you know we have led 2 anniversary tours to the D Day sites in 2014 and 2019, so we are quite familiar with this region of France.

Long time readers of our blog will also know the awesome way AmaWaterways takes care of its guests—we should know it will be our 23 AmaWaterways sailing and you can anticipate being treated the same way..

To help you learn more about the itinerary, please use this link to read the day-by-day experiences you can enjoy on this wonderful cruise (although the power point PDF uses the AmaLyra , the AmaDante has an almost identical deck plan and staterooms)..

2024 Paris & Normandy

To reserve your space on the cruise, please fill out a Travel Request. We will then explain the stateroom options and provide you an exact quote, which you will have 7 days to consider if this is the right trip for you—we hope so! You should also tell us if you desire to join the optional pre-tour of D Day. Here is the link:

Travel Request

The Optional D Day Pre Tour

Since it is very difficult to obtain hotel space near the key D Day Sites during the anniversary time of 6 June, we have developed a possible 2-day pre tour in Bayeux to see the D Day sites in depth prior to the cruise on 9 and 10 May. This possible tour has room for only 10 couples. We are planning to stay in the Churchill Hotel, provided we can get enough folks to book and deposit the pre-tour by 30 September 2023.

This was a history changing day, so let’s learn together about this massive invasion, why it was so important and why you should see the key sights in the Normandy battlefield beaches with our pre-tour.

We would recommend that you arrive on 8 May 2024 in Bayeux (we can help with train reservations to Bayeux from Paris).

On the morning of 9 May, we will visit Utah Beach and the museum, Pointe du Hoc, Iron Mike Statue, and the Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise. Here are some pictures:

Point du Hoc Observation Bunker With the Bayonet Memorial on top

Iron Mike—the tribute to the 82nd Airborne Soldiers

On 10 May will visit the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, the costal gun battery, Arromanches 360 theater and the landing museum at Arromanches. Here are some pictures:

On 11 May, we will take the train back to Paris and join the AmaDante for our 7-day cruise.

By taking this tour, you will get a much better look at the actions during the D Day operation in 1944 and can also expand your knowledge by taking the British D Day tour during the river cruise.

This is a condensed version of the weeklong tour we led in 2014 and 2019 prior to the 80th Anniversary of D Day.

Our Final Thoughts

Wow—what an offer!

We hope you will consider joining us—it will be fun and educational. Anne and I will work hard to make this the trip of a lifetime. You will have our travel experience, the wonderful AmaWaterways ship experience with great meals and wine, luxury staterooms, exciting ports, cultural emersion, and a somber look at what the cost of freedom was in 1944. We also think that sharing the experience with like-minded folks will enhance the trip.

Please come join us!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 10, 2023

Best Value Travel

The Benefits of Travel--Especially to Europe

Hank Schrader

August 10, 2023

Best Value Travel

The Benefits of Travel—Especially to Europe

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Travel is good. Not only is it good, but there are also many studies that prove it has significant health benefits. For me, however, the biggest benefit is personal growth and learning. After reading this blog, I hope it stirs your passion for travel!

So, let’s examine the benefits of travel together.

One of the most iconic sites in Europe—the Roman Coliseum

Some Facts about Americans and Travel Overseas

According to a study conducted by Hostelworld Global Traveler Report, Americans are about 50% less likely to travel abroad than Europeans. The report states that 29% of Americans have never left America. The average American has visited 3 countries; UK residents average 10 countries; Germans 8 countries; and Frenchmen 5 countries.

While it is true it is easy and cheaper to travel if you live in Europe to other countries, it saddens me to know so many Americans are missing learning and experiencing most of our wonderful world.

Far too often, Americans chose Canada, Mexico and somewhere in the Caribbean for their only international visits. We hope they will expand to other worldwide locations.

We are here to help you if you are ready to explore other areas of the world, especially Europe. At least now, this trend may be slowly changing as Europe travel seems to be more interesting to Americans, especially after the pandemic travel restrictions.

I Learned at a Young Age the Benefits of Travel

My parents started my lifelong love of travel at an early age. My Dad loved the outdoors, and we often went camping as a family. As most of you know, my dad was a career Army officer. When he was reassigned to Okinawa (I was 12 years old), we visited most of our nation’s national parks on the way to the West Coast of America. We drove across America to get to a ship that took us to our new home—it sure was a great learning experience to see a lot of America.

Here I am landing on Okinawa in 1962 with my parents in the background

But the real lesson was living and traveling in the Far East. You can read about a rice paddy, but until you see a small plot of land worked by hand by folks living so differently than you do, you begin to understand how complex our world really is.

Yet, you also quickly learn people all over the world are basically the same. They may look different in their outward appearances, but they have the same wants and needs as you and I do. Experiencing different ways of life, and connecting with locals, is a far better way to learn about the world than reading about different cultures in a textbook. I was lucky, I was exposed to our unique world at an early age, and it quickly changed my life for the better.

To this day, my wanderlust is still strong—thanks Mom & Dad for exposing me to the benefits of travel at an early age!

The Health Benefits of Traveling

There are several health benefits of traveling. Here are 4:

It is good for your heart health. A study of overseas travelers reported that there was a reduced risk of heart attacks in men and women.

Travel enhances your cognitive abilities—it sharpens your mind. New challenges in a different environment will stimulate your brain. It is especially true of folks who engage with the local people and their culture. Just experiencing different languages will improve your communication skills. Most travelers at least learn a few new words or phrases in a different language and are exposed to new foods, so it is easy to see how travel can sharpen your mind.

You get to relax and disconnect. Wandering old medieval towns of Europe, sharing an al fresco meal in Rome or Paris—that is my idea of relaxing—a good glass of wine and locally grown, seasonal food! Most of all, I want to slow down a little and savor life and my surroundings. I always seem renewed after travel and there is evidence that many folks upon returning from a vacation are in a better mood and more creative. I know I am.

Your Travel Experiences Will Make You a Better Person

You will become more confident. Change is difficult sometimes, but it will help you grow. When you travel, you become different. You leave your comfortable, known world and venture into the unknown. The best part is that the unknown soon becomes familiar and usually awesome.

Good or bad experiences still leave you changed, but I will tell you, most travel is great. The best part of venturing out is that you gain confidence in yourself. It is very empowering to know you can handle new experiences.

You can read about a place but until you experience it, you do not really understand it. Battlefields, Biblical sites, ancient towns, stunning structures, different food markets, and jaw dropping scenery are all different when you visit in person. Pictures and words are never the same as being there. It is amazing how many times I have visited a new place and the visit completely changed what I thought the place was like.

Omaha Beach 2019—it is hard to understand how open it was for these soldiers until you see and walk this battlefield area.

Travel will also quickly teach you how little you know about the world. Even as a former teacher of World Geography, who thinks he knows a lot about the world, I still have a lot to learn. Always after every trip I take, it just reinforces that there is so much more to learn and experience. It always makes me eager for the next adventure!

Travel will make you appreciate your life and the world we live in. You see some of the wonderful things that humans have created.

They have created amazing buildings and structures.

The Pont du Gard in Provence built by the Romans over 2000 years ago

The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza are about 4,500 years old—photo by Anne Schrader in 2022

They have found many ways to create good, tasty meals and great beverages and when you try some of them, you will wonder why you hadn’t tried them sooner. Here are 2 photos of one of the many awesome meals we have enjoyed in Europe:

You will be amazed at how they have adapted their lives to their surroundings and environment. You will see beauty. These experiences are life changing and you will have been given a true gift—a better understanding of our world and the people who live on our planet. Travel broadens your horizons.

An amazing example of adapting to the environment—the tidal island fortress abbey of Mont St. Michel

Travel will provide you experiences that you will never forget. We have been lucky to have experienced so many, it is hard to select just a few, but I will try.

Imagine the joy of seeing our Granddaughter’s eyes light up on a Disney cruise, dressed up as Elsa—she really was a princess. Wish you could have joined us savoring excellent wine and food floating on the rivers of Europe in a river cruise boat as castles peer down on us from the cliffs.

Celebrating the holiday seasons in the many Christmas markets of Europe is always a highlight.

Watching a play in London is fun and was made even better riding the Tube (subway) with many folks dressed up as characters from The Rocky Mountain Horror Show.

Drinking beer at a pub in Dublin, Ireland with rugby fans from Ireland and Scotland just prior to their international test match later that day, is really getting down with the locals.

Gazing on some of the world’s great art in Paris, London and St. Petersburg helps you understand how creative humans can be.

Learning to cook a great meal from a celebrity chef in Wales was a bucket list for Anne on her 60th birthday.

Anne celebrates her 60th birthday in Wales at the cooking school

People watching in the many outdoor cafes of Europe can be so entertaining you will sit for hours enjoying the street life of Europe.

Walking in ancient ruins, imaging that we were famous ancients of an era long past, allowed us to bring history to life.

Anne and Hank in Ephesus—Cleopatra and Marc Anthony walked those very streets

Visiting Normandy during the 70th and 75th Anniversary of D Day during the festivals and somber remembrances.

2014 festival in Ste. Mare Eglise on 6 June 2014

Doesn’t this make you want to go—just writing my blog has stirred my desire to get back to Europe soon!

Our Final Thoughts

Travel is good! There are so many benefits of travel that outweigh the minor disadvantages of making travel arrangements (most of which we can easily solve for you), so now is the time to act!

I think you can see why we are in the business—it just is awesome to help folks have a great vacation.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

August 3, 2023

Best Value Travel

Champagne

Hank Schrader

August 3, 2023

Best Value Travel

Champagne

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Anne’s favorite drink is champagne. When we think about champagne, our thoughts go to the good life—it is elegant, sexy, cool, celebratory, and a luxury for most.

Champagne is in a class of its own—there are few alcoholic drinks you can start on early in the morning and not be classified as an alcoholic. Even better, when out, folks think you are special. We toast our successes, christen ships with it, and generally celebrate life. So, on the supposed birthday of champagne (August 4, 1693), I thought I’d write about champagne, the good life and travel, in honor of Anne’s favorite drink.

Birthday Celebration the Chef’s table for Denise’s birthday

Champagne

I’m no expert on champagne, or sparkling wine, but like most wine, I really enjoy drinking it. Wine is produced from grapes and the terroir or characteristics of the area (soil and climate are the most important items influencing terroir) in which the grapes are cultivated and that shapes the taste of the wine.

However, wine and champagne differ in how they are made by the wine makers. Without getting too technical, sparking wine is created when the CO2 gas remains in the bottled wine due to a second or third fermentation. When a wine is fermented in a sealed container during this second fermentation, the CO2 bubbles remain with the wine and are not released until you pop the cork.

We prefer dry wines—brut and extra brut in the lingo of champagne. This term refers to the sweetness of the wine due to the amount of sugar added during the fermentation process. There are 3 main types of champagne. They are 1) Prestige Cuvee, 2) Blanc de Noirs and 3) Blanc de Blanc. Prestige Cuvee is a blend wine and the best wine produced by a winery. Blanc de Noirs is white wine produced by black or red grapes. Blanc de Blanc is a white wine produced by white grapes.

Now to the important part—what glass do we drink from? There are two types of champagne glasses—the flute and the coupe. The legend of the creation of the coupe glass is that it was modeled after a mold of the left breast of Marie Antoinette’s—great story, but probably not true. One of the benefits of a coupe style glass is the wider surface area of the bulb, which allows the wine to breathe better and is recommended for older vintages of champagne. It was also the rage during the roaring 20’s and Old Hollywood

Our wine Expert Mark offer us wine with both style glasses

The classic coupe glass which has style and elegance.

Experts favor a flute (retains more of the bubbles) but who can argue with the elegant, sophisticated coupe glass? The narrow opening of the flute prevents the champagne bubbles from escaping too quickly, allowing you to savor the bubbles of the wine.

Flute glasses at the ready for an AmaWaterways welcome celebration at the start of our cruise in 2013

Both use stems, which is important as champagne should be served at cold temperatures (one article I read recommended between 49 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit, while others recommend cooler), with small amounts in the glass and the bottle kept on ice. By holding the wine glass by the stem, it keeps the wine cooler longer. Also, unlike most wines, you should not swirl champagne, as it causes the bubbles to release faster.

