river cruise – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2024, friends, leisure time, life, Memories, photography, Travel

11/13/2024 Hump Day Photo

Posted on November 13, 2024 by nancyb422

We took a Danube River cruise in October 2018 and we had a great time except…. There was sort of a pre-excursion part of the cruise where we stayed at a resort for 2 nights and were bused back to Munich for an excursion and only had an hour at an Oktoberfest. Once we boarded our boat in Passau we cruised forward for the night but then had to be bused to Regensberg and another excursion because the water levels were low and Viking took our spot in Regensberg. It created very long bus rides, shortened excursions, and cranky passengers (not us!).

We decided to cancel all our non-included excursions and woke Sunday morning to the notification that breakfast was ending in five minutes!

We got up, took our showers and headed out to find someplace for breakfast – in a country where we could barely speak the language (ok, we couldn’t at all).

We found this lovely passage and wandered around a bit until we found a cute little restaurant so we sat down and helped ourselves to the buffet being served. then realized the restaurant was part of a hotel!

They were very gracious and let us have our meal – thank God because we were starved!

The trip improved from there and we enjoyed ourselves traveling down the Danube.

2024, friends, leisure time, life, Memories, photography

10/2/2024 Hump Day Photo

Posted on October 2, 2024 by nancyb422

Six years ago today, my husband and I set off on our first significant vacation – a Danube River Cruise. We left on October 2nd at 6pm, had a stop in Dublin, and a short flight to Munich. It was a great trip and we met some really great people on the first evening.

We stayed 2 nights at a resort before we boarded our boat (could have done without those), and the low water levels messed with our time in Regensburg (that really annoyed me!), but once we started really sailing it was great!

One of our tours was of Melk Abbey and it was so beautiful but photography was not allowed in the rooms.

Bonus Hump Day photo because I loved the colors of the town. These are real colors – no filter but it sure looks like one! I have quite a few photos of the town!

Have you ever taken a Danube River cruise? If you have, what was your favorite destination?

2022, Memories, Travel

Riding to Monet’s Garden

Posted on June 26, 2023June 26, 2023 by nancyb422

My husband and I took a Viking cruise with my sister and her husband in October of 2022. We started in Paris, cruised the Seine to Normandy and returned. It was really magical! We both agreed our favorite day was the round trip by bicycle to Monet’s garden.

We started the day in La Roche-Guyon and visited the town for 2 hours before taking off to Vernon and Monet’s Garden. It was delightful and I’ll share that excursion at another time!

We met our guide on the pier and everyone taking the bike ride was fitted for their appropriate bike and helmet. I applauded all the people that rode but some would have been better suited for the bus trip there. Not being mean, just truthful. We had a bike crash before we even got over the river. On the green in front of the pier there were monuments in recognition of the Allied troops liberating Vernon.

The ride was about 3-1/2 miles both ways! Luckily there are bike paths that we rode on. We did have to cross some streets and that was a little hairy! We stayed up close to the guide so we could ride freely and not fear crashing into the back of someone.

Once there, we stopped at the Elise Saints-Radegonde de Giverny (church) and we visited the burial site of Claude Monet and his family.

Then it was on to the grounds of Monet’s home. What a breathtaking sight! I had no idea what to expect and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The sun was shining and the flowers were all in bloom. The colors were so vivid, I don’t think it was possible to take a bad picture. I selected some of my favorites to share.

A sample of the flowers and boats in the water

I was just lost in the scenery. I wasn’t worried about losing my people, we were all doing the same thing!

We made our way to the house and the garden around it.

We had a half hour left before we needed to meet our group, so my husband and I sat and had a latte and a tart as a snack before our bike ride back! We took a different route back and we thankfully didn’t have to cross any streets.

We gathered at a park and our guide and her helper had cider and the absolutely most delicious macrons I’d ever tasted in my life. It was so difficult not to eat them all right there! After our treat, we rode back to the boat and said our goodbyes.

From there it was dinner and a walk around the top deck to take in the full moon and think about the bucket list day we enjoyed.