Low Water

Just got word that the Danube is experiencing low water levels between Regensburg and Passau. One of the reasons we decided to cruise in the fall was that I thought the likelihood of this issue would be abated with the good possibility of rain. So much for that plan.

Our ship, the Viking Ve, is on the downstream side of the problem so we will have to start the cruise on her sister ship, the Viking Gefjon. Which gets to another reason why we decided to take Viking, they have an extensive fleet of ships. At some point along the way we will transfer and get back on schedule. Whether that transfer is done by one ship pulling up beside the other or if it will include a bus trip will depend on the rain.

To paraphrase Robert Burns, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. And I don't expect this to be the only thing that will go awry during our trip.

Travel quotes of note

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American author

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.  Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less travelled by.  Robert Frost, American poet

Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they're going.  Paul Theroux, American novelist

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.  Hilaire Belloc, Anglo-French writer

To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.  Charles Horton Cooley, American sociologist

Bordeaux

When your wife can't tell the difference between a child and a pet, you know you are in trouble. Bordeaux, sometimes spelled Bordave by Liza, is our little, white, mixed bred dog. He is literally the love of her life (and that does include me). For the longest time it looked like I was going to be a solo traveler. Liza can't be away from Bordeaux for a day so how was she going to be able to go on a three week river cruise.

The neighbors couldn't be trusted even when I employed the fact that one of them had two daughters and taking care of Bordeaux would be a great learning about responsibility opportunity for them. Of course if a neighbor wouldn't work we couldn't possibly use a professional dog sitter that would come to our home. Even though an ex-coworker that Liza liked did just that. A pet resort seemed like an expensive but great choice. But not for Bordeaux.

Finally Liza suggested that a friend of hers would be willing to house sit while we were away and take of the mutt. First she would and Liza was going with me and then she wouldn't. And then she would and Bob was happy and then she couldn't. And Bob was sad. As of now she is and Bob is holding his breath.

One last glitch entered the picture when we got a notice from Maricopa County Animal Control that his dog license was going to expire on the day before we leave and he needed a rabies shot with a check for renewal. At least partly because he is deaf and partially blind, I was concerned that when he went in for his shot and the checkup that he gets at the same time, the vet was going to throw a monkey wrench into the works. Boy was I relieved when the report was that he was just old but otherwise in good health.

Weight

From the things I've read about cruising, you usually gain 10 to 12 pounds during your trip. And with our trip being a little longer than most, I could imagine putting on even more. Since I can't really afford to put on a pound, I started to cut back on my consumption a few weeks ago. So far I have lost nothing.  That doesn't bode very well for the future.

More Books

The books I selected for our trip, which haven't arrived yet, were amongst those recommend by Viking and are available from Longitude Books and no doubt Amazon. Since the cruise starts in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, A Traveler's Literary Companion seemed like a good choice. It is a collection of 17 contemporary short stories, organized by districts, by modern Dutch writers set amid the canals, cafes and neighborhoods of Amsterdam. It was edited by Manfred Wolf.

My second choice fit in with a lot of the buildings we will see along the rivers and with my interest in architecture. It is The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral by Robert Scott. After all these years since college I doubt I will be able to recognize one historic style from another. Two things about these buildings that are going to make it all the more difficult are that construction sometimes took hundreds of years so that the cathedral may have started as Gothic but finished as Baroque. The other extenuating circumstance is that so many of those buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt so many times. How conscientious were each of those restoration efforts?

Lastly is a recipe book called All along the Rhine: Recipes, Wines and Lore from Germany,  France, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and Holland by Kay Nelson. The Rhine is the first of the several rivers we will traverse, the Main and the Danube being the others. It is a collection of over 130 contemporary and traditional recipes that cover the culinary history and winemaking traditions of the countries along the Rhine. It also has literary excerpts, legends and lore throughout the book.

Ordinarily I would have bought them used but in this instance I plan to leave them in the small library on board the Viking Ve. The recipe book may be the exception.

Really ready?

It turns out that as infrequent travellers there are lots of things we don't have.  The last  camera I bought was in Vietnam in the 1960's. So we bought a camera. We've never owned a selfie stick. In watching YouTube videos it is obvious that you need one. So we bought a selfie stick.  And if you own a selfie stick you need a Bluetooth switch to activate the shutter. And if you are going to be taking pictures all day you Will  need extra batteries and extra SD cards to store them on.

Since you need to look good you need a travel size steamer. Of course you need new, sturdy walking shoes since we will be doing walking tours of cities or castles every day. And the list goes on and on.

Locks

I mentioned before that I wanted to see some locks. I've attached a link to a cross section through the locks along the Danube from the Main River to Budapest. It is a graphical representation of the changes  in  elevation along the  river. We are only to go through 15 or 16 but that certainly should be enough to get the feel of the exercise of entering through an open lock, watching it close behind you, riding the water either up or down and then exiting through the other lock. Danube Locks elevations

Why Viking

So we went over why we picked the Grand European Cruise but we skipped why Viking Cruise Lines. The two are related. Of all the European river cruises the one that best met our expectations (I'm not sure that is the best or correct word) was the Viking Grand European Cruise. Others were close but none met each thing we wanted to do or see better.

Besides that when I researched the other lines they either bemoaned or criticized Viking because Viking got the best berthing locations usually right in the middle of the town or city. And that gets to the last point. The reason they have the best berthing locations is because they have been at it the longest. And their success over the long haul indicates that they are doing something right. We will find out.

Why Viking Grand European Cruise

So you ask why did we chose Viking's Grand European Cruise? There are actually a few reasons. Liza wanted to see castles. The first step in selecting an itinerary was to pick the cruise with the most castles. That wasn't quite as easy or clear as I thought it would be but the Grand European Cruise was one of a handful that made the cut.

I wanted to see the river, the locks and have a nice ship. Or is it a boat? I'm sorry to say I don't know the difference. The Viking ship/boat that cruises the Danube et al is the Ve. It is one of their relatively new ships so it stayed in consideration. All the YouTube videos I saw made the view from the ship look magnificent. I couldn't find out if we traverse any of the locks in the daylight but there are quite a few so I'm guessing the odds are good. If not I'll just get up in the middle of the night and see what I can see.

Books

I've ordered a few books (the paper kind) and have just gotten word that they have shipped. I should have them in time for the trip.

Are we ready?

Today is Sep 18 and our flight leaves Sky Harbor Airport in 17 days (Oct 5th). We think we're ready.