My advice—use both and drink more champagne and sparkling wine!

There are two other fun facts about champagne.

Legend says champagne was invented by a Benedictine Monk, Dom Perignon. There is no doubt he made significant contributions to the production and quality of champagne, but he probably did not invent champagne. Most folks know about him, since the best known of all Champagnes, Dom Perignon, the prestige cuvee from Moet & Chandon, is named in his honor. He supposedly said upon tasting champagne “Come quickly, I am drinking the Stars” but it possibly appeared in a print ad in the late 1800s (thanks Wikipedia).

The world’s best known fictional spy, James Bond, is an avid champagne drinker. Do you know his favorite champagne? The answer is both Bollinger’s and Dom Perignon (we learned this on the trivia quiz on an AmaWaterways Wine cruise).

James Bond would approve of our selection of the Bollinger Champagne

The Good Life

Life is too short not to enjoy champagne. We all work hard and need to recognize there is a need for balance in our lives. Everybody’s definition of the good life is different, but there are some common threads for most of us. These include sharing time with loved ones, family, and friends, acquiring nice clothes, homes, cars and other cool stuff, enjoying good food and drinks, and especially for us, travel to dream destinations to experience other cultures.

Most importantly, I think we need to celebrate life to the fullest—slow down a little and smell the roses, as the saying goes. One way to have a good life, in my humble opinion, —drink more champagne!

Champagne and Travel

There are many ways to enjoy champagne when traveling. Number one for champagne lovers has to be the champagne region of northeastern France. The area of chalk plains and gentle hills between Paris and Lorraine is the home to the most famous sparkling wines in the world. In fact, by European Union (EU) and most countries of the world, the term champagne to identify a sparkling wine is exclusively reserved to wines produced in the champagne region of France.

Although champagne technically only from the champagne region of France, the term is used to describe its cousin, sparking wine worldwide. According to the website About France.com, it is possible to visit 51 champagne cellars around the towns of Reims and Epernay. Besides great wine tours and tastings around Reims, another good site to visit is the medieval gothic cathedral, with its exquisite rose window. It is the location where the former kings of France were crowned, and a site not to be missed.

In Epernay, along with the wine tours, there is a champagne museum and the Abbey of Hautvilliers, where Dom Perignon created his version of champagne.

Another great way is on an ocean cruise or Europe River cruise. On our 23 Europe River cruises, all involve a champagne welcome and farewell. It is truly a great way to start and end your trip. Several river cruise companies offer either pre or post land option that include going to Reims.

A welcome reception for the start of our AmaWaterways cruise in 2013

4 champagne wines we got to sample in 2016 during an AmaWaterways Wine Cruise

Let’s all celebrate with champagne! You can be sure Anne and I will drink some today. We also hope this will inspire you to try to visit France’s wine region or go on a wine cruise and enjoy the good life--we will be glad to help!

Our Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this report. So, to all who read this week, a toast to you—Thanks for Your Trust in Us! Be well and sip a little champagne tomorrow.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

July 27, 2023

River Cruise Advice

How to Best Enjoy Excursions on a Europe River Cruise

Hank Schrader

July 27, 2023

River Cruise Advice

How to Best Enjoy Excursions on a EuropeRiver Cruise

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

The more we study and read about river cruising and their excursions, the more we realize how confused folks are about making the right decisions to get the “best” trip possible.

My hope in writing this blog is to try and provide some advice about ways to enhance your trip by taking advantage of a sound process to determine how you should go about selecting your excursions. Along the way, perhaps I can also reveal some myths about excursions that seem to permeate new and seasoned river cruise sailors that are just not true, in my opinion.

Excursions Overview

Cruise Manager Rolf holding a sign which allows guests to program their quietvox listening devices to hear the guide’s presentation about the excursion sites.

One of the huge advantages of a river cruise is that the excursions are included in the fare. There is a huge difference in the quantity and quality of some excursions offered by various line—I wrote about the extra charges that some lines impose on their guest in a blog a few weeks ago this year—if you are interested or have forgotten about this topic, here is the link:

Understanding Extra Charges on 7 River Cruise Lines

As a starting point, there are 2 main advantages of the organized excursions on a river cruise. They are:

You will see so much in so little time.

It was over an hour bus ride to visit Cesky Krumlov, but well worth for me.

It is different from a land-based tour and different from an ocean cruise. One of the best advantages is that most often your riverboat will dock near or in the center of the city, town, or village you are about to explore. In five minutes, all guests are off the boat and seeing the sights. Most lines also offer different groups during the tours—regular, active walkers or gentle walkers, so your desired way to see the destination is matched with your tour.

Even while on board there is always something to see on the banks, as you cruise along to the next destination.

It is easy to do the Activities that Appeal to You.

Maybe the best part of a river cruise is the flexibility. Want to skip the tour—no problem! We often go off on our own, love walking the quaint towns, using the provided map or even a GPS device.

In the larger ports, it is easy to really go off on your own using subways or buses or even a taxi if time is the critical factor. How about a bike ride? Many of the better lines feature escorted bike rides or you can go on your own. Want a special excursion? Again, the better lines have good, limited tour options. Some are extra but many lines include most of the tours in your cruise price. Each year we see different options available, and they are getting better and better.

Add to this list is the theme cruises—we especially like the wine cruises on AmaWaterways and often take them, as the wine is provided by the wine host at no extra charge—what a value!

On a wine cruise with one of the hosts and Dejan (right) on the colors of Provence Cruise

Anne and Hank at a wine tasting on an AmaWaterways cruise

Myths About Excursions

There is just too much to do—I’m exhausted!

I guess I have a hard time understanding this because some truly believe they have to go on every tour, or they didn’t get their money’s worth. It is true that there are usually 2 tours per day, one in the morning, then a return for lunch and one in the afternoon but who said you had to go on every option? Just use a little common sense—if it is too much stay onboard the ship.

Don’t let FOMO rule you (Fear of Missing Out). Sometimes just sitting on our balcony with a bottle of wine and watching the ever-changing scenery go by is one of the best parts of the trip for us.

It is Too Organized, Regimented and Boring

Again, I have a hard time understanding this—if we think it is too hard to explore a place on our own, we use the convenience of the transportation to get us there if we can’t walk or take public transportation. It is our experience that only some all-day tour options, with longer bus rides could become problematic for some, but then you must weigh the inconvenience cost of getting there with the opportunity to see some amazing sites.

Many enjoy learning about the more interesting sites of new places in Europe with the help of the guide explaining facts about the sites, while others want to wander or shop—just tell the guide you are going off on your own and be sure to know where the meet up place is to get back to the ship.

There is plenty of time to shop on most Christmas Markets cruises—here we are with our newly purchased hats in Regensberg with the shop owner

A Sound Process to Select the Best Options for Your Excursions

Research a little about the ports and things to see—we have some port guides that will help and route itineraries for most cruise ships we follow on our website. Then listen carefully to the nightly briefing about the next day’s offerings. Will the pace be too difficult or challenging for your physical abilities? Is the bus ride too long? Am I going to see something by driving by it or am I going to experience something by walking and investigating the site?

Don’t be afraid to seek out the cruise manager’s help with questions about the options after the briefing—they will be glad to help.

Remember, all do not have to do the same thing on the offered excursions, as family members may have different ideas of what is best for them, so don’t be afraid to pursue different options from your traveling companions.

Our Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoyed this report. Your trip can be as jammed full as you desire, or more relaxed—pick the right pace for you, take advantage of the tours that are the best fit for you, and don’t worry if you might have missed something.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

July 13, 2023

Europe Destination

My Favorite 6 French Palaces and Castles

Hank Schrader

July 13, 2023

Europe Destination

My Favorite 6 French Palaces and Castles

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

The 14 of July is Bastille Day in France. It is the National Day of France and commemorates the Storming of the Bastille (a prison garrison which held political prisoners held on arbitrary royal indictments) on 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution and one year later the unity of the French nation in a festival that continues today.

This was a history changing day, so let’s learn together why today we get to visit many of my favorite palaces and castles, since the French overthrew their royal rulers, ultimately making their palaces open for us to visit. Their lifestyle in their palatial, over-the-top residences is almost unimaginable to us today, as it was during royal rule. I plan to start with these fairy-tale residences--3 palaces and then 3 forts.

Versailles

This is the palace that every King wanted—opulent, innovative rooms like the stunning Hall of Mirrors, gardens, statues, and fountains made of gold—there never has been a palace that displayed the wealth and power of the royals like Versailles. The palace was abandoned by the royal family in 1789.

*Outside the entrance to the palace. This is a good picture capturing the immense size of Versailles*

The Latona fountain in the foreground, honored Lontona, the mother of Apollo and Diane, who after being insulted by the peasants of Lycia, turned them into frogs. This picture is also a great view of the statues lining the walkways. in the background at the very top of the picture, is the artificial lake named Piece d’eau.

*Part of the massive gardens of Versailles*

*Part of the manicured gardens of Versailles*

*Statue of Louis XIV near the front gates of the palace*

It is hard to grasp how large and extravagant this palace is. It has 2,143 windows, 1,252 fireplaces, 67 staircases and 5 chapels. The gardens and fountains are exceptional—there are over 400 sculptures (one source said it is the largest open air sculpture museum in the world) and 1400 fountains.

This is the holding basin reservoir and is the supply of water for some of the fountains in Versailles. 2 water jets sent water high in the air so it could be easily seen from the palace. This bronze sculpture is called Nymph and child.

Sometimes, as many as 5,000 people were residing in the palace. It deserves a full day and is a relatively easy day trip from Paris, France.

The Apotheosis of Hercules ceiling painting in Versailles. It depicts the gods and goddesses of Olympus gathered together honoring Hercules after he finished his labors and was raised to the level of a god. There are over 140 figures in this ceiling painting. Apotheosis means the elevation of someone to divine status.

Versailles is the symbol of the absolute monarch–home to Louie XIV–the Sun King. Every morning when this guy woke up, several nobles surrounded him to wish him good morning–they waited for their king to wake up! Power and influence among the nobles depended upon favor of the King and most would do anything to get a higher position.

Tours of Versailles start with the Ambassador’s Staircase, then touring the King’s state apartments, the Queen’s apartments, and the chapel. Then most enjoy the extensive gardens.

*The staircases in the gardens of Versailles*

*Hercules Lounge. The painting is Rebecca at the Well*

*The painting is Meal in the House of Simon the Pharisee*

*This is a photo of the Venus Drawing Room. The statue is of Louis XIV dressed as a Roman Emperor*

*Abundance Drawing Room Cieling Painting Versailles. The title is the Figure of Royal Magnificence, Immortality and Progress in the Fine Arts*

*Painting by Rousseau in the Venus Salon. It is called the Perspective of the Gardens*

*Council Chambers in the Palace of Versailles. In this room, the King would meet with his counselors and sometimes, with other subjects during audience time.*

My favorite room is the Hall of Mirrors. It is 250 feet long, with 17 windows and has stunning garden views. There are 17 arched mirrors combined with 24 candelabras; busts of Roman Emperors; along with painted ceilings telling the story of the Sun King’s battle victories. It was often filled with noble ladies in silk gowns, and men in wigs and fine clothes who loved to look at themselves in the mirrors.

*Chandilier and ceiling painting in the Hall of Morriors*

This is the room where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended World War I. This was symbolic location because in 1870 and 1871, Versailles was occupied by the German Army and William I of Prussia was crowned Emperor of Germany.

Chateaux Chenonceau—a Woman’s Palace

Built over the Cher River, this is an impressive chateau that I intuitively knew was going to be a special visit. From the entrance to this historic site, it is about a 15-minute walk to the chateaux through some wonderful gardens, a cool duck pond and a carriage house with splendid examples of horse drawn transportation and farming carts of the era. Here are some of our photos:

***Chateau de Chenonceau is built over the Cher River***

The first views of the palace, it is just stunning—it is built over the river and looks like a fairy tale castle. As you approach the palace, the forecourt has the Marques Tower, the old keep of the fortified castle that was demolished as the new chateau was built. The main door is made of wood and wonderfully painted. Here are 2 photos:

The first room we saw was the Guard Room. Here soldiers we ready to protect the royal family as needed. The huge fireplace was delightful on the chilly day we visited, and the Flemish tapestries highlighted some of the past events of this Chateaux.

