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| Viking Skirnir from https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/ships/longships/viking-skirnir.html |
On November 11, 2024, my friend Florence and I boarded the Viking river ship Skirnir for our Grand European Tour.
Over the next 18 days, we would visit a village in the southern part of the Netherlands, see many medieval villages in Bavaria, Germany, then travel to Austria and Hungary. We also chose an inland trip extension to Prague in the Czech Republic for an additional three days.
We would travel on the Rhine River, the Main River, through the Main-Danube Canal, and finally on the Danube River. As a friend of mine said, following our journey from back in New Mexico--the ship would go through 67 locks, allowing it to essentially "climb" over a mountain range and down the other side (in a manner of speaking).
Florence and I have traveled with a group of friends on some big ocean-bound ships that held between 2000 and 4000 passengers. On such ships we would occasionally see a person twice, but never to speak with. The Skirnir, on the other hand, had a total of 180-190 passengers, allowing us to meet a great number of people, especially since the dining room was large enough to hold all of us at once. This was really the best part of the trip for us--getting to know people from all over the United States, Canada, China, and Australia. At a time when our own country is so politically divided it was a relief to be able to chat with people and trade stories that made us all aware of the things we have in common.
The following blog posts will chronicle our journeys.
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