The next room was the impressive Chapel. It was decorated for the Christmas season. All here is original to the 1500s except the stained-glass windows that were added in 1954. Here is a photo:

We next visited Diane De Poitier’s Bedroom, the Green Study, and the Library. Diane De Poitier is an interesting woman—she was the mistress of King Henry II and he gave her the palace in 1547. When Henry died as a result of a jousting tournament accident in 1559, Henry’s wife, Catherine de Medici’s, quickly made sure Diane was no longer welcome and she took control of the Chateaux.

My favorite room was the 200-foot-long Gallery. It instantly reminded me of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles except with 18 windows instead of mirrors. The Gallery is actually the bridge over the river Cher. The dazzling chandeliers and tufa and slate floor of black and white tiles is stunning. It would be easy to imagine a wonderful evening ball here—there would be plenty of room to dance and socialize and this was exactly how this area was used by the royals for lavish parties.

There are several bedrooms on the second floor. They include the 5 Queen’s Bedroom, Catherine de Medici’s Bedroom, Cesar of Vendome’s Bedroom, and Gabrielle D’Estrees” Bedroom.

On the third floor is the black bedroom. It is the mourning retreat of Louise who lived here after the assassination of her husband King Henri III.

My research of Chenonceau reveals that this is the third most popular chateau in all of France behind Versailles and Fontainebleau. It is well worth a visit.

Chambord—a Man’s Palace

One of the largest Chateaus in all France, Chambord has 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces. It was created as a hunting lodge and to impress visitors. On first sight, it does just that—this place is massive. 80 of the rooms are on display. This is a notable example of French Renaissance architecture. There are 4 main areas of interest of this palace.

We entered and went up the double-helix staircase, the first of the must see in the chateau. It was designed so users could pass without seeing each other since there are two flights of stairs. It is rumored to be inspired by Leonardo De La Vince and some say it was designed so the King’s mistress and the queen could pass without having to meet.

The second area of great interest is the furnished apartments of the first floor. These are lavishly decorated and have furniture fitting for a king (although they are recreations—most of the original furnishings were looted during the French Revolution).

*Some of the outer building and the vast hunting grounds*

The third area is the keeps—the vaulted rooms of the second floor. The symbol of the king was the salamander and there are many carved into the walls and ceilings.

The fourth area is the terraces. The sweeping views, the turrets, the walkways are really special. In the center of the terraces is the lantern tower crowned with the fleur-de-lis.

The gardens are beautiful. The surrounding wooded areas were ideal for hunting and still are used today for that purpose—it is Europe’s largest enclosed forest park.

***The Gardens viewed from the terraces***

This massive palace does impress—Francois I, the absolute monarch, invited the most powerful king of his day, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, to visit and he accomplished his mission to prove his power and wealth. A visit here will help you understand what power and wealth can build.

Mont Saint-Michel

The Abbey-Fortress, about a half a mile off the coast of Normandy, dates back to the 8th century. It is located on a tidal island and has a 1000-year history. It was once a famous center of learning, noted for scholarly work and especially for the artistry of the Abbey Monks for their excellent manuscript illustrations.

*The tidal area of the sea around Mont St. Michel*

It is just a stunning location. Part fort (to protect from the English invaders in the endless cross English Channel conflicts), an important pilgrimage site, sometimes a prison, and a center for learning, not only is it fairy-tale like in appearance, but it is also an important site in the history of France.

Construction of the site is said to be based on a vision to Bishop Avranches from the Archangel Michael requiring him to build a church on the island in the sea in the 8th century. In 966, the French kings and dukes of Normandy, allowed the construction of the Benedictine abbey on the island. St. Michael was the patron saint of the French kings, and this helped make it favorite places for royalty to visit.

*This wall sculpture depicts the visitation of the Archangel Michael to Bishop Aubert*

Part of the mystery of Mont St. Michel is the epic tides, which cover 8 miles in each tidal cycle. Adding to the speedy tides, quicksand is another peril to access this small island fortress. Combine these obstacles with fog that often occurs here, it is easy to see why this palace developed mystical place in the minds of the population and the pilgrims who were trying to get closer to God during their journeys. Adding to this legendary status, in the 15th century when the English conquered Normandy, they were never able to conquer Mont St. Michel during the Hundred Years War, so it is easy to understand the importance the French place on the island abbey-fortress.

*This is a good picture showing part of the tidal area of the sea around the island Abbey* *and some of the defensive positions*

*This is a good view of some of the defensive fortifications surrounding Mont St. Michel*

It is a steep hike up to the Abbey, which takes about 20 minutes. Touring the Abbey takes about an hour to an hour and a half. There are no English explanations in the Abbey.

*The crowded pathway up to the Abbey with its shops and restaurants*

In the Abbey, there is a church, the cloisters (an outdoor area enclosed with columns), the Guest’s Hall, the Ossuary and the Scriptorium Hall where the monks worked illustrating manuscripts.

*Scriptorium Hall were the monks illustrated manuscripts*

*The cloister has a garden surrounded by 137 pink granite columns*

This treadwheel crane was installed when Mont. St. Michel was a prison and was used to bring supplies up to the prisoners. It was powered by some of the prisoners inside the large wheel, who walked to rotate it.

Carcassonne

This huge fortress in the south of France is a like no other fortress in France--It is the largest walled city in Europe. It was built on a trade route that was used between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is a fortified city with 52 towers and barbicans and has 2 defensive walls. There are over 2 miles of walls, and it has 4 city gates oriented to the north, east, south and west.

Why did cities put up walls around their city? Simple–a defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements.

Almost every town in medieval times that could build defensive walls did so for protection, as medieval cities were often attacked. Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands.

In its present form it is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town, with its massive defenses encircling the castle and the surrounding buildings, its streets, and its fine Gothic cathedral.

The story of Lady Carcas is one of my favorite tales about Europe—it tells how Carcassonne got its name. According to the legend, the city was under siege by Charlemagne’s troops,and during the fighting, the king was killed defending the city. His wife, Lady Carcas became the leader of the town. The siege lasted for 5 years and as the city was running out of food, Lady Carcas had one of their last pigs thrown over the walls from one of the towers. The soldiers left, believing the city had enough food to outlast them.

*Narbonnaise Gate Carcassonne* is *the main gate to the city*

Lady Carcas had the city bells in celebration as the soldiers left and one exclaimed “Carcas Sonne” which translates to Carcas rings! Not missing this legend as it became a tourist destination, you can see her sculpture on one of the town’s walls.

*Another view of the main gate entrance*

Some of the best sights in this fortified city include the Château Cometal (the Count’s Castle), the cathedral and walking the ramparts for views of the countryside and the Aude River.

Part of the Chateau Comtal. It was built on the steepest part of the hill, helping in the defense of the castle. It has 9 towers. These towers defend the bridge over the moat that was the entrace to the castle.

Carcassonne is crowded with tourists during the day, but is a delight at night, so a visit here is best when you stay longer than a daytime visit.

Roquetaillade

You may not know much about this castle, but it is on the list of Historic Monuments of France that was established in 1840. Roquetaillade, near Bordeaux, was a wooden castle originally built by Charlemagne, but only some ruins remain. In 1306, a new castle was built with a square design, which featured 6 towers and a central keep (the main tower).

*This is a good picture showing the keep tower in the center of the Roquetaillade Castle*

*This is part of a clever escape route from the castle. While we were inside the castle, our guide pulled a lever mechanism and the red door completed this bridge, to become an escape route.*

*Another Interior picture of the castle*

Roquetaillade in French means carved out of rock and comes from the caves under the castle complex. It has been owned by the same family since 1306.

After the Middle Ages, there was not any military need for the castle and the castle was modified and updated to make it a more comfortable residence. The insides are full of decorative art, thanks to the transformation made by the famous architect Viollet le Duc, and it is the beginning of the Art Nouveau style in France.

Perhaps this is why I like this castle so much, thinking it would be stark due to its outward appearance, it was a beautiful castle with rich interiors. Along with the splendid interiors, my favorite was the kitchen area and the gleaming copper cookware.

Sadly, no pictures are allowed inside of the castle.

Most folks visit this castle on a river cruise from Bordeaux and I would recommend you visit here.

Our Final Thoughts

Perhaps you have other palaces and castle to add to my favorites list—there are endless choices. There is just something about these 6, in my opinion, which make them special and a delight to visit. We hope you enjoyed this report.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

July 6, 2023

Best Value Travel

How Do You Value Time on Your Vacation?

Hank Schrader

July 6, 2023

Best Value Travel

How Do You Value Time on Your Vacation?

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Throughout our careers as professional travel consultants, I believe the real value of using us to plan your vacation is saving you time and hassle. You have a fixed amount of time for your trip and using your time wisely will enhance your experiences during the trip. Getting it right usually turns a good trip into a great trip.

So, let’s explore the value of time in travel and try to answer the question—How Do You Value Time on a Trip?

A Starting Point—Opportunity Time Costs of Travel

Most travelers have a set amount of vacation time for a trip. As a result, we make decisions about travel that are time and comfort related. Some will want to spend more to arrive faster or travel more comfortably during the trip (for example, a direct flight with no layover or taking first class versus a different level of service); or some will accept a delay for a lower cost (for example, accept a layover flight); or even delay parts of their trip for compensation (for example, the airlines pays you money to take a later flight).

Another way of saying this is how much would you be willing to pay to save time and how much would you want as compensation for your lost time?

While this may seem fairly simple, there are other factors involved. Saving time may increase your ability to see more, or it could just make your travel less stressful or safer. In short, there are always tradeoffs we need to manage, as few of us have unlimited time or money to travel.

Let me give you a really good example to make this point more clearly—my travel to Europe throughout the years. My first trip to Europe was right after graduation from West Point, 52 years ago in June and July 1971. I went with a friend (a fellow West Point graduate), we each had backpacks, a Euro Rail Pass and sort of followed the guidebook Europe on 5 Dollars a Day. It was a great trip, low budget, lots of hassles (no reservations), very flexible, more a wander than a planned trip. The key was we had 6 weeks and not a lot of money. Saving time was not as key as saving money.

*A postcard from my 1971 trip to Europe*

As you can imagine, with age and more resources, Europe travel became more about saving time while traveling, reducing stress, and making it more fun, more comfortable, and elegant. However, we seldom get 6 weeks to go to Europe—it usually is for 2 or 3 weeks nowadays. Saving time is often more important than saving money.

Opportunistic Time Costs

In travel, I believe there are things you can do that will increase the value of your time. Some may cost more money; some may just involve careful planning, and some may just be a special opportunity that suddenly comes up. While planning a great trip, I think you need to balance all three of these factors to get the best results.

So, how do you make the perfect balanced trip? I think the first step is to identify your core values of travel—why are you going and what do you want to experience?

My Core Values for Travel

Here are my core values when I travel or think about planning a trip—perhaps these will help you understand why you travel and what you want to experience on your future trips.

When I travel I do so for several key reasons. They are:

To add balance to my life, to look for beauty, to satisfy my curiosity about a place,
to help me grow as a person with new experiences and cultures,
to help me to gain knowledge and learning,
to help me seek pleasure, happiness, and wisdom.

These values, for me, answer the question of why I travel.

But they do not answer what I want to experience. To answer that question, I need to research the destination and then evaluate what I will get to see and experience and how this destination will match my core values. So now, travel outcomes become more complicated.

To add to this problem, I also have to evaluate the services that vendors offer—will their products and services match my expectations?

My Core Values for Vendors

When I travel, I want to be treated with fairness, honesty, and respect. These core values are a must. Once I am confident of the level of services and manner I will be treated, now I look for the most important item—what value does the vendor add to my travel? What is their level of service, how will they enhance my comfort when I am away from home and what will they let me experience?

*A vendor we trust—AmaWaterways will give you a great vacation and save you time and provide unmatched experiences. This is a GS category stateroom on the AmaMagna during our trip in 2023.*

*Hotel Manager Miguel, toasting us during an AmaWaterways cruise in 2022.*

I hope it goes without saying, this is exactly how we treat you when you use our services—with honesty, fairness, and respect. It is all about trust—will you trust us to deliver what we say we will, and will we deliver on time?

Time Stressors for Travelers

There are many time stresses when you travel. Moving from one place to another in an uncomfortable or rushed manner is often a big stress factor and can make the trip really horrible.

Let me share a story about traveling way back in 1990—we were in Europe during the World Cup soccer tournament. To save money, we decided to take an overnight train from Paris to Amsterdam. Seemed like a great idea—we would save one night’s hotel cost. The only problem was that our sleeping compartment was not for us alone—when we got on the train, we found we were sharing the compartment with 2 strangers from Argentina. It was a very uncomfortable situation to say the least, but luckily since I am fluent in Spanish, we were able to communicate our discomfort and work out who would sleep where.

The train was not air conditioned or it was not working, so our options were a very hot night of little or no sleep or constant screeching noise with the windows open as other trains roared past us. When we finally arrived the next morning and found a hotel in a smaller town outside of Amsterdam, we sleep for a whole day. And to add to our discomfort, we both had heat rashes on our legs.

So, we saved some bucks but lost almost 2 days of our trip. This is poor travel. Now we use overnight trains on occasions but have learned to carefully research all the details and levels of service—a great lesson learned!

*A much better train compartment in 2021 on the night train from Munich to Budapest—it had air conditioning that worked and a compartment to ourselves!*

Another time stressor is searching for the right hotel. If you are winging it, this can be another problem. If you expect a certain level of accommodations, you could be aced out. Another stress factor is spending too much or being located in an unsafe part of town—trust me we had also made this mistake.

*The elegant Hotel Eden Palace in Montreux, Switzerland*

*Anne on our balcony with the beauty of Sienna as our view!*

Even if you get the moving from place to place right, and find the right place to stay, perhaps the biggest stress factor is missing a chance to see what you came to see or waiting in long lines to see or experience the sights. Most key sights are closed on certain days or holidays and can require advance reservations.

For example, few people want to stand in line to see the Vatican Museum for 4 or more hours in the blazing sun during July in Italy—we have witnessed many who have made this travel mistake—if they had the proper reservations, they would have skipped the line altogether. Again, a trade-off—more cost to save time.

Another stress factor is making your own plans. Will your selections match your expectations? Will you miss out on a key experience you did not know about? Did you forget the transfer from the airport to your hotel? Did you allow enough time to make a train connection? Are you in the right place on the right day of your cruise to see the sight you just spent thousands of dollars to see? The list goes on and on.

Addressing the Stress Factors

To me, this all boils down to two factors—trip satisfaction and convenience. Every time we plan our own travel, and I see how complex it is to get the trip right, I just can’t understand why some folks believe they can achieve trip satisfaction by doing their own planning. Maybe they get satisfaction from extensive research, or fear losing control of trip decisions, or really don’t know exactly what they want and have difficulty expressing it to us—I’m just not sure.

Time value experts often ask this question when evaluating convenience and satisfaction—what would you be willing to pay someone to do the work for you? This is a great question in my mind when trying to decide if you should use us to help you, and my answer is even better—it usually costs you nothing extra, as the vendors pay us—the price of our services is already factored into the vacation price and we seldom charge extra fees.

The reason is simple—travel vendors alone can’t reach enough folks to sell their products by themselves, so they use travel professionals like us, to find customers for them. It is a huge win-win—you are hiring us as your travel expert for free in most cases.

As Anne likes to say, “Free is good!”

Why not just buy my trip online?

I am amazed at the number of folks who think they can plan travel better than we can. “Oh, I’ll save money and everything I need to make a decision is on the internet”—this is some variation of the responses I have heard. This must be a really strong belief—only about 31% of travel is booked by travel agents, according to many industry sources I have read.

My response is you just can’t match us for several reasons. Here is my reply—there are 4 reasons you should use us instead of doing it yourself. They are

It will be less stressful,
We will get you a good value for your money (often matching or even less than you found) and avoid pitfalls of products that look good but aren’t quite like that in reality,
We will make it an enjoyable buying experience
We will make your lives better through our knowledge of the right travel products for your trip.

Perhaps, most importantly, you will have a real human being to help you—we can answer your questions and understand your needs. If things go wrong, you have an advocate in us to help solve the problem.

Our Final Thoughts

Time during travel is precious. Trip planning is not easy. Time and money issues are complex—we all want the best at the least possible price. We help you solve those complex issues, saving you hassles, time and worry.

We hope this blog will make you think about how you value time during your travels. Don’t hesitate to use us to help you save time on your future trips.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 29, 2023

Europe Destination

The Cat and Mouse Castles of the Rhine

Hank Schrader

June 29, 2023

Europe Destination

The Cat and Mouse Castles of the Rhine

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Whenever I get stumped about what to write in our weekly blog, I somehow always think about castles. So today’s blog is about two feuding castles.

The two Rhine River castles, Burg Katz and the smaller Burg Maus got their name from two feuding lords in the late 1300’s. Their different size and proximity to each other makes them a special part of the lore of the over 40 castles in the Rhine River Gorge.

To understand the rivalry of these two castles, many of these castles were constructed on this stretch of the Rhine by competing factions trying to gain more wealth and power. Burg Katz, across the river from Rheinfels castle, was built by to support Rheinfels fortress, while Burg Maus was built by the Electorate of Trier (one of the 7 voters for the selection of the Holy Roman Emperor) near Katz castle to undermine its’ power by also collecting tolls from the river merchants.

Burg Katz was built in 1371 to collect tolls on the Rhine River. The official name of the castle that overlooks the village town of St. Goarshausen is “Neukatzenellbogen”.

Here are some photos of Burg Katz, all taken by Anne:

The castle was built by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, so it is easy to see how the name was shortened by locals to Burg Katz.

In 1626, the castle was besieged by the Electorate of Cologne and while courageously defended by 10 cannons and 80 soldiers, surrendered after 5 weeks when they ran out of ammunition. The 7 electors of the Holy Roman Empire were constantly trying to increase their power and ranking among the 7 Electors, so armed conflict was just one means of getting more power.

France always feared a strong Germany, and they invaded this region in an effort to assert its superiority and dominance of the small, un-unified German kingdoms. Both Germany and France wanted control of the Rhine River. This important transportation river soon became an area of international conflict.

The next siege came in 1692 by the French. The castle survived other attacks until in 1806 it was ordered blown up by Napoleon.

By 1770 it was in total decay. It has been restored and now is used for a holiday center for German financial authorities. Burg Katz is closed to the public.

Burg Maus (officially Thurnberg Castle) is much smaller than Burg Katz but is higher on the hillside and looks like to me, taunting the larger Katz Castle to come and get me.

Here are some photos of Burg Maus taken by Anne:

*The Map shows how close these two castles are.*

It overlooks Wellmick village and construction began on this castle around 1356. The castle has a massive shield wall, and the keep (highest tower) is part of this wall. Directly opposite this smaller castle is Rheinfels Castle.

Burg Maus was built to secure the borders of Trier against the Counts of Katzenelenbogen’s territory and to collect tolls. Burg Maus was never destroyed.

Today it is used as a falcon training center and is open for visits.

Our Final Thoughts

A lot of Europe history is about conflict, and power. In these 2 castles, it is a microcosm of these conflicts. We hope you enjoyed this report and learned something interesting about these 2 castles.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 22, 2023

River Cruise Routes

French River Cruises

Hank Schrader

June 22, 2023

River Cruise Routes

French River Cruises

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

There are 3 distinct rivers in France that provide exceptional river cruising opportunities. These rivers are the Seine, the Rhône and Saône, and the Garonne.

The Seine, a slow flowing river, is 485 miles long, is the longest navigable river in France, and empties into the English Channel.

The Rhône and Saône link northern and central France from the Burgundy region to the Provence Region and finishes off into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bordeaux region cruise consists of 3 rivers—the Dordogne ,the Garonne, and the Gironde (actually Europe’s largest estuary) and is in the southwestern part of France.

You can sail from 7-days to 22-days by combining these 3 river routes which provides you a great opportunity to see a lot of France easily and adding a pre or post land extensions will make it a fabulous vacation.

So, let’s learn a little about some of the sights and reasons to take one of these 3 French cruises.

Seine

The Seine is usually a 7-day round trip cruise into Normandy, often starting and ending in Paris but some lines now offer a Paris to Honfleur one way option, with a return in the opposite direction.

The cruise highlights are Monet's village of Giverny, the harbor town of Honfleur, Rouen, the historic capital of Normandy and the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 (also of special note is the 700 restored half-timber buildings in the old quarter), as well as a chance to visit the medieval towns along this scenic route and see some of the most important sites of D-Day at the Normandy beaches area.

Various lines have some visits to the Château of Versailles, and Le Harve with land extensions in St. Malo and Mont St. Michel.

This is a gentle voyage along farmland and meadows, historic towns, and good food such as brie and camembert cheeses, Calvados (apple brandy) and Normandy cider.

If you like history such as the 100 Years War between England and France, want to learn more about the largest amphibious landing in history at the D Day beaches, and like impressionist paintings, this is the cruise for you.

Rhône and Saône Cruises

Route Map of a Rhone and Saone from AmaWaterways

The Rhône—most of these cruises go from Lyon to Arles (or the reverse). Starting in Lyon, the gastronomical capital of France, you cruise through France's legendary wine growing regions of Beaujolais and Cote du Rhone, observe medieval villages in the Provence region of France; then on to the Papal town of Avignon and finish in Arles, where Vincent Van Gough spent much of his time.

The cruise then changes direction from Arles to Lyon for the next 7-day cruise. You will sample great wines, visit Roman ruins, and learn about the cuisine of Provence, among stunning scenery—fields of purple lavender, yellow sunflowers, and vineyards. We have sailed on this route several times and each time it was awesome—we are ready to return anytime.

Some of the highlight ports are:

Lyon, France’s gastronomic capital. It was founded by the Romans in 43 BC, on the junction of the Rhône and Saône Rivers and is a showcase of medieval and Renaissance architecture.

Tournon, a medieval treasure with a fascinating 16th-century castle.

Avignon to see the 14th-century Palace of the Popes, which is the largest Gothic fortress in the world; home to a famous destroyed bridge that is part of a famous French song, and even a huge Roman aqueduct over the Pont River.

Arles, and Vienne which have excellent Roman ruins.

*Roman Temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne—it dedicated to the cult worship of Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia*

There are excellent wines and food to learn about and sample while here.

The Saône is often added to some lines offerings and now even has some lines focusing solely on the Saône. The key ports are:

Macon, to tour the city or visit the Cluny Abbey.

A bridge over the Saone in Macon, France. Photo Anne Schrader

Tournus to take a city tour or visit the Château Cormatin and its wonderful gardens.

***Château Cormatin Photo Anne Schrader***

***Some of the extensive Château Cormatin gardens. Photo Anne Schrader***

Chalon-sur-Saône, where guests can tour the city or take the Beaune visit which includes the famous tiled roof of the Hotel-Dieu

Bordeaux River Cruises

The newest river cruise in Europe for most lines is in the Bordeaux region of France on the Garonne River and Dordogne River. It is a round trip cruise out of Bordeaux and features wine tastings, chateaux and abundant vineyards along the Garonne and its tributaries.

The Bordeaux estuary is unique since both river cruises and ocean cruises can sail to some ports here—we first visited Bordeaux on an Azamara ocean cruise before taking a river cruise that started and ended in Bordeaux. In Bordeaux, you can stroll down the wonderful gardens near the river or visit the museum of wines.

The usual port cities of Cadillac, Pauillac, Blaye, Bourg and Libourne are included in most sailings of this region.

In Cadillac, you will visit an interesting château in the town or perhaps the castle fortress Roquetaillade;

Blaye is home to a huge citadel fortress;

Libourne is near the quaint town of St. Emilion with its old timber houses and famous wines;

Bourg is a former walled city with an interesting carriage museum.

This is an important wine region of France, and you will experience tastings of some of the most distinguished wines including Sauternes, Medoc, and Bordeaux wines.

If you like wine, cognac, oysters, truffles, chateaux, and the grand buildings of Bordeaux, this is the cruise for you.

Our Final Thoughts

Sometimes, focusing on just one country on a river cruise becomes a fabulous trip and any of the these 3 are great options. Go to France on a luxury ship and learn about these 3 great regions of France on one or more of these excellent choices.

We hope you enjoyed this report.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 15, 2023

River Cruise Reviews

Little Bear and Lenny Meet the AmaWaterways Staff on the AmaMagna

Hank Schrader

June 15, 2023

River Cruise Reviews

Little Bear and Lenny Meet the AmaWaterways Staff on the AmaMagna

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Some of you may know how great the AmaWaterways’ Staff and Leadership Team are for curating luxury cruises for our guests and supporting those of us in the travel industry.

You might get tired of us telling you about their wonderful cruise line and why you should travel on it, so we have two unbiased friends, Little Bear and Lenny the Leopard, although very shy, to help us—they have agreed to tell you about the wonderful folks at AmaWaterways.

They have even decided to let you see their pictures on several river cruise ships and to tell you why the folks on AmaWaterways are special.

Both would also like to tell you about why they think the AmaMagna is the best rivership they have sailed on in Europe—and wanted you to see Den Mother Anne’s pictures of all the staterooms, so you might select the right den for your next cruise on the AmaMagna.

Leadership

Little Bear and Lenny knew about the warm leaders of AmaWaterways but weren’t quite sure if it was okay to meet them in person, as they think they aren’t very important, and these are busy, and important folks. But they found out how friendly and welcoming these key leaders are to all—even to our friends Little Bear and Lenny (they told us you would be treated the same way).

They just wish they could have met more folks, but sometimes, it is just too much for them to handle and they have to go back to the den.

Lenny the Leopard and Little bear enjoy a special drink made just for them on the AmaMagna

Lenny and Little Bear like to relax just before sleepy time—they like their nightcap drinks.

Here are some of the wonderful leaders they met:

Kristin Karst, with her sparkling smile and instant warm manner, greets all with the pride and love she has for those who river cruise with AmaWaterways. She is the co-founder of AmaWaterways and strives to make all who sail with her company surprised and delighted with their luxury vacation. They were so excited to meet her—they even ask for a photo so they could remember the occasion:

The radiant Kristin Karst, hosting a party on the AmaMagna in March 2023

Alex Pinelo is the VP of Sales, and very well respected in the travel industry. He loves working for AmaWaterways and always finds time to respond to all, despite his busy schedule. He is a passionate fan of AmaWaterways.

Alex enjoyed the company of Little Bear and Lenny

Diane Marie Horan has been working for AmaWaterways since 2011—our friends Hank and Anne met her early during their first trips on AmaWaterways. She is the director of Strategic Accounts and loves AmaWaterways—she has even written a book of how AmaWaterways seems to create lifelong love connections among the employees. Little Bear and Lenny love her book and rejoice in the stories she wrote about to share with others.

Alex and Diane relaxing with our two animal friends on the AmaMagna

Jazzmine Douse is the Director of National Accounts for AmaWaterways. Smart, vivacious, and full of energy, she helps bring an enthusiastic dynamic to AmaWaterways, helping all to enjoy these great vacations, especially to help diversify the clientele on AmaWaterways, where all are welcome.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on the AmaMagna. From left to right, Diane, Jazzmine, Hank, Anne, Kristin, and Cesario (our cruise manager) Little Bear and Lenny are resting in their stateroom

Meeting the Bar Staff on the AmaMagna

The hard-working crew of the AmaMagna loved Little Bear and Lenny.

The bar staff on the AmaMagna loved Little Bear and Lenny

Our two heros are ready for a refreshing cocktail on the AmaMagna

Little Bear and Lenny love having their photo taken with the friendly staff

Little Bear Sometimes Ventures Out With Shy Lenny During the Day

Little Bear is very curious. He likes people, especially if he can learn more about their jobs. He especially likes seeing how the ship is steered, and how many warm, welcoming staff he can meet.

He got his Den Mother to take him out one day on the AmaMagna, with Lenny. It was very important to him to let you see these wonderful people, who take such great pride in their jobs, who wanted their pictures made with him.

The captain and first mate helped Little Bear and Lenny learn about how these skilled professionals steer the AmaMagna

The hard working gents in the reception area liked being introduced to Lenny and Little Bear

Our friendly onboard musician liked meeting Lenny and Little Bear

Little Bear Sometimes Goes Out on his Own

Little Bear likes to tour, especially if he can meet his other bear cousins in Europe. He most often gets to do it on an AmaWaterways ship, but sometimes he goes out during the pre or post trips. He wanted us to share some photos of him in action, before he goes to hibernate until his next trip.

Before his Christmas Markets cruise in December 2023, Little Bear cuddled with Lenny in Regensburg. He loves the Christmas Markets, but sometimes it is too cold for Lenny to go out.

Little Bear on the Treasures of the Main and Rhine Route in the summer of 2022.

While most folks would think that in Rothenberg is very picturesque, Little Bear was more thrilled to meet his giant cousin. He was proud his cousin lives in such a great place that lots of folks like to visit.

While this is a beautiful medieval town to tour, and it is very easy to do on the included tours on an AmaWaterways cruise, Little Bear liked the visit, but really liked meeting his cousin bear more.

Why They Like the AmaMagna Staterooms so Much

Little Bear and Lenny really felt safe, loved, and respected on the AmaMagna, as they have on other AmaWaterways 135m and 110m ships. They especially like the cozy staterooms, that are elegant, yet so functional. Both decided to share with you why it is a perfect den for them and for you.

Before we tour some of the staterooms on the Magna, Little Bear wanted you to see his sleeping bag, so here is a picture of him ready for a nap. He didn’t want to hibernate on his trip, because there is so much to do during the cruise on the included tours, so he was very careful to sleep well, but not sleep for the whole 7-day Upper Danube Cruise!

Little Bear in his sleeping bag—it is warm and cozy for him.

Little Bear wants you to see the different staterooms, so here they are:

Here is what the Grand Stateroom (474 square feet, GS category) looks like from Anne’s pictures:

It has an excellent tub and a separate shower.

Here is what the Suites SA/SB (355 square feet) looks like:

Wonderful luxury in stateroom 206 on the AmaMagna

Twin sinks and an excellent shower in this stateroom

Here is what the AA/AB Category (252 square feet) looks like:

Floor Plan of the AB Category Stateroom 230

The bathroom area that has an excellent shower

Here is what the fixed window category (205 square feet) looks like:

Lots of light in this fixed window stateroom

Our Final Thoughts

Little Bear and Lenny are home now and safe with Anne. They hope you enjoyed this report. They are ready for more adventures and new dens, especially on AmaWaterways. Maybe you should try this great river cruise company also—tell them Little Bear and Lenny sent you!

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 8, 2023

Veterans

The Significance of D Day 6 June 1944

Hank Schrader

June 8, 2023

Veterans

The Significance of D Day 6 June 1944

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Tuesday 6 June 2023 was the 79th anniversary of the D Day Invasion. As most of you know, we have led 2 tours during the 70th (2014) and 75th Anniversary of D Day (2019). It was an experience hard to repeat, as it is both a celebration and a somber event. Conflicts and wars result in suffering and loss of life that is sobering and causes me to have a lot of reflection about world events.

*Overview of the D Day Invasion Plan Portsmouth D Day Museum 2014*

My hope in writing this blog is to recount how the events of the D Day invasion changed world history in Europe and in many ways shaped our present-day world. It is also to recognize the sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the allies to stop the aggression and occupation of Europe by the Third Reich of Germany.

Once you understand the consequences of this day in history, I think you will be compelled to visit Normandy to see for yourself the area of conflict that these brave, scared souls achieved on that fateful day.

This was a history changing day, so let’s learn together about this massive invasion, why it was so important, and why you should see the key sights in the Normandy battlefield beaches area.

What was the state of war in June 1944 in Europe?

The war was not going well for Germany in June 1944, as they were being pushed back on the Eastern Front by the Russian Army. They also knew that there was an invasion coming from England—they were defending one active front and trying to prepare for a second active front.

In November 1943, the Big Three (Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill) agreed in a conference in Tehran, that the Western Forces of the United States and Britain would invade France in 1944 and open a second front against the German Fortress Europe.

The clock was now ticking for the D Day invasion of France. It was a race between German defenders and the Allied invasion force.

The ideal strategy was simple for the planners of the D Day amphibious invasion—attack lightly defended beaches, secure the beach, and move men and supplies quickly inland.

Next, establish or capture a port to reinforce with more men and supplies.

Then, defeat the German forces and win the war.

Executing it proved to be one of the most difficult military tasks ever attempted.

During the massive planning operations, Pas du Calais (the most favorable landing site) and Normandy were under consideration. Both had enough good characteristics to work for an amphibious landing. But Normandy was the best choice, 1) as in 1943 it was a lightly defended part of the German Atlantic Wall and 2) the Germans anticipated an attack at Pas du Calais and fortified it and moved more soldiers into defensive positions.

The German Defenders

The Germans realized they weren’t prepared to properly defend the vast Atlantic Wall in 1943. The German commander, General Gerd von Rundstedt, drafted a report to Hitler about the scant fortifications and poor-quality units defending the area. Hitler responded by adding General Erwin Rommel (known popularly as the “Desert Fox” for his Africa campaign) to oversee improving the defenses.

The Germans knew an invasion was coming—they just didn’t know where or when. The choice that the Germans believed the Allies would select was an invasion of Pas de Calais, as it was the most logical invasion site—only 20 miles from England and had 20 miles of good landing beaches.

The allies bolstered that illusion by creating a fake force under the command of LTG George Patton, complete with fake equipment, field barracks and even docking areas near Dover. They relentlessly bombed the Calais area in the build-up phase, as well as other targets in France.

In an unusual operation, they also dropped dummies by parachutes, to harass and confuse the Germans.

*dropped dummies by parachutes, in the deception program*

Field Marshal Rommel was also convinced Calais was the prime invasion site and deployed the 208,000-man 15th Army to defend this area. The deception plan of D Day was working as hoped for by the Allies.

The first priority for the Germans was protecting the major harbors, as any invading forces would need constant supplies, more men and equipment. After securing these major ports, they then began building “Widerstandnesten” (resistance nests) along the beaches. These were a series of pillboxes, gun positions, anti-aircraft weapons and trenches. The beaches were littered with obstacles, mines (over 4 million mines). Inland, flooded lowlands and stakes were planted in the ground to cut into gliders during landings and make parachute operations more dangerous.

*Machine gun bunker guarding the beach and D-1 Draw on Omaha Beach. Taken during our 2014 tour*.

A key concept for the Germans was to stop the invasion on the beaches, so all defensive resources were placed at or near the beach areas and no defense in depth was planned. There were reserve units to stop breakthroughs, but the best reserve unit of panzer tanks could only be released by Hitler. If the Allies could breach these tough defenses, and cut off the reserve forces, they would have a good chance of success.

By June 1944 all the beaches used for the D Day landings in Normandy had at least some of these defensive measures in places.

Unknown to the allies, the best defended beach in Normandy was Omaha.

The stage was set for that fateful day 6 June 1944.

Concept of the Overlord Operation

You might be surprised to know the last successful armed assault across the English happened in 1066 (yes, the famous Battle of Hastings). 8 centuries later, this was about to change.

Amphibious landings are complex operations. Trying to attack with 5 divisions over a 50-mile front in Normandy, from a base in England, would require naval forces, air forces and army units from British, Canadian, and American forces. The allied armies and massive equipment needed to ensure success only added to the complexity. 150,000 soldiers would be required, with a fleet of 5,333 ships and an air armada of over 12,921 planes.

Synchronizing an operation of this size remains one of the most amazing military feats in the history of the world.

An Overview of the Invasion

Operation Overlord, the code name for the D Day invasion, was a complicated multipart attack. To soften up and destroy some of the defending German forces, the area was bombed for about 6 weeks prior to the invasion.

On the early morning hours of 6 June 1944, American and British paratroopers parachuted and later landed in gliders to secure the western flank (American forces) and the eastern flank (British forces).

Then, prior to the start of the landings, a naval bombardment of about 30 minutes in duration started, followed by an aerial bombardment.

Next, the amphibious landings took place on the 5 objective beaches. The 3 beaches in the British Second Army sector, were Gold, Juno, and Sword. They were attacked by British and Canadian units.

The 2 American beaches, under the U. S. First Army (commanded by Lt. General Omar Bradley), were Omaha and Utah

*Unit Patches from the Attacking American Forces at Utah, Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beaches*

Reflecting on the Significance of D Day

Some historians claim this was the most important day in the history of the last 100 years. The victory of the successful invasion was symbolic, strategic, and operationally sealed the fate of the Nazi regime. It would also change the course of world history.

Symbolically, it put forces governed by democratic systems into the decisive ending of the war—essentially Russia and their totalitarian regime would not control all of Europe if the Western Allies had not invaded and Russia defeated the Germans alone.

Strategically, the war in Europe expanded with a second front, and the resources of the American, British, and Canadian forces executed the “Germany First” political strategy to finish off the German Army and then on to defeat Japan in Asia.

Operationally, it relieved pressure on Russia on the Eastern Front and required the Germans to defend with over 400,000 soldiers on a second front.

The result of the successful invasion made America a world power and led to the stability and wealth of future Europe. Totalitarianism was not going to be the model of all Western European countries, yet some would suffer under the rule of Russia’s Iron Curtain in the war’s aftermath. This ideological conflict would quickly develop into the Cold War after the end of World War II.

D Day also was a key event in the global balance of power of nations. The resolve of the British in 1941 to return to the European continent was a crucial part of the conduct of the war prior to America entering into the conflict. After D Day and the conclusion of WW II, America emerged as the most powerful nation in the world, followed by Russia. Britain was the third most powerful nation. All 3 of these nations projected their influence on the world stage today, but it was especially true at the war’s end.

Ultimately, it ended in the Yalta conference with the Big Three to discuss the postwar reorganization of Europe. Despite promises by Stalin to allow democratic elections in territory such as Poland, he broke all his assurances of the agreement. The start of the Cold War was on.

So, Why Visit the Key D Day Sites

Strategy and higher-level planning provide resources for an invasion of this magnitude, but it is the soldier on the ground that executes the planning. How they achieved their tasks, and the terrain can not be fully understood until you actually visit the site of the conflict.

There is probably no Europe battlefield as well preserved as the D Day landing areas and fighting sites in Normandy.

Here are some sites we recommend you visit:

Pointe du Hoc

Pointe du Hoc is actually not changed much at all since 1944—the gun emplacements, the bomb craters, and the steep cliffs the rangers had to climb under intense fire, make their exploits come to life—how did they take this area given the natural defenses of this place? Those of us, who are ranger qualified like me, realize at best a 100-foot climb of a 90-degree slope to the top of the bluff peninsula with a full combat load of equipment would be a daunting physical challenge under any circumstances, but to do it under fire is a testament to the sheer bravery and intense training of the soldiers who accomplished this mission.

*The sheer cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. Notice the narrow landing area. It is easy to understand why the Germans believed it was not feasible to attack from the sea. This is from our 2014 tour.*

*A really good view of the bomb damage craters at Pointe du Hoc*

*Pointe du Hoc during the 2014 celebration.*

*One of the 6 gun emplacements at Pointe du Hoc. From our 2019 tour.*

*This is the Observation Post Bunker at Pointe du Hoc. It is the present day site of the Ranger Bayonet Monument on top of the bunker*

*Bayonet Monument on Pointe du Hoc. From our 2019 tour.*

Omaha Beach

This was the most daunting of the 5 landing beaches during D Day—the bluffs provided clear fields of fire for the German defenders. With favorable terrain for the Germans to defend, and airstrikes that missed the majority of the defensive positions, this landing site was in doubt as secured for most of the day on 6 June 1944.

Military trained personnel will quickly appreciate the open 300 yards or so, with no natural cover—it was a true “killing zone.” It turned out to be the most heavily defended of the 5 beaches during the invasion.

When the first soldiers hit the beach, the beach erupted into withering fire from all directions—it was utter chaos! Success at Omaha was still in doubt 6 hours after the attack began.

The chaotic battlefield resulted in over 2,000-2,500 men killed, wounded, or missing at Omaha—no one is really sure due to the confusion of this intense battle site.

As I walked the beach, I couldn’t help but wonder how anyone survived that day.

*Part of Omaha Beach as seen from the American Cemetery—these were good defensive positions for the German defenders to engage the American soldiers.*

*Western sector of Omaha Beach. Taken during our 2014 tour.*

*Sculpture on Omaha Beach, from our 2014 tour.*

*Les Braves sculpture Omaha Beach 2019.*

*Memorial on Omaha Beach 2019. This is located on the Les Moulins Draw.*

Utah Beach and the Airborne Combat Parachute Assault

Utah was a great success but a lesson to all leaders about the tenacity of the American soldier and decisive leadership.

Operation Neptune was the code name for the airborne and glider assault during the D Day invasion.

The Airborne Forces, though initially scattered (one account I read reported 75% were dropped at the wrong drop zones), performed with great success one of the most daring behind the line’s attacks in the history of warfare to secure their blocking positions.

There were two reasons for their success, in my opinion. First, the scattered forces confused the Germans—they could not focus their forces on one single area. Second, the resolve of the soldiers and their leaders—makeshift units operated to accomplish their missions, when unit cohesion was lost. Again, the individual fighting spirit of the soldiers to do the job despite the difficulties won the day.

It was not easy—after a week of brutal fighting about 2,500 were killed wounded or missing in action from the 2 Airborne Divisions.

*The sign marking the site of Iron Mike,—it is one of the most powerful messages I have ever read about D Day.*
*Part of this sign reads “*THIS MEMORAL SITE SERVES NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO ETERNALLY REMEMBER THE PRICE PAID IN BLOOD FOR FREEDOM AND PEACE. IN PERPECTUAL HONOR TO THOSE WHO BELIEVED THERE WAS NO BETTER PLACE TO DIE THAN THE LA FIERE BRIDGE AND NO BETTER REASON THAN THE LIBERATION OF NORMANDY.”

Iron Mike is a tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives capturing and defending the bridge at La Fiere. It was part of the mission to capture and secure the river crossings during the D Day airborne landings. The original statue is at Ft. Bragg, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne.. From our 2019 tour. Fort Bragg has just been renamed to Fort Liberty.

*Paratrooper equipment and uniform on display in the Airborne Museum—this is what a typical soldier wore to jump into the Normandy countryside.*

Utah Beach

The story of Utah beach is different than Omaha. It started out by a mistake--the planned landing site was off 1000 meters when the first landing craft approached the beaches.

It turns out this lucky mistake put the Americans at a lightly defended portion of Utah, with fewer obstacles, as compared to the more heavily defended planned landing site. A quick change of plans happened—the Americans took advantage of the poorly defended area and began pushing inland.

BG Teddy Roosevelt, Jr, assistant division commander, who landed with the first wave on Utah, recognized the error but also quickly realized the poorly defended area was a huge advantage and as we like to say in the military, “seized the initiative”. He and Col. James Van Fleet, commanding officer of the 8th Regiment, started sending troops inland on route #1 and pushed into the other route causeways. By 1100 hours, exit causeway route #1 was secure—the soldiers of the 4th had linked up with soldiers of 101st. Around noon, all 4 causeway exits were secured.

Utah turned out to be a roaring success. As the darkness started, around 23,500 troops and 1,700 vehicles had landed.

*Utah Beach—as you can see, the terrain is not as favorable to defend as Omaha was for the German forces.*

*Utah Beach in 2019. The monument in the background is the sailor’s monument.*

*Higgins Landing Craft on display at Utah Beach*

*A Sherman Tank on display at Utah Beach*

*Tank outfitted to swim. From our 2019 tour. Photo Hank Schrader*

Going inland on causeway #1. This is the Leadership Monument. The WW II Foundation selected Maj. Dick Winters of Easy Company as the symbol of leadership during the D Day Invasion. It was dedicated on 6 June 2012. Many learned about Major Winters and Easy Company from the series Band of Brothers.

Arromanches Artificial Harbor and Arromanches 360

While there are scant remains of this site in the ocean, building a harbor as a temporary port is a genius idea that worked. In the span of 6 days, this site brought about 300,000 soldiers, 54,000 vehicles and 104,000 tons of material to the Normandy battlefield theater.

We toured the Musee de Debarquement in our 2019 visit. It tells the story of the artificial harbor (the formal name is Mulberry Harbor, named after the towed parts of the harbor that were used to create this temporary port), from concept, to execution, to success. The port was named Port Winston after Winston Churchill.

*Part of the remains of the artificial port in the oceans*

*The D Day 75 Garden, near the 360 theater. In the background, you see some of the remains of the artificial harbor.*

*A monument to the engineer units. In the background is a mobile bridge to help soldiers and vehicles cross river obstacles.*

Overlooking this tiny village, is the Arromanches 360 Theater. For a 20-minute experience of 360-degree explanation of the 100-day battle of Normandy, this theater is shocking and spellbinding—we also have done it in 2014 and 2019 on our tours.

Longues-sur-Mer Battery

Located between Gold and Omaha beaches, this 4-gun installation is the only remaining coastal artillery site that remains in Normandy. It is well preserved and a stark reminder of the defensive power that faced the Allied attackers.

5 reenactors posed for us on our 2014 tour. Notice the strong fortifications to protect the gun enplacement.

The Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise

There is no better place to be on 6 June in Normandy than in the first liberated village in France. This is a festival, with parades, and reenactors. It is also home to the Airborne Museum.

The 3-part museum is fascinating and dedicated to the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

The first area of the museum is the Waco building, dedicated to the glider units.

*Entrance to the Waco building in the Ste. Mere Eglise Airborne Museum*

*Sargeant’s jacket and slide rule used during the glider operations displayed in the Airborne Museum, Ste. Mere Eglise*

There is also a C-47 building, dedicated to the plane used by the paratroopers and displays of their equipment and training.

*C 47 Jump plane on display Airborne Museum 2019*

Mannequins dressed in uniforms are used to simulate a loading scene prior to the night jump of D Day. To get a better view of the hanger space, visitors can climb an observation deck above the C 47 airplane

*Thompson .45 cal. Machine gun and ammo used in the D Day Assault. This is on display in the Airborne Museum in Ste. Marie Eglise, France.*

*Weapon’s Display in the C-47 Building on display in the Airborne Museum in Ste Mere Eglise*

The last part is called operation Neptune—using technology, you can experience a night jump into the square of Ste. Mere Eglise.

Here are some pictures from the festival, with displays, reenactors and festival folks celebrating the liberation of the village.

*DUKW landing craft on display in Ste Mere Eglise 2014*

*Reenactors in Ste. Mere Eglise during the 2014 D Day Festival*

*This is a display from the only French Airborne Artillery Unit in the French Army, from our 2014 tour.*

*Part of the parade during the 2014 D Day Festival in Ste Mere Eglise*

*Ste. Mere Eglise church steeple with the replica of a dangling PFC John Steele*

*Waiting in line for grilled meats, D Day Festival 6 June 2014 in Ste Mere Eglise*

*Drink Tent Ste. Mere Eglise D Day Festival 2014*

Normandy American Cemetery

The Normandy American Cemetery, perhaps the best known of all WW II cemeteries by Americans, is the final resting place for 9,385 killed and 1,557 reported missing during this campaign. It lies just yards from the Omaha Beach area.

Experiencing this area is special—the rows of dignified markers honor these dead. It was the first cemetery established in Europe by the Americans.

Walking this hallowed ground is a stark reminder of what it took to invade Europe—the sheer number of markers is just overwhelming. Anne & I led a tour here in 2014 for the 70th Anniversary of D Day (June 6, 1944) and in 2019 for the 75th Anniversary. During the 2014 and 2019 ceremonies, each gave site was marked with a small American and French flag. It was indeed memorable and touching and a fine tribute to our lost soldiers.

*This photo taken by Anne captures the vastness of this grave site and honors the religious afiliation of the deceased soldiers buried here.*

*Visitors paying tribute to soldiers with flowers. Many residents of Normandy have adopted a gravesite and leave flowers at individual grave markers. The French motto: NEVER FORGET*

*This photo does a good job capturing the precision the graves have been placed on this former battle site. It adds dignity to the cemetery.*

*A grave marker of an unknown soldier. The inscription reads “Here Rests In Honored Glory A Comrade In Arms Known But To God”*

*A concert during the 2014 Ceremony honoring the lost lives and soldiers at the American Cemetery in 2014*

I don’t think you can visit here and not feel that freedom is not free—it is earned by sacrifice.

Our Final Thoughts

D Day was a success but what really stands out to me is the resolve of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who made the operation work. Heroic, innovative and resourceful, these military forces should be honored for their deeds. They did not really see themselves as heroes--most just wanted to live to see 7 June 1944.

The war’s end would not come for 336 days of more combat. It would have never happened so soon, if these forces had not taken the first step on 6 June 1944 that ultimately ended the German occupation of Europe and opened a second front.

History was made that day, as the future of Europe would require the Allies defeating the Germans. Europe changed from occupied lands and countries to some free democratic countries and some under communist control. Today’s Europe could have been quite different if the invasion had failed.

We have led two tours in Normandy in 2014 and 2019 and those experiences have made this operation much more real for me. We owe a debt of gratitude to these folks—their sacrifice and courage will stay with me for the rest of my life.

If you have never been to Normandy and seen the D Day Beaches, I would encourage you to go.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

June 1, 2023

River Cruise Routes

The Wachau Valley--An Awesome River Cruise Experience

Hank Schrader

June 1, 2023

River Cruise Routes

The Wachau Valley—An Awesome River Cruise Experience

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

There are 3 incredibly scenic sections of Europe Rivers that are cited by most travel writers as sites on their “must-see” experiences.

On the Rhine River, the Middle Rhine’s 40 castle stretch is always on their lists.

On the Danube, there are 2 sites—the Iron Gates of the Lower Danube and the tranquil Wachau Valley on the Upper Danube.

So, let’s explore together and learn about the Wachau Valley on the Danube River.

Where is the Wachau Valley?

The Wachau Valley is a 30 km (19 miles) part of the Danube River from Melk to Krems. Monasteries, grapes and apricots, tranquil vineyards and some scattered castles make this an area of beauty, a little intrigue, and a place to slow down and enjoy some Austrian good life.

It is a UNESCO heritage site, in recognition of the agricultural history of the region and the architectural significance of unique abbeys and other buildings in the region.

It is famous for high quality wines, and apricots. The small villages dot the countryside, and the steep hills help make this a scenic area a great place to sail through on a river cruise.

Abbeys

There are 3 main abbeys in this region. Melk Abbey, Göttweig Abbey and the Stiftkirche in Dürnstein are stunningly beautiful.

Melk Abbey, located on a high hilltop (748 feet above the Danube River.), was built in 1702, and refurbished between 1715 and 1733. It is a massive baroque Benedictine monastery (17,500 square meters).

The Melk Abbey complex is built around 7 courtyards and stands out due to its mustard yellow paint on the structures. There are 88 imperial guest rooms in the abbey. The library of the monastery has over 100,000 books and manuscripts. There are significant art paintings and frescoes in the abbey. The church area is stunning in its detail and glittering gold adornments.

Göttweig Abbey, another Benedictine monastery is near Krems. It is often visited by some river cruise companies. Painted a pale pink, with a distinctive red roof, it is known as the “Austrian Montecassino”, a reference to the original Benedictine monastery in Italy. With towers and defensive walls it is a spectacular site

Göttweig became famous as a center of earning and strict monastic life up until the 15th and 16th centuries, but by 1564 there was not a single monk left at the abbey.

The abbey has a library of 130,000 books and manuscripts. It also has an important collection of religious engravings, antiquities, a rare coin collection, and musical manuscripts.

The Stiftkirche in Durnstein, has what is considered by most to be the one of the finest baroque towers in all of Austria. Resplendent in blue and white, it dominates the small village as you approach towards the docking port. The entrance way to this abbey is quite ornate.

Castles

There are some fascinating castles on this part of the river—three castle ruins and a castle built right on the river.

Schloss Schonbuhel is built on a rock about 130 feet above the Danube River that is on the riverbanks. It began as a defensive fortress in the 12th century. It is nick named the “Watchman of the Wachau”.

Burguine Aggstein castle is 15 km from Melk and built about 300 feet above the riverbanks on a rocky ledge. It dates from 1180. It is notorious for being inhabited by “robber barons” who imprisoned rivals for ransoms (they apparently tied victims to the rocky ledges around the castle and threatened to throw their captives off the ledges to their deaths) and exacted tolls from boats sailing in the area around the castle.

In Dürnstein, the ruins of Kuenringerburg, a hilltop castle above the town where Richard the Lionhearted was held for ransom during the Crusades, is often offered to guests as a hike up to the former castle site.

The story of King Richard I dates to the 3rd Crusade dispute between Richard and Leopold the Virtuous. During the crusade, Leopold was offended during Battle of Acre, where his standard (flag) was thrown off the walls of the city and he also suspected Richard ordering the murder of his cousin. A huge ransom was paid for Richard’s release—35,000 kg of silver.

From the top of the hill, the views of the river and valley are glorious after a 20-minute hike up to the ruins.

Hinterhaus Castle was built in the 12th century and is first mentioned in writings in 1243. It is near Spitz. It has been besieged and destroyed several times—1409, 1504, 1620.

Hinterhaus is said to be haunted by the ghost of a lady who appears annually on the date of her husband’s death. Today tours are possible for visitors to see the remains of the castle.

Melk

Melk is the start of the Wachau Velley. It is larger than most other towns and villages in the area and has a population of around 5,257. It once was a walled city. The city has an interesting city town hall square with a beautiful fountain.

Spitz and Weissenkirchen

Spitz is an attractive wine village. It has a population of only 1,627. The Spitz Parish church was once a fortified church and some of the defensive walls still remain.

In Weissenkirchen, population 1,291, has a fortified parish church that is surrounded by vineyards.

Dürnstein

This small village numbers only 600 residents. A Dürnstein visit will allow you to take a closer look at its 16th-century Baroque houses and 13th-century Romanesque church on a walking tour along cobblestone streets, that you can experience on many river cruise companies’ visits to this area.

There are great chances to taste wine here and apricot products.

Krems

Krems is the center of the wine trade in this region. One of the most important sites in this town is the Steiner Tor, a preserved city gate, dating back to the days when Krems was a walled city.

Our Final Thoughts

You should sail through the Wachau valley and visit as many of the sights in lower Austria.

We hope you enjoyed this report.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 51+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

May 25, 2023

River Cruise Routes

Exclusive Experiences on AmaWaterways Cruises

Hank Schrader

May 25, 2023

River Cruise Routes

Exclusive Experiences on AmaWaterways Cruises

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

After 24 Europe River Cruises, we have been fortunate to participate in several experiences that are unique to AmaWaterways. We have written about some of these in other blogs but never put together a report about the unique features that are exclusive to river cruises offered by AmaWaterways.

We have several clients who will get to experience these events in 2023 and 2024, and we want to get them and you excited about what is possible on some AmaWaterways cruises.

So, let’s explore together and learn about some of the Exclusive Experiences offered by AmaWaterways. To organize this blog, we will present our experiences in the order we were able to participate in these unique offerings.

2009 and 2015—Zell

We experienced this small village on our Europe’s River and Castles cruises.

Zell is famous for its white wine (Riesling) Zellerschwartzkat (Zell’s black cat).

It is a small town of about 4,300 people. Among the sites to see here include an interesting market square, and the town hall has a wine museum. However, it is really famous for its brand of white wine and there is an interesting story about how the wine was named.

According to legend, a large quantity of local wine was being stored in barrels in a regional cellar. When people approached, a black cat jumped on the barrel from Zell and started hissing to protect its contents. Seeing the hissing, it caused the wine merchants to believe the wine from Zell was special and better quality than the other wines stored in the wine cellar building and they bought all the wine.

Today the black cat is the symbol of this town. It was a walled city but not much of the old walls remain.

AmaWaterways has an exclusive wine festival celebration in Zell. The local children, dressed up like black cats, provide a performance that everyone who has visited Zell on AmaWaterways will remember. I heard Kristin Karst, one of the co-owners of AmaWaterways, describe how special and unique this visit and performance is during a webinar—it instantly brought back great memories of this port stop.

AmaWaterways has a wine festival here, but the real treat is the children who visit the ship and perform songs and dances. It is a lot of fun and you will fall in love with this unique little wine village along the Moselle River.

The festival queen leads 2 children dressed as black cats from our 2009 cruise.

These pictures are from our 2015 cruise of the kids performance.

The town water fountain features the Black Cat.

Here were some of the wines we could taste during this festival:

2017 Bourg Wine Festival

Another AmaWaterways exclusive is a wine festival in Bourg. We got to experience this on our 2017 cruise called A Taste of Bordeaux.

Bourg is pleasant and picturesque small town perched on the banks of the Dordogne River.

This area produces excellent red French wine including merlot, malbec, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.

The wine festival was held at the House of Wines. It was a lot of fun and we had a small band in period clothing to help us celebrate.

A view out of the back portion of the building towards the river at sunset.

2019 Lahneck Castle Tour

On the Enchanting Rhine, the Treasures of the Main & Rhine and other routes, there is an exclusive Lahneck Castle tour.

This is a great castle to tour, as it combines medieval fortifications, and great interiors. It was built in 1244 and destroyed in the Thirty Years War (1633). In 1852, it was rebuilt and fully restored in 1937.

It is a very interesting and pretty residential castle.

The stained-glass windows of the chapel date to the 1400s.

There is even a portrait of Queen Victoria, painted in 1840.

It is full of fine furniture, porcelain, ceramics, a 15th century kitchen complex and a fully furnished 3-story doll house.

2021 Nefertari’s Tomb

We got to experience this ancient Egyptian tomb on the Secrets of Egypt and the Nile cruise in December 2021.

The tour starts in the Valley of the Queens. We started day 5 of our cruise in the Valley of the Queens to view Queen Nefertari’s Tomb. Nefertari was the wife of Ramses III and his favorite wife. He made her a deity during his reign; she lived an elegant life; and expected an elegant life in the afterlife.

You are limited to only 15 minutes during your visit (the tomb can’t hold more than a limited number of tourists), and the Egyptologist guide is not allowed inside with their escorted group (they explained to us the questions that guests have often caused the group to stay beyond their allotted time). The Egyptologist encouraged us to take photos and he would answer our questions after we left the tomb to explain what the paintings symbolized.

After descending some very steep stairs, a wonderland of color and detail emerges—it was almost overwhelming—you will see the queen’s life journey symbolized by her interactions with the gods of that era.

Flash photos are not allowed and many sites in the tombs only allow cell phone pictures. The policy is unevenly enforced and often even if you pay a fee to use a 35 mm camera, the officials at the entrance to the site may deny permission to take photos with larger cameras.

Nothing remains in the tomb but the wall paintings. No other Egyptian tomb has this quality of preserved art works on the walls of the tombs in either the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings. They are stunning; detailed; and the best-preserved wall paintings of the various tombs we visited—we could really see and understand Nefertiti’s journey to the afterlife.

Here are the pictures of Queen Nefertari’s Tomb. The paintings on the tomb depict her journey to the afterlife and her life in Egypt during her reign as queen.

The valley of the Queens desert burial area

The steep stairs leading to her burial chamber

Nefertari before Thoth (god of the moon, wisdom, and knowledge) in the upper annex room

Nefertari making an offering to Ptah (on the right). Ptah is the creator god and the patron diety of craftsmen and architects.

Nefertari (on the right) making offerings to the gods.

This painting shows Ra, the sun god with the red circle over his head

2022 VolKach Wine Festival

This exclusive experience is part of the Medieval Treasures cruise we took in 2022. We attended a wonderful wine event in Volkach, Germany.

It is an exclusive event where the small town puts on a wine festival with grilled brats, white and rose local wines, hosted by the mayor with a band and traditional dancers.

It was a lot of fun—here are some pictures:

The town Hall and square where the festival took place

This was the singing and dancing group that entertained us

2023--2 Great Experiences on the AmaMagna

Wine Festival in Spitz

Spitz is a small village in the Wachau Valley. In an old monestary that has been converted to a wine cellar and restaurant, there is a lively wine tasting, complete with traditional music and some good white wines.

It is another fun celebration and an excellent glimpse of the culture of Austria.

Here are some photos of the event:

The outside of the winery and restaurant

Our hostess explaining the wine we are about to taste

One of the best wines grown in the region—Gruner Veltliner

Our host singing and leading us in toasts in German

Octoberfest in Vilshofen, Germany

Another great exclusive on AmaWaterways is Octoberfest in Vilshofen. Instead of just limiting the celebration to Munich during the last weeks of September and early October, the local populace of Vilshofen decided to greet guests who want to start their cruise in their small town with an Octoberfest celebration.

There are several benefits of starting a cruise in Vilshofen—the primary benefit is that it avoids a low water point on the Danube in Regensburg, so many cruises will not be disrupted by the lack of rain.

So, here is our experience in pictures from March of 2023 in pictures.

Anne with the festival queen dressed in traditional clothing

Prost! Anne, Cesario (our cruise manager) and Hank with good beer

Each of the tables had pretzels and we were served beer

Anne and Hank in front of the AmaMagna after the Oktoberfest party.

Our Final Thoughts

We all crave exclusive experiences. As you can see, there are multiple opportunities to participate in curated tours that will exceed your expectations.

We hope you enjoyed this report.

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

Hank Schrader

May 18, 2023

Veterans

Armed Forces Day 2023

Hank Schrader

May 18, 2023

Veterans

Armed Forces Day 2023

American Cemetery Omaha Beach Photo June 6 2014

This is a departure from our usual blog about travel to help recognize the contribution of our Armed Forces to our Nation.

As many of you know, I served for 20 years as an Infantry officer and was proud to help defend our country.

So, I thought I would provide you some facts about today’s military in my humble salute to the men and women who defend our country and perhaps help you remember the service and sacrifice of those who defend our freedom.

It is probably best to start by explaining the major military recognition celebrations in America and then concentrate on the Armed Forces Day.

There is a lot of confusion to the exact purpose of three major recognition days for all US military members and former members. Armed Forces Day honors those currently serving in the military. Memorial Day honors those who have died while on duty in the military services. Veterans Day is a tribute to all who have previously served in our armed forces.

Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the 3rd Saturday of May, as part of Armed Forces week. It honors the Army, the Air Force, the new Space Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard.

The first 5 service branches are organized under the Department of Defense, while the Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security. There are more than 1.4 million on active service and more than 1.1 million national guard and reservists.

In 1949, Armed Forces Day was first established when the Army, Navy and Air Force were organized under the Department of Defense, instead of each service just marking their own individual recognition day. The Marines did not come under this initial new holiday, and keep their separate celebration. They later joined in. In 1961, Armed Forces Day became a National Holiday.

Each year Armed Forces Day has a unique theme—some past themes are Dedication and Duty, Freedom and Patriotism.

Some Interesting Facts About our Armed Forces

The Department of Defense (DOD) is the largest employer in the US—there are about 1.4 million on active duty, 1.1 million serving in National guard and Reserve units and 700,00 civilians working in the DOD.

Here are the numbers of active duty—Army over 482,000; Navy over 343,000; Air Force over 328,000; Marine Corps over 179,000; Coast Guard over 44,000 and Space Force over 1,600.

Here are the numbers of reserve forces—Army National Guard over 337,000; Army Reserve over 184,000; Air National Guard over 108,000, Air Force Reserve over 70,000, Navy Reserve over 57,000, Marine Corp Reserve over 35,000 and about 7,000 in the Coast Guard Reserve..

31 of 44 Presidents served in the Military—30 were officers (James Buchanan was enlisted) and Teddy Roosevelt earned the Medal of Honor for action in the Spanish-American War.

Within 48 hours, the US Military is capable to reach any place on earth to provide disaster relief and international aid.

Only 28% of American aged 17-23 are eligible to serve in the military.

Many do not realize how few folks served in our military compared to the overall population--.4 percent (1,4 million are currently serving)

Our military is more educated than the general population. 99% of the military have successfully completed their high school education, while only 60% of the general population of the US have a high school diploma.

In many ways, the military has been leaders in our country by desegregating before other public institutions and opening full opportunities to women.

My Final Thoughts

Words do not adequately honor those who served, suffered, died, were wounded and sometimes disabled—they are for the most part the best our society has among its citizens.

They learned to work for a common goal, perform their assigned mission despite harsh conditions, sometimes under hostile fire and responded when no other organization could or would.

They are often deployed for long periods of time, away from their families, who support them during their long hours and often absences. We must also remember their families who support their soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

Please just remember them—maybe attend a parade, display your flag, visit a cemetery, thank a member, or just think about a service member.

Let’s be sure their bravery, strength and sacrifice do not go unnoticed—we owe a debt of gratitude to them and their families to help keep us safe.

Thanks for reading!

Henry Carl “Hank” Schrader, Jr Major (Infantry) Retired

Hank Schrader

May 10, 2023

Europe Destination

Siena, Italy

Hank Schrader

May 10, 2023

Europe Destination

Siena, Italy

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Siena is one of the hill top villages in Tuscany. It is in the northern part of Italy.

It was a rival of Florence during the Middle Ages but lost the battle of economic and political superiority, even though at one time the population was over 60,000, until the black death killed off over 1/3 of the population.

As often happens in well preserved medival towns, a historical event changed its course of history. In this case, it was later conquered by Florence in 1550 and became a much smaller player in Italy political and economic life.

Many think Siena is the best preserved medieval city in Italy. This town is built on three hills; has winding lanes and dramatic up and down small roads that require strong legs to walk; and is charming beyond belief!

So, let’s explore together this interesting city and learn about Siena.

Dramatic Veiws of Siena

It is amazing how jumbled yet dramatic this hill town is—it has amazing views, up and down hills with twisted paths and narrow roads.

This is one of the most relaxing places we have ever visited. There are 3 important sites which require about half a day to see and then experience dolce vida—the good life.

Here are some pictures:

Siena’s Main Square—the first key site.

The main square is pedestrian only. The city hall and its 330 foot tower that dominate the square. The tower is atop a chapel that today is only used to bless the horse racers of the Palio horse race.

The tower’s name is the Torre del Magnia on the Public Palace. The Public Palace still houses the municipal offices that are used today to govern Siena.

The Palio horse races are scheduled annually on 2 July and 16 August.

The Palio Horse Race

The Palio horse race is a contest between 17 different neighborhoods, complete with mascots and unique colors to identify the contestants, but only 10 get to compete in the actually race—they are drawn by lot. The seven losing neighborhoods are automatically in the next race, so in any given year all 17 get to complete (remember there are 2 races each year) but the lucky neighborhoods may get 2 chances in a given year.

The neighborhoods are called contrade, and the race winner gets a palio, or painted flag with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The race consists of three laps around the square and the jockey does not have to be on the horse to win—a riderless horse can win the race.

The race has been held since 1665.

This may be the most unusual horse race in the world where conspiracy and bribery are not only common, they are in couraged so long as a disliked rival doesn’t win. Rivalry is fierce—think about college or pro football competitions.

Here are the 17 different flags of the neighborhoods. This vendor sells the small flags for 8€, the big ones for 10 €.

It is quite common for businesses to display the 17 neighborhoods as we can see from this picture.

Although the first Palio is not until 2 July, it is commonplace to see practices like these two young men with their flags working out the routines. They are the Eagle Contrade.

Another interesting feature of the square is the Gaia Fountain.

Gaia in Italian means joyous and it got its name from the joy it brought the residents of Siena when it was completed in 1342.

The panels on the outside of the fountain were added in 1419.

They have been removed to protect them and the carvings are replicas.

The scene on the panels are from the Book of Genesis.

The wolfs in front of the panel represent the she wolf of Rome.

The City Hall and the Civic Museum

This is the chapel of the building. It was built as thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague.

The first floor area is constructed in stone, and the upper floors are made with red brick.

The she wolf symbol has an interesting legend about this symbol displayed in most important sites in the city. It is said that the city was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus (one of the founders of Rome), making them the nephews of Romulus. They fled Rome after the murder of Remus by Romulus and they took the she-wolf with them to Siena.

The round symbol in this picture is the a christogram in the symbol of St. Bernardino. This symbol was placed on the palace in gratitude for his sermons to the citizens of Siena.

Siena’s Cathedral Area—the second key site.

The Cathedral is constructed of black and white marble. It was constructed between 1216 and 1263 according to Wikipedia.

The alternating black and white stripes are the symbol of Siena.

The upper facade mosaic is the coronation of Mary (triangle at the top).

Directly below the top mosaic is a large rose window. This photo shows these features very well.

There are 3 entrances to the cathedral. The central entrance is a bronze door.

The Duomo tower is the exact height of the tower on the Palace. One reason behind this symbolism is that the church and the secular world are equal.

The detail on the church is stunning. Many statues of saints are on the facade of the church. Please note the symbol of the she-wolf on the right column in this photo.

The marble floors and interior are magnificent but we didn’t get a chance to visit.

Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico

This is the third important site of Siena.

It is dedicated to Saint Cateriniana, a peasant girl, who had visions starting at age 5.

She wrote over 400 letters to the Papal leaders urging the church to unite from the French and Italian Pope disputes.

She is credited for helping to unite the church during this conflict.

Here is a picture of her church:

City Gates

Once a walled city, there are several city gates here. The city walls are over 1000 years old.

Great Food and Wine in Siena

Eating in Italy is an art—it is so important to the culture of this country. It is a slow experience, full of wonderful tastes, and often becomes the evening entertainment along with the food.

Italian meals are usually 4 or 5 courses.

They are several meal combinations, such as Antipasti, Primi, secondi, Contorni, insalata, fromaggi, dolce, and cafe.

The primi and secondi are usually hot courses and the primi often is a pasta choice, while the secondi is a meat or fish course. Depending on the food choice you may select contorni (side dishes) or maybe the meal will have a insalata, sometimes served with the meal or as a separate course.

The meal ends with fromaggi (cheese) or fruit and for most dolci (dessert).

A proper meal ends with cafe (coffee).

Here are 3 great meals we ate at Bagoga—it was full of locals and some tourists.

First, let’s start with the owner Papa, who has ridden in the Palio and makes you so welcome. He loves his guests and treats them in the best spirits of hospitality. Here I am with him:

A great primi—tagliolini con pancetta-carbonara (for me)!

Anne had tortino caldo di fromaggio (warm cheese pie with a walnut cream sauce)— she loved it!

Our secondi was pork filets covered with a delicious thin slice of lard for Anne ( she raved about the distinctive flavors —see the first picture below) and steak in pepper sauce for me (second photo).

Our third meal at Bagoga was on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great experience—Fiorentina T-Bone Steak!

The best way to start—a special wine from Papa’s vineyard. It was expertly decanted by David our waiter.

These steaks are huge (about 2.2 lbs) and traditionally cooked rare. It is so good and tender, it melts in your mouth. These 2 pictures don’t do it justice!

A Great Wine Tasting Experience

Right across from our wonderful bed and breakfast small hotel was a fabulous wine store. The owner, Fredricco, provided us an amazing wine tasting from the Tuscany region.

He was funny, and explained what made the small batched local wines special.

Here he is bringing down the 3 bottles we were going to